Blogs of Interest

Sailing blogs can be somewhat addictive. I know I have some favorites that I always go to. We want to mention a few that we think you will enjoy. Each of these boats and their crew are on different journeys so you'll get a taste of lots of great adventures.

This picture was taken back in July when Merengue, Fine Line and Beach House were all anchored in Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. Steve and Ann (left) on "Fine Line", a St Francis Catamaran are on their way to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao) via the off-shore islands of Venezuela. You can follow their trip at www.finelinesailing.blogspot.com. Geoff and Pat (right) on "Beach House", an Endeavor 42 are sailing the eastern Caribbean. Check out their blog at www.lifeonbeachhouse.blogspot.com.

The last blog is from a couple we met briefly in Montserrat, Trish and Robert on "Bristol Rose", a 43 ft ketch. We toured Montserrat together and it was fun to watch Jim and Trish, the 2 avid photographers as they sought out the best shots and talked photography. Trish and Robert are from Australia but have been living in the United States. They are retired now and are returning to Australia on Bristol Rose. You won't want to miss seeing this trip. Check out their blog at www.bristolrose.blogspot.com.

But don't stop visiting us! We'd miss you!

A Woman Scorned

Martin's Marina in Mount Hartman Bay has been Merengue's home for the past 7 weeks.

We left her in this protected marina when we traveled to the states. It's a quiet marina, only 3 other cruising boats docked here when we arrived.

Here's the view of the marina from the hill.

Merengue at the dock with all her canvas stripped off in case a storm came through while we were gone. Luckily, that never happened.

Back in Grenada and we're trying to get the boat back in order. We thought we'd take the opportunity to do a few projects while we're at the dock.

We decided to paint the bottom of our dinghy. You can buy a flexible, anti-fouling paint for dinghies and seeing how we always seem to have a tropical reef growing on the bottom of ours, we thought we'd give it a try. We've been carrying the paint around for the better part of the year because we never wanted to be stuck on the boat for several days while the paint dried. This was the perfect time and place for this project.

Look at these pictures of the stern of the dinghy before we painted it. The white square is the spot where cardboard was taped to the dinghy during shipping. It's been off for almost a year. It doesn't appear that there is any residue but still nothing sticks. Why can't they make bottom paint out of that stuff!


Docking in a marina means we have electricity to run power tools. I ran a sander over the rungs on our boarding ladder and then gave them several coats of Cetol. It's much easier to do this project on land then hanging over the back of the boat. It looks really pretty when it's done!

When we returned to Merengue, we thought we'd spend a few days getting the sails and canvas back on and take care of a few projects. It seems as though Merengue had a different idea. They say a boat is like a woman. She needs love, care, a gentle hand. She can be a demanding mistress. She doesn't like to be ignored! Apparently Merengue felt ignored. Things that worked fine when we left, suddenly didn't work.

Our solar panels were not charging our batteries. When Jim investigated he found this burned out solar controller. No problem. We can plug into shore power while he's doing the repair. This didn't work either. Apparently Merengue's battery charger is designed for 60 cycles only and the power at the marina is 50 cycles. Now we can't charge our batteries! Next came two trips to the marine store to buy a new controller. It took two trips because the first controller we purchased didn't work! Next, the refridgerator didn't seem to be cooling properly so Jim added some freon. Then we got up one morning to find the water intake for the toilet was clogged with weeds. Jim thought that as long as he had the hose off he would replace the pump that we knew was on it's last leg. He starts to put the new pump on and it doesn't fit. I guess they decided to design the new ones with a turn in the system so now our hose doesn't fit. He has to put the old one back on until he can make a trip to the hardware store to buy an elbow. Hours of work and nothing to show for it! Work always seems more pleasant with music playing but when we went to turn on the radio, it didn't work. It turns out the fuse holder had cracked. What else was going to go wrong! All these things were in working order when we left the boat. You know what they say about a woman scorned. We didn't turn our back on you Merengue! We love you! We would have called if we could! Enough is enough! Please forgive us!