Aug 6–16 We took 2 days to go from Carriacou to St Georges, Grenada, because we wanted to stop at another small island between them. Isle de Ronde is known for its clear water and beautiful reefs. There were lots of file fish, both orange and white spotted. Now that we know what they are, they seem to be everywhere. Several boats we knew were at Isle de Ronde that day so we got together for a social on Irie. Jim's friend Gerald from Carriacou also stopped by to say hi. He had taken some of his friends to Grenada for the day in his power boat Blisters and swung past Isle de Ronde on the way back just to see if we were there.
We pulled into Port Louis Marina in St Georges, Grenada, on Sunday afternoon just before Carnival. We knew the routine from last year. Sunday there's a big party at the marina hosted by the Rotary Club - loud music, expensive buffet meal and drinks. Cruisers who are too cheap to pay for the big buffet spend the afternoon in the pool and have their own dock parties. We went to a social on Jon and Sam's boat Imagine that night. The Rotary Club music ended around 10:30pm and at 11pm the same Carnival music started up across the lagoon. The music continued at full volume until 4am when everyone started getting ready for the first mas or parade of the day. We headed out at 5:30am and it was already in full swing. The first parade, j'ouvert, has something to do with driving out the evil spirits or maybe it's just a chance to get all the evil out before they have to clean up their act for the next parade. The music is loud, the drinking is excessive, the dancing is very provocative, people are covered in paint or oil and will paint or oil you if you indicate you are willing. Instead of black paint, they use used engine oil. Last year there was an announcement from the Minister of Health or some official agency stating that covering your skin with used engine oil was not healthy. As a result, and no doubt out of protest, about 3/4 of the people in the parade were covered in black oil, coating themselves as they went, sliding along on oily shoes. Quite a site and a little scary looking, but that's the intent. The "bands" of different colors, like red, blue, green, etc., seemed much smaller and much tamer than last year. Either we've become immune to the loud music, drinking and lewd dancing, or all the craziest people were in the "oil bands". We got back from j'ouvert at 7:30am, earlier than we'd get up most days. Gerald came by in his boat Blisters to say hi. He came from Carriacou for j'ouvert and he found us again.
The second mas or parade was in the middle of the afternoon around 2 or 3. Time schedules are pretty loose around here. You do better looking around for movement or listening for a change in music to know when things are starting than to go by a printed schedule. New comers get pretty irritated when they pick out a choice spot along the parade route a half hour before the scheduled start time and then wait for 2 hours before anything happens. Everyone is all cleaned up and in brightly colored costumes for this parade - lots of feathers, beads, bangles and lots of skin. Last year we probably would have described it as the parade of scantily clothed women. This year it just struck us as colorful costumes, some more interesting than others. We did notice that for each type of woman's costume, there were 2 versions - a one piece and a 2 piece bikini style. Most women chose appropriately!
Back to the boat for for a little rest, a little food and drink and then off to the third mas or parade of the day. This one was at night and called the light mas because all the participants had lighted hats and/or wands. Each group or band had their own truck with a sound system and emcee. The emcee would try to get the whole group to move their lights in time to the music or follow his commands as they marched and shuffled along. It got more chaotic as the night went on as each band also had their own truck dispensing beer, rum and coke or other spirits. We got back to our boat around midnight. Jennifer doesn't normally pay attention to time, but she was the one who noted we'd been up for 20 hours.
Tuesday was the second official day of Carnival. Thank goodness only one big event today - the big parade or pageant. It was the same as the dress parade on Monday except that there were more people and each group put on a show or story in front of the judges stand. What seemed like a bunch of independent units Monday turned into huge troops of people that all fit into unified stories. It was much more interesting to know what the scantily clothed women were suppose to represent.
