Deh Seven Sisters

Today is Saturday March 16th and yesterday we took a day off from "fixing deh boat" and spent the day up in the rain forest hiking to St. Margaret's Falls, known locally as the Seven Sisters.  The falls are a series of cascades with the three lower sisters being the tallest and the three upper sisters being a series of smaller cascades. The seventh sister is off on another trail and is called Honeymoon Falls because the pool at its base is heart shaped. Most people hire a guide and end up for a swim at the lower sisters with the deep pools.  We decided to brave the hike on our own and climb to the upper cascades.

 This was a challenging scramble up a steep, muddy, rocky and very slippery cliff side and after getting up there we were a little concerned about how we were going to get down. Gratefully there were lots of strong roots and trees to hang onto on our descent and we made if safely down without a muddy behind!?!  When you pay your entry fee they you a good stiff walking stick and it is a life saver.  

 The locals have their own way of getting down the falls...jumping from pool to pool....not an option for us and in fact there is a sign that says no jumping; however we did see a local lad with two young fellows in tow begin their descent at our picnic site.  Over the years people have been killed trying to jump from pool to pool so they certainly don't encourage it. They were the only other brave souls who challenged the upper sisters. Ann Vanderhoof in her book "Embarrassment of Mangoes" said that she thought there were at least 13 vindictive sisters at St. Margaret's Falls.

The first part of the walk is through a plantation that has nutmeg, cinnamon and cocoa trees.  Shown in the picture is a whole nutmeg with the red mace covering the inner nut and the outer fleshy pulp along with some cinnamon sticks.

  The fruit in my hand is a cocoa plant.

The local folks are sitting under a nutmeg tree.

As we continued our hike we saw many stands of beautiful bamboo and at one point they had made stairs out of the bamboo.

 We saw many beautiful flowers along the way as well.

Sisters one and two have deep pools and cool refreshing water to swim in.  The upper cascades are cool and refreshing but unless you are prepared to jump, it is not possible to access the deeper pools.

We chose a picnic spot midstream and cooled off in the shallow pools.

As we were waiting for the bus back to St. George's we noticed this incredible fern.  Things sure do grow well in a rainforest.

This was a quick shot taken from the bus of the communites nestled in the hills.

Once back in St. George's we picked up some groceries and our usual veggie roti to go and caught the bus back out to Port Egmont. We had challenged the sisters, returned tired and a little muddy but looking forward to returning another time to make the climb to Honeymoon Falls.

 

Deh Medical System in Grenada

We often say we come home to Ontario to see our doctors, accountants, dentists etcetera, get fxed up and sail away again for another few months.  Of course the fixing up time seems to be taking longer the older we get, but we hope to be able to continue in our sailing life as long as our health lets us.  This year was a case in point with our delays because of Rob's heart, but we are happy to say that he is feeling well and the medication seems to be keeping the arrhythmia in check.  There is a time and place for drugs.

People often ask us about health care when we travel and the cost of insurance.  Our Retired Teachers of Ontario plan covers us for up to 62 days out of province emergency medical insurance and further to that we generally purchase an emergency MedJet insurance for evacuation purposes.  Our feeling has been that for the most part we can afford to cover our medical expenses everywhere but the United States.  Over the years we have had very good care in The Bahamas and the cost has been very reasonable.

 I hadn't planned on doing a blog entry on the medical care in Grenada; however  I have had the good fortune to have been looked after extremely well by a local doctor, Dr. Gail Friday.  Just after arriving in Grenada I discovered a lump under my arm in the area of my lymph nodes.  I left it for a couple of weeks to see if it changed and it seemed to be getting bigger.  In checking  myself I also found a pea sized lump in my other breast that hadn't been there the last time I had checked. I had had a mammogram last summer and all was well but we thought it prudent that I see a doctor to ease my mind if nothing else.

A little over a week ago I made an appointment to see Dr. Friday.  When we arrived at her office at 1:00pm the waiting room was full.  I imagined being there all afternoon; however if you make an appointment you are seen at that time.  The catch is that you have to pay a $4.00 appointment fee and the locals don't want to pay the fee.   I hadn't realized this at the time and when I was called I felt like the whole waiting room was looking at the white woman who gets special treatment.  The receptionist was quick to say that I had an appointment.  My first visit was an examination with Dr. Friday recommending a mammogram.  The cost of my appointment with Dr. Friday was $28.00 which included the $4.00 for making an appointment.  The next day we came back in to St. George's for my mammogram at a private clinic anytime between 9:30am and 2:30pm.  This time we could not make an appointment but were told to go early.  We managed to get there early enough to get the first appointment. The mammography machine was the old crusher type, probably a machine donated to Grenada by the United States; however at least there was the technology available.   The clinic also had a MRI machine, a CT scanner and ultrasound facilities.  The cost of my mammogram was $110.00.  I imagine OHIP pays more than $110.00 for our scans in Ontario?  Despite the older technology, the facility was very impressive.  Before hurricane Ivan they had been operating out of trailers; however since the hurricane they have built this brand new modern facility Spice Island Imaging Services shown in the picture above.

 My results were read by a radiologist the next day and this week we picked up the report and saw Dr. Friday again. This consultation cost $20.00. The report was inconclusive and recommended an ultrasound to be sure.  Dr. Friday's office called a local sonographer and were told to send me over that afternoon.  Once again no one makes appointments and after about 1.5 hours sitting in an extremely hot office on a very uncomfortable bench with nothing to read but a catalogue and a 2006 magazine among many others waiting their turn I had my ultrasound.

