12 May Should we stay or should we go?

It's been two weeks since we splashed. Two weeks of cleaning up inside, putting things away and day-to-day living on anchor in Tyrell Bay.

When we left the States last November it was our plan to sail down to the Caribbean for the winter, find a suitable yard to renew our antifoul and then to return to the east coast of the States for hurricane season, probably cruising up to Maine. That was still the plan until a week ago when we began to question our reasons for going back to the States versus staying in Grenada.

The key questions in our minds were 'what are the advantages and disadvantages of spending hurricane season in the US vs Grenada?' Safety? Availability of boat parts? Weather? Amazon shopping? Quality of life?

In the US we'd having insurance cover for damage from a named storm if we were north of 35°N, but last summer through to autumn we regularly experienced the tail end of hurricanes, 40 knot+ winds as a constant march of weather systems broke off the east coast into the Atlantic. Then we had to dodge between fronts to get back to the Caribbean in November and had a rough ride to Bermuda. Historically Grenada has a low incidence of hurricanes during the June to November season, it's not impossible as history has shown; four hurricanes in the last one hundred years, but we could go into one of the hurricane holes or sail south to towards South America. The summer weather is warm, a bit wetter and less wind as the ITCZ migrates north.

Whilst boat parts are easy to come by and cheaper in the States there are two good chandlers in Grenada who, if they don't stock an item, can order it in.

Health. There hasn't been a new case of Coronavirus in Grenada for two months and all businesses are open. But the clincher reason was the long passage from south Caribbean to Maine and the return trip in late autumn. The mileage would be about 5,000nm in the gnarl North Atlantic. Oh, and Port Louis marina in St Georges is offering a summer special of 60% when you stay for 90 days or more. I can do some marina time...