What has happened in Grenada since we arrived June 11th? We had a great sail and chose not to turn on the engine even though we were only going 2knots a few times. I think that next season more of this will happen! We chose to anchor outside of St. George most of time vs in Lagoon (can’t swim) or at Prickly Bay where it always rolls. Being at St. George is great as you can walk or bus to see the island and hang with the locals or other cruisers. The people are REALLY friendly and walking at night is safe.
This is the last island in the chain before taking another 85-90nm Atlantic crossing to either Trinidad, Los Testigos or Venezuela. This night crossing is abit different in that you encounter more Equatorial current and seas than the rest and oil rigs, freighter traffic. It looks like we will be leaving June 26th pm so hopefully we will see the moon to guide us. Thoughts below:
– Cutty (our island tour guide) drove us around the island one day where we learned a lot about local fruits/veggies, culture, history as well as went to Annadale Falls, River Antoine Rum Distillery (all manual), Belmont Chocolate Plantation, Nutmeg Processing Station (since Ivan only 10% production level) and Grand Etang National Park (Mona Monkeys)
– Seven of us cruisers (Aquila & RPhurst) took a local bus @ $4EC ($2.67EC to $1US) to Grand Etang National Park to take a hike to the Seven Sisters Falls where there are 7 falls of which we only had time for 3. This walk was a tribute to my 7 sisters, favorite constellation and also the name of sister Monica’s jewelry business. You pay $5EC to hike across a private farm in the forest and were a beautiful hike with swimming in the fresh water pools. We hitched a ride with a local in his truck down the mountain and then a local bus caught up with us so off we went in that.
– Everything except restaurants closes on Sunday’s in these islands – even most of the buses which are locally owned vans registered to run a route. It’s a great mode of transport and they do pack them in during rush hour!
– Grenada is just starting to recover from Ivan, 2004 which killed their primary/profitable chocolate and nutmeg production. The old churches, fort, buildings are still under restoration and some may never be used again. The tourist season is done with only an occasional Holland cruise boat – so it’s just us sailors heading south as insurance dictates or as storms approach. You can tell it’s the Hurricane season as it is starting to rain more often as tropical waves (which can turn into hurricanes) pass through. Apparently it rains briefly each day in Trinidad which creates the humidity and as you don’t get a lot of wind in the marinas – it can be miserable. Fortunately we have an A/C unit to hook up as I’m not looking forward to this!
– Cutty drove us to Fish Friday (night event) in Gouyave (about 45 min. north) the fish city of Grenada. They started doing this 2 years ago to bring tourism to their city and create another way to eat the fish. It has great fish vendors, local steel pan and bango drum bands along with other cultural events. The 2nd time we took a local bus (cheaper) as we were misinformed the first time.
– The “launch” for the carnival which starts in mid July happened while we were here SO we want to make sure we are here next year for this. Trinidad’s carnival in early February so not sure how that’s going to happen.
– We were strolling around the city and saw a barber shop so I asked if he would cut off 1” of my hair which ended up with only 1” LEFT. This was misunderstood! Good thing it grows back.
– Have a LONG list of to do’s to get this boat put on the hard AND upon our return to MN.
– Cutty took us to the north east side of Grenada (about 1-1/2 hour van ride) to participate in a turtle watch/hatch/etc hosted by national eco organization. They are trying to turn this over to the locals to allow them to make money vs eat the eggs/turtles. It hope it works but I can see that they would have to be monitored/trained to know how not to disturb this process – as tourists would want to take too many pictures, touch the turtles, etc. We saw 2 HUGE leatherback turtles giving birth to 24 yoked eggs and another 20 without that provide nutrient for the babies that hatch within 55-60 days. I learned that the male provides sperm once but the female retains this sperm and uses it for about 3 hatches over the April-July timeframe. The turtles start hatching when they are 15 years old. The process is amazingly slow as they bury themselves in sand and then dig and pack a hole for their eggs. After they are done they pack the hole and continue to toss sand around as if to disguise the birthplace. It was beautiful/magical with a 1/2 full moon and red lights to experience the process with them.
Look forward to seeing you upon our return to MN!
Our Love
Rose & Tom