Grenada

After leaving Tobago Cays we sailed across to Union Island to clear out of the SVGs, then on to Carriacou, where we anchored the night at Sandy Island, a small sandy strip of an island on the west coast near Hillsborough.  Carriacou is part of Grenada, so we needed to clear customs straight away, as we knew our destination in Grenada was not a full-time customs office.  The anchorage at Sandy Island was gorgeous.  Hayley, Megan and I were lucky to go snorkeling and exploring the small sandy island while the Captain checked in.  As the sun set we were joined in the anchorage by AEDIS – as I’ve said before, another anchorage, another ARC boat.

Anchorage at Sandy Island in the early morning

We set off early Tuesday morning 16^th January to sail down the east coast of Grenada.  The winds were moderate to light and we put up the full main, which gave us good speed as we sailed down the coast, enjoying the rugged scenery of the lee shore of Grenada.  We arrived in St Davids Harbour around mid-afternoon, tied up to a mooring ball, checked in with the marina and made a beeline for the bar/ restaurant to get wi-fi.  Time to catch up with the world. 

Early morning departure for Grenada

Sailing down the east coast of Grenada

We have wifi - St Davids Harbour Grenada

Wednesday 17^th January was a big day for RAFTKIN and crew as we had her lifted out of the water and placed on the hard stand.  We were getting her cleaned and anti-fouled, to ensure a clean bottom when we get to Galapagos.  We also had the saildrives serviced and prepared for the installation of solar panels, to be placed onto the davits.  This was something that required much consideration, but in the end, we decided we didn’t want to take the risk crossing the Pacific without a another reliable battery charging source. We found a guy in Grenada that said he could have the stainless work completed in a week… yes, a week.  Caribbean time of course.

Raftkin is lifted

Home for the next week

Getting RAFTKIN ready for new antifoul

There was much excitement on Thursday 18^th as Hayley, Megan and I were picking up a hire car so that we could go and collect Nanna and Pa (Ray and Dorothy) from the airport!!  Nanna and Pa would be staying with us in Grenada, then sailing with us to Bonaire at the end of January.  Our hire car was a minivan as we needed something that could take 6 people.  This looks a lot like a bus in Grenada, so I was to get hailed a few times over the 5 days we had the car and gave a few people a lift to the main road from the marina. 

We drove out to the airport and had a little time to kill, so after driving around the area for a while, we parked and waited it out in the ‘airport lounge’, an outdoor bar between the car park and the airport.  Finally, we heard the plane land and walked over to the arrivals gate (again outdoors) to wait.  After what seemed an eternity (though nought compared to their 38-hour journey) Nanna and Pa emerged through the sliding doors and into the arms of Hayley and Megan (and me!).

We drove to the Hotel Kalinago, a holiday resort in Morne Rouge Bay where Nanna and Pa had booked to stay for a few nights with the Hayley and Megan – a sort of mini-holiday, instead of coming out to the boat yard.  The hotel was old school resort and very comfortable with air conditioning, swimming pool, trampoline and direct access to the beach.  After settling them in, I made the trek back to the boat and Hayley and Megan prepared for their first night on land for a while.

Waiting in the Grenada Arrivals Lounge for Nanna and Pa

Hello Pa!

Hello Nanna!

Luxury at Hotel Kalinga

Enjoying the beach at Morne Rouge Bay

We had the car for the next 5 days, so we ran a lot of errands, did some shopping for boat parts and solar panels, and started provisioning shopping, along with supervising the work being done in the boat yard.  Driving in Grenada takes great patience.  At any time the car in front may stop to take on passengers or a truck up ahead might stop to unload.  There is rarely a verge, so they just stop in the lane and those behind are obliged to go around.  At 5 pm this can cause quite a jam.  All the same, there is no road rage.  Everyone is chilled, so it's best to just follow their lead and be chilled (😊).

Peak hour, Grenada Style

Just a regular house with a regular set of speakers port side

Saturday and Sunday the boat yard was closed, so we set out to see the island.  Saturday, we drove up the west coast to Gouyave to see the nutmeg factory.  The roads in Grenada are quite a challenge, especially when rain is added to the equation.  As we approached Gouyave there were some road signs that indicated a road closure and alternative route.  We followed the signs, but found they took us way up the mountain side along roads that seemed little more than driveways.  With no other directions we continued along, wondering where we were being lead, then finally we started to descend down towards sea level again.  When we reached the town, we parked the car and went for a walk to find the nutmeg factory.  We found that it was on the opposite side of the river, which had barricades around it.  The road was closed because the bridge over the river was being re-built, hence the big detour over an alternate river crossing.  A local man showed us to a pedestrian bridge that took us back over the river, where we realised we could have driven with the car to if we had ignored the detour signs (like the other tourist buses had…).

