Grenada Again

We're home, back in Grenada.

Back to blue sky and water, green hills and white sand.

Back to warm breeze and warm temperatures.

It feels good.  It feels right.

Detour to North Carolina

Here's a few more beautiful fall pictures, this time from North Carolina.

It is 7 years since we first visited here.  We were in our first year of cruising, motoring down the Intracoastal Waterway and we were taken in by the scenery and friendly people.

Hiking has been a pleasure, both in the state parks and on the walking trails near our friend Reed's home.

Just a few hours from Durham and we were on the Atlantic beaches.

Gorgeous stretches of white sand as far as you can see.

We came across a kite festival at Wrightsville Beach.

Just look at the size of these kites in comparison to the people on the ground!

A beautiful sight on a perfect fall day at the beach!

Tomorrow it's back to beautiful Grenada.

We have a few weeks of boat projects to finish up before launching Merengue.

Can't wait to be back on the water!

If a leaf falls in the woods and no one is around .....

..... is it still frickin' cold!

After a wonderful summer and fall in northern Wisconsin, it's time to head south.

We closed up the cottage for the winter and will head back to Grenada in a few weeks after visiting with family and friends.

 These photos show the beauty that is northern Wisconsin in the fall.

Northern Wildlife

Here's a few of Jim's photographs from our boat ride around the lake yesterday.

Eagle and Common Loon sightings are a daily occurrence but one we never get tired of.

If you've never heard the call of a loon, echoing over a lake, you are missing something.

It is both eerie and beautiful. 

Another reason we love northern Wisconsin in the summertime.

At the Lake

To regular followers of this blog, our apologies for the absence of new posts.

We use this blog to tell you about the cruising life and show you the Caribbean islands we visit. 

This summer we are back in the States, spending the summer at a cabin in northern Wisconsin.

 

 We still wake up to views of the water and beautiful green shoreline.

We still get to do our favorite things.

A cabin at the lake for the summer. 

It's my personal heaven!

We'll be back aboard Merengue in beautiful Grenada later in the fall.

See you then!



On the Hard - Part 2

 

 Merengue has been on the hard for a month and the projects continue.

Here is the new, plastic fuel tank we had fabricated in Maine and shipped to Grenada.



 

Fuel tank in place and ready to have the hoses attached.

 

 

Prepping the teak for Cetol is a long, tedious job.

 

 

We think it's worth the effort when the teak shines like this again.

We've been staying in an apartment and thought we'd give you a tour of our accommodations.

There are many apartment complexes in the south of Grenada and the residents are primarily students at St. George's University.  We are staying at the Grenada Gold Apartments which is only a half mile from the boat yard.  The apartments are really nice and the staff is great.

 



 Our apartment is on the third floor and opens on to this large deck which we usually have all to ourselves.  It's a great place to have dinner and enjoy the breeze.

 

Seating area with flat screen TV to the right and kitchen to the left.

 

The bedroom has lots of windows and a door that opens on to a small deck.

 

 "Mutt" is the resident watchdog and our new best friend.

It might have something to do with the dog treats we give him.

"Tom" is the resident cat who jumps up on the windowsill to say hi.

He wasn't too fond of eating dog treats (how did he know they were for dogs?) but loved the pizza crust I gave him.

 

 We've been working very hard so we decided to take an afternoon off and walk to a beach that we hadn't been to before.  The beach is Morne Rouge, home of the beautiful La Luna Resort.

 

This would be a beautiful location for you to stay if you came to visit us. (hint, hint!)

 

 

On the Hard

 

We hauled Merengue last Monday for some repairs and new bottom paint.

As many times as I've seen her hanging in a sling, which was twice a year in Milwaukee, I'm always a little nervous.  Boats are meant to be floating, not hanging in the air or propped up on hard ground!

 

 

Repairs began the same day and it's been a productive week.

 

The packing for the stuffing box was replaced.

Old packing on the left and new packing material on the right.

 

 

The thru hulls were replaced.

We also have new lower rigging (uppers were done in St. Thomas a few years ago), a new topping lift, the Y-valve has been lubricated and the new fuel tank will be installed this week.  The hull below the waterline was sanded in preparation for new paint.  The hull above the waterline was cleaned and polished.  We also have our own list of projects that we are working on while the guys in the boatyard handle these big projects.

 

Cruisers have a saying that B.O.A.T. stands for

Break Out Another Thousand.

In our case there should probably be an S on the end of thousand.

Yikes!

 

While Merengue gets primped and polished, we are staying on land.

The boat is so torn up inside that there is no way we could live aboard while the work is going on.  We are in a lovely apartment where we have unlimited hot water, cable T.V., choice of ceiling fans or air conditioning, microwave oven, high speed Internet, etc.  I know most of you will think we are crazy but we find ourselves missing living on the water in Merengue.  I guess we are well suited to the live aboard lifestyle!