S/V Koinonia Weekly Sailing Log - Returning to Grenada and Koinonia (Wed Nov 8 - Tue Nov 14, 2023)
Highlights this week: spending the last few days of our trip to Georgia, USA with family; the kids get over a stomach bug; traveling back to “Koinonia” and Grenada; getting back into the routines of boat life; cruise ships are showing up in Grenada; looking at weather windows to start sailing north.
Wed Nov 8th - Lizzy is feeling better today. Went to Amber’s parents house for breakfast, then went and ate at Krystal for lunch (mostly because it’s nostalgic). Spoke to our friends in Grenada and all is well; it has rained nearly every day since we left. The older girls and their cousins all went to the church and helped to pack 50 Operation Christmas Child boxes. Aliza and Glenn (Ben’s Dad) got sick with a stomach virus in the night. We were up most of the night with Aliza.
Thu Nov 9th - Lizzy and Glenn are improved today but continued to nurse Aliza most of the day. The big girls did school but, sadly, we had to cancel our appointments to see family and friends for the day; stayed at Ben’s parent’s house most of the day.
Fri Nov 10th - Lizzy, Andrew, and Lonnie went fishing this morning. Lizzy and Andrew caught seven fish. Aliza is finally feeling better. Spent most of the the day at Amber’s parent’s house. Ben did some consulting work in the morning. Amber and the kids went to see her late brothers puppy that was donated to be trained as a search and rescue dog. Went to dinner at Ben’s sister Kimberly’s house; had a big spread. Came home and packed for our trip tomorrow to Atlanta for an early flight Sunday.
Performer at Tropical Smoothie
Sat Nov 11th - Ben’s mother has now come down with the stomach bug but Ben, Amber, and Maddy have miraculously avoided getting sick. Said our goodbyes to Ben’s parents, then went to lunch at Tropical Smoothie, then drove to the hotel in Atlanta. A relaxed evening in the hotel. The kids watched, “13 Going on 30” for the first time.
Sun Nov 12th - woke up at 4:25am and took the hotel shuttle to the Atlanta airport. Flights to Miami and Grenada went smoothly and we landed at 3:15pm AST at Maurice Bishop International. “Green Man” met us at the airport and was kind enough to wait while we declared some of our boat parts with Customs. Our friend Pat Brady met us at Port Louis Marina and took us via dinghy back to “Koinonia,” home sweet home. All was well aboard and we unpacked our things and began to settle in for an early evening after our long day of travel.
Mon Nov 13th - cruise ships have started to arrive in Grenada and, with them, hordes of vacationers and tour boat traffic. For us, this is like an electric sign that reads, "It’s time to leave Grenada." The anchorage is rolly today, but the good news is it has been raining a lot, which has helped bring the temperatures down about 10 degrees. Ben worked trading stocks and the girls did school. Took our laundry ashore as well as the trash, then topped up on gasoline for our dinghy and portable generator. Started looking at possible weather windows to begin our migration back North; Sun or Mon appear promising.
Tue Nov 14 - another rolly night; our sleep scores were not good. Typical school day and Ben traded a few stocks, but it was a bit of an odd day. Went ashore in the afternoon to pick up the laundry and do some provisioning at Food Land; the store has more produce today than we’ve ever seen. We suspect with charter boat season gearing up, they are stocking more items that most of the locals don't usually buy. Amber made dinner and Ben started getting a few things ready to get back underway. We like to start passage preparations a week or so ahead, so that we don’t get overwhelmed in the days leading up to the trip; it makes a big difference.
God Bless
S/V Koinonia