Carnival was over by Tuesday evening, but we stayed in the marina for the rest of the week. They have exceptionally low rate during Carnival, especially for repeat customers with small boats - less than $9US per day! We all enjoyed the dock life and fresh warm water showers. Jennifer had play dates and sleepovers and thoroughly enjoyed the pool at the marina. Her friend Lala was on the same dock. Liesbet from the boat Irie had a couple of school sessions with her to get her going on her final research paper for 7th grade. School of course isn't as fun as a play date in the pool, but having Liesbet, a former 6th grade teacher, work with you is much more fun than school with your mom or dad! Linda enjoyed visiting with friends on the dock and easy access to grocery stores and all the shops downtown. Relaxing days on the boat and being able to come and go as you please without the dinghy are good. Jim used his dock time to rest and then do some dinghy repairs. He found the fish market in St Georges and loaded up our ice box with cheap ice and some thick tuna steaks for about $3US a pound. With easy access to grocery stores and the fish market we ate well.
Aug 16–31 Now that Carnival is over, things are quieter in Grenada. We've left the marina and headed over to Prickly Bay where we spent hurricane season last year. First let's say we have been clear of all hurricanes, tropical storms and tropical depressions so far. That's why we're here. We've been checking with fellow boaters on other islands and family and friends back in the States who were close to the path of Hurricane Earl. So far everyone is safe.
Prickly Bay is always a hubbub of activity for cruisers. Since we spent about 3 months here last year, everything is familiar - bus routes, stores, beaches, bars. A lot of our friends are here too. Shortly after we arrived, Jon from Imagine celebrated his 60th birthday. Sam threw a nice birthday breakfast for their cruising friends on their boat. Then we all celebrated again that evening with a big birthday dinner at De Big Fish. Every Friday night there's a steel pan drum band and a rock-n-roll band at Prickly Bay Marina. That's become a regular date night. Linda likes the steel pan, Jim likes the rock-n-roll, so it's a good compromise. Jennifer likes it too because her friends hang out there at the dock. The saxophone player brings his 12 year old son, Adam, so no matter how late we stay she always has another kid to talk to.
Jennifer has been busy here. She's still doing some school work, but has her afternoons free to play with other girls in the anchorage. Lala (11) and Kashara (13) are her two main playmates. They swim, hang out together and have sleepovers. We inflated the kayak so Jennifer has her own transportation to go from boat to boat. The kids have had fun playing with the kayak, Mark's surf board, and Lala's boogie board. They use what's available and make up games and activities as they go. They watch movies once in a while, but most days they don't have any need for electronic gizmo's and gadgets. They're all avid readers and have been swapping the books they've read in the last couple of months. It's not always easy to find age appropriate books at the marina book swaps. Jennifer had an interesting field trip into town one day with Lala's family. They got a private tour of a Polish cargo ship. The tour was in Polish too, but Lala translated the highlights for Jennifer.
We wouldn't be normal cruisers if we didn't have problems to fix. In the last couple of weeks, the dinghy motor has been giving us problems. Jim replaced the carburetor bowl and pull cord and taught Linda and Jennifer to drain the carburetor to get around the dirty fuel problem. It's a little temperamental, but for a 15 year old Honda 2HP, we're lucky it's still running. Corrosion may be getting the best of it though. We also lost the cover to our gas grill over the side. That cable that attaches it broke - corrosion. It went down in 25' of murky water. Jim got on the cruiser's net one morning and asked it anyone had a spare cover or would be willing to dive for it. Two boaters, both Mark's, offered to dive for it and another actually had a spare cover for the exact same grill somewhere on their boat. They replaced their grill and were using the old bottom for an herb garden. It took them over a day to find the cover, but they did and now we're back in business.
Our friends Jim and Rose are coming out for another visit in late September. This time they are renting a small villa instead of chartering a boat. The villa is in St Davids Bay, so we moved Opus over to check things out. It's a smaller quieter bay than Prickly Bay, very picturesque with one boat yard and Bel Air Plantation villas. For us it was like taking a quiet vacation with just the 3 of us. We love Prickly Bay, but sometimes you need a little down time. Jim checked out things on shore and took the bus to Grenville. Linda and Jennifer did some school work and checked out the marina beach. As usual, they found people they knew and even kids. Both Bel Air Plantation and the marina restaurant have wifi with 110 outlets to plug into for power and cheap beer during happy hour. What more could we ask for. This is more remote than most other anchorages we've been to, but with a long walk and long bus ride, we still have access to groceries and fish market ice.