Karl & Kara Go Sailing

  Wednesday 24 th November, Clarke's Court Marina, Grenada. Well it's two weeks to the day since we got Gráinne back in the water and we still haven't left the dock. It all started so well. I recovered from my jet lag and have become a human being again. Then we got through the big job of moving everything that Karl had spent months moving from the boat into the apartment back onto the boat again. Then a slightly nervous morning watching Gráinne being trailered through the boatyard by a tractor and gently refloated. Then the engine started first go (Karl's particularly proud of that one, he didn't stop talking about it for hours). And then we pulled up to the dock for a couple of days to get everything stowed away and get the sails back on. And it felt soooooo good to be back home again! And we had a little celebration and patted ourselves on our backs. Big mistake. Moving back aboard in the boatyard. Last minute finishing touches to the antifoul before splashing....

  Sunday 7 th November, Grenada, West Indies. Woohoo, I'm back in Grenada! In stark contrast to Hobart the daytime high is 29 degrees, overnight low 25 degrees, I'm buzzing around on the back of the moped, I've exposed my shiny white Tassie skin to daylight for the first time in months and have completely abandoned shoes and socks again. I am horribly, horribly jet-lagged though. Those of you Aussies who are lamenting your recent loss of overseas travel beware – I guarantee you, you have forgotten how disgusting a decent jet-lag is. And it's not getting any better with age. After my epic Hobart-Perth-Doha-New York-Grenada flight sequence I had one night in quarantine and have been on the loose for the last few days. Karl's even put me to work painting antifoul on Gráinne. We did the pilgrimage to the microbrewery yesterday to celebrate the completion of the antifouling and this afternoon I get to have my first experience of Sunday afternoon at the gorgeous Aquari...

  Wednesday 23rd June, Quarantine, Room 548, Hyatt Regency Perth, Australia.  Well here I am in hotel quarantine again. I’ll start with a quick summary to clear up any confusion. We finally managed to tear ourselves away from St. Maarten and sailed back to Grenada. I’ll be working in Hobart (Tasmania, Australia) for three months but there are no international flights into Tassie so I flew to Perth. Good old Fortress Australia is still insisting on the full 14 day hotel quarantine for everyone (except Prime Ministers) as soon as you touch Australian soil so I’m doing my quarantine here in Perth before flying on to Hobart. Karl has been left behind again in Grenada. That’s it, you’re up to date. So. We set several dates for leaving SXM but the weather kept getting in the way so we didn’t end up leaving until the end of May. Bright side - Karl got to celebrate his birthday with yet another trip to the end of the runway and a visit to his two favourite beach bars (for the record -...