Hogg Island Anchorage, Grenada

To summarise:

Back on Amelie in Le Marin, Martinique

Sail to St Pierre, Martinique  to meet up with Babe

24 hour blast down to Grenada

4 days in Grenada to fix fridge/freezer and meet up with Peter & Wendy

We arrived back in Le Marin, Martinique from the UK in torrential rain. This was quite surreal as we’d left Paris that morning in beautiful sunshine.

One of our first jobs whilst in the marina was to get the VHF/AIS aerial replaced. This entailed Debbie winching Stephen up the mast to the first spreader, several times. Jacques from Diginav was extremely helpful and we now have a fully functioning aerial, although as a boat we don’t transmit, only receive signals by AIS, remaining in stealth mode!

We returned from our UK trip with umpteen spares for Amelie, including new glow-plugs and reconditioned injectors for the generator, which we promptly replaced and the generator is working perfectly.

Another great sail to St. Pierre in the north of the island to meet up with the Babes and caught up with Spent too. We parted ways after 36 hours heading to different islands to get our freezers and ‘fridge issues looked at before setting off towards the Venezuelan and Columbian coasts.

Stuart, who is based in Grenada and has done some exceptional work on Amelie in the past, agreed to sort out our fickle refrigeration units. 

Amelie had a storming sail to Hog Island, Grenada with the hydrogenerator providing electricity without breaking down, arriving in the daylight after only 24 hours at sea. Hog Island is an area we didn’t visit during our 6 month stay last year in Grenada. It is one of the most beautiful anchorages, protected from the swell but with a healthy current keeping the anchorage clean, water making wasn’t a problem. Stuart and Helen welcomed us in to the bay and joined us for sundowners on board Amelie. Stuart savoured several of Stephen’s Dirty Vodka Martinis and planned to work on the units the following morning. After supper we retired and slept for nearly 12 hours….bliss.

The freezer plate issue was quickly resolved but the ‘fridge proved to be more stubborn with Stuart having to remove the compressor so he could work on it in the cockpit, replacing the dryer and two of the sealed connectors before it gurgled healthily.  The gin and the beers are now suitably chilled.

Despite the jobs we still enjoyed time with friends within our very short stay. We had a great lunch with Helen and Stuart, eating lots of French cheese and pates, washed down with wine. Later that day, Wendy and Peter with Ryan, Nicki and Milly arrived on Amelie and between us, wehad a Tapas style supper. It was great to meet the younger members of the family as we’d heard a lot about them and they were fun to be around. They invited us to a music evening in Prickly Bay the following evening with a local band and a folk band from Martinique. The musical talent in Grenada never fails to surprise us and we were entertained by a very flexible lady doing some moves across the dance floor……Stephen said she resembled someone dodging bullets!

While in the area we had lunch at Le Phare Bleu, overlooking the small marina within the reef. The food has certainly improved in the restaurant and lunch was absolutely delicious. It was sad yet exciting to see Sephina of Beaumaris moored safely and looking good. It felt weird not to have Ju and Clive there but they are now back in the UK with their family and their new home ashore. Crazy Daisy was shining in the sunlight and we’re hoping to see them in the next few months.

Monday was our last day in Grenada and extremely busy with provisioning, finding pipe tobacco as  an emergency ration, putting “Wally”, the hydrogenerator on the stern with a new propellor and setting up Amelie with the twin headsails for a downwind sail to Bonaire.

We had our last supper with Wendy, Peter and family in their beautiful home and made our sad goodbyes (again) until we see them on Amelie in January. Wendy has the horrible experience of saying goodbye to Ryan and Nicki who have been in Grenada for 5 months but hopefully she will see them soon.

We left by 8am the following day and embarked on the next part of our adventure, sailing smoothly downwind and looking forward to seeing Bubbles who awaits us in Bonaire.