Life as Crew

From the crazy pace of “normal life” John and I are rapidly adjusting and enjoying the different tempo that is Island Time. We have been in Grenada for over a week now. We have been living aboard a 38’ sailboat anchored off a little island with a tiki hut bar and a white sandy beach. So far so good, ehy?

Let me try to break down our “normal day,” not an easy task as you’ll see. The sun in Grenada rises at 6 am and sets at 6pm. living on a boat your days begin to rotate around this schedule. We normally wake up around 7:30 and turn on our VHF to listen to the “net.” It’s a news/weather station of sorts, run by the local cruisers where people can radio in news and issues that concern them. A simple technology and system with instant user-feed back that makes all the new social networking media seem slow on the up take. The captain and crew will normally be drinking coffee and reading a book while listening to this. We may have a quick bite to eat. This week marks our first official week of being “crew” and not just guest. Deck call is around 9am where we discuss the jobs and tasks that need to be done. The plan is that we will be heading out west in the next couple of weeks and the boat needs to be in ship-shape condition before we head out. Today was our first full day or work. I worked on the deck while John loaded our dingy (a small inflatable boat used as a means of transport to and from the boat. It’s a similar to being a cruiser’s car.) He headed out across the bay to fill up our jerry cans with fuel and water. By the time I was done and he got back it was time for a break. The heat and the glare off the water make it easy to ever heat so we need to make sure we stop often for a small break. A few more small chores and we stopped for lunch. We have a couple hours before the 2pm deck call that is to be our lunch/free time. We took this chance to take the dingy over to the beach about 200 yards away. The water here is so clear and clean, even a bit warm that swimming is fast becoming our number one hobby. It just feels so good to jump in after being hot and sweaty earlier. We sometimes just jump off the boat and swim around but we just wanted to get off the boat for a little bit and stretch our legs anyway! The thing that takes a little getting used to is having sea-legs. What I mean is that you get so used to the movement of the ship on water that when you get on land you still feel like it is swaying under you. Mix that with even a couple of beers and it gets tricky!

The afternoons are taken up with more tasks that need to get done before we can leave. What makes time onboard so different from on land is that even apparently simple tasks are never that easy. For example, today we had to cut out a few strips of wood. Simple rectangles. But in order to do that we had to dig through the boat unloading all of the tools from under the floor or under seats. In order to plug in a power saw the inverter needs to be turned on, which is located under the cockpit next to the engine. Est., est., est!

We normally wrap up around 4-5pm. Who said this life was getting away from the 9-5! The upside is I can jump into tropical waters for my coffee break. Tonight we headed over to Whisper Cove Marina, a small marina and even smaller restaurant run by a French couple and their 12yr old son. This is our home away from home. It has wi-fi, a shower, cold drinks (a treat in our world), a washer machine, and the best view of the bay. With a lush tropical garden surrounding the patio there is not many five-star hotels that could compete with the ambiance and view. Though we can’t really afford to eat out I heard the food that the French couple cook up are amazing as well. A two thumbs up for those in the area.

The past couple of nights we have been enjoying the party atmosphere that takes over Roger’s Bar on Hog Island during the weekend. Hog Island is a small deserted island (though I hear four seasons bought it and are trying to turn it into condo lots…boo) with a white sandy beach where Roger has a little tiki hut bar. On Sundays he grills out and cruisers and locals alike take their dinghy’s over to eat, drink, and be merry. We were only there a few min. and were invited to join a group grilling out. An international set of people who had met in Grenada while sailing. They welcomed us in and loaded up a plate for us and filled our glasses with wine. We met a couple who had sailed from Denmark, Australia, and from Germany. Meeting new people and hearing their stories, especially out here, is always a highlight to any trip.

I took a tour of the Island yesterday and took about a million pictures so when I get them uploaded into my computer I will post a round-up of the island. Every day has been different so far but we are enjoying ourselves and learning the ropes as we go.