A cruising quiz

This, or

This?

This, or

This?

Correct answer?  Both, and I could come up with many more pairs like this, too.  The only common ground is that I took them in the last few days, and they give a little visual of the what-it-takes, and the why-we-do-it of cruising.

So the top photo is Susan finishing to re-hang the dinghy engine on a specially-built plate that is mounted to our arch; we (mostly JP and Susan) go through a multi-step exercise nearly every time we move from place to place, to remove the dinghy engine and mount it and then secure the dinghy to davits.  The procedure is repeated in reverse, of course, each time we arrive and when we need the dinghy (and that is also nearly every time, and often immediately so that we can clear in).  

The second photo is of Happy Island (we sent a Christmas poem to to tune of Jingle Bells on the subject some years ago), a man-made conch shell island bar set in Clifton Harbor on Union Island in the Grenadines - we were on a mooring in Clifton for a few hours on Monday 28 May to have lunch and clear out.  In the end, we didn't visit Happy Island this time, though we had done when we came through on our way south last spring.  Isn't the water perfectly amazing?

The story of the third photo begins with some trouble Susan started experiencing with our electric anchor windlass.  We carry a 40 pound Delta anchor and 200 feet of 3/8" chain, and have been very happy with our anchoring experiences since we arrived in South Atlantic and Caribbean waters in 2011.  We have the originally installed electric anchor windlass, and this makes raising and lowering that hook and many, many feet of that chain (the norm since we left the shallow Bahamas) much easier (versus doing it by hand, for sure).  We have become pretty good at it, if I do say so.  On Sunday 27 May, we moved from the Tobago Cays (see walking photos here and snorkeling photos here ) to nearby Mayreau to spend the night on our way to Union, and to have dinner at Dennis' Hideaway.  In the Cays, Susan noticed that the windlass was making a little bit of an unusual noise, but she raised with no problem and we got to Mayreau.  There, the windlass quit entirely at one point during the process, but with some finagling, JP got it going again and we set the hook.  After that and a little investigation, it was clear, at least to JP, that the windlass was dead or very nearly dead.  This required that the anchor be raised manually at Saline Bay on Mayreau - we had a LOT of chain down, so JP and Susan were exhausted and I was traumatized from helming and trying to help and not hit anything or anyone.  We came on to Sandy Cay, Carriacou for the night, and took a mooring ball, and then on the 29th on to Clarke's Court Bay and a mooring ball at Whisper Cove Marina.   Yesterday, the 31st, Mike from Enza Marine came to have a look, and said not only is it dead, but it was one of the most spectacular exits he has ever seen in any motor.  We can't easily replace it here, so will do so when we get to Trinidad, where we will, Poseidon willing, be able to dock with no interim anchoring before the haul-out.

The last photos is just the sun setting over Sandy Cay - as said, the reminder even on hard(er) days of why we do this.

It's lovely to be back in Grenada, despite the ROLLY conditions (unheard of when we were here in the winter) in Clarke's Court.