Week 31- Halloween !

The kids getting ready to go trick or treating

Thursday October 30th 2014

Pssttt, have you heard ? Boat work, there is no escaping it !

We have some friends here in Grenada who have put their boat up for sale and they were telling us about one potential buyer who had written them a long list of things our friends would have to replace if they were to buy ; new sails, new rigging,new generator, the list went on and on. These would-be buyers said they had to insist on such a long list because : 

"They were going sailing for three years and they didn’t want to have to do any work on their boat while travelling"

 Haha !  That is the best punch line I’ve heard in a long time ! Those poor people, I feel badly for them for having such high expectations !  Ask anyone who has travelled extensively on a boat and they will tell you the ugly truth: everyone goes through what we are going through at one point or another, even on brand new million dollar boats, there is always something. Some other friends of ours bought their beautiful boat, brand new, seven years ago, and they tell us that they *think* that they have finally gotten rid of the last “bug”  this year ! 

But that is just part of the cruising life, and we knew that going in. So here we are, it been a month since we started the repair work on the decks, work is progressing, especially in the last few days, and we hope to have everything done in just a couple of weeks.

We have our own HAZMAT team coming to us every morning

No, not snow...fiberglass dust!

       

I know that we are very lucky, "we are living the dream" after all, but honestly this latest boat project has, at times, taken its toll on us. I thought I was a patient person, but I guess I still have some things to learn in that area. My biggest challenge seems to stem from worrying about the kids with all this. But, as always, they have proven to be the most resilient and adaptable of us, and I remind myself that every one of these experiences, good or bad, helps to make them stronger and better prepared for an ever changing world out there ! 

Thank goodness for events like Halloween which help to keep our minds on the present moment to be enjoyed, here and now ! One of the Marina’s hosted a Hallowe’en party for the kids last weekend. Meghan decided to go as a “Rasta-Cat” and at the last minute Matthew and MC decided on impersonating a couple of shady characters from  Dr Seuss Books. Mark came along as himself and everyone had a good time!

A real motley crew !

Trick or treating flotilla, 27 kids, 24 boats

Our friends Budi Mira and Yvo from SV Fata Morgana

Secret Harbour Marina really outdid themselves with all kinds of games, treats, great decoration and, a BUBBLE MACHINE, a bouncy castle and a TRAMPOLINE !!! I don’t need to tell you that Matthew was in heaven !  Then, on Wednesday Oct 29th, the cruisers organized an evening of Trick or Treating for the kids. There was a flotilla of 27 kids who visited 24 boats by dinghy. They gathered lots of treats and had a wonderful time !  This is one Halloween I think they will never forget !  (And, for ONCE: no snow suits to wear under their costume!)

Secret Harbour bubble fun!

Loving the bubbles !

Our new cockpit table, smaller for when we are underway

Matthew and the boy who always ran out to greet him

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Meghan on Amelie (Written in November 2014)

Well, unless you want me to talk about how I walk to the grocery store and come back everyday or how I wake up, do school and then sit around for the rest of the day, I have pretty much ran out of things to say so this blog will mostly be pictures. This blog is a bit later than most of my blogs are but it combines October and beginning of November. This will also be (hopefully) my last blog I do of Grenada since we are getting a bit tired of this boatyard and are getting ready to leave soon. First of all, let’s talk about Halloween costumes. If you went online and researched costume shop in Grenada, it would come up with question marks saying: “that is unavailable” in one of those irritating monotone voices you hear on a commercial call. Down here, almost no one (except for cruisers) even know what Halloween is so you don’t really have the option of either buying your costume or making your costume (you have to make it). My costume was fairly easy to make since all I had to use were my yellow shirt, my green shorts, our dreadlocks hat (hair that many rasta men have), ears (that we actually found in a little store) and paint for my whiskers but many of my friends had to be very creative in how they made with costumes. Here are some examples:

On the 26th of October, there was a kids Halloween party at Secret Harbour Marina. I have to say, for people who just learned what Halloween was last year, the marina put that party together pretty well! They had spider webs (fake) hung everywhere with cartoon zombies hanging on the walls and lots of cool games to win candy with. There was even Halloween style twister with the “put your left hand on ghost” thing which my friend and I mastered with an award of a full sized “3 Musketeers” chocolate bar! There was even a surprise foam blower that was probably the highlight of that party. Let’s just say my whiskers and painted nose were gone, gone by the time I got out of there! I know that Matthew especially enjoyed the trampoline and full-sized bouncy castle! 

Three days later on the 29th, the kids had an early trick or treating. We all set out in dinghies and went to designated boats that said they would give out candy. It is a bit different than normal trick or treating in a few ways and the same in others. It is definitely the same with costumes and candy but either than that, it is quite different. When we drive up to boats, it is really wavy (especially in the open bays like Calivigny Island) and so to grab on to boats to get your treat, the front person has to grab on and hold on tight to something solid while the driver has to put the engine in neutral because you probably won’t have much luck with receiving candy if you drift forward to the anchor chain! Meanwhile, while all this is happening the others are tripping over each other with the waves trying to get candy without falling in while calling out: “Trick or Treat!”. Also, here is a sentence you probably never heard in your trick or treating that we heard quite a few times in ours: “Here catch this candy! (sploosh!) Oops! Well, at least the fish will enjoy it!.” 

When we came back from trick or treating, we were walking down the marina docks with bags full of candy in hand and very wet from getting “dinghy-bummed” (when water splashes on you in the dinghy)! After that there was an adult Halloween party that some of us older kids were allowed to join in for the dance party. It was the best time ever dancing the night away! After all the social Halloween parties, on the 31st, we just celebrated Halloween as a family. We got these really good Halloween food recipes off the internet and agreed on a good Halloween movie to watch: The Nightmare Before Christmas. Overall, it was a pretty good Halloween! Until Next time, Meghan

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MC has a docking lessons with a RYC instructor:

Another way to pass the time, and because for the last few months I’ve been hinting  that I would like to get behind the wheel more often, and that I would especially like to learn to dock Amelie (when we are coming in for fuel for instance). Of course I have plenty of docking experience with our 16 foot DS on the Gatineau River and I have docked larger sailboats while taking sailing courses in Australia, but that was nearly 20 years ago! Mark thought about this for a while  decided that it was probably best if I learned to dock someone else’s boat first, so he had a chat with Stuart, An RYC instructor at the Grenada Yacht Club, and this is how I got to spend 1/2 day with him and a couple, on a Blue Water learning vessel ( a 46ft long Beneteau).This type of boat, with its fin keel, has a very quick response, (much faster than Amelie) , it can turn on a dime, but it was great practice and I walked away with lots more confidence under my belt, (and not a scratch made on the Boat in case you were wondering !) Well, that’s all for now. Lots of love from the 4 landlocked and dusty M’s.

Grande Anse Beach, Grenada