SilverMoonSailing

Government Bureaucracy, Grenada Customs ,and US Passports NOT SMOOTH

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After a lovely couple of weeks it was time to head back to the boat with our 300 lbs of boat gear, Since I had gone through customs in Martinique back in January without a hitch and several hundred pounds of gear, we thought we could breeze through customs. We were the first ones off the plane and the 1st ones to collect our bags. Maybe it was the 6 huge bags or the extra large box of additional solar panels, but we definately did NOT BREEZE through customs. This time we didn't have time to create a list, so the customs official had us unback every bag, and since everything was wrapped in bubble wrap it took over and hour and a half to show here everything. By the time we were done, there were probably over 200 people waiting to go through customs. I'm sure they were NOT happy to be standing around.

Out of the 6 bags and 1 box of solar panels, we left he airport with only 3 bags. Luckily, I had mentioned that we were working with Allana with Phenomenal Agent Services. After all that, we were only charged $125 in taxes from the Customs. The total cost for getting everything out of customs through Allana was $360 USD. She defiantely made it easy and was able to get our large list OK'd by the customs officials, as we had a huge order from Amazon and we weren't able to give them the type of invoices they are used to seeing. Lesson learned: Keep all your invoices and have them ready to give to the customs offical. I am not sure if it would have been quicker or not, but I would recommend having an agent before you leave the country, so when you come back you have someone who knows the path to getting things through customs. If you are bringing items to Grenada I would definately recommend Allana with Phenominal. Her WhatsApp # +1 473 420 7688.

Next order of business was to get new passports. Although our Passports are good until 2031 we are already running out of pages. We were told to make an appointment with the US Embassy in Grenada, I was told, the only way to make an appointment was through their website. The website didn't work, so I had to email back and forth to get an appointment, eventually I was able to get an appointment overe a month after I had started this process. They didn't tell us what we needed to bring or any forms that we needed to fill out, so I figured they would have that when we arrived. We arrived at the US Embassy, and then were told we didn't have any of the forms or photos, so they couldn't help us, and that we were supposed to make another appointment on their website. Which was IMPOSSIBLE, as the site is broken! Blair finally called the emergency number to get us another appointment as the people working at the embassy we definately NOT helpful. The Embassy is now closed and it's principle contact for US citizens, has left. I am not sure what US citizen are supposed to do now that the embassy is essentially disfunctional. If you have to get a larger passport, I don't recommend doing it in Grenada. I hear that the US Embassy in Trinidad is pretty good. ( I didn't even know that getting another passport with more pages was possible, until our friends on Lover of the Light told us, that you get get passports with a larger number of pages. ) Ahh... The challanges of living and traveling to so many countries.

Taking a Break from the Boat: Went Home to California

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It was great to get off the boat for a few weeks. We had already planned to be back in California to for doctors appointments, and to see family and friends. The timing worked perfectly as we were able to see the completed new building for the Start Haus. This was a huge project and it was great to see it finished.

Best of all was seeing Makaela who had just completed her commercial pilots license. We celebrated with a big burger in Yuba City. I forgot how big the portions in the US are. Makaela spent the next month at the Glider Port in Williams to training and prepare for her upcoming job at the Williams Glider Port where she will work after she finishes her next semester as school.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect, so it was hard to get excited about going back to the hot humid climate of Grenada.

1st Year on Silver Moon & Back to Grenada for Boat Projects

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Today is our One year anniversary of owning Silver Moon. We've covered over 7,000 miles and had quite a few adventures. It's a lot to remember, so if you're curious you can look at our previous blog posts starting in France. For now, our insurance required us to be in Grenada on June 1st, so May 31st we arrive. We decided to get a slip at the Port Louis Marina, as we will be hooked up to power, and they can help us recieve packages. We will be here for 7 to 8 weeks working on different projects:

Installl Disel Hot Water Heater
Install Disel Heater (Not sure why we need this, but I guess it will be installed if we go to Alaska or somewhere cold.
Install more solar panels
A bunch of Canvas made for shade and to keep the windows protected & the boat cooler
Install the brackets for the new pole
Recieve the new sails
Install new sails (Rigging)
Recieve a new marine aircon to permantly install on the boat
Go to the US take all items off the boat not needed and bring items we can't get in the Caribbean
Clean out all the bildges of stuff we haven't used, and are unlikely to use
Wash the boat from top to bottom
Get new passports from the Embassy, as we no longer have any pages left on our passports.
The rest of the list is To Be Determined

While here I hope to explore more of Grenada and also take the humane society dogs on walkies. I'll let you know how it goes.

