Week 41-42;Aug 22–Sept 6 Another 2 weeks have slipped by here on the island of spices. We’re settled into an anchorage on the SW corner of Grenada called Prickly Bay. It’s got easy access to fuel, water, ice, laundry, a large marine store and 2 marinas with bar/restaurants that sometimes have live music. So far we’ve heard steel band, reggae and blues. The local busses pick up right at the dinghy dock and for $2.50EC (~$1US) you can go just about anywhere: the big IGA food store at the mall, downtown St. Georges, even Port Louis Marina where some of our friends are still docked.
Our friends on Alianna, Bold Endeavor, Blue Heaven and Absaroque are here in Prickly Bay. We’re getting to know other cruisers too as Jennifer meets other boat kids and we participate in activities at the marinas. Jennifer has spent a lot of time with Olivia and Sophia from Rambunctious. Even though they’re younger than her, she’s having a great time swimming and playing with them almost every afternoon. She even reads to them. We were all invited to a “Full Moon” party on Rambunctious last Friday. It’s a tradition they started last month – swimming with their kids in the moonlight. It was fun and we’re looking forward to another swim in the full moon light next month.
We are essentially a 3 car family now. The kayak is inflated - Jennifer’s transportation to play dates. The Tinker is inflated and rigged as a sailing dinghy – Jim’s means of cruising around the anchorage. The ivory soap bar has the motor on it and is still like the old faithful family car. When we all need to get somewhere together, that’s what we use.
Experiencing “Oil Down”, the national dish of Grenada, was the highlight of the last 2 weeks. There’s a community in St. David, Grenada, that occasionally invites cruisers to join them for an Oil Down. The cruisers bring appetizers and desserts and come prepared to learn and work. The community provides all the ingredients and instruction on how to prepare Oil Down. We helped cut up bread fruit and papaya, peel green bananas, grate coconut and tumeric and then squeeze the juice out of the coconut, and roll dumplings. We watched as the locals layered all the ingredients into huge pot (caldron) about 3’ in diameter and about 1 ½ ‘ deep. They started with bread fruit, then added meat & spices, catsup and green onions, more bread fruit, more meat & spices, bananas, papayas, yams, pumpkin, okra and fresh allspice. Callilou, kind of like spinach, made up the top layer. The liquid from squeezing all the juice out of the coconut was poured over everything, and the dumplings were placed on top. It was covered and put on an open wood fire for about an hour. When it was down, they dished out plates and served us all very generous portions. It felt like 2-3 pounds of food per plate. By that time it was dark and we couldn’t see what we were eating, but it sure tasted great with all the flavors of all the fruits, vegetables and spices blended together.
Week 39-40;Aug 5–Aug 20 We left Carriacou and officially arrived on the island of Grenada on August 5. The destination was St. Georges, but a couple miles before we got there, Jim spotted 2 of the “Southbound Boats” anchored in Grand Mal Bay, so we joined them for the evening and snorkeling the next day and then went on to St. Georges. We wanted to anchor in the lagoon and get a good spot before Carnival started on Monday, but as they often do, plans changed. Port Louis, a brand new marina in the lagoon, was offering a special to attract new boaters. The rate was length x width x $.08US, plus stay 2 days and get the 3rd day free, plus a bucket of 5 free beers a day. That’s about $10US a day and if you count the beers, it’s about $0. Sometimes it’s good to be small. Needless to say, we’ve been at the marina enjoying the pool, hot showers, a grocery store within easy walking distance, the convenience of being on shore, and the company of other boaters, many that we know from our travels south.
Carnival was quite an earful and eyeful. The pictures will have to speak more to that, but even the pictures without the music don’t really convey the Carnival atmosphere. The first day of Carnival, Monday, started about midnight, at least that’s when the music started and went non-stop for about 1 ½ days. All the Carnival parades started just outside the marina gates, so we were right in the midst of it. The first parade, Jouvet, started at 5am on Monday. It had something to do with driving out the evil spirits. There were many “bands" each with a different color. A “band” is a truck with huge speakers blaring music with a large group of people dancing around it as they slowly move down the street. If the bands color is red, all the people will be painted with red paint over their clothes and bodies. There were bands for every color you could think of – yellow, red, green, orange, pink, blue, peach, silver, even black (I think they used used engine oil to cover themselves). We were told to wear old clothes because you could get painted or oiled just by people moving through the crowds. You could also allow people to paint you and that’s the option Jim went for, in fact he became the painter. He got paint from each band that passed and made sure that we had some of every color smeared on our clothes and skin. It’s all waterbased except for the oil, so it washes out easily. Check out the pictures.
