A Day in the Life

Here's one of the views across the anchorage in Prickly Bay. We've been looking at this a lot lately because we've been stuck on the boat with a broken outboard. On the way back to Merengue with a dinghy full of groceries the spring that retracts the pull-start broke.

With no parts available on the island for a 18 year old Johnson we had no choice but to order the parts on-line and have them shipped from the states. What did people do before the internet? Nine days and $122 later we had our $19 part. The parts (plus a few spares in case anything went flying overboard during installation) were $37. The other $85 went to priority shipping and fees to have it cleared through customs. Ouch! Paradise doesn't come cheap.

We propped the outboard up in the cockpit and plugged the cockpit drains. You know if you drop a screw it will automatically head for the drain! Jim had us up and running again in a few hours. We are now free to come and go as we please! Thanks to Scott and Sue on Enee Marie for taking us in to Happy Hour so we could talk to someone besides each other and for taking us to shore for groceries and to get our boat part. Also to Jacumba for stopping by to see if we needed anything and coming to play Dominoes with us on Sunday. Barry on Bodacious gave us a tow when he saw us paddling from shore and offered to loan us an outboard. Everyone was looking out for us and we appreciate it.

OK, this has nothing to do with engine repair but how funny is this cat? Bailey loves when you flip her over on her back and rub her belly. She becomes Jello-kitty!

The hurricane season has become very active. There have been 10 named storms so far this year, several reaching hurricane strength. We watch the weather systems carefully as they roll off of Africa. This video shows graphics of the storms currently in the Atlantic and Caribbean. The reason we chose to spend the season in Grenada is that the island lies at 12 degrees north, just south of the hurricane zone. But we have to stay alert to the weather. Occassionally hurricanes do veer this far south, as Ivan did in 2004. It was the first hurricane in almost 50 years to hit Grenada. Lets hope it's the last!

One last funny story. We went to the vegetable market in St. Georges again on Wednesday and one of the ladies was trying hard to get Jim to buy from her. When we went to leave she called out to Jim, "Hey Baby. You do me a favor. When you get home you put those legs on ice for me, OK Baby." Jim says he needs something from the market today. Hmmmmmm.....