Ronde and Carriacou

On the way to Ronde whilst making water, our water maker lost pressure. We hurriedly turned it off, hoping that we had made enough water. Andrew discovered that the pipe had chafed in the middle, but thankfully he had the old pipe as a spare. When we were in Ronde, he and Ian put the fittings back on and put it back together.

We spent a few days in Ronde snorkelling and swimming and playing games with Faye and Ian. It got quite rolly at times, but not as bad as Prickly had been. 

Ticket to Ride

Mexican Train

There were so many turtles around our boats, popping their heads up to breathe and then diving down into the blue water.

Spot the turtle

It was time to do some food shopping, so we upped anchor and made our way up the windward (west) side of the island, to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. We had not sailed on this side of the island before. It is beautiful.

Other side of Ronde

We decided to make water on the way. We were keeping an eye on the temperature as the water maker often overheats the engine if we are motor sailing at the same time as making water. We were motor sailing through a fairly narrow split between Ronde and a smaller island with choppy water and a current on our bow, so the last thing we needed was to lose our engine. It was on 80 degrees and suddenly it jumped to 100 degrees. I went down below to turn off the water maker, only to find the pressure valve on zero. Big problem!

 

He does get to drive sometimes

Apart from the water maker issues, we had a good sail to Carriacou. Tyrell Bay was very full but we managed to find a space to drop anchor at the back of the myriad of boats.

 

Once we were settled Andrew checked the pressure hose, and discovered that when they put the fittings back on they had broken the pipe. It was an old pipe and probably quite brittle, so it was to be expected. 

 

Andrew and I went ashore to Budget Marine to look for a new hose but they didn’t have. We will have to wait until we get to Martinique to buy new pressure hose. We bought the previous one there, so at least we know where to go. We had collected 100 litres of rain water in jerry cans on the deck. We put 50 litres into the tanks but we will still have to be very careful with water from now on. 

One of the heads in our boat is manual and the other is electric. We had replaced a part of the manual one to stop it leaking from the pump handle. Then we discovered that the electric head was blocked and not flushing at all. Andrew had the awful job of fixing it, which entailed taking the whole loo off and flushing pipes. He discovered that the impeller was broken. We didn't have a spare but managed to find one in Budget in Carriacou. 

Broken impeller

Messy Job

Our dinghy is leaking air again! It is so frustrating, we have to pump up the dinghy every time we use it and sometimes on the return trip as well. Ian has been amazing, giving us lifts to and from his boat.

We didn't plan on staying in Carriacou for long as our visa was expiring on 3 December, so after frantically doing a few things like filling the jerry cans with water from the dock, buying petrol for the dinghy, getting as much meat and veg that we could at the shop and checking out of Grenada, we were ready to leave Tyrell Bay. 

Our next stop is Union Island. This place has not been our best place to stop for various reasons. Laura refuses to go ashore in Clifton Harbour. Let's hope it will be better this time around.