We are successfully back in the water and at anchor – hurray! We had initially estimated that Meraviglia would be out of the water for two full weeks with a splash date to go back in on 10/3. Happily, Bob was able to complete the hull work quickly and we were able to go back in the water a full six days ahead of schedule! We stayed at the dock for an additional few days to put our sails back up and do some provisioning and sightseeing before leaving the marina.
We were both kind of dreading putting the sails back up as it has been extremely hot here without a lot of wind. The sails are heavy to move and awkward to hoist. The mainsail in particular is a challenge as it had battens that we needed to reinsert before raising. Battens are long, flexible strips inserted into a sailboat sail to help shape it and improve its performance. When we had removed the sail and battens previously at the marina we were at a different slip which had a wide dock beside it. We were able to lay the sail flat and easily remove the battens. Now we were in a different slip with a very narrow finger dock beside us so we had to instead figure out how to lay out the sail, insert the battens, and then hoist the sail directly from the foredeck of Meraviglia. We decided to get up early to try and avoid the hottest part of the day since we knew we would be in direct sunlight on the deck. I even skipped my morning coffee which for those who know me, is a huge sacrifice and potentially hazardous to Bob’s health😂 . We were pleasantly surprised that it actually went very smoothly and we were able to get the sails up and rigged in record time.
Because we needed room on the foredeck, we had raised our dinghy, Piccola, with a halyard to get it out of the way. Since the dinghy was already raised and the hoisting of the sails had gone smoothly we decided to keep working and go ahead and give the boat a good bath since we had hose access and marina water. Because she had been in a very active boatyard, she was very dusty and dirty! Everything was going great and we were feeling really good about getting so much work done. (Do you sense any foreshadowing here???) Bob was cleaning Piccola as well who was still hoisted in the air. Now Piccola is an aluminum tender with inflatable sides. She also has a double floor that allows you to run a fuel line from the outboard in the back forward to the fuel tank in the bow. There is one access point in the back and one in the front but no way to reach anything under the majority of the floor. We had learned this the hard way previously when our handheld VHF radio fell into the void and we had to lift her and shake the dinghy until it fell out the bottom. Now imagine that Piccola is hoisted on a halyard with her bow in the air and her stern resting on the ground. The fuel line isn’t attached to anything in the bow as we had removed the fuel tank prior to lifting her. The bottom of the fuel line is coming at the bottom as normal with the primer bulb and engine connector. Bob began to clean out the bottom of the dinghy including the part of the fuel line that was sticking out when I heard a clunk followed by cursing. As Bob had been cleaning, the top of the fuel line with the quick connector that attaches to the tank had fallen in the void below the floor because of course things had been going too smoothly. It was now about 11am and the heat was becoming intense just to add to the fun. Because the end of the fuel line had the connector on, we were worried it would get stuck or damaged if we just tried to pull it through so we decided to try and pass a chase wire from the bow end into the void and attempt to pull it back up from where it fell in. Multiple attempts at this were unsuccessful. For our next trick, we decided to see if gravity would help so we lowered the dinghy to the deck and then hoisted her back up now with the stern in the air and the bow on the ground. Still no luck so Bob got our endoscope out to see if he could see where it was stuck. It was hard to see but it definitely seemed like it was wedged between the hard aluminum wall and the inflatable part of the dinghy. We lowered Piccola back down to the ground and tried deflating her on the side where it appeared to be stuck, still no luck. At this point, we were getting desperate and extremely hot so Bob tried brute force to try and pull it free from the other side. This involved dish soap, ropes, and again some swearing but alas it was still stuck but good. At this point we began discussing just giving up, purchasing a new fuel line, and generally feeling really aggravated that what had started out as a really good morning was now rapidly going downhill. As we were starting to gather the tools and give up, Bob suddenly had one last idea. What if we took off the primer bulb and engine connector at the other end and tried to pass the line through, past where the other end was stuck, and pull it out from the opposite direction? It took a lot of pulling but finally about two hours after beginning this adventure the fuel line and connector came free! We have now added a zip tie to the line so that it will (hopefully) never happen again!!!
With our work completed, we took Monday to do some provisioning. We have been pleasantly surprised to find some great options in Grenada between some larger supermarkets as well as some smaller wholesale stores to find supplies. We also visited the US Embassy in Grenada to return our ballot for the upcoming election. It has been quite an adventure to successfully get our ballot from our election office in Texas including having to submit the necessary form three different times but I am hopeful our votes will be counted!! We also took time to celebrate the 35th anniversary of our first date with a great meal at Amara’s! On Tuesday, we headed out to Grand Étang National Park for some sightseeing. Probably the most adventurous part of the day was driving there! The roads were steep, windy, and very narrow but Bob navigated them like a champ, even when I missed some turns giving directions (oops 😁)! At the center of the park is the Grand Étang Lake, a naturally occurring body of water set in the crater of an extinct volcano. It was cool to see but there is still a lot of damage to the trails both around the lake and through the park from Hurricane Beryl. We were able to hike a portion of one of the open trails which was muddy but beautiful with colorful flowers along the path. Even though we did not get the full experience, it was definitely worth the visit and the views along the way were spectacular.
On Wednesday, we said goodbye to the marina and headed out to the bay to anchor. We had a great experience at Clarke’s Court Boatyard and Marina and highly recommend it! We are now anchored out in the bay while waiting for some parts we ordered to come in. We are using the down time to rest up and research our next big jump to the ABC’s and Panama beyond that. We hope to leave for Bonaire within the next week or two when we have a good weather window as this will be a multi day passage. Until then we will continue to enjoy Grenada and all it has to offer!
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