We missed the second Carnival parade, but we’re told it was the same bands and same music, but this time with colorful costumes and no paint. The 3rd parade of the day was at night. Again, the same bands, this time the music seemed a little mellower or maybe our ears had just adjusted to it. It was kind of a light show with all the people dancing around the bands wearing lighted hats or lighted wands. The last parade was suppose to have been Tuesday, but it got rained out and rescheduled for Saturday. There were very elaborate colorful costumes and a lot of very colorful, very scantily clothed women. Same music – we know most of it now!
Just a comment on the Grenadian people – they are very friendly and very orderly. Even with all the drinking, dancing and partying and all the loud music and crowds during Carnival, we didn’t see any pushing, shoving or fighting in the streets. I don’t think we heard sirens but once during the Carnival. They party hard, but also have a great deal of respect for other people. After 3 parades on Monday, the litter in the streets was all picked up before the next day’s activities.
The dock life had been great here. All the “Southbound boats” were together at the dock for a few days and of course we had a pot luck. Jennifer had a wonderful time because she could walk from boat to boat and visit everyone without having to beg for a dinghy ride to get there. “Hey mom, I’m going to Blue Heaven and if they’re not on their boat, I’ll be in the pool.” She could be so much more independent here. We found out Nixa, the girl Jennifer met in Carriacou, lives just up the hill from the marina less than a 5 minute walk away. Now she’s got freedom to go places on her own and a friend the same age who can come over and play. That’s good, but it got better. A 90’ mega yacht, the Princess Claudia, tied up at the same dock. Usually there’s little or no interaction between the crews of the big boats and the little sail boats, but the captain and chef on Princess Claudia, Charles and Maria, really befriended Jennifer. It seemed like she was on their boat almost as much as Opus. We all got to know the crew of 4 and even had a ride one afternoon when Charles went to another marina to fuel up – planing at 21 knots, what an experience. How can you top that? Well, just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, we looked out and there’s Dutch Dreamer waiting to tie up at the same dock! We hadn’t seen Greg and Carol and the boys since Luperon, 3 ½ months ago. It was great to see them again and get caught up on all that's happened since the Dominican Republic. Jennifer's got her favorite boat kids at a dock with a pool.
Ever Since Rosie gave Jennifer and Linda sea gypsy anklets, Jennifer has been making anklets out of cord and beads for all the special people she meets. (Don't worry Renate, yours will be ready when you get back.) After giving one to Maria on Princesss Claudia, Charles convinced Jennifer she needed to go into business and sell them and then he placed an order for 10. He told her he'd be her manager and promptly told the dock master what nice wrok Jennifer did and he ordered some too. She's been cranking out bracelets and anklets like crazy. She's having fun, earning money and learning a little bit about business too.
The "Southbound Boats" have all left the marina - some for Trinidad, some for other anchorages and one to go back to Canada for a few months. Yesterday the Princess Claudia left the dock for the Dominican Republic to deliver the boat to new owners. Today we'll leave the marina and anchor out in the bays on the SW side of the island and Dutch Dreamer will follow soon. It's been a great break to stay at a marina for awhile, but we're all ready to get back on the hook and swim and snorkel in the clear salt water every day instead of the chlorinated water of the pool. St. Georges will only be a short bus ride away from whereever we anchor.
We’ll be in Grenada or close to it for several months, so come on down and visit us. We can’t house you on the boat, but we can help you find a good place to stay and take you out for a sail. There are also charter boats available down here through Horizon Yachts and the Grenadines and Tobago Cays are easily within reach for a weeks charter. Email Linda at lindajgay@yahoo.com.