Sid's foot was getting better until he stubbed his toe again not just that he also stepped on a bee with that food ouch. We always used to make fun of him being Polish but we figured out that this is not really the problem, the real problem is his name. As all names have a meaning Sid's meaning is: Troubled and Bruised. So I guess we can't blame it on being Polish anymore we can blame it on his parents for naming him Sid LOL. In the mean time we've been moving back and fourth from Grand Anse to Clark's Court to True Blue for another Vet appointment back to Clark's and so fourth. The anchorages are so close together it really isn't much of an effort to move and gives us an excuse to make water. Tika did her two weeks of antibiotics and during that time she worsened. She was not herself at all, listless, drinking water excessively, didn't eat much, couldn't get comfortable in any position, spacey and we knew she was in pain. The new blood work showed that her Kidney reading had bettered from 59 down to 38 but she'll have a kidney problem from now on. She also lost 400 grams in just two weeks which is a lot for a little kitty like her. We're just waiting on her urine test before we make a decision. The doctor of course is optimistic that with a special diet and medication she could live a bit longer with this kidney condition. The problem is she does not like the new food which is low on protein and salt as she is a very picky eater. Also giving her meds is a torture for all three of us and not to mention last this special food and meds we can only get at special places we know they don't have in many country down here.
Anyway, we've been meeting new cruisers, making new friends so to speak and Manuela goes for daily walks with the girls. The Clark's Court area is really a nice area for it and very scenic although some of the trails are very tough. Saturday nights we join everybody for the potluck at the Clark's Court Marina where Cynthia and Manuela became Karaoke buddies, as soon as they start singing the place empties out but they have a wonderful time anyway until at least midnight.
So we're waiting on the test and also for our mail then we'll see what comes next. Weather has been just wonderful no tropical waves, no or not much rain, best of all no hurricanes and weather is still promising which for this time of the year is very unusual so we keep our fingers crossed that it stays that way.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Antibiotics for Tika
09/09/09
What a kewl date. It's been a while since we've been back in Grenada. For some reason we cannot get hooked up on email via our amateur radio and therefore we could not update regularly so we're a bit behind. Not sure what the problem is but it seems other cruisers are having the same problem. We had a great and smooth sail back to Grenada and hunkered down in True Blue Bay the southern end of Grenada. True Blue is a fairly small bay and due to lots of moorings from Horizon Yacht Charters there was no room for us to anchor. Although just before you enter the bay is a little bite that leaves enough room for 2 to 3 boats and so we anchored there. This turned out to be the perfect spot as we were protected from the south easterly swell and all by ourselves.
A fisherman placed a fairly good size net behind our boat and left it there. The next morning when he came to check on it he brought a beautiful spotted eagle ray to the surface and had to cut it out of the net it was so entangled. I called to him to let this beautiful animal go, but of course he just laughed and ignored me. To our surprise he didn't pull in the net but left it there and took off again. The following afternoon we noticed that something else was caught in the net so I went snorkeling and to my horror I saw another spotted eagle ray entangled in his net. I pulled the poor animal up and tried to free it, it was so entangled and impossible to get him free. Poor thing had already numerous scars from the net and was bleeding. I also noticed a huge spike just before his long tail started and thought to myself that there was nothing for me to do after all I didn't want to get stung by it. I did pet it tough and was amazed on how soft the skin was.
The very first day in this anchorage I took Tika to the vet, they tried to get blood and urine sample from her but failed so I had to return on Monday. Following Sunday we received the result, Tika has a very bad urinary track infection and shows signs of kidney failure and needed to be on antibiotics ASAP. While we waited for the result we headed to Clark's Court Bay and caught up with Diane on Jabulani. While there Jane on Cheetah II organized an Oil-Down trip. Oil-Down is a national dish the guys usually cook. It's a one pot meal with ingredients from chicken to picks tails, salt fish, bread fruit, green papaya, yam, pumpkin, green bananas, Callaloo leaves, turmeric they call saffron and coconut milk which was made out of grated fresh coconuts. We all participated in getting this wonderful dish together. Layer and layer of all the goodies went into the pot which then was cooked over an open fire. The whole village showed up for the oil down and all they ate was all the many deserts all the cruisers brought. I think the place was called Saint Davids and was up the mountains overlooking the east coast of Grenada. It was amazing what all crew there, cinnamon trees (they used the wood for the fire), star fruit or five finger fruit they call, mango, papaya, coconut, allspice, bananas, sour sop or guanábana, okra, carrots, all kind of herbs and many more things I don't remember.
Some of the girls went for walks in the morning and so I joined them it was a tough walk getting us over many steep hills, I was sore for a couple of days. The scenery though is very beautiful and I will go for other walks with the girls again. Clark's Court Bay is unfortunately a bit out in nowhere and going shopping is a bit tougher.
