BY THE SEA

Last week a modest swell
curled around the north end of Tyrrel Bay

and the surf was higher and louder than usual.

Remnants of Hurricane Sandy.
She never threatened the Eastern Caribbean,

but the storm was big enough to affect us here in a small way.

We're back in Carriacou after a lovely summer in Canada.

The Captain is another year older and I'm not.

We're reacquainting ourselves with the slower pace of life here,

getting used to the heat again and the constant reapplications

of sunblock and bug spray.

We're also devouring books at a stunning rate.
Some Canadian friends
passed on dozens of their once-read paperbacks.

Many thanks to Rick and Rona and Bob and Vickie.

These books have come to a good life and

will make their way around the islands via cruiser book-swaps.

Beach House is still on the hard at the boatyard.
Her now 'dry' bottom is looking good with new coats of epoxy.

We installed the new sea cocks and through hulls a few days ago.
Nolan will continue with several coats of bottom paint. 

We should be floating again soon, maybe in a week or so.

In the meantime, we're very comfortable in our land digs,

the Boathouse. This is a different property than

the cottage we rented last fall.

Cheerful signs greet us on our first-ever white picket fence.

 

The walkway up to the house from the gate
is a charming jungle .



The main living area is very comfortable and includes cable TV.

Yes. We partake. Why not? We don't miss it when we don't have it,

but keeping up with the US election news and Hurricane Sandy news,

plus vegging out on some junk shows, have been pleasant diversions.

However, the best view from the living room in not on the TV.

Check this out.

We find ourselves just staring out, mesmerized by the water colours.

Having this panoramic view of the bay is almost

like sitting in the cockpit of the boat. Almost.

This upper unit has one bedroom and

a large tiled shower with hot-water-on-demand.

 

The kitchen is fully equipped and the dining room

often doubles as our computer room.



The lower unit is a bedsit that opens onto the patio.

Fitzroy, our friend and landlord, clearly has a green thumb.

(By the way, that's Fitzroy in our blog header picture,
as you probably guessed.)

The boatyard is about 500 meters west of the house.

We have three choices for our walk to 'work'.

One option is to turn left as we head out the gate

and use the street access to

the Lazy Turtle Restaurant in the building next door to us.

We walk down the stairs to the restaurant

and then down to the beach.

Until this week, this was our preferred way to get to the yard,

but now the water is even higher

– there's not enough beach to walk on.

This next picture, looking back east along the beach,

was taken 3 or 4 days after the previous two beach shots.

So instead of the beach walk,  we turn right as we leave the house,

and walk up the main road along the bay. It's a slightly uphill walk

but we enjoy the varied scenery along the way.

 

There are two ways to get down to the boatyard from the road.

I'll show you pictures of the 'mountain goat' option in a moment,
but first here's my favoured route
- heading down the Slipway Restaurant driveway.

It's a little longer, but it's shady, it's pretty
and the slope is gentle.

 

There are two gates along this driveway

as we work our way down to the beach.

We pass through the small parking area

and on down the steps.

This brings us out to the Slipway Restaurant

and the walk joins up with our beach route.

A few more steps to the west brings us
to the new fence at the boatyard.

And catch this - they worked around a palm tree
when putting up the new fence -

quite exciting considering how many mature trees and plants

were sacrificed from the front yard of the former yacht club

to make room for more boat storage.

Earlier I mentioned the 'mountain goat' option
for getting to the boatyard. Well.

This is the first look at their driveway from the main road.

This is a double driveway for the first 15 feet or so.
Look at that angle going down.

Here's are two views looking back up at it.

So clearly I'm trying to make a point here,

one that the Captain finds somewhat amusing.

And maybe it's just me, but every time

I walk down, I walk sideways, taking tiny, mincing steps.

I may get out of breath walking up but I hold my breath walking down.

A wuss? Maybe. But I don't care. Hate it.

Bare knees and roughed-up concrete don't go together.

Once down that initial steepest part,
the rest of the driveway is doable - even for me.

There have been many changes at the boatyard since May.
What used to be the Tyrrel Bay Yacht Haulout
is under new management
as Carriacou Marine and the former yacht club building
is now the main office for the new business.

The Iguana Cafe is the turquoise building

to the far left of the main office building.

The walkways just went in a couple of weeks ago
and there is more landscaping to be done.

So we continue to work on Beach House
and can't wait to get her back in the water.

But we happily spend our evenings at the Boathouse,
enjoying the sunset over Tyrrel Bay.

It's been a quiet month.

Pretty much.

Except for the snake.