Nonetheless, we enjoyed the nutmeg factory, which smelled incredible even from the outside.  It was a large warehouse, but there was minimal machinery inside, because much of the work is done by hand. 

Nutmeg factory at Gouyave

All done by hand, Nutmeg Factory

Keeping it real at the Nutmeg Factory

In the afternoon we drove up over the mountain range to make our way back across the middle of the island.  The scenery was intense jungle, which is understandable when you see how much rain they get in Grenada – and this wasn’t the wet season.  After a few right turns and a few wrong turns, we ended up in Grenville on the east coast, then head south to drop by St Davids Harbour and RAFTKIN on our way back to Hotel Kalingo. 

Sunday, we set out early and trekked up through the middle of the island looking for waterfalls, the chocolate factory and the rum factory.  We found Annandale Falls, which not surprisingly were flowing strongly as it was raining almost constantly all day.  We had a short walk to the falls, where we saw a guy from the Grenada Jumpers jump off the rock ledge and into the small pool below.

Looking south west over St Georges

Annandale Falls

Megan's favourite tree - Cocoa

We travelled on to the north looking for the chocolate factory, but in the rain all we could find was a small house with a Grenada Chocolate van out the front, so we drove on and ended up in Sauteurs at the very northern tip of the island.  Nothing was open because it was Sunday, so we found a spot with a great view looking down over the bay and had a car-nic.  Best restaurant in town.

When we got back to St Georges it was getting late so we looked for somewhere to have dinner.  Driving into town we found the Schnitzel Haus on the Carenage, where we enjoyed some schnitzel of course!

Prost! from the Schnitzel Haus, The Carenage St Georges

Tuesday afternoon RAFTKIN was ready to go back in the water.  Nanna and Pa moved out of Hotel Kalinago and onto RAFTKIN, then the travel lift picked up RAFTKIN and gently placed her back in the water.  We spent Tuesday night on the mooring ball in St Davids Harbour, then sailed around to Prickly Bay on Wednesday morning.  Back on the water I made my first sourdough using the culture from La Cigale (via Indian Summer via Tintomara) and the recipe from Sisi, the not-so-sour Swede.  Hayley and Megan also enjoyed having some more freedom, being able to swim from the back of the boat again and a bit of mucking around in the dinghy.

Sourdough!

Hayley and Megan enjoy being back on the water in Prickly Bay

Sunset over Prickly Bay

Friday 26^th – Australia Day.  We read up that at Whisper Cover Marina in Clarkes Court Bay (the next bay around from us) there was a butcher that made SAUSAGES located on site at the marina.  Having not been able to find sausages anywhere, we decided to head around there to find a new anchorage and get some sausages to BBQ for dinner.  We also found Antares (😊) so we soon invited Casper, Nina, Simon and Maria over for a BBQ dinner to celebrate Australia Day and finding each other again.  The sausages were excellent, as was the company.  Pa was in his element as the BBQ King and rightly so, given he had managed to get our BBQ firing properly for the first time since we have had it!

BBQ King in his element and enjoying rum punch on Australia Day

Sausages!

A game of Cluedo in session on RAFTKIN

H ayley, Megan, Casper and Nina enjoy BBQ on Raftkin

On Saturday Hayley and Megan spent the morning playing at Antares with Casper and Nina.  Dave tried to coordinate the steelwork frame for the solar panels, but it was becoming exceedingly obvious that Caribbean time meant we would be in Grenada another week (some cruisers we had met were saying a month!).  Nanna, Pa and I jumped in the dinghy and went exploring the bays around Hog Island and Clarkes Court.  It was so windy we had to travel very slowly or get soaking wet from the chop.  We ended up at Whisper Cove, a very pleasant marina out of the wind and with good coffee.  From there we could watch the four kids playing on Antares too.  In the afternoon the wind had eased off a bit so Simon organised the kids to have a go on the optimist.  Too much fun.

