Our Crazy but Comfortable Days in Grenada

We have settled into a comfortable routine here in Grenada. We are anchored in Secret Harbour (Mount Hartman Bay) and have easy access to buses that take us for groceries, excursions or appointments. We are also only a short dinghy ride or walk to most social events and get togethers with friends. An extra bonus for me is that there are a few fabulous ladies here that offer up free yoga. These ladies are liveaboards, like us, and generously share their yoga time and talents with other cruisers. It makes for a divine experience for me – yoga on the lawn of a resort, with lapping ocean waves at my feet and palm trees shading me from above. Sigh. Amazing.

Wild Horses (middle of picture) at anchor in Secret Harbour

Dinner with friends, including Sandy and Nick from our hometown of Belleville

Stuffed into a van on our way to a Hash!

Yoga on the lawn (Victoria is in the middle)

Another beautiful rainbow in our anchorage

Of course, life isn’t life without a few bumps, and we have had a few over the past month. Most of those bumps involved boat fixes. Aargh, boats suck sometimes. We knew arriving in Grenada that we would need to do two things: First, fix the critical things that broke along the way. Second, get to our project list and fix the more minor things that we knew needed servicing or repair before we started this trip.
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We are still on the “fix the critical things stage”. Yeesh. What broke along the way? Our engine developed a leak at the raw water pump, our in-mast furling mainsail got severely “stuck”, our anchor windlass gear (the gypsy) became warped at the side wheel, our radar stopped working, our water maker developed a leak, and our anchor and deck lights stopped working. Like I said, yeesh. Some of these repairs have been fixed or are in progress, thankfully. All should be fixed before we leave Grenada in November. (Big shout out to our good friend Wayne on S/V Gwayne who has done all of our engine work and helped us immensely with making progress on the other repairs).

Mike and Wayne working on the raw water pump

MSG Rigging assesses our mainsail woes

Divers cleaning barnacles off the hull of Wild Horses

MSG Rigging is up our mast doing an assessment of our standing rigging

Unfortunately, not all our bumps were boat related. Ocean, our amazing pup, suddenly developed facial paralysis on the left side of her face. Here’s the back story: About three weeks ago, we noticed Ocean was drooling extensively and her left ear was perpendicular to her head. Very weird. Off we went to St. Georges University Small Animal Clinic where their neurologist diagnosed the paralysis, noting of course the left ear and the drooling but adding that her left eye didn’t blink and her left lip was drooping. It was clear WHAT was happening but we didn’t know WHY it was happening. And, no, it wasn’t a stroke.
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The first thought was that the paralysis could be due to an inflamed facial nerve. We were sent home with lots of medication and an appointment to see the neurologist again in a few weeks. That appointment was just today, and it was a very different one for us. At this appointment, we had a bevy of fifth year veterinary students do a clinical and neurological assessment of Ocean, with their professor coaching them as needed. It was a wild experience to be in a live veterinary class! And this was not a short exam – we were there for almost two hours. Ocean was a wonderful patient through it all and each veterinary student definitely got an A+ from Ocean on the treat-giving portion of the exam.

Ocean and Mike in the waiting room at the Small Animal Clinic

Four of the six vets in our teaching appointment

Medications for Ocean and medications for Mom and Dad

Nurse Victoria tending to her patient

Despite all of the detailed examinations and analysis, we still do not have a definitive cause for the paralysis. We will see the neurologist again in a month and, hopefully by then, there will be some improvement and we will go from there. The good news is that Ocean’s facial paralysis is not impacting her energy or her appetite. She is not in any pain, and is otherwise fully functioning and healthy. She even did a two and a half hour Hash (i.e. organized hike) up and down a mountain, and over muddy and varied terrain. She is still strong as an ox, happily social with everyone and living her best life! 

Click on the button below to see Ocean teaching some local kids how to fetch.

Ocean School

Ocean is part of our cruiser group for all outings, including this one to Nat's Pizza

One of many cruiser get togethers that Ocean gets to take part in

Mike and Ocean hanging out at the Humane Society (GSPCA) fundraiser here in Grenada

Ocean navigating a very muddy section of the Hash

Ocean on the veranda of Secret Harbour resort

​So, yes, there have been bumps in our days and that is okay. We had a few bumpy days in our land life too. Really, when at anchor, our life on Wild Horses is similar to our land life, well, except for the part where our car is actually a small boat (dinghy) and our home can sink or float away in a really bad storm 😊. The other thing that is the same? Those bumpy days feel way smoother with supportive friends and family. And, that we have in spades!