Jangles on the move

Jangles going in the water

Jangles is once again in the water! We launched on Friday 28^th March. We unfortunately still couldn’t leave… as we put the boat in the water we discovered that the starboard engine was not working, after we had checked and started it the day before, only to find out that the battery had died. So the next day we had to go and buy a new battery. Saturday afternoon we started putting the genoa back up and the sail tore along the seam. And naturally Monday was a public holiday (one of the 20-something ones in Trinidad each year) so we were still in Trinidad till Tuesday to repair our sail. So Sunday we motored to a small bay called Turtle Bay for the evening. On Monday morning a pod of dolphins came into the bay and stayed swimming around for hours. Travis and I put the kayak in the water and started kayaking with the dolphins. They were jumping up next to the kayak and swimming underneath it, it was so amazing! Travis dropped me back at the boat and took my mom kayaking with the dolphins too. That afternoon we motored back to Crews Inn with our sail ready to go in the next morning. Our victron was also giving us trouble as well as our solar panels so we got those repaired as well while we were there.

Travis and I kayaking with dolphins

Mom and Travis

Scotland Bay

Wednesday everything was done, the sails were up and we were ready to go. My dad says if you own a boat you must use it, otherwise it costs you money in maintenance. We sailed to a little bay called Scotland Bay, where we had dinner and slept for a few hours. Around midnight the anchor was lifted, the sails were raised and we were off to Grenada…Finally! As we were leaving Trinidad we had a pod of GIANT dolphins swim with our boat for a while and give us a show by jumping out of the water. We sailed through the early hours of the morning and around 7:30am, another pod of dolphins swam with our boat. As the sun came up, the rods went out. The first reel to run was a barracuda. We tossed him back, and then the next rod ran. Travis reeled in his first fish aboard Jangles. We couldn’t decide whether it was a kingfish or a Spanish mackerel (ended up being a Spanish mackerel) so we threw it back too as Kingfish have been known to carry a reef poison. Before we arrived in Grenada we had yet another pod of small young dolphins swim and jump around our boat. We had been so lucky! After 12 hours of sailing at an average speed of 7.1 knots, we reached Grenada.

Dolphins swimming by the bow

Travis with his first fish

Travis and I snorkeled the sculpture gardens in Grenada that afternoon as well as the next morning before we headed off to Sandy Island. The sculpture garden is basically a whole bunch of sculptures that have been placed around the bottom of a bay in Grenada; which you can snorkel or dive to see them. Mom and dad opted to catch up with a friends son who has relocated to Grenada and to watch South Africa play cricket in the semi-finals of the T20 against India, unfortunately for my cricket mad mom it was not to be South Africa’s day once again.

Travis and me on Sandy Island

We arrived at Sandy Island around 8pm in the evening. It was pitch black and we were expecting to find buoys to attach to but they all seemed to have vanished in the year and a bit since we were last here. We managed on our second attempt to get the anchor to hold in the sand, a little stressful for us all but mostly for the Captain/dad. Once we were finally anchored after we had had yummy pies that we had bought from a little bakery in St Louis that is owned by a lovely South African couple we settled down for the night. The following morning, Travis, my mom and I, took the dinghy onto the island. It was a bit of a mission as the wind was howling, so we all arrived a little soaked. We swam in the inland pool for a while and Travis and I snorkeled off the beach but we went back to the boat soon as we saw my dad trying to raise the anchor and move the boat as the anchor had started to drag. Once we were all back on the boat we had lunch and then motored to Hillsborough to check out.

Dinner on PSV

From Hillsborough we sailed a short hour and a half to get to Petite St. Vincent, a topnotch private resort. We took the dinghy onto the small island and went to the beach bar to make reservations for dinner. We stayed at the bar for a while, had a drink and a few snacks before going back to the boat to shower and change for dinner. The absent family was hugely missed as the last time we were here the whole family was together. Josh especially as he kept us entertained trying out all sort of cocktails on the menu. The beach restaurant was relatively quiet and we got a nice table near the ocean. We all filled up on good food and great company before making our way back to Jangles. The next morning Travis and I kayaked to the private beach and walked a while along it. We all agree that this is one of our favourite places in the world, but we didn’t stay long as we had another destination to get to.

Rebs mom says you have caught the bouquets at the last two cousins’ weddings. Dad says he will be home soon with a big shotgun!! We have just checked into Union Island and will spend the next few days in Tobago Cays and Mustique.

Union Island