October 27: Back in Grenada

For our last night's dinner in Texas, Craig's mom fixed us a bona fide Thanksgiving dinner...turkey with all the usual decorations, along with a holiday assortment of pies and desserts from which to choose. It was quite a special feast! Despite the circumstances that prolonged our visit in Texas, we have certainly enjoyed our stay at Craig's parents. Thanks Mom and Dad Yakel! Love You!

We flew back to Grenada on Sunday, October 25th. We had a long layover in Miami but other than that, our day of travel was uneventful and the taxi dropped us off at the marina about 8:30pm. We are glad to see S/V Hakuna Matata sitting pretty in the water but even before we set foot on the stern, something is amiss, or rather, missing. Our dinghy engine, which we left padlocked to the stern rail, is GONE! Buggers! Plus a whole lot of other words which would offend our reading public. We just bought that one less than a month before we left. Insured, but still.

Pretend you are us. Get dropped off from the airport at your house. Open your garage and find your new car gone. It is a sickening feeling. Funny thing is that there are occupied boats on either side of us, less than 20 feet away, and both of these couples sleep with windows/hatches open due to no air conditioning. This was a professional stealth job. The police say our engine has probably been sent to Venezuela and swapped for drugs.

We will contemplate options in the morning. We are grateful that the boat is otherwise untouched and are especially glad that the electronics at the helm station and the dinghy lashed down on the foredeck are unharmed.

We wake up in the morning to get about our list of chores...general cleanup, putting the boat back together, etc. since we had dismantled a fair amount for hurricane preparation. Many people return to unattended boats to find the interiors covered in mildew, but then again, they are not as compulsive as we are regarding the care, love and feeding of teak. I find a small bloom behind the salon table which is stored upright against the foreward bulkhead. The nerve. Organisms in my boat. A light clorox rinse followed by lemon oil cleans it right up.

Tervis tumblers. Fabulous invention. I had no idea. Mom sent us home with some as a gift, complete with lids and straws so we don't spill in the dinghy. Not only stylish and attractive, they keep ice and drinks cold forever. Ice, as you may or may not know, is the most expensive ingredient in a rum and coke. Tervis tumblers. Get yours today.

Back to the dinghy engine. So, we were really in a quandary. If we run out and get another new one, we will worry about it constantly. Common wisdom is to get an old crappy one. What to do???

As luck would have it, there was an announcement today on the daily cruisers' net (daily VHF radio update and forum) regarding a used engine being brokered by the local marine supply store manager. We pounced. This took most of the day, but the end result is that we have a 15 horse Mercury that runs like a scalded dog, only cost $250 and is so unbelievably ugly that no cocaine-sniffing mango picker would possibly deign to steal it.

All in all, it is great to be back on the boat in Grenada.