Quarantine on Songster at anchor in St Georges Bay went quickly. As is traditional amongst the boating community, every major anchorage has a VHF radio net in the morning. These radio nets tend to follow a standard format. First, the controller asks if there are any medical or safety issues, then a weather report is given followed by new arrivals announcing themselves or those who about to depart saying goodbye. Then there are various announcements of events, services and get-togethers followed by ‘treasures of the bilge’ where sailors buy, sell or swap spare equipment or parts. These radio nets are the life blood of sailors and a great way to stay informed, get advice and make friends.
But in addition the morning radio net, the cruising
community in Grenada was quick to organise lots of virtual entertainment over
the VHF radio for all the quarantine fleet.
Several evenings a week at sundowner time were trivia quizzes. Between sips of Caribbean rum fun questions
were answered. Everyone was on an honour
system to tally up their points to win virtual prises. There was a weekly bingo night which raised
money for the local community. There was
a ladies lunch where the women sailors chatted.
Nimrod’s Rum Shop, a popular hangout for musicians moved their Thursday
night jam sessions online and musicians posted videos of their latest offerings
for the punters. https://www.facebook.com/nimrodsrumshop/
In addition, there were various Facebook
pages for Grenada cruisers, Whatsapp groups and other social media networks. We really did not feel isolated, despite being
on a boat and not in physical closeness to anyone.
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| Coast Guard patrolling the guarantine anchorage |
Finally we got the email from MAYAG that we could come ashore on our dinghy to be tested for Covid-19 and if negative we could then check into the country. Once again the Grenada public health system was wonderfully efficient and professional. A testing station was set up at the quarantine dock. We had a finger prick Covid-19 antibody blood test. We received the result within 15 minutes while we waited in the shade of a lush tropical tree. As expected, we had a negative result so we were cleared to proceed to customs and immigration. There was a bit of a wait at customs but everyone was friendly and the clearances went smoothly. Hurrah! We were out of quarantine.
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| Our Health Clearance |
We returned to Songster and with a bit of a private ceremony and little dance on the deck, took down our yellow Q flag. The next morning we weighed anchor and set out for the short passage to Woburn Bay on the south of the island where we had booked a mooring ball at Whisper Cove Marina. If all went to plan for selling Songster (almost impossible to predict in these days of pandemic) this would be our last passage on Songster. What a passage! We certainly ended our sailing with a bang.
When we left the quarantine anchorage about 9:30 in the morning there were some ominous clouds forming but we assumed these would bring the usual brief passing showers that we have tended to experience almost every day here. We had a lovely downwind sail going along the western (leeward) coast of the island. We remarked how lovely it was and wouldn't it have been nice if the sail across the Atlantic was like that. Then we rounded the south western point of the island and the wind was on the nose, which was okay as we had expected this. But with the change in direction also came the most horrendous squall. We had 30+ knots of wind on the nose, bashing into waves and torrential rain with a visibility of only about 100 metres. It was the worse squall we have experienced. Fortunately it lasted only about 20 minutes.
The rain stopped and the winds eased slightly but we were still bashing through the waves with the engine flat out and only able to do about 3 knots. We had about 20 minutes of these slightly easier conditions when another squall hit. The rain wasn't quite so heavy so we could see a bit better but it was still awful. Then our engine started losing power. Thirty knot winds on the nose, rain, heavy seas crashing onto the deck, rocky shoals a mile to our port and we are losing our engine. We only had about 2 more miles to go to reach Whisper Cove but knew the engine would not last. We turned around and made for Prickly Bay just a short way behind us. Now with the wind to our back we could put out a bit of foresail and limp into the anchorage. We dropped the hook and hoped that it would hold as we had only one chance at this. Normally we would use the engine to pull back to make sure the anchor was well dug in. But with no engine, there would be no pulling back and no going forward to re-anchor. Fortunately the anchor did set after an initial drag of about 20 metres.
We spent a rocky rolly night in Prickly Bay and thanked our lucky stars that we and Songster were still in one piece. Bob was able to fix the engine with a relatively straight forward fix – change the fuel filter and clean out the loose debris that got stirred up in the heavy seas.
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| A Squall at Whisper Cove - not as bad as the one we experienced getting here |
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| After the storm |
The next morning we made our way to Whisper Cove Marina and John from the marina came out to tie us up to a mooring ball near the marina pontoons. After getting settled we lowered the dinghy and went ashore to check out the facilities. Whisper Cove has proved to be a wonderful oasis for the sailors here in Woburn Bay. As we have all been cleared of virus and the facilities are all open to the fresh air, we can socialize relatively normally. Their restaurant was still only partially opened but offered a small menu of delicious meals. In our first week on the mooring we ate there almost every day. It was such a treat to not have to cook after nearly 90 days of lockdown and quarantine.
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| View from the bar at Whisper Cove |
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| Songster on her buoy in Whisper Cove |
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| View out to sea |
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| Beautiful Flamboyant tree |
After two weeks on a mooring with poor Songster yet again getting a bottom covered in growth, it was time
to haul out Songster and put her on
the hard at Clarkes Court boat yard, just a few hundred meters across the bay
from Whisper Cove.
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| Songster coming out of the water |
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| Getting a good clean |
We had contacted Rosie, our broker, and all systems were go
for Songster to be put on the
market. https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/1979/oyster-39-3689278/ After being listed for only 12 days, Songster has a prospective buyer that
seems to have fallen in love with her as much as we have. (She is that kind of boat!) Rosie had arranged a video tour and question
time via SKYPE, an offer was made and a purchase agreement signed. Now with the airports beginning to open up,
hopefully J & C, the prospective buyers will be able to fly in to Grenada,
see Songster in the flesh (or GRP),
get a surveyor to assess her and take her for a sea trial.
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| Songster for sale |
If all goes to plan, Songster will have new owners by the end of August. I must admit that I have mixed emotions about this. But with the traumas of Australian bushfires near Bellingen, a pandemic stranding us in the Caribbean and increasingly creaky joints, it is time for us to take on a slightly less adventurous land-based life. But we will miss this.
