It has become clear that Carriacou does not offer enough for another week and a half until Matt gets here. So therefore, I decide that I should head north, and explore more of the Grenadines. However, those islands are no longer part of Grenada but part of the next country, St. Vincent. So that means I have to clear out of Grenada before I carrying on North. For that, I have to return to Tyrrel, Bay, where immigration and customs are located.
Rather than going back the way I came, I point JACE around the windward, eastern side of the island and so round the entire island. On the way, I pass a couple more potential anchorages that I spotted on the charts and I do some reconnaissance. But I encounter the same problem as the day before, namely, the reefs protecting those spots are not high enough, and the swell washes over it, and creates untenable situations. Too bad, because those places are otherwise really beautiful. Maybe on a calmer day, they will work. I’ll definitely try again.
In the afternoon, I manage to finally move an important item on my kanban board from work-in-progress to complete: affixing the new “JACE” decals. I already replaced those on both sides of the boom, but did not yet dare to tackle the big one that includes the new home port of San Francisco (the reason the decals needed to be changed in the first place). To do so, I need a calm anchorage and the courage to “just do it”. Any mistake and the signage is ruined – not very forgiving those adhesive vinyls. But today is the day and I strap the dinghy to the aft end of the boat and very carefully go to work. And thankfully, it all works out and I get it on straight and without any blemishes. And it looks beautiful, don’t you think?
The to-do list for the next day is long: I have to clear customs, go shopping, fuel up the dinghy, and I also want to bake another loaf of bread. Also, I need to do some research on the islands north, so I actually know where I’m headed.
It turns out that clearing out, that is going through immigration and customs, is quite the ordeal. When I show up at about 9 o’clock there is a line of at least five or six maybe even seven other cruisers in front of me. Things are going slow, they say, and some of them have waited for two hours! Thankfully, there’s a bar and restaurant right outside, how convenient! So I settle down, order some juice and water, and practice my patience. And really, it almost takes two hours until I am done and have my paperwork filled out and my passport stamped. Now I have 24 hours to leave Grenada. But by the time I’m done with fueling up the Dinghy and shopping at the good supermarket here, it’s just too late and I decide to spend one more night here and then leave in the morning.
During the afternoon I notice that the fresh water pump, the system that provides fresh water to all the faucets on the boat, is running intermittently, more erratically, and not as consistently as it used to. Oh my, that feels like trouble! And really, about an hour or so later, when I try to do dishes, it just stops working altogether! Now what? Living on a boat without freshwater is kind of a problem.
It is almost 5 PM and I honestly have no idea how to troubleshoot this problem. My first instinct is to go for help. I hop in the dinghy and race over to the little marina in search of some mechanic that knows how to solve this problem. I bump into a group of older sailors, enjoying a beer, and strike up a conversation describing my problem. One of them, Kevin, is nice enough to walk me through some of the basics and most likely causes. Importantly, he also knows a guy, Kalvin, who supposedly knows how to fix stuff like that. I’ll call Kalvin right away, knowing that my troubleshooting skills are probably not quite up to the task. Thankfully, Kalvin turns out to be a really nice guy and promises to be available at 7 AM in the morning to help me out. I hope he shows up because I have to leave here by 11 AM tomorrow, since I’m already cleared out of Grenada.
Back on the boat I do try to troubleshoot the problem myself with the information that Kevin has given me. But all of his tips do not really work. Tanks are full, water supply is good, the filter is not clogged, and the pressure accumulator does not seem to be the issue either. So it might be the pump, although the way it slowly stopped working does not seem to indicate a pump problem. But we will find out tomorrow. For tonight, I’m going to have to deal without fresh water. Thankfully, I still have some leftover food from two days ago that I can just reheat and therefore don’t need to cook. That will make it easier.
Such are the highs and the lows of the cruising life, I guess. I’m crossing my fingers that we can solve this problem tomorrow quickly and I can be on my way and not have to check back into Grenada and stay here for another few days to fix this issue. Cross your fingers for me, would you?