We're back in Grenada and on our own again after a busy few weeks - January has passed in a flash. It was great fun having friends on board, very much a holiday-like atmosphere, but it's back to maintenance and repairs now for us ..... there's always a price to pay! Paul has the floor of Pandora up as we speak trying to fathom why the fresh water pump has suddenly started misbehaving - it was fine before we set sail yesterday morning but had given up the ghost by the time we arrived in Grenada. Probably to keep the shower pump (which packed up during the last week) company ....
We were speaking to friends in Bequia about the extreme weather before we sailed south and they said they had never experienced anything like it in January before .... and they have been out here over 12 years. They also had the doubtful pleasure of sailing in the same gale we did on Tuesday - not for the faint hearted it has to be said - and really couldn't believe it was happening. Looks like we picked the wrong year to embark on this adventure!
We've been out here just over 12 weeks now which I have to say has passed very quickly. It's been a very different experience from what I'd expected: not the relaxing adventure I'd imagined it would be, but that was probably naive expectations on my behalf.
On the plus side of things, we're both tanned, fit and well, are a great team and have had the opportunity to experience a different culture and way of life first-hand. We have also improved as sailors (as so often is the case in the face of adversity) and have a pretty tight definition of what we would want on our next boat .... yes, I'm still keen to buy another and it would be from a far more informed point of view than three months ago.
On the down side we've suffered two collisions in the middle of the night, various and on-going technology problems which have curtailed our sailing plans, one attempted dinghy theft, a bout of dengue fever and various other cuts/bruises etc etc. It would have been easy to throw in the towel on a number of occasions but we didn't and are still here!
I'll leave you to decide whether it's been worth it!!!