Year 2;Nov 18–Nov 30 On November 18 we sailed out of the anchorage at St Georges, Grenada and waved good bye to Dutch Dreamer as we passed Port Louis Marina. We’re on the move again and it feels good. We’re making short hops between islands, taking in the snorkeling and local color of each one. Our first stop was Isle de Ronde just north of Grenada. We snorkeled for hours just off the boat in 6-10 feet of water. Jennifer and Linda even saw a turtle. The next 2 stops were Carriacou, to check out of Grenada, and Union Island to check in to St. Vincent & the Grenedines. At Union Island Jennifer took on the role of flag master. She took down the Grenada flag that’s been flying for 4 months, hoisted the yellow queue flag to indicate we were waiting to check in and then put up the the St. Vincent flag when we got through with Customs and Immigration. After leaving Union Island we went on to Mayreau, another island in the Grenedines, where we caught up to Alianna, Absarogue and Bold Endeavour. More good snorkeling just off the boat in Mayreau. In addition to fish and coral we saw lots of lobsters. Tobago Cays, a national park in the Grenedines, was our next stop. Instead of snorkeling on reefs and watching fish, we snorkeled in the grassy area near shore and watched the sea turtles swim, dive and eat. We were fascinated with them and spent so much time swimming with them that we got to a point where we could recognize individual turtles by the unique markings on their heads and shells.
The next island was Canuan. We arrived the day before Referendum Day. They were voting on a referendum that would allow them to make changes to their constitution without the Queen of England’s approval. There were signs everywhere that said, “I Voting No” with a picture of thumbs down. Their fear was that without the Queen’s approval, they would be a target for a communist takeover. We heard heated debates in local bars and discussions on the street. The “No’s” won. The Queen still has the final say. Our second morning in Canuan, a local man snorkeled up to the boat with a spear gun and a cloth bag to sell us lobsters. He pulled himself into the ivory soap bar, nearly swamping it, to show us his wares – 12 really small lobsters for $40EC ~ $15US. OK, but please don’t submerge the dinghy motor when you leave! Jim boiled them and we enjoyed all the lobster we could eat for both lunch and dinner. Lucky thing that Jennifer doesn’t like lobster.
Next stop Mustique for a 3 day stay. Mustique is a private island with vacation homes of the rich and famous. Whether you anchored or picked up a mooring ball there was a fee to stay there, so we made the most of our stay. The snorkeling was good and we probably saw more live coral there than and place we’d been. Jim found a very large glass serving bowl on the bottom. You never know what’s going to be down there! We spent one day hiking around the island. Between dirt trails, beached, paved stove paths between the beaches, and roads we were able to hike around the whole island. We didn’t see the fancy “villas”, but the island itself was beautiful as were the views of the beaches and reefs. When we finished our hike, we went looking for a place to buy a cold drink before we went back to the boat. We ended up in the village where the locals live and had cheap beers and sodas with a great view of the harbor. One of the customers tipped us off to a great place to eat that evening – a tasty pork barbeque dinner with large portions and a lovely view of the harbor in the moonlight all for $5US. The rich and famous don’t eat here and the guide books don’t tell you about it, but we’d sure recommend “Lisa’s”. We were in Mustique for Thanksgiving. There was no roast turkey on our boat, but we stuffed ourselves with pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy and dressing.
The last island we visited in November was Bequia. We started in Friendship Bay, Bequia’s center for whaling. Each year the people of Bequia are allowed to kill 2 whales, but they must use the traditional methods to get them. They have lookouts on the mountains to spot the whales. Once spotted, the men sail out in wooden whale boats and harpoon the whale. When it finally dies, a guy sews the mouth shut so it won’t take on water and they tow it in and process it right in Friendship Bay. Jim checked out a whale boat and the whale museum while he was exploring on shore. He even struck up a conversation with an old guy who used to be a harpoon man. Hard to believe that still goes on in 2009. Our next stop in Bequia was Admirality Bay where we joined the “Northbound Boats” again. We were going to stay there awhile and help Sim celebrate his birthday on Dec 1, but Chris Parker, the weather guy, said Dec 1 would be a prime day for sailing north. We topped off the fuel, washed clothes and got ready to head on again.
Week 53;Nov. 4–Nov 17 Grenada has been great, but it’s almost time to leave. There have been several boat socials and dinners out as most cruiser are getting ready to head out and are saying their last goodbyes. Jim’s got the fuel, water and propane tanks filled and ready. His order of extra parts for the Yanmar engine and Honda outboard are here. He even picked up a used VHF radio as a backup from Tito & Roberta on Alleluia in exchange for a few rounds of drinks at Happy Hour. Linda’s been stocking up on food one backpack load at a time. Each trip into town nets about 40 pounds of canned goods that can be checked off her master grocery list. She found and fixed 2 leaks under the galley sink, so the cans stored there won’t rust so quickly. There are still lots of trips into town because Jennifer is still taking steel pan drum lessons 3 days a week. She’s the only cruiser kid left now, so the local kids are starting to talk to her. After 2 months of drilling on scales, they are finally learning their first song and the kids are really excited about that.
Jennifer and Linda went on a bus tour to the 7 Sisters waterfalls with friends from Emerald Seas, Absaroque, Blue Heaven and Akunamatata. The hike to get to the falls was on steep muddy paths through what seemed like a jungle. As always, lush green vegetation with lots of flowering plants and beautiful views from the hills. We all swam in the deep pool below one of the falls and got a good head and shoulder massage directly under the falls. Our guide, Butterfly, dove from the falls for us and Jennifer clicked a picture of him in mid air. (We had to tip for that opportunity.)
We moved the boat from Prickly Bay to Hog Island for a few days to spend some time with our friends on Dutch Dreamer. We enjoyed drinks and meals and good conversation together and the kids had their own fun swimming and exploring the island. One of those meals was fresh mahi mahi that Jim caught. Our paths have crossed many times since we met in Nassau in the Bahamas in January, but this time we had to say a real good bye as they’ll be heading west for the Panama Canal when they leave here. We’ll miss Greg, Carol, Brett & Dylan a lot.