St. Vincent & The Grenadines Friends & Eagles Rays

Sat, 31 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Many people skip St. Vincent as there is chatter on the cruisers forums that the Boat Boys hassle you, and there is a problem with theft. We did spend the night in St. Vincent to break up the sail, and found everyone in Chateaubelair. quite nice. Upon reflection, I would probably have spend a few days on St. Vincent and skipped Bequia. I know all the cruisers rave about Bequia, but for Blair and I, we didn't find it that charming. Plus we were anchored of Lower Beach and after a couple of days the boat rolling was driving me bonkers.

While sailing along the coast of St. Vincent, we had a young fisherman approach us, asking if we wanted to buy lobster. I wanted to support a local fisherman, and I didn't know that the season was over. He sold us 6 lobsters and 1 was so small we ended up throwing it back. Now I had to figure out how to process these live lobsters, and we had 5 , so it was dinner on Silver Moon! Jenni came over in the afternoon to help and give me moral support. After multiple youtubes, this is what we came up with. 1st. put the lobster in the freezer for 4 to 5 minutes, This will make them sleepy. Here is the video showing how I prepared the lobsters in the most humane way.

I had nice hikes both the Jenni and Karen. It was nice to catch up with the gals, have some hiking time, and chat without our skippers. We did have a lovely night out with Gilli and Tally Ho at the Treetop Bar.

Blair decided to fill up our tank with disel as there was a delivering boat. For some reason he wasn't able to put disel in the tank at the same rate he normally does. We still got the fuel in, but it took much longer. This wasn't an urgent issue, but Blair was bored, so he decided to tackle it and take the entire saloon apart to figure out what was going on. This is what happens when Blair gets bored.

It turns out we had a kink in the airvent hose. The way it's designed, the airvent comes up and has to make 180 turn, in a narrow spot above the saloon settee. Blair fixed it, by putting 2 ninety degree turns in and using a new vent hose.

On the way to Canouan we had quite the spicy ride with 42 knots of Wind and 11 knots of boat speed. Our normal boat speed is about 5 knots. There was no danger, but Blair needed to take over the helm, as the autopilot couldn't handle the forces. Notice the frothy seas in the background.

Blair isn't snorkling right now, as he can't see very well. He has fog in one of his cataracts. We stopped off to Tobago Caye, so I could go snorkeling. I wasn't terribly impressed. I know lots of people love Tobago Caye, but I found that each boat has different experiences of what is a great place to visit and what is ho hum. We stopped for a few hours. I saw a few small turtles and no rays. We had the BBQ lunch, but for $100 USD for a few hours, it was over priced for the experience.

The next stop was Chatham Bay on Union Island. The winds were to pick up over the next few days, so this west facing bay looked a great place to hang out. After setting our anchor with a local guy. (We didn't need the help, but we wanted to support the locals who need our cruisers support after Hurricane Beryl). Chatham Bay isn't very popular, so it was perfect for us. We went to the local beach BBQ, and were even able to check out from the tiny Italian Resort.

I popped in for a snorkle, as soon as the anchor was set. Right under the boat there was a spotted Eagle Ray. I was thrilled to FINALLY see Eagle Rays several more times over the next few days. Definately the Eagle Rays were the highlight of the time there. I was able to start using my gopro editing app to edit my underwater videos.

Why I loved Chatham Bay.

Great Anchorage on the north when there are big winds
No rolling (Flat water)
Not many boats
Clean (No trash)
Quiet, no roosters, or loud music late into the night or barking dogs
Beautiful Clear Water.
You can check out of The Grenadines if you have your sailclear #. (Details on No Foreign Land)
And best of all Eagle Rays

St. Lucia Street Party & Waterfalls

Tue, 20 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After 2 weeks of work, I was ready to PARTY! I even got a new dress in Martinique, so I was totally prepared. St. Lucia as a weekly Friday Night Street Party, and we arrived just in time to enjoy with our friends from Tally Ho and Gilli. The Street Party is mostly for the locals, with food, and drink, and everyone is out enjoying themselves. You get a real feel for going to a local event. Sadly there wasn't much dancing, but on the way back to the boat, I was able to enjoy the music of a local steel drum band practicing. They were really quite good.

The next day we sailed to the Grand Pitons, and on the way stopped for a snorkel at Anse Cochon. Blair and I were sitting in the cockpit, and I noticed a fisherman swimming in the water pulling his boat. behind him. I asked if he needed any help, he said yes, as he had run out of gas. Blair ended up taking the fisherman to his village in the next bay over to get gas. Blair asked if this happened often, and the fisherman said yes, guys go missing all the time, At least we were there to help this time. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if he hadn't been close enough to shore to have us help him, as we weren't close to the village.

Now it was onto Soufiere. Soufiere is a cute village at the base of Grand Piton. If you get a mooring ball in the south end of the bay, you're right under the pitons. It's also a great place to check out of St. Lucia. We enjoyed a couple of days here. One of the local dogs decided he needed a walk, so he joined us on our hike to Superman Falls. We're now into the rainy season, so we enjoyed a torrential downpour on our hike, but it was well worth the adventure. One the way we saw a mango tree, so Karen from Tally Ho went crazy and we got tons of fresh mangos. There was so many, I ended up cutting them up, and freezing them.

