Bridgetown (Part 2) Barbados

Views from our new anchorage at the southern end of Carlisle Bay    

Our move of anchorages in Carlisle Bay on Sunday 14^th was primarily so that we would be closer to the wrecks for snorkelling. However, it also gave us slightly better protection from the swell and a new view to enjoy from the cockpit.

A temporary fix to hold the prop on   

The slightly longer trip to go ashore if we wanted to go into town wasn’t too much of a drama, just a bit more time in the dinghy. However, setting off on one such trip the outboard started to behave in a very peculiar way, revving up as though the transmission was slipping or the prop was cavitating. On examining the propeller, I found that the plastic nut and cotter pin which hold the propeller on were completely missing. It was just as well that we hadn’t operated the engine strongly in reverse of the propeller would have been lost as well! Without a spare nit etc, and with no Honda agents on the island (or that we could find in the Caribbean!!!), I jury-rigged a fix with several washers and a new cotter pin. Phew, problem solved until we could get the correct part… or so we thought.

Bizarrely the propeller/engine still seemed to over-rev at moderate to high power settings as though the prop was losing grip and cavitating. We checked everything carefully seeral times and spent a day with much head scratching and very slow trips in the dinghy. Eventually we finally tracked it down to the propeller. It looks as if it is an aluminium prop pressed onto a bronze hub but actually there is a rubber fitting between the two. At high power settings this was slipping allowing the prop to slow down whilst the engine revved up. I fitted our old [Ed: somewhat battered and dinked] reserve prop and the problem went away. Now we just need to get the new prop pressed together more firmly and also get hold of a new propeller cap nut…. I wonder if somewone else was looking for the same and that’s how ours ‘disappeared’?

Tigger sets off to the north west   

One of our close neighbours in our new anchorage was a British catamaran called Tigger. Toni and Peter came over to say hello and so started a few social gatherings. Toni showed us her on board mini washing machine, of which we were most envious, especially as we had been nearly bankrupted by getting our latest batch of laundry done at the laundrette in front of the yacht club. Toni and Peter have sailed almost completely around the world. When they arrive at Martinique, just 110 miles north west of Barbados, they will have joined up the circle. As you can imagine, they had some very interesting tales from their travels. We were sorry to see them head off on the 15^th but will definitely stay in touch and may even see them again as we won’t be far behind them heading up the Caribbean chain.

Barbados Yacht Club just to the left of the green roofed pier building   

The other advantage of the new anchorage was that it put us just off the Barbados Yacht Club. They allowed us to be temporary members whist we visited Barbados which gave us access to a lovely beach area and bar, internet access and somewhere to leave our dinghy if we went ashore in this part of the island. All very pleasant and useful but we didn’t plan to stay long. The islands to the west of us are definitely worth exploring and we made a plan to depart on 17^th to see what other delights the Caribbean has to offer.

The Barbados Yacht Club – not a bad spot to sip a beer and watch the world go by!   

On the 16^th we were joined in the anchorage by Bruno’s Girl and so we were able to say hello to Philip, Claudia and Lynne again. Over a cup of tea we passed on details of the food shops we’d found and also where to go to complete the clearance paperwork with the Port Police, Customs and Immigration. The following day, literally just before we left, we also got to see Rhys on Quadrille and congratulate him on crossing the Atlantic single-handed. It was all very social and very much a fun part of cruising. However, we had plans to move on and so we drew up a short shopping list of a few supplies we needed which we would get in the morning when we went ashore to clear from Barbados and drew a line on a chart to get us to Grenada, our next Caribbean Island port of call.

Bridgetown, Barbados