Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Category: Cruiser Connections

  • South of Latitude 12N

    As planned, Helen was collected by Anne and went off to Yoga hosted by Devi from Arctic Tern. She came back looking all fresh and stretched having enjoyed herself. We hung around and did our calls before heading round the corner to Mt Hartman Bay where we anchored for the first time south of 12 degrees North (Helen looks at me weirdly on this point).

    We had lunch then went ashore to look at Martin’s Marina and to have a walk around the peninsula that separates Prickly Bay and Mt Hartman Bay. Without a decent map we made a few wrong turns but got to see some interesting places and properties. We visited Prickly Bay Marina too which saves us taking Dignity there which we may have done tomorrow.

    Our walk took us to the very end of the peninsular to Prickly Point where the fancy houses gave way to a small bit of rugged land.

    One of the more interesting places we saw on the way back was a yellow castle like home. It would be cool to live in a place like that.

    Tomorrow we have one more marina to look at. We’re pretty sure we’ll anchor Dignity in Prickly Bay while we’re in New Jersey. However, when we return we’re due to get our upgrade on the control board and we need a marina for a night or two. Where this will be we haven’t decided. After tomorrow we’ll have seen them all and can decide.

    Tomorrow night we’re almost certain to go back to Clark’s Court Bay for their Fish and Chips evening. On Saturday there is a Grenada Hash House Harriers event planned. I hadn’t heard of the Hash Harriers before but it’s world wide. It seems to be a casual Rotary Club aimed at runners/walkers who like a beer or three. They describe themselves as drinkers with a running problem. Despite all this it is a family thing. Apart from the fact this seems to be right up our alley, this will be a good way to meet some of the indigenous population. They have a walk/run planned for Saturday afternoon so we reckon we’ll join them. They have an open invite on the VHF net every morning so we should be more than welcome.

  • Burger Night Out

    This was a lot of fun. Got to meet a bunch of folks who are either settling in for the summer or preparing to leave the Caribbean for the summer season. We bumped into the folks from Mimi and Catalyst who we last saw in Carriacou and ate our burger & fries with them. Another inexpensive night out all reinforcing our belief summer will be a lot of fun here. We bumped into Devi and Hunter from Artic Tern who we last saw on the beach in the Tobago Cays. We recognised some from last Sunday’s beach BBQ and no doubt some more of the faces will be known over time. Anne & Jim from Bees Knees were there but we all managed to find time for everyone else.

    The cooks, Rene & Cherryl, who are cruisers helping out also run a fish & chips night every other Friday. If we don’t make this coming Friday we must make the one in two weeks time.

    As ever, when we’re having the most fun I forget to take photos. Oops.

    Today we have some calls to make and make our last on line orders for things to collect in NJ. In a few minutes Helen will be off with Anne for yoga at Clark’s Court Bay Marina hosted by Devi from Arctin Tern. Later we will move the boat to explore more of the possibilities to the west of us. Today we’ll certainly look at Mt Harmon Bay where we may stop for the night. To the west of that is Prickly Bay which is a real cruiser hub and there’s also True Blue Bay which has some moorings we could possibly use too.

  • Day Trip to St Georges

    Quick synopsis of the rest of yesterday. We ran the water maker for two hours and filled our tanks. While doing this I called Spectra tech support. They decided to send us a new salinity probe free of charge plus firmware upgrade. That will go to out friends in NJ and we can take this back to the boat at the end of the month. In the afternoon the failure alarm went off again. Good job we have a new one going. Great support from Spectra. I also learned that the flush cycle continues to make water so continued fresh water flushing should eventually make battery compatible water.

    In the afternoon went snorkeling. Visited a couple of nearby spots anchoring the dinghy each time. Saw a mean looking barracuda (I know – they all look mean) about 3-4 feet long.

    Bees Knees turned up beside us. It seems like we’re on an elastic band. Swapped books/movies with them.

    Today we took the bus into St George, the capital, with Anne and Jim. Before going we moved Dignity a little nearer to Woburn, the little town here. Bees Knees have offered to keep an eye on Dignity while we are in NJ so we invited them over to learn how to move Dignity. Don’t think they’ll need to as we’ll take a mooring ball but better to be safe than sorry.

    We had a nice walk around town. Visited the market. Picked up some wine and basics. We took a look at the marina in town. Bees Knees have decided to take a dock there for the summer. We may pop in for a week or two. We want to pop down to Trinidad, maybe Venezuela, over summer so it’s not worth us booking anywhere up front.

    We caught the wrong bus back to where we left our dinghies. Turns out there are two Number 2 busses. We ended up getting a bit of an island tour as a result.

    Tonight we’re off to Clark’s Court Bay Marina for their burger night.

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  • Hog Island Walkabout

    This morning started off with a bit of success. If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that a part of a cruisers life is spent troubleshooting and/or fixing things. I have been keeping the trivial stuff out of the blog as it gets a bit boring I think. However, recently I discovered I could get significantly better reception on some of my side band radio bands by turning off the 12V supply to my ships ‘brain’. I had gone further by switching off every single power outlet and breaker coming out of the brain box and that would not lower the interference. I was under the assumption that the motherboard itself was the cause.

    I had mentioned this to Jim previously and he offered to take a look. I took him through what I had done so far and Jim, rather obviously, asked my what else the 12V supply I was turning off was connected to. “Only the water maker,” was my reply. So we turned that off (even though it was running) and hey presto, the interference dropped. I kick myself as this is the sort of question I ask others but needed Jim today to help me through the obvious. We further determined that connecting the SSB chassis to the water maker chassis also eliminated the noise without having to turn the water maker off.

    So now I have another summer project to properly connect the two chassis. For now I know to switch off the water maker to stop any interference.

    Just after Jim left Helen and I went for a walk around Hog Island. There is a road that winds through the island and the east and south borders have been sectioned into plots although nothing bar a bridge to the island has been built. The prime spot on the end of the island appealed to us the most. We were able to get down to the shore in places and walk on wind/sea eroded rocks. I took my hand held GPS stuck into my hat for good reception. Here is the track and pics from our trip.


    View 2009-05-11 Hog Island in a larger map

  • Hog Island Beach BBQ

    Leaving the north end of Clark’s Court Bay we weren’t entirely sure which of the many surrounding anchorages we should head to. When we learned from Bees Knees that there was going to be a beach BBQ on nearby Hog Island where they were anchored our mind was made up.

    We motored round to the anchorage using a buoyed dinghy channel. While coming round we saw Anne and Jim exploring the island. They gave us their ‘Happy Dance’ to greet us. It was fairly tight getting through the channel with the depth under 6ft towards the end of the channel but we made it without any scrapes. The anchorage was pretty packed but we found a spot.

    We stayed on the boat for the afternoon to avoid the heat and went ashore around 3pm. The BBQ had already started and locals and cruisers were already there with music playing and the live band setting up. We stayed until after dark meeting a number of people who we are likely to see again throughout summer. This is what I always imagined a Caribbean beach bar to be and now, after six months, we have found one. The BBQ is held here every Sunday. We can certainly imagine returning here a number of times over summer.

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