A tikki tour around Clarkes Court Bay  - its a little breezy

Stop for a coffee (and wifi) in Whisper Cove Marina

Hayley and Casper optimising at Clarkes Court Bay

On Sunday we thought we should refuel as we would be picking up the steelwork on Monday and heading to Bonaire soon after.  After talking to a few long-time cruisers anchored in the bay, we discovered there was fuel available not at Phare Blue (as indicated in the guidebook), but at Secret Harbour marina, so we motored around there.  It was super windy and busy as Grenada Race Week was about to start, so coming into the dock was challenging.  We managed, got our fuel and motored back around to Clarkes Court anchoring on the other side of the bay nearer to Antares and hopefully more protected from the wind. 

Every Sunday afternoon there is a cruisers BBQ on Hog Island.  We all went over in the dinghy mid-afternoon, not sure what to expect. It was fabulous.  Loads of cruisers turned up, from people who had just started cruising last week, through to people who had been cruising for 20+ years.  Some of the long-time cruisers were also musicians, so there was a jam session with jazz and contemporary music.  There were a whole bunch of kids there too – some we had met previously way back in the Canaries, and some new friends to make too.  We caught up with Brenton from AEDIS too.  The afternoon passed quickly, chatting, finding out what to do and what not to do from the long-time cruisers, sharing some of our knowledge gained in the last 4-5 months with the people just starting out.  Too soon the sun was setting, the no-see-ums were coming out and it was time to head back to RAFTKIN.

Hog Island Cruisers Sunday BBQ

Catching AEDIS at Hog Island

The next week in Grenada was a test of patience for all of us as we awaited the delivery of the stainless framework.  Each day promises were made and not delivered.  Even harder… boat school started again on Monday, so we were back to mornings spent trying to stay calm and enthusiastic about the tasks to be undertaken for school.

On Tuesday Pa and I joined the weekly bus shopping trip from Whisper Cove and Clarkes Court.  As I mentioned above, a bus in Grenada is essentially a mini-bus, not much larger than a Tarago.  A full busload set out stopping first at the ATM (which was drive-through, for those not on a bus – hilarious!), then the hardware in True Blue, followed by the chandlery, and finally the supermarkets near Grand Anse.  When we all returned to the bus in the supermarket car park we were not sure how everything was going to fit.  Some thought the driver would do two runs, but the driver was determined to do one.  He commandeered the first row of seats and carefully stacked all the shopping bags in order of drop off location, then instructed us to squeeze into the remaining 3 rows of seats.  I did mention that the bus was full on the way down, so this meant 4 adults across a row of seats designed for 3.  Talk about get to know your neighbour!  We all laughed away the experience and there was good conversation all the way back to the marina.

Wednesday 31^st we had some progress and the big steel frame that would support the solar panels was delivered.  Dave brought it out to the boat and installed it, then started installing the solar panels straight away.  He had already put all the wiring and circuits in place and now it was a matter of making the connections.  The remaining support pieces were to be delivered the next day and we would set sail for Bonaire soon after, so it looked like Wednesday would be our last night.  We invited Antares over for a pizza night, made some pizza dough and put together some pizzas from the bits and pieces we had available on the boat between Maria and I.  It was a fun night and we wished we could spend more time travelling with this family.

Fun in the sun with Casper and Nina

Thursday we went into the Clarkes Court marina to wait for the parts and do some final downloads etc before we left for Bonaire.  After a couple of hours, it became clear that the parts weren’t coming.  A phone call confirmed that our friend’s truck had broken down and he was just trying to sort it out.  Dave offered to get a taxi to the factory to meet him… and the truck was soon fixed and he was on his way, only he wasn’t.  We decided to check out anyway, so that we could get away first thing in the morning, assuming the part was coming.  This gave us an opportunity to go around to Phare Blue and have lunch at the marina restaurant while we cleared out, and to celebrate Nanna & Pa’s 49 years of marriage.

The parts finally arrived mid afternoon on Friday 2^nd February.  Hayley and Megan were pleased about the delay as it gave them a few more precious hours of play with Casper and Nina, once school was done.  With a huge sigh of relief, Dave installed the final brackets and we were ready. Then it was time to say goodbye to our friends on Antares, pull up the anchor and sail off into the setting sun.  Nanna and Pa were bravely setting out on their ocean passage – a four-day sail to Bonaire.

It was great to be sailing again.

Sailing into the sunset Bonaire Bound