Livin’ the DREAM…

Our "neighborhood"

 We have been preparing to head down island to spend another stretch of hurricane season in Grenada.  Last year, we didn’t know quite what we’d find available in grocery stores as we traveled. So we talked to other cruisers and kept their suggestions in mind while provisioning. Although the Captain did lose a few more pounds last year, we never went hungry; however, a list of “must have” items before sailing south did surface. These items made the list either because they were NOT available or way too HIGH-PRICED down island:  brown sugar, tortilla chips, canned veggies, Oil of Olay products, caffeine free diet coke, XXL bags of gummy bears and Twizzlers, rum, coffee.
This time we bought and stored large quantities of food and maintenance items before leaving the land of K-Mart, Cost-U-Less and PriceSmart (a.k.a. the USVI).  The extra provisions necessitated stowing much of it below the floorboards in the bilge and strong shallow plastic tubs were purchased to protect our stash.  We said our “Good-byes!” to our friends around Honeymoon Bay, Water Island-USVI and headed over to Nanny Cay, Tortola-BVI to do the same to friends there.


Our "front yard"

 We had dinner ashore at Pussers in Sopers Hole, Tortola-BVI and chatted a bit with four American couples after they admired our Potato Chip-Bleu Cheese Tree appetizer. They were chartering a boat and stood in awe with mouths agape (literally) when we said we lived on ours. The next morning as we visited with Andrew, the director of our previous charter company (Horizon Yachts), he sighed and said, “You’re livin’ the dream.”  We’ve gotten used to getting that reaction since we moved onto Exit Strategy over two and a half years ago and feel blessed to have made it happen for us.

But a short sail across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to anchor off of Cooper Island for the night brought the other side of “livin’ the dream” into full focus…


Yes, we have Grey Poupon.

 After dropping the hook, the captain went below and heard the hum of the water pump- only no faucets were turned on.  (! @ # *) He immediately opened the compartment that holds the water heater and found that a hose fitting had broken open, spilling 55 gallons of fresh water into the bilge.  Yes- the bilge. That’s the lowest part of the vessel under the floorboards- our newest storage area filled almost to the brim! (* % @ # ) 

Luckily (my cup is ALWAYS 3/4 full) we chose to stow only provisions in noncorrosive containers in tubs in the bilge AND only six sections had water.  We spent hours sopping and siphoning about two inches of water from the affected sections, finally leaving a Shamwow or two in places we could hear sloshing, but couldn’t reach. Today, about a week later, I can report that there’s no more sloshing, no mildew, and no lasting damage found.



The galley is ship shape once again.