Sailing to Grenada
Prickly Bay, Grenada

I can't believe it, I'm finally in Grenada—overdue, but happy (and a little seasick).

I set my alarm to wake me at 4:15 this morning, and started securing as much gear around the cabin as I could. Everyone was up and within a half hour and we pulled anchor in the pre-twilight sky around 5:30. About three hours after we set sail, I was wishing I didn't have that hot chocolate for breakfast. Yeah, I ended up tossing my cookies and feeling queasy for at least 70% of the trip. It's looking like I'm not much of a sailor—and I'm happy I didn't find that out during a three week trip to Brazil with Stephan.

I couldn't blame the sea conditions on my tummy troubles, it was perfect sailing weather. Even with only 2/3 of the main sail open and one of the head sails, we were still moving at a brisk 7–10 knots (over land, thanks to a 2 knot northerly current in our favor). The Odessa was leaning at 25–30 degrees as we tore past two sailboats along our way. By the time we were half way to Grenada, the water was such an amazing color of blue that I can only describe it as what a huge pool of blue 2000 Flushes toilet water would look like.

We finally arrived in Prickly Bay, Grenada, around sunset (12 hours later). Later in the evening I took the dingy into land to find an ATM so I could pay the immigration fee the next morning. When I finally got back onto solid land, my equilibrium was totally off. It felt like I had just gotten off an amusement park ride that took for for a spin for much too long—so bizarre!

It feels good to be in a new country again.

Sadly, the saga with Jakob, the German Soup Nazi, continues on. The 18 year old has pleasant moments of normalcy, but I find him to be generally selfish, uncompromising, and difficult to consistently communicate with (unresponsive to questions, ignores you, spaces out, etc). Captain Bill doesn't want people making their own meals independently (instead cooking for/feeding the entire crew at every opportunity), and it's ridiculous that so much of the stress of living aboard the Odessa comes from dirty dishes and food consumption/meal preparation. I'm torn between a lack of freedom from living on the Odessa with the unpleasant expenses of living on land in the Caribbean. Optimally, living off the boat while at anchor would be the most comfortable solution.

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