We Can Finally Say “We Are Here”

7/7/2023

Yesterday marked a huge milestone for the crew of Wild Horses. After more than twelve years of planning, researching and thinking about this trip, we arrived at the southern coast of Grenada, the furthest point south we intended to go in our first year as liveaboards in the Caribbean. There is a lot to celebrate with having dreamed, saved, designed and persevered over so many years. We have accomplished our first long duration travel goal aboard Wild Horses. Wow.

Here is our journey in numbers:

301 days since we left Trident Yacht Club in Kingston, Ontario
3,454 nautical miles travelled
8 countries visited
7 night passages
109 anchorages, marinas, canal walls + one Mackie Shoal (middle of nowhere, Bahamas)
31 locks
59 opening bridges
One submerged volcano passed over (“Kick ‘Em Jenny”, Southern Grenada)
One dream achieved

That is straight data, but the experiences we have had are too numerous to count, including:

beaches walked
sunrises and sunsets gazed at
Vistas awed at
cows, goats, stray dogs, stray cats, birds, crabs, sea turtles, dolphins, fish and starfish observed
friends made and cherished

We are beyond happy and ready to start dreaming of what’s next 😊.

Still at Trident but dreaming of Grenada

Docked on a wall along the Erie Canal

Cold days headed south

Cool days but we get a first taste of the beach at Cape May

Thanksgiving in Annapolis

Great friends together in the Bahamas

The day before tackling the Mona Passage

Best buddies in San Juan

Finally flying the Grenadian Flag in Grenada

But where are we now? We are in Mount Hartman Bay, which is a quiet and beautiful anchorage, midway along the southern coast of the island. It is less than a two-hour boat ride to the busy capital of St. George’s and even closer to many of the lovely anchorages littered along the southern coast. Over the next four months we intend to visit most, if not all, of them as well as sailing back to Carriacou to visit more anchorages there.

In the meantime, we are learning the ropes of how things work here. Fuel is available only on certain days and between certain times. Same with propane. Most have a “leave it with us and pick up later” service which is new for us. Until now, we have just filled as we go. We are also learning where to get things repaired and installed, how to get deliveries, and where to buy the cheapest groceries, and when. Some of this info is available from the local marina, other info is provided via the Cruisers Net broadcast daily on the VHF. Face book cruising sites for Grenada and Carriacou are also full of info, although not entirely reliable at times (emotions and recency bias seem to plague Facebook). Finally, we learn a lot by just chatting with locals or with our fellow cruisers.

Another squall. Very frequent during rainy season.

On our way to Grenada, with Caretta in the distance

Birds attacking our fishing line

Arriving at the main island of Grenada

A taxi to the grocery store

Ocean in the taxi. We always seem to find a way to bring her along.

Margarine in Grenada. Orange but still tasty!

Speaking of which, when we arrived in Mount Hartman Bay yesterday, along with our buddy boat Caretta, guess who was here to greet us? Two of our buddy boats from our journey from Georgetown, Bahamas to Luperon, Dominican Republic! Andre and Joane on “That’s It” met us in their dinghy as we entered the anchorage and Pam and Kim from “Kemana” waived warmly as we anchored to their port side. What a sight for sore eyes! All three boats had taken slightly different routes to Grenada and had different timing for getting here but here we are! All together (and with Caretta), it just seemed very right to be surrounded by so many good friends as we reached our sailing goal. 😊