Hot, sunny.

We’re intending to sail to St. Lucia to meet some people we met in the Grenada airport who are there for the ARC windup. We’re looking (well Christy is looking) at all the sailing info on the route and the destinations. Turns out both St. Vincent and St. Lucia are pretty unsafe for cruisers though there is a ton to see and do. Also there are some tricky anchoring requirements along the way that we are mostly unprepared for. As pretty novice boat owners we’re reluctant to take a risky journey.

But then our decision gets made for us.

I’m frustrated with our solar power generating system -it’s been showing 0 watts for a couple days now and we either have to run the engine or the generator to keep the batteries up and the fridge cold. I figure maybe the wires from the panels are broken/disconnected so I open up the power centre under the chart table seat and inspect. The MPPT controller is flashing blue which means not enough PV voltage to turn on the charger. So I disconnect the PV side and measure the voltage – 30V!! Bags. The battery side is 12V which is normal. Talk to Fabien via email, try a bunch of tricks but nothing works, the controller never engages. James at Horizon says he can get me a new one, with all the new bells and whistles and the same unit Fabien quoted for our solar update by Friday. It’s only US$550.

But at least we don’t have to lie to our friends about why we’re not going to St. Lucia. We need to stay here to wait for the part. That also means we can relax a bit and take our time dawdling back to Grenada, spend some more days exploring bays and islands that we haven’t seen much of.

Assuming of course, my foot and Christy’s toe get better.

That decision takes a weight off of both of us and we chill in the boat for much of the day. We really haven’t had much chill time, pictures notwithstanding.

Later in the afternoon we dinghy over to the Dockside Chandlery and scope out a few things. I want to get a rubber snubber – EC$350!!! For a 12″ piece of rubber. We’d like a second anchor – EC$1500!!! Yikes. We do buy a spare gas can for the dinghy – about C$35 which ain’t too crazy.

Next we go for the long walk down the Princess Margaret pathway (she ain’t no princess) to the end of the beach also with her name. Both our feet aren’t ready for the long walk into Lower Bay so we head back for a swim in the shade on the beach. Very refreshing. I have, um, a biological need that can’t be postponed any longer, in fact, has become a matter of some urgency. We walk fairly briskly back to the Plantation Hotel, a beautiful spot with wide gardens looks like it came right out of a Humphrey Bogart movie. I do my business then we decide to stop at the bar.

Ya gotta hydrate. Wait, what? It’s Happy Hour? Ok, two rum punches please. It’s two rums for the price of one and when they drinks come I figure it’s a double rum for the price of one they’re so strong. Nope, first drink is EC$13.50, second one free, they’re both doubles. We’d do it again but we’d be hammered. Best deal is 4 beer in a bucket of ice for EC$30. We’ll come back.

Back to the boat. C makes dinner, I update this and do some other work.