Our trip is now nearly over. Sitting at the southern tip of St. Vincent, all that still awaits us are the beautiful Grenadines, and then our final destination, Grenada. It may sound like a lot, but in light of all the cruising we have done over the past two months, it’s really just a small hop.
After a very breezy and partially rainy night, we get up to a boisterous morning and the sea covered with whitecaps. Our sail for today, thankfully, is downwind and relatively short, just over to Bequia, which is already clearly visible right in front of us. We take our time and then get going under reefed sails and enjoy the bumpy but fast ride over.
As we approach Bequia, we notice a small inflatable dinghy racing towards us with a guy standing and pointing something at us. My first instinct, “a rifle”, I quickly dismiss, realizing that what we are looking at is a photographer with a long range lens. “Oh, I read about that guy”, says Karin, “he makes his living selling pictures of yachts under sail.” It is hard to fathom how you can be out here in a small inflatable dinghy, in 25kn of wind and big swells, not to mention standing in it with one hand controlling the outboard and the other holding a heavy camera still enough and pointed at us. Crazy! But he does and we literally smile for the camera as he circles us and, sure enough, later on we buy a few of the resulting pictures and admire how well he perfected his craft.
We arrive in Bequia’s Admiral Bay right in the middle of a torrential downpour. But soon the sun is back out and we enjoy a beautiful evening with dinner ashore, marveling at the countless anchoring lights of the boats out in the bay, seemingly extending the starry night above us onto the bay below. Beautiful.
We press on the next morning, a bit torn between wanting to stay longer and worrying about running out of time. But the next downpour makes the decision for us and we head off.
The spectacular Tobago Cays are on the menu next as we definitely want to stop by here one more time. Somewhat foolhardily we choose to round Canouan to windward to “see another side of it”. The breeze is still quite stiff and the swell lively without the protection of land. To boot, a looming lee shore so close, we have to steer well clear and make our sail both longer and bumpier.
It is all well worth it, though; what a place the Tobago Cays are! Go check it out! Because of the heavier wind we discard the “front row” directly behind the horseshoe reef as too bumpy and instead find a lovely spot in the small but glorious anchorage behind two tiny islets that provide enough protection for a good night’s sleep.
Our final stop on our return journey to Grenada is Union Island. It is my favorite island, as some of you might remember. But it has been hard hit during this summer’s Cat 5 hurricane Beryl. We drop anchor at Clifton and I go ashore to check us out of the country. The sights here are still heart wrenching, lots of buildings without roofs, the dock in ruins, and many business, like “my” kitesurfing school, wiped out. But the will of people is remarkable as they are busy everywhere rebuilding and making ends meet. Union Island has no fresh water source and traditionally lives off rain water catchment. Only with many roofs gone and cisterns broken or contaminated, supply is low and people come from all over to get water at the mobile desalination unit some NGO has set up. Our hearts go out to the people who endure it all with a smile and positivity.
After clearing out, we up anchor and wrap around to the west side of the island to the beautiful Chapman Bay. I had the most memorable evening here last year, getting free dinner and a royal’s treatment for the used bow thruster battery I donated to one of the beach bars here.
And amazingly not only do they remember me but have somehow built a small tent-like shack out of the rubble and restarted their business and manage a delicious fish and lobster dinner for us, cooked god-knows-where. The bonfire on the beach serves as a wonderful goodbye.
What we had planned as a single long 40nm day back to Grenada, we break into two, first going to Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou, for a night and to check into Grenada, and then a second, longer leg going back “home”. That day starts a bit haltingly with some rain and a bumpy sea yet not enough wind. Quickly it then turns into a great day of sailing. On following seas and a building breeze we thunder south, chased by a number of squalls rolling in from the east. We outrun and dodge most of them, yet get the stronger winds they pack. That forces frequent reefing and unreefing of both genoa and main, which we have down to a science by the end of the afternoon.
Since the morning we’ve been running in close proximity to a catamaran and true to the old adage that any two sailboats going in the same direction make a race, we are having one and, needless to say, JACE comes out the narrow but proud winner.
We round Grenada’s southern headland around 3pm and another hour later turn into “our” Benji Bay. One last maneuver, executed to perfection by skipper Karin despite the sudden downpour, and we are safely tied up to our mooring and the engine goes off.
Done! What an amazing trip. Just over two months and all the way to Antigua and back. Everything worked out, no major problems, our kids and my sister as wonderful visitors having a great time aboard. We are proud and very grateful. And a little sad it is over.
But not quite yet for three days of sweaty work await us. We spare you the details (see last year’s post if you really need to know) but just assure you that getting a boat ready to be stored for the summer is a lot of work.
And even more so when you also want to sell the boat. Yes, that is right. We are selling our beloved JACE!
It has been a question for us for months, first quietly for each of us, and then more and more as an active deliberation. We bought her for two primary reasons. First, because she was (and is even more so now) our dream boat. The Moody 49 had for the longest time been my #1 pick: strongly built, offshore capable, center cockpit, cutter rigged, lovely to sail and to look at. And the state Jeff and Lynne put her in and the blue hull and teak deck came in as the clincher. The second reason was that we wanted to try the cruising lifestyle, to find out if living a considerable portion of our year afloat is for us.
The answer is an unequivocal “maybe”. A maybe later. We love sailing, we love the water and wind, we love the independence, the self reliance and being accountable for your own decisions in the face of the elements, being nomadic and seeing faraway places from a perspective few others get to inhabit, heck I even love boat ownership despite all the problems it sometimes entails. But doing it more or less full time just isn’t for us, at least not yet. Having just moved back to Germany and with new business opportunities to explore and so much there we have been too far away from for that long, it just doesn’t feel right to go off sailing. At least not now. After many hours of discussions and many nights sleeping on it we both and mutually come to that conclusion.
Sadly. Because we still love our JACE. She is such a wonderful boat, a standout sailor, and so comfortable to live on. It breaks our hearts, mine maybe a little more than Karin’s, to consider parting with her. Over and over I think through keeping her “just because I want to”. I even consider bringing her to the Med, closer to us. But it just doesn’t make sense. And in the end it hits me: there is someone else out there who deserves owning and loving her just as much. And it would be deeply unfair to JACE to be confined to a mooring ball ten months out of every year. She is a boat that needs to sail!
So it is with very intense emotions that we load our bags on the taxi boat, lock the boat, and ask our driver to circle her one last time before she slips out of view. And yes, I will admit that a small part of me hopes she won’t sell. We shall see. Maybe again next season after all?
For now, though, we are signing off from sailingJACE.com. Thanks to all of you for following our adventure and your kind words of encouragement along the way, they meant more than you know.
All stations, all stations, all stations, this is sailing vessel JACE signing off. Over and out!