November 2007
Grenada, south coast
GD spent the first 3 weeks of November on shore at Spice Island Marine Services on Prickly Bay completing various maintenance and service projects.
While in the yard I had the pleasure of meeting Chris and John who are refitting Davara Manu a 50' Colvic Victor ketch, Bill a Canadian working on a catamaran and many other cruisers passing through.
Internet access was found in The Grenada Coffee House where the owner, Debbie, makes really good coffee, delicious brownies and a variety of home-made food for a student and cruiser clientele.
Paul & Janie (yacht Shian) arrived on the 2nd from Trinidad where they spent the hurricane season so we had a pleasant evening catching up and discussing future cruises
Gypsy Dancer was relaunched on Thursday 22nd and it is a relief to be afloat again, away from the noise and bugs, and to be swinging to an anchor in Prickly Bay under a full moon - perfect!
GD had her first short shake-down cruise on Wednesday 28th with friends - L to R in photo: Sally,Chris and John - aboard for a 'picnic and snorkel' sail round to Saga Cove in Clarkes Court Bay, 5 miles east of Prickly Bay. We had a good sail there - tacking against the mild trade winds and current. The valeted sails looked fine and set better now I've replaced a lost batten. The auto helm didn't work, but only because I'd forgotten that it was wired directly to the batteries and I hadn't reconnected it when I re-commissioned GD - oops! Thanks to Chris for spotting that.
Chris and Sally were lucky to spot an octopus. We all saw lots of small fish and a variety of sea urchins amongst scattered coral.
Back in Prickly Bay while in The Grenada Coffee House I felt the very distinctive room-wobbling shocks of the 7.4 Richter Scale earthquake that's epicentre was between Martinique and Dominica. They lasted for around 15 seconds. This earthquake occurred at 143 km depth in the South American plate where it's traveling north-westwards and being subducted under the Caribbean plate. We were lucky this happened at 'intermediate' depth as an earthquake of that magnitude nearer the surface could be pretty catastrophic. Lots of interesting information at the US Geological Survey web site. There were three aftershocks of 4 and 5 Richter Scale in the evening but I was back on GD then so didn't feel them.
On the last day of the month I again sailed round to anchor overnight this time in Saga Cove to meet up with Dave Royce from The Canvas Shop so he could measure for GD's new awning - a very important piece of kit if we are to idle our way though the islands this year.