Trompeta ready for Hurricane season

Trompeta is finally secured in her cradle at Grenada Marine for the Hurricane season. We left Port Louis on Wednesday and had quite a tough sail into wind and tide to reach St David's Harbour so it took us 5 hours in total but at least we sailed and did not motor like the last time. Our intention was to pick up a mooring buoy in the harbour but when we looked around it seemed we would get more protection if we anchored so that is what we did - in very muddy sand - as we discovered when we came to lift the anchor on Friday! The two nights at anchor allowed us time to take the sails off in preparation for haul out. Friday morning dawned and we were in the slip for 9 am to get lifted out of the water. It all went very smoothly and the boat yard workers are clearly practised at what they do so it gave us confidence in what to us was an unknown place. Friday saw a team of people visiting the boat to agree what needed to be done whilst the boat is out of the water. Grenada Marine offer a full care taking service so we are having a monthly boat check and a fortnightly battery check initially. The yard will update us by e mail on a regular monthly basis so we know what work has been done and how much to pay. This way we pay as we go along and there are no surprise bills. Peter has arranged with the Volvo Penta mechanic to replace various things on the engine which is being ' winterised' as is the Generator. The water maker was pickled already by Peter and we have added water purifier to the water left in the tanks ( around 50 gallons!). Our plan is to leave the boat here in her cradle tied down until the end of November which is the official end of hurricane season. We get the benefit of full insurance cover this way. Grenada Marin will apply anti foul just before we come back so they ask for a couple of weeks notice so this can be freshly done for our return. Whilst the boat was in the boat yard we have been staying at a lovely hotel called La Saggesse which s a Nature Retreat and one of the top 10 places to stay in the Caribbean ( according to the Sunday Times). It was lovely t ave 4 nights of pampering and a beach right on our doorstep going to sleep at night listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach. The only downside is the sandflies which come out at dawn and dusk to nibble you! We had the company the first two nights of Tim who had an Oyster boat in Grenada Marine also on the hard. Tim flew back to London on Sunday so the last two nights we have had the place to ourselves. Today we took our final swim in the sea before lunch as we are due to fly home tonight so will get picked up from the hotel at 4.30pm for our 7 pm Virgin flight home.