Hot and sunny.

We arrived! No troubles at the airport, in fact we arrive much earlier than we expected: we get our rental car, we go to see our new purchase.

Of course the battery installation is not complete but Fabien is working on it and has the house batteries installed so at least we can operate all internal stuff like fridges and lights. Kinda important.

In our naivete, we thought we would land on the dock, and go for a mooring, spend a few days provisioning and then sail out.

Ha! What rookies. Gotta factor in Grenada time plus nothing ever goes as you expect with sailboats and with sailboats in the Caribbean.

We give James and Fabien a bottle of Canadian maple syrup each to get them both on our side. Hope that is well spent.

Where do the expenses begin? Let me count the ways.

The inspection told us the anchor chain needed replacing but we thought it would last until haulout. On closer look with James it is obvious that chain is not reliable and in fact is the wrong size for our windlass. Need to replace – 200 feet of 10 mm chain = EC$3500 about C$1750.

Windlass doesn’t even work and needs to be completely overhauled which is Martin’s problem thankfully – that job takes all week.

Nichol comes on Wednesday to inspect/test the water maker. First thing he does is freak out over the inlet through hull. It is VERY scary though looks worse because the handle is completely corroded off. They recommend and emergency haulout – US$500. Thank heavens that’s Martin’s problem too.

Lotsa things broken/need replacing/don’t work very well. The fridge and freezer suck, there are two pumps that don’t work (aft shower drain pump, freezer drain pump) and we will find many more over the coming days.

But we need to haul out. Good news is they also fix the leaking driveshaft. All at Martin’s expense. As we go on through this adventure, we will have little regards for any expense Martin has to bear.

Now what about the dodger? It was supposed to be installed on the boat on our arrival. It is not. Every day we inquire about its whereabouts but that it is not ready. We find out the dodger is across the bay from Clarke’s at a sailmaker there – I dinghy across on Wednesday to find out the status. They’ve had the dodger since last fall sometime – when can I pick it up?

Did we mention this is Easter weekend coming up? Everything will be closed Friday, Sunday and Monday and only retail businesses will be open on Saturday. If we don’t get that dodger before Friday we are in a spot of bother.

Christy and I clear out the rust from the chain locker. You wouldn’t believe how much is down there. 100 lbs maybe? We have to go down into the locker which is in the shape of a tiny inverted pyramid and scoop out the rust with an empty soup can. I just barely fit in there (I kinda wonder if I am going to be able to get out again) and it is very uncomfortable. But we get it done and flush out the remainder with water. That saves a lot of weight.

Meanwhile we discover the Hogg’s Island Beach we’ve heard about. It’s pretty interesting – a little strip of beach on an otherwise mangrovey and rocky island. There’s a couple of “bars” (shacks with booze) and lots of seating made out of everything yachties cast away.

On the dock at Clarke’s we also meet a Canadian couple preparing to haul out on Thursday, right after our emergency haulout. His name is Roger and I know I know him from somewhere. We discover he used to work at HP so I assume it is from the old days when OAM was a big HP reseller. They are lovely and on Wednesday we go with them to La Phare Bleu for wing night. The conversation is nice and then I happen to mention I used to work at CGI. “THAT’S where I know you from” says Roger, “We did a big HP licensing deal together there”. Sure enough he knows Bernard and David O and we laugh that neither of us figured that out. It’s only been 8 years.

They end up staying at La Phare Bleu for a couple nights after they haul out and we visit them for a wine and cheese one night with some other yachtie friends of theirs. Great fun and LPB looks like a great place for a respite. US$250 per night for a beautiful, one bedroom bungalow. Christy and I spent that on a 2 star place over by Mourne Rouge Bay.

Some things come together quickly on Thursday. Fabien finishes all battery jobs and fixes the windlass. When he’s done that, we attach the anchor and hoist the new chain. That is one sexy chain and anchor. We will learn to love that chain and anchor.

Thursday at about 5:30 pm I pick up the dodger. Talk about cutting it close.