As soon as we received the news about Tika's condition we went pack to Prickly Bay where I then picked up her Antibiotics she needs to be on for the next two week. Then she has to do another blood test to see if the kidney is better as well, poor thing. While at Prickly we also did laundry worth two months, get this in Carriacou you can only get laundry washed by a service at 35 EC a load, which is 13 US$, ouch.
On the 8th we celebrated our 19th Anniversary with a rack of lamb and champagne dinner in and on Paradise. Wow 19 years already and it feels like it was just yesterday. Unfortunately big waves started rolling into the anchorage and made it almost unbearable, well for the other boats, we used both flopper stopper and had a relative quite night compared to everybody else. Needles to say we pulled anchor the following day and since we wanted to catch up with Marlene and Bruno on Diesel Duck we sailed up to Grand Anse Beach and anchored behind them. They just arrived a few weeks back from circumnavigating South America, around Cape Horn wow.
Sid's foot is getting better although his toe is still giving him a lot of grief, but at least he can leave the boat again and go boat part shopping.
What a kewl date. It's been a while since we've been back in Grenada. For some reason we cannot get hooked up on email via our amateur radio and therefore we could not update regularly so we're a bit behind. Not sure what the problem is but it seems other cruisers are having the same problem. We had a great and smooth sail back to Grenada and hunkered down in True Blue Bay the southern end of Grenada. True Blue is a fairly small bay and due to lots of moorings from Horizon Yacht Charters there was no room for us to anchor. Although just before you enter the bay is a little bite that leaves enough room for 2 to 3 boats and so we anchored there. This turned out to be the perfect spot as we were protected from the south easterly swell and all by ourselves.
A fisherman placed a fairly good size net behind our boat and left it there. The next morning when he came to check on it he brought a beautiful spotted eagle ray to the surface and had to cut it out of the net it was so entangled. I called to him to let this beautiful animal go, but of course he just laughed and ignored me. To our surprise he didn't pull in the net but left it there and took off again. The following afternoon we noticed that something else was caught in the net so I went snorkeling and to my horror I saw another spotted eagle ray entangled in his net. I pulled the poor animal up and tried to free it, it was so entangled and impossible to get him free. Poor thing had already numerous scars from the net and was bleeding. I also noticed a huge spike just before his long tail started and thought to myself that there was nothing for me to do after all I didn't want to get stung by it. I did pet it tough and was amazed on how soft the skin was.
The very first day in this anchorage I took Tika to the vet, they tried to get blood and urine sample from her but failed so I had to return on Monday. Following Sunday we received the result, Tika has a very bad urinary track infection and shows signs of kidney failure and needed to be on antibiotics ASAP. While we waited for the result we headed to Clark's Court Bay and caught up with Diane on Jabulani. While there Jane on Cheetah II organized an Oil-Down trip. Oil-Down is a national dish the guys usually cook. It's a one pot meal with ingredients from chicken to picks tails, salt fish, bread fruit, green papaya, yam, pumpkin, green bananas, Callaloo leaves, turmeric they call saffron and coconut milk which was made out of grated fresh coconuts. We all participated in getting this wonderful dish together. Layer and layer of all the goodies went into the pot which then was cooked over an open fire. The whole village showed up for the oil down and all they ate was all the many deserts all the cruisers brought. I think the place was called Saint Davids and was up the mountains overlooking the east coast of Grenada. It was amazing what all crew there, cinnamon trees (they used the wood for the fire), star fruit or five finger fruit they call, mango, papaya, coconut, allspice, bananas, sour sop or guanábana, okra, carrots, all kind of herbs and many more things I don't remember.
Some of the girls went for walks in the morning and so I joined them it was a tough walk getting us over many steep hills, I was sore for a couple of days. The scenery though is very beautiful and I will go for other walks with the girls again. Clark's Court Bay is unfortunately a bit out in nowhere and going shopping is a bit tougher.
As soon as we received the news about Tika's condition we went pack to Prickly Bay where I then picked up her Antibiotics she needs to be on for the next two week. Then she has to do another blood test to see if the kidney is better as well, poor thing. While at Prickly we also did laundry worth two months, get this in Carriacou you can only get laundry washed by a service at 35 EC a load, which is 13 US$, ouch.
On the 8th we celebrated our 19th Anniversary with a rack of lamb and champagne dinner in and on Paradise. Wow 19 years already and it feels like it was just yesterday. Unfortunately big waves started rolling into the anchorage and made it almost unbearable, well for the other boats, we used both flopper stopper and had a relative quite night compared to everybody else. Needles to say we pulled anchor the following day and since we wanted to catch up with Marlene and Bruno on Diesel Duck we sailed up to Grand Anse Beach and anchored behind them. They just arrived a few weeks back from circumnavigating South America, around Cape Horn wow.
