1330Z 17JUN22, Day 26, Ascension Island to Grenada. We made it! We flew the last 12 or so hours and we could have gone faster, but we kept things at a nice clip to arrive in the early morning.
Current Position: 12 03N / 061 45W - tied up in the Port Louis Marina
22.5 hour progress: 132nm, 5.9kts avg SOG, about 1 hour on the engine.
3264 nautical miles sailed
25 days 22.5 hours (622.5 hours)
5.24 knots average speed over ground
45.9 hours of engine time
2 dorado, caught, landed and eaten
2 ¿amberjack?, (1 medium and 1 small) caught, landed and eaten
6-8 other small fish caught and released back to the sea
Major Casualties: blown asymmetric spinnaker
9693nm sailed between 7 January - 17 June!!!
Yesterday's weather was hazy, but we still managed to get good solar power. We sailed deep down wind on a starboard tack. (Most of our sail to Grenada was on a starboard tack.) By late afternoon the course was a bit high and we wanted to go around the south end of Grenada so we considered our options. We decided to gybe the main sail and leave the genoa poled out on the port side. This increased our speed nicely and was quite comfortable with the calmer seas - rolly, but not too much.
As we were aiming for a morning arrival, we left the 3 reefs in the main. We could easily have added speed by shaking out some reefs. As the kids did their last watches we gave them night orders not to go too fast. They disobeyed (it's a joke, as they had no way to control speed) as the current picked up adding almost 2kts of boat speed. It must be a law of good ol' Murphy that the easiest time to effortlessly go fast is when you don't need or want to.
By Megan's mid-watch it was approaching time to put a little north back in our westerly course. We decided to wait a bit from the turnover and Megan was going to wake Jon for the maneuver. However, Daxton popped up to see how things were going and Megan quickly recruited his assistance. They gybed the main back across and were able to turn up pretty well soon to a broad reach which kept us moving well towards Grenada, along with the current.
Jon had the sunrise watch and both kids joined him - just a little excited about our arrival! They were able to secure the pole and turn north around the west side of Grenada while Megan continued to try to get in a little nap. It is quite nice to have the boys help with sails. It makes a difference.
We sailed north and had morning coffee. Then, when we were a few miles out and were no longer making headway to St George's by sailing close hauled, we secured the genoa and turned on the engine. We headed in and did all the normal boat clean up and preparations to anchor. As the cats were still not sorted we thought we would anchor out to try to figure out what was going on before we headed into the marina.
As we approached the anchorage we realized there were mooring buoys. We grabbed one and secured ourselves. We were able to find a free internet broadcast and start some research. Jon called the government office that was supposed to do our permit to try to see what was going on. Soon thereafter a dinghy came by from a neighboring boat. They welcomed us and we chatted for a minute. We mentioned our issue with the cats and they said they had the exact same issue (they have 1 cat) and their friend that has 2 cats also had the same issue! They assured us that it would be no problem to enter. They had declared the cat on the paperwork and nobody from customs asked for the permit which would show up later. This was all quite a relief that we weren't the only ones that this happened to and that it wasn't a big deal on check-in.
With this new knowledge we prepared to come in to the marina. Jon called the marina on the radio and they told us on which side to have fenders and promised to help us to our berth. So after about an hour on the mooring we were on our way into the marina. They guided us to our spot, but we decided it was a bit tight (marinas are tricky for us with no bow thruster and a short rudder, plus we were all tired after our passage!) and we negotiated for an easier spot. We were soon tied up and given a friendly welcome to Grenada.
Jon was then off for check in arrangements. They were indeed easy and Megan received the pet permits around the same time. We plan to stay in the marina for a week and to get some things done. Then we will cruise Grenada a little bit and finally head down to Trinidad for our boat work. There is a nice restaurant and a pool at the marina. Internet at the boat is a bit spotty, but it is good and fast at the restaurant and pool.
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