July 06 – August 07 2021; 6980 nm and 870 days after departure from La Rochelle.

Yes! We decided we needed some vacation! In the end, living aboard can be pretty intense, right?! And of course, I know it might sound a bit weird to some people, but also veeeery tempting to us 🙂 .
About 2 weeks ago we heard that there would be a regatta at Tyrrel bay/Carriacou end of July. There used to be a lot of regattas in the Caribbean islands, including Grenada, but due to Covid it was all cancelled since spring last year. That´s why those news was surprising but also very welcome. After a couple of deliberations and checks on the weather we liked the idea of changing places again. Some loads of washing on Sunday, getting groceries and helping Carina with a new anchor chain on a veeeery rainy Monday and -just like that- we were ready to leave the next day. While getting ready for the trip, the image of having some holidays popped up in our minds. It didn’t take long until the notion turned into a fact and our trip to Carriacou our vacation! I don´t really know why, but we were thrilled. To imagine just to do what we wanted, letting the daily bussiness as it was and not thinking about boat projects for a while just sounded wonderful. (Btw, all the sailors we told about our vacation were very enthusiastic about our idea 😉 )

Before we decided to take some days off, we had a very diversified month. We watched the last two games of the European championship, where we were very supportive to the Italien team. I´m sure you all know, but that did seem to help as Italy won the final against England yes,yes,yes! (just a reminder, England kicked us out). We played volleyball almost every day and participated in two more Hashes (an organized running/walking event with lots of fun). Sherri and Johannes gave us a lift in their car to join the Hash in the north east part of Grenada, area Tivoli. That was so much more comfortable, not being squeezed in a small bus for 1,5 hours. Additional we also got a little sightseeing tour including local knowledge as Johannes did some side trips for us. Apart from that it was of course much more fun and entertaining. We eventually could experience the after Hash event. Lots of funny people enjoying (well, at least some of them) very load music, food and drinks. Some locals presenting amazing acrobatic dance moves or football skills. On the way back we learned how the real Hashiers party. They have their special stops somewhere on the island where they enjoy an after Hash gathering. This time they stopped at the “Bumpy Corner” and we were in the thick of it. A very small bar literally placed in the corner of a very curvy and bumpy road. Everybody was in partying mood. Maybe the rising alcohol level or just the proceeding evening, what ever it was, it gave us a booster of (silly) creative ideas. We, ok mainly Johannes, created a song for the final game to support the Italiens, including giving each of us Italian names, hoping that would help. It was a crazy, a bit silly but definitely a very funny evening. AND, we were very perfectly prepared for the last game! Thank you Sherri and Your Highness 😉 .

No doubt we had great weeks in Prickly Bay. Sometimes very intense, often kind of sporty but always with a lot of fun. It does not sound like it, but we still managed to do our daily business plus some annoying research for boat parts and all this stuff. Another fun project though was organizing a birthday video for my Daddy. The hurricane season and the virus made it unfortunately not possible for me to fly home for my Dad´s 85 birthday. That´s why I, at least, wanted to have a nice birthday present. My idea was to get as much little birthday wishes videos from friends and family as possible. Everybody was excited about the idea and everyone I asked send a video. That was fantastic and made the project a very special on. Once all the videos arrived, Jana took care of editing and created a perfect birthday video. Thanks to all of you who participated in this movie!!!

One day when we went to St. George´s for provisioning we happened to walk another way than usual. Instead of walking directly to the market we followed the wharf road off the Carenage to the end. The road led us up the hill so that we finally made it -kind of by chance- to the “famous” Fort George, built in 1706. Towering 53 meters above the harbour it was made to be the most significent fort on the island. Well, for us it turned out to be a dilapidated shell, which now partly houses the Grenada police force training barracs, some other small training businesses and a run down gym. There are some cannons left but these were indeed the most exciting highlights of the fort. However the entrance looked quite impressive and promising with 3 locals welcoming us. We payed our small fee and got a map of Grenada. So funny! A map of Grenada but no information or explanation of the fort whatsoever. Anyhow, we enjoyed the magnificent view and could make a tick in our box for visiting Fort George 🙂 .

Being on vacation is like the good old song from James Brown: “I feel good, do do do do do do doooo”. Well, I guess you guys know what I mean. Our vacation start was already amazing. After only a few miles we caught a nice 5 kg so called Mexican Pompano fish, which feeded us for three days, yammiiiii. We had a lovely sail up to Tyrrel bay and set anchor again very close to the beach just before sunset. Noodling was a must the next morning and I even got a pick up by Louise from Tangeroa2. It was nice catching up with lots of people we´ve met before. This time we also joined the mexican train game circle and of course enjoyed the regatta sailor evenings. We did not take part in the regatta because we were too lazy and then again we only just arrived… and we were on holidays!!! But we well performed in the evening events.
Since we came to Carriacou the first time we wanted to do a dive course and this time we did it! We hiked again through the mangroves to Hillsborough and walked straight to Deefer Diving and signed in for the “Open water diver”. Omg that was spectacular and veeeery intense. After only three days of intensive learning and amazing dives up to 18m we were certified divers. Yeahhhh!!! Unfortunately we couldn´t take any pictures as we were too busy with ourselves and we still don´t have a waterproof camera.

The last days of our vacation we spent at Sandy Island, the small beach island just in front of Hillsborough bay. It was soooooo relaxing! Some snorkeling, some swimming, strolling at the beach and a lot of bird watching. In the evening we enjoyed watching the sundown at the beach including drinks, nibbles and the company of the nice Britsh couple from Mehalah.