Week 21; Hauling out in Grenada

Friday August 22nd 2014

Hauling out in Grenada

Life back on land:

This week was the week that Amelie was getting hauled out of the water, to get her “Bottom Done”, which is sort of like getting her a pedicure for her Hull and Keel; You know: things are scrapped off, things are painted on, that sort of deal. In order to haul out Amelie’s 13.4 meters (length), 2.1 meter (Depth), and Gross tonnage of 27t, we chose to go to Grenada Marine Ship Yard on the South End of the Island. 

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The first step was to back the boat  into a type of “pen”, which Cptn Mark did very well. He is getting better at the "reverse" thing...

Next, a hoist is wheeled up on either side of her. Four wide straps are then positioned, two on either side of the keel. Meg calls these: the "Large underpants"

Once these are secured, she is slowly and carefully lifted out of the water.

Once she is lifted high enough to clear the ground, she is rolled to her designated spot in the yard, where braces are placed all around her hull. 

In order to have access to the boat, we have to use a ladder to get up and down the 13 feet from the ground to the cockpit.

Rather than trying to maneouvre down a ladder with bags, we  used a rope to lower all of our luggage and food down, it was lots of fun!

While Amelie is being cared for and pampered in the ship yard, the family have moved into a lovely little one bedroom holiday apartment in Morne Rouge. (South West Side on Grenada).

After nearly 5 months of living and sleeping onboard, it takes some adjustment, but it has not been as difficult as I had thought it might be, it is amazing how quickly we adapt back to life on 

“Terra Firma”. 

Our holiday Apartment in Morne Rouge

 I think everyone would agree that the BEST part of living on land has to be, THE FRIDGE, which, in our our eyes, almost has an aura of reverant light eminating from it as we all stand in awe of its magnificent presence and roomy interior. Enough room for a WATERMELON ?  and POPSICLES !!!!  This is going to be fun !  

The super fast internet has been fantastic too, as I prepare for school in these last few weeks of August..

Meghan has been keeping up with her social life, now that two other “Kid Boats” have arrived in our “hood”, and they are filled with teenage girls ! There are now a total of 10 young ladies who hang out together in these last few days of summer. I have a feeling that Meghan is going to miss all of this when we leave Grenada in the fall !! For now, she is lucky that she can get picked up by her friends by dinghy from the beach to go spend some time with them in the anchorage or at volleyball. 

Matthew is enjoying having the choice between pool OR beach everyday. He is also enjoying the shower in the apartment, and he likes turning on the TV, a lot like his dad !!!  We go for daily"hikes" walking to the big grocery store and coming back with popsicles and watermelons (oh, and other food too!)

There is still plenty for us to discover on Grenada, but with Mark being away everyday (at the boat yard, supervising), we prefer to wait for him before doing anything new and exciting. So this will be a short blog, as we enjoy life back on land for a while.

At First, Matthew was not too sure about this whole "Hauling Out" business,  but he thought the hoist was cool.

Beach access from our Appartment

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Matthew enjoying the beach in Morne Rouge