Carriacou

Tyrrelbay and Shipyard

Manchineel Bay

Tyrrel Bay

Evening on the anchorage

Our little shipyard

Carriacou is still a well hidden secret, perhaps I shouldn't talk about it at all. Not too many yachts here yet. People are friendly, living their lives in slow motion, black and white are getting on in a very relaxed manner, hardly any crime. Austrian friends had told us in Margarita about the little shipyard here, where the locals go. We sailed here straight from Venezuela, rather uneventful trip. Our projects here were a lot more eventful: Sanding hull and bottom, paint it all anew, grinding the zincs, remove rudder and skeg, which alone took 3 hours in the travellift and the physical power of 4 people. Getting the prop shaft out was a lot easier. Then we built in a new cutlass bearing, new gaskets, a new transducer for the echosounder, removed parts of the exhaust pipe and replaced them, grinded the rudder shaft and removed the bearings. The new ones were drilled by a German mechanic here, but the nylon blocks had to be ordered from the States, so it took ages and cost a fortune. And then there was still Customs to deal with... Anyway, we are back in the water and everything seems to work. But I must confess, we are completely worn out and every bone hurts, even the ones we didn't even know of.

Work in progress

Back to the water

The rudder being built in again

Nightlife on the beach

Stickman

Carriacou Yachtclub

But there was diversion, not often, mostly we just fell into bed at sunset. But you shouldn't miss a few things . Rum punch in the "Old Rum Shop", that is just another shack on the beach, stickman and steelman for example. Stickman is stoneage Africa, where they used to handle snakes with 2 sticks. Today they take another stick and make it a breathtaking performance of both magic and art. Well, that's what he explained to me. Anyway, his performances sent shivers down my spine. He doesn't take any money so I think he is just living out something mysteriously hidden in his soul, which we will probably never understand. And then there is Steelman. I never knew what beautiful music someone could produce out of 2 oildrums and 2 bongos. Jazz, Soca, Reggae, Bossa Nova, but when he started singing these old Harry Belafonte Songs of 40 years ago accompanying them in a way, I had never heard before, tears came into my eyes...

Steelman