Blair and I are always on the hunt for sodas, so I decided to go to the little local market. It's very hard to find diet soda anywhere in these islands. Low and behold, I found several cases of soda at this little market. I bought every case, and we used the dolly we had just purchased in Martinique for a second time.

We checked out in Soufiere and moved to Pitons Bay for our last night. Sugar Bay is a lovely resort. Our friends on Gilli had told us the food is expensive and not that great, so we went to just enjoy a cocktail and the ambiance with Tally Ho for our last evening on St. Lucia. It was a perfect end to a lovely 5 days on St. Lucia.

Maintenance In Martinique

Fri, 16 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

We returned to St. Pierre. We absolutely love this anchorage. I can get fresh produce at the daily farmer's market. Since we get a mooring buoy, we don't have to worry about dragging anchor or someone dragging into us. We're close enough to shore to see the locals going about their lives. Naturally because it's France there was yet another holiday on May 1st. (Labor Day) so everyone out enjoying themselves. The local boys enjoying a ride on their ponies.

After a few days in St. Pierre, it was back to Le Marin for more boat work. On our way we were surrounded by Sargassum seaweed. There must have been a huge bloom going on, because our friends on different boats also has issues with Sargassum during this time. If you're running your engine, it can get stuck in your prop, and either just slow you down, or get tangled in the prop all together. Our solution is to occationally put the boat in reverse to remove the Sargassum from the prop. It made for slow going to Le Marin Marina.

We had planned this trip back to Le Marin because our MiniMe washing machine had stopped working, so Alubat had agreed to send us a new washing machine. Since they were already shipping the washing machine, we also had them send us a new cockpit hatch cover, as the one we currently have is wonderful, but it's a pain to open when you are inside the boat, so we decided to purchase the one that Alubat had suggested as an upgrade 2 years ago. Now they only use the new hatch cover.

Since Martinique is actually part of France there is no import duty or tax due. Luckily Blair had no issues with the new washing machine, and we gave the MiniMe to a young couple who are good with computers, and they thought they could fix it.

Because we were going to be at the dock anyway to install the washing machine, we took the opportunity to do order another pole for the boat. We knew that we couldn't just order a pole from any place. Since the boat is French we needed French parts, so we also order a pole here as this is the last French country until we're in French Polynesia. The rigger said it would take 4 days to get the pole. However, there was yet another holiday. May 8th Victory day, so it took 10 days to get the pole. I still haven't learned to tripple the time it will take to get a boat project done.

So total of 2 weeks in Martinique. What did we accomplish between all the rainy days?

Ordered a new pole
Picked up the new washing machine & hatch cover
Installed the washing machine
Gave away the old washing machine
Purchased a new Aircon with 12,000 BTU's This is much stronger than the last one, and can actually cool the entire boat when we are plugged into electricity at a marina.
Measured the amount of Fabric we need for window coverings and shade for the boat.
Designed and fabricated custom brackets to hold the new pole along the boom
Measured the head sail and ordered a new furler, headsail and a code zero from England (Dolphin sails)
Got my last of my french provisions, as I won't be able to get these items again until French Polynesia.

We did take an afternoon for a "date" and took the dinghy out and cruised around the mangroves and looked at all the derelict boats. There are quite a few in the bay.

This may not seem like much in 2 weeks, but there is generally a lot of research for everything. I felt we had accomplished alot, but we were definately ready to leave, and departed just an hour after we finally got the pole to the boat. We were off to St. Lucia to catch up with friends.

Using the GARMIN In REACH Learning by doing

Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Blair and I sailed south the from Dominica to St. Pierre. Finally we got the sails up, and it was a great sail across the 35 NM from Dominica to Martinique. Since we had 7 hours for the crossing, I decided that I would give it a go, and FINALLY start to really learn how to use my Garmin Inreach. I'd had the Garmin for over 2 years. I kinda knew how to use it both with charting routes and sending an SOS. But I had gotten so frustrated with the system, that I had stopping using it over the last month. NOW ... I had the time to actually PLAY with it, without the pressure of learning a bunch other things on the boat at the same time. I decided to send myself the messages. Why I didn't start out this way.. I have no idea. BUT.. After practicing a bit, I was finally able see what our contacts see when I send a email message via GARMIN InREACH.

Here is what you will get when I send you an EMAIL from my Garmin InREACH.

Do NOT hit just reply to the email. You'll need to click the link as I have circled in Yellow.

This link will take you to the next page that looks like this. This is a Map of my exact location when I sent the email.

I am limited to the number of messages I can send each month, so please don't be offended if I don't send you a message with my current location.

Click on the Message or hit Send Reply from the MAP format. This will take you to the next format so you can send me a message to my Garmin InReach Device.