Sid's foot is getting better although his toe is still giving him a lot of grief, but at least he can leave the boat again and go boat part shopping.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Back in Grenada
08/24
(LATITUDE: 12-38.11N LONGITUDE: 061-21.67W)
It rained enough over the few days for us to catch enough water to do some laundry. We filled the ice chest with water added detergent plus laundry closed the lid pulled anchor and headed back towards Tobago Cay while the motion of the ocean moved our cloths just like in a washing machine, well Sid had to help a bit later. This time we anchored by the entrance since the reef side is on the bumpy side this was so much calmer and offers an even more spectacular view over the reefs to Mayreau Island. The colors of the water and the green of the islands make this place a real jewel. We were the only ones anchored and saw that in the reef anchorage only 14 boats were at anchor after all this is the end of this years yachting season. We enjoyed being by ourselves and towards the evening a few dinghies gathered on the beach next to us and the kids started having a race in their kayaks and headed straight for Paradise, Sid grabbed the checkered flag we have and waved it to the winning kayak. They had so much fun they invited us to join them on the beach for some rum punch which we did. One couple was from Switzerland, one family from England, one from Russia and one from Colombia. We had so much fun they all invited us to join them in Chatham Bay the next day.
When we woke up the next day the most beautiful view awaited us, I wished I could describe it, the water was as clear as the air and you could see miles and miles even Carriacou wasn't just a blur but crystal clear and we could see Paul and Karin's house, the colors so vivid we could no take our eyes of it. Around noon we lifted anchor and sailed with spinnaker up out of this Paradise and had an incredible spinnaker run to Chatham Bay on the west side of Union island.
(LATITUDE: 12-36.22N LONGITUDE: 061-26.93W)
This is again an entirely different looking anchorage, surrounded with steep lush hills in-between showing some rugged cliffs while a steep too with sandy beach rested on the foot. The bay is very protected from wind and wave unless it should come out of the west which is rare but the wind tends to shriek down the hills and hit the boats and any angle. The water was clear and turtles popped up all around us. I went for a snorkel but did not find any of them.
We met up with the beach party crew and had a great evening with fun and games.
At the beach party in Tobago Sid had pulled a muscle or tendon on his left ankle that gave him a lot of grief for two days he couldn't step on hid foot and it was swollen pretty bad so he was out of commission. Not just that poor Tika hasn't been herself lately and is getting worse. She's 14 years old and started to loose her pee, first we thought that she was not happy and showing it to us in leaving us presents either on the bed or on top of the dodger. Over the weeks it's gotten worse and since a few days it's really bad and Sid noticed that even when she lays somewhere there is a wet spot around her, which means she's not aware of it, not good for her and for us as I have no laundry machine on the boat. We decided best to head back to Grenada where there is a good veterinarian hospital. I tell you either we are the Grizwald's or the cruising is tough.
We sailed around the corner to Clifton checked out with the authority then sailed back to Hillsborough where we caught a nice big fish. Checked back into Carriacou and headed over to Paul and Karin's house to tell them about our plans. We spend a nice dinner with them at the house and pulled anchor at 4 am in the morning and headed back to Grenada.
(LATITUDE: 12-38.11N LONGITUDE: 061-21.67W)
It rained enough over the few days for us to catch enough water to do some laundry. We filled the ice chest with water added detergent plus laundry closed the lid pulled anchor and headed back towards Tobago Cay while the motion of the ocean moved our cloths just like in a washing machine, well Sid had to help a bit later. This time we anchored by the entrance since the reef side is on the bumpy side this was so much calmer and offers an even more spectacular view over the reefs to Mayreau Island. The colors of the water and the green of the islands make this place a real jewel. We were the only ones anchored and saw that in the reef anchorage only 14 boats were at anchor after all this is the end of this years yachting season. We enjoyed being by ourselves and towards the evening a few dinghies gathered on the beach next to us and the kids started having a race in their kayaks and headed straight for Paradise, Sid grabbed the checkered flag we have and waved it to the winning kayak. They had so much fun they invited us to join them on the beach for some rum punch which we did. One couple was from Switzerland, one family from England, one from Russia and one from Colombia. We had so much fun they all invited us to join them in Chatham Bay the next day.
When we woke up the next day the most beautiful view awaited us, I wished I could describe it, the water was as clear as the air and you could see miles and miles even Carriacou wasn't just a blur but crystal clear and we could see Paul and Karin's house, the colors so vivid we could no take our eyes of it. Around noon we lifted anchor and sailed with spinnaker up out of this Paradise and had an incredible spinnaker run to Chatham Bay on the west side of Union island.
