Tuesday, December 9
Prickly Bay, Grenada

We started our day in the usual way listening to Chris Parker weather which told us probably Sat or Sun is the day to leave to start going north. Then we listened to the Cruiser’s Net. Nothing going on today we are interested in except for,shopping buses, and we did a major provision last Friday. Phil fixed French Toast for breakfast and we tried our new guava and passion fruit. I think our guava needs to ripen a little more as it wasn’t as sweet as I expected it to be. The passion fruit has lots of seeds and a slightly sour taste.

I spent a lot of the morning writing the blog and updating a few pages. Then we had lunch of sandwiches. Both Phil and I took naps. All this hard work is draining afterall. 😉😃 Really, it seems I take a nap every day! Don’t know why unless it’s the heat.

Our big excursion for the day was going in the dinghy to Budget Marine to buy the blue jerry jug containers. Turns out that we already were in the system from our last trip here. We bought only 2 to see how we do with them instead of 4-5 gal jugs we usually like to have on the boat. We really don’t have a place to put them all. Then we went to Prickly Bay Marina to use the water faucets on their dock to fill them with water. They are really heavy! One our way back to Changes, I suggested to try putting them up in the port (boarding gate) side of the boat so we didn’t have to lift them over the life lines. Typically we have the dinghy on the starboard side. I got on deck and lifted them up leaving them one on each side of the gate. Our deck fitting that opens into the water tank is also on the port side so we didn’t have to carry them far when Phil poured them in. After using the 2-5gal jugs and our last 2.5gal collapsible jug we were just 1 line down. Last year I marked 1″ lines from the top down on our water tank under the port settee and it gives us an idea how much water we have to go when filling the tanks. Tomorrow when we go somewhere, we will fill the jugs again and keep that in ready for when we run a little low.

I worked a little on my sock project while Phil read. Then I Started cooking supper trying to use some of,the fresh produce we bought. I decided to use the Trader Joes Couscous mix and add onions, green beans, caribbean carrots, garlic and the last of our spinach. I also tried one of the seasoning packets I bought. Still don’t know what it is. I think there was small mustard leaves and this stiff grass like green which I removed before we ate. Whatever it was, we have decided we don’t like the flavor. I did cook the Callaloo and it is very good. Even Phil likes it!! Yes something i can get locally. I bought only enough for a taste, so now will know how much more I’ll need for next purchase. We also had center cut boneless pork chops which were surprisingly good too. We have enough of the veggie couscous left for a serving. We also have a serving of the black beans and rice so won’t be long before we have a leftovers meal.

After supper about 6pm, Phil ran the engine to charge the batteries. It was putting out 80amps, 40 in each battery and he turned it off after an hour when it was charging 20 amps in each battery. It seems the 11hrs of daylight and partly cloudy conditions prevents us from getting a full charge from the solar panels.

We spent the evening knitting and reading interrupted by a short deluge of rain. I was listening to music with my Bluetooth headphones and then Phil called out it was raining. I ran to close the Forehatch slipping in water while Phil ran to close the Dodger window and put up the side windows in the cockpit. Because there was so much water on the floor, I thought it had been raining for a while, but no, the rain came down that fast and lucky for us, was blown mostly off the V-berth and onto the floor. Just the mattress center edge 8-10″ was wet and that dried quickly with the fan on.

I have found that the complicated design I’m knitting is enough to keep my brain active in the evening, but not too hard either. Otherwise I’m falling asleep at 8pm, too early for a good night sleep. These will be special socks, as the heel is not reinforced. The yarns is 65% merino wool, 30% silk and the rest nylon for strength. I was teasing Phil that I’ll have to buy special shoes to show off the backs of these socks. 😄 sorry guys if the knitting part is uninteresting. Just skip this part.