Sorry this is a complicated system. Garmin doesn't make it quick, BUT if we ever had to leave the boat in an Emergency I am able to contact Family, Friends and Search & Rescue..

Back to Dominica

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Sadly we had to motor from Marie Galante to Portsmouth Dominca. This was our 3 time on the island. Our plan was only to stop for the night and not check into the country. However when we finished grabbing our mooring ball, I sat down to just enjoy the view. Low and behold there was SV Gilli.

Gilli is another Aluminum boat that was also on the ARC+ Rally. We had met them only briefly when we were both on the docks in Le Marin back in January. We never connected then, but I reached out via WhatsApp. As it turned out they were also heading south the next day towards Loubiere Dominica. We both motor sailed south and caught up for dinner.

It was great to meet other cruisers. They are from Hood River Oregon, and Lance used to own a ski shop. Both Jenni and Lance are sailboat racers, so we had lots in common. SMALL WORLD.

Blair and I sailed south the next day to St. Pierre. Finally we got the sails up, and it was a great sail across the 35 NM from Dominica to Martinique. Since we had 7 hours for the crossing, I decided that I would give it a go, and FINALLY start to really use my Garmin Inreach. I'd had the Garmin for over 2 years. I kinda knew how to use it both with charting routes and sending an SOS. But I had gotten so frustrated with the system, that I had stopping using it over the last month. NOW ... I had the time to actually PLAY with it, without the pressure of learning a bunch other things on the boat at the same time. I decided to send myself the messages. Why I didn't start out this way.. I have no idea. BUT.. After practicing a bit, I was finally able see what our contacts see when I send a message via GARMIN InREACH.

Navigating Fishing Buoys & Chartplotters

Tue, 29 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Upon leaving Marie Galante we learned yet another lesson. We had been paying attention to all the fishing buoys around these islands. Marie Galante had many more fishing buoys than I had seen at other islands. We definately needed both eyes on the seas to keep an track of all the fishing buoys, they are very hard to see.

With all these fishing buoys I did notice a pattern. The fishing buoys were all located at the end of a contour line. (in other words in the sea depths), which we could see on our chart plotter. Fisherman also have access to these charts and probably choose these locations because there is going to be bigger fish cruising these areas looking for smaller fish to eat. If we could move away from these lines we would have less buoys to dodge.

We have been using the B&G Chartplotter with Navionics installed. Blair kept having to run our routes in reserve order. This made it very confusing because it wasn't giving us estimated time to arrive or distance to arrival. I'm not sure what was going on, but I asked if I could give it a go. We had plenty of time for me to practice "Playing" with the chartplotter, as we were between Marie Galante and Dominica. It took several hours, but I am finally able to get our routes on the Chartplotter to move in a forward direction. Yippee! Another skill set to add to my tool box.

Guadaloupe & Marie Galante

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

After an overnight sail we arrived in Saint Francois. It was very tight getting in, with boats everywhere and very shallow conditions. We picked this anchorage to top off on fresh provisions. It was not my favorite anchorage, as there is sargassum seaweed everywhere. They are collecting it on the beach, and it clogs the marina. It smells pretty bad, so after just a day we left for Marie Galante.

Marie Galante is small island and was perfect for a week. The anchorage at Marie Galante is so clear I could see a conch on the sea floor right from the boat.

We decided to stay here for a few days before heading to Isle de la Petite Terre. I had heard about this marine reserve., and been looking forward to this place for a few months. You have to make reservations and the soonest I could get reservations for a buoy was on Sunday.

We had a few days to explore MG. We rented a car and toured around the entire island in about 3 hours. We took a couple of short walks, to see the dramatic cliffs.

It's a beautiful island, and I really liked the slow pace. It was great to see the creativity of Islanders. I saw this wonderful solution to the need for racks on a truck. Apparently he used an old metal bed for the racks for his truck.

Since we had the car for 24 hours, the next day I decided to go on a hike. Back in my youth I was a back country ranger at Haleakala National Park, so I'm used to hiking solo. It was great to just have some alone time while in nature.

On Sunday we left for Petite Terre. I was happy to finally be on my way to this Marine Reserve that I've thought about for so long. However cruising is not always about sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it's about making the right decisions. As we left the protection of the island, the seas started getting pretty big and the winds were up. After about 2 hours of sailing, I told Blair that even though I really wanted to go, we should turn back. The islands are very small, so the anchorage was going to be miserable and choppy, plus it was overcast, so the I wouldn't be able to see much snorkling because of the cloud cover.

This was another lesson learned. As much as you want to go to a place, you need to know when to make the right call, and bail on the decision to move on to plan B or C or....

Why make ourselves miserable forcing a trip that just isn't panning out? I'm OK with a change of plans.There will be many more wonderful places to see.

ON to our next adventure!