(LATITUDE: 12-36.22N LONGITUDE: 061-26.93W)
This is again an entirely different looking anchorage, surrounded with steep lush hills in-between showing some rugged cliffs while a steep too with sandy beach rested on the foot. The bay is very protected from wind and wave unless it should come out of the west which is rare but the wind tends to shriek down the hills and hit the boats and any angle. The water was clear and turtles popped up all around us. I went for a snorkel but did not find any of them.
We met up with the beach party crew and had a great evening with fun and games.
At the beach party in Tobago Sid had pulled a muscle or tendon on his left ankle that gave him a lot of grief for two days he couldn't step on hid foot and it was swollen pretty bad so he was out of commission. Not just that poor Tika hasn't been herself lately and is getting worse. She's 14 years old and started to loose her pee, first we thought that she was not happy and showing it to us in leaving us presents either on the bed or on top of the dodger. Over the weeks it's gotten worse and since a few days it's really bad and Sid noticed that even when she lays somewhere there is a wet spot around her, which means she's not aware of it, not good for her and for us as I have no laundry machine on the boat. We decided best to head back to Grenada where there is a good veterinarian hospital. I tell you either we are the Grizwald's or the cruising is tough.
We sailed around the corner to Clifton checked out with the authority then sailed back to Hillsborough where we caught a nice big fish. Checked back into Carriacou and headed over to Paul and Karin's house to tell them about our plans. We spend a nice dinner with them at the house and pulled anchor at 4 am in the morning and headed back to Grenada.
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Salt Whistle Bay, Mayreau Island
08/21
Bad weather was predicted as another tropical waves was closing in, this one was predicted with gusts up to 45 knots so it was best to leave the reef and find a more protected anchorage as this anchorage was pretty rough at almost all times when wind and current played games with each other. We sailed 3 miles back and settled in Salt Whistle Bay the northern part of Mayreau Island
which is a small bay able to hold about 30 boats and is surrounded by a beautiful sandy beach.
You can find it on Google Earth with:
LATITUDE: 12-38.87N LONGITUDE: 061-23.49W).
The northern part of the beach is like a window where you can look through to the other side where crashing waves foamed over the reef. The beach was overgrown with palm trees, hidden between them was a resort which you could not see from the anchorage and beyond the beach a high hill overgrown with lush vegetation. We eventually ventured ashore to find that the resort was abandoned, not sure if just for the season or for good. The anchorage was a bit rolly so the flopper stopper came in handy again and we sat nice and calm while all the other sailboats rocked from ear to ear. After the sun had set and the darkness crept over us the first squalls showed up and pelted us with heavy rain then the wind really let loose and for a good 20 minutes howled at a steady 30 knots with gusts up to 35 knots, pretty intense. It rained for a long time and it took a couple hours for the wind to calm down again to no gusts. In the mean time we collected a lot of water which filled up our sun shower bag. We sat in this most beautiful anchorage for 3 days watching one boat after another leave and new ones show up again while Sid sill recuperated. Were definitely in the land of French charter boats as wherever you looked naked people walked around on their boats and any boat anchoring tries to get as close to the next boat even if they drop the anchor almost on top of the other boats, amazing. We had fun watching though, the anchoring that is!!!
Bad weather was predicted as another tropical waves was closing in, this one was predicted with gusts up to 45 knots so it was best to leave the reef and find a more protected anchorage as this anchorage was pretty rough at almost all times when wind and current played games with each other. We sailed 3 miles back and settled in Salt Whistle Bay the northern part of Mayreau Island
which is a small bay able to hold about 30 boats and is surrounded by a beautiful sandy beach.
You can find it on Google Earth with:
LATITUDE: 12-38.87N LONGITUDE: 061-23.49W).
The northern part of the beach is like a window where you can look through to the other side where crashing waves foamed over the reef. The beach was overgrown with palm trees, hidden between them was a resort which you could not see from the anchorage and beyond the beach a high hill overgrown with lush vegetation. We eventually ventured ashore to find that the resort was abandoned, not sure if just for the season or for good. The anchorage was a bit rolly so the flopper stopper came in handy again and we sat nice and calm while all the other sailboats rocked from ear to ear. After the sun had set and the darkness crept over us the first squalls showed up and pelted us with heavy rain then the wind really let loose and for a good 20 minutes howled at a steady 30 knots with gusts up to 35 knots, pretty intense. It rained for a long time and it took a couple hours for the wind to calm down again to no gusts. In the mean time we collected a lot of water which filled up our sun shower bag. We sat in this most beautiful anchorage for 3 days watching one boat after another leave and new ones show up again while Sid sill recuperated. Were definitely in the land of French charter boats as wherever you looked naked people walked around on their boats and any boat anchoring tries to get as close to the next boat even if they drop the anchor almost on top of the other boats, amazing. We had fun watching though, the anchoring that is!!!
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