Karl & Kara Go Sailing

  Wednesday 3 rd February. St. John's Harbour, Antigua. In Quarantine! Yes indeedy, quarantined again. I think I'm a quarantine magnet, Karl probably shouldn't travel with me. This time around it was bad luck (unlike my trip to Australia when I was asking for it). We'd been trying to plan our tour of the islands to minimise PCR testing and quarantine time so we decided to make best use of being in a clean island to visit other clean islands before heading to the germy (French) islands and then accept quarantine to come back into the clean islands. So we decided to start in Antigua which would require a PCR but no quarantine coming from nice clean Grenada. Until we arrived to discover the regulations had changed due to a cluster in Antigua causing them to increase the strictness of their entry protocols. So, negative PCR or not, we're in quarantine. They were nice enough to count all our time from checking out of Grenada as contributing to quarantine so we start...

After four months, nine flights, one stranding, two quarantines and four PCRs I'm finally back! Back on Gráinne, back with Karl, back in the Caribbean, back at anchor and back to retirement. Sigh. It's lovely. Well now, many's the adventure I've had since I left Grenada in August but it all worked out in the end. I did make it to the Gold Coast and indulged in supermarkets that stock everything your heart could desire, magic water and power that just come out of the wall whenever you want them, a huuuuuge kitchen, people whose use of the English language I understand, big, wide, smooth roads with loads of lanes and millions of cars, miles and miles of wide beaches being pounded by surf and a fabulous bike path from Southport down to Burleigh. And surf clubs everywhere. Oh, and two local microbreweries (Lost Palms and Black Hops, both highly recommended). It was brilliant to get back to Brisbane and to see everyone again and we even managed to sneak in an early Christma...

Sunday 29th November, anchored off Hillsborough, Carriacou, Grenada. It's a grey, showery morning. A perfect day to stop procrastinating and attempt my first man-blog since my last traumatic attempt in Uruguay many the year past. So, to recap, Little Wifey is merrily earning away in Australia, no doubt whistling as she works, while I have to suffer the hardship of the abandoned widower. Although admittedly I'm not scraping through an 18th century Nantucket winter... L ittle Wifey on a big hair day just before departure Well, Kara left and had her own adventure getting home. Saying goodbye at the airport was one of the least fun experiences I've had. She wasn't too worried for me though, she knew the boat was well stocked with chocolate. For my part, I was worried I might turn into a sausage. Th e first of way too many dinners based around the humble sausage Left in the capable hands of marina neighbours. Although Sue on Swan next door promised Kara she'd "be ...