 This time  the equipment looked every bit as good as what we see in Ontario.  The sonographer works at the hospital during the day and comes to her private clinic Tri-Island Echoes at 4:00 in the afternoon. The cost of the ultrasound was $48.00 and the report was given to us the next day.  We were reassured to see that the ultrasound agreed with the mammogram and the results showed only benign cysts.  Dr. Friday has agreed to fax a report to my doctor in Ontario so that we can plan appropriate treatment when I return home in a timely manner.  My last visit to go over the ultrasound results and send a report to my doctor cost $20.00.

The trips to town and the appointments have been a bit stressful; however I must say that I couldn't have asked for better or more professional care.  In only eight days I have had 3 appointments with the doctor, one mammogram and one ultrasound and a hand written referral to my doctor in Ontario...$226.00 spent total....and now my mind is at rest.  How long would this process have taken in Ontario and how many more weeks of worry?

There is a permanent market in St. George's.  In the past the vendors have erected tents and umbrellas.  Within the last couple months there has been a new market being built and this picture shows the mix of the two. Obviously it will be much more expensive to be inside the new building so it remains to be seen how many people choose to sell out of the new space?

This picture shows the local fishermen loading ice onto their boat in preparation for a day's fishing.  Between climbing the hills and the manual jobs of fishing and farming you see very few people who are overweight.  

Deh Egmont Harbour Happenings

Celebrian is getting lots of attention these days!  

Today is Friday March 8th and we are anchored in Egmont Harbour which is also known as the local hurricane hole.  We needed an anchorage where Rob could work on Celebrian's rub rail from Goldberry.  We get the wind in here which is lovely and good for our wind generator Hal but the water is calmer so Rob can stand up in the dinghy and do his scraping and painting.

  I have been kayaking and exploring on foot.  The anchorage is surrounded by hills and beautiful homes but evidently there is a condominium project and marina in the works.  For now it is lovely and we are sharing the anchorage with only one other boat. The cruisers tend not to come here because there is no internet access, marina facilities like convenience store and laundry or cruiser's bus to town. Truth be known this is exactly what we love and the water in this bay is clean enough to swim in and make water if necessary.

 We hope to join the folks on the other boat tonight for a trip to a restaurant at the other boat yard in Grenada called Grenada Marine....internet, local people and good food.  We have to climb quite a hill to get to the bus but at least there is a local bus.  Speaking of buses you hear all kinds of stories about the bus drivers here and for the most part they like to drive fast but responsibly.  The other day we caught a bus which was driven by a testosterone driven Indy 500 wannabee.  We went around blind corners on the wrong side of the road,passed vehicles where there was no room and where he had to depend on the other drivers yielding,speeding and the conductor practically pulled people on and threw children off.  We vowed we would never ride with this driver again...skull cap and red bus!!  Every bus ride is an experience in itself and now we are counting how many people the conductor can cram on deh bus.  Normal seating is for 10 plus the conductor and driver; however when the flip seats go down and the temporary single cheek boards come out the bus can fill to ....our record is 20 plus the driver and this is without small children.  I know we can break this record if we catch a bus with more children?!?  

This picture shows us waiting up in the hills for a bus to town and waiting at a busy corner in St. George's for a bus back to our anchorage.  

Carl and Riva on Three Belles picked us up in their dinghy and we went together to the restaurant. They have been sailing for 27 years and in many places around the world.  The locals were limeing at the restaurant and it was difficult to carry on a conversation so we didn't learn as much about them as we had hoped.  I wish I could have videotaped the bus ride in the dark that we had back from the Beach Bar Restaurant.  You just have to hang on and groove to the music and not think about the drive??!!

Earlier this week we visited town and did some shopping. We walked around an area of the Carenage that we hadn't seen before and then headed out to Grand Anse beach to visit Sandy.  Sandy has a lovely apartment steps from the beach and very reasonably priced.  We had lunch at Umbrellas followed by a swim back at Sandy's before the long trek back to our anchorage...two buses and lots of waiting.  We were ready for another swim once we were back to Celebrian.

 

Fixing deh Tings in deh Exotic Places

We are often asked how are vacation was when we return from several months of cruising.  We answer by saying that the cruising life is just our other lifestyle and it really can not be considered a vacation.  Of course most people think of sailing as a life of freedom, beauty and perfect tropical weather.  They imagine us sitting on a sugary white beach, swaying in a hammock between two palm trees, sailing on calm blue seas between uninhabited tropical islands, swimming with dolphins and tropical fish or sipping a pina colada in our comfortable cockpit, while the sun drops below the horizon.

The reality is far from that.  When cruisers get together , you hear them talk about the best seasickness pills,  the availability of parts for their watermaker, recommended doctors or dentists, the last major squall  that ripped their jib, the fact that their fridge is broken and the head won't flush and the biggy.....how are your batteries holdng up?
Because our floating homes get kicked around a lot by wind and waves , things break often.  Just this morning ,Rob has had to get into the cockpit locker and fix the connections for our fridge.  We awoke to find the plate temperature had risen and immediately suspected the light wind overnight and the battery charge; however it was indeed the fridge connections.  From here we moved to fixing the watermaker connections after we looked to see salt water spurting out under the pullman mattress.  Living in a salty environment makes things all the more difficult to fix and keep running smoothly.  When you are a captain of a bluewater boat you not only need to know how to sail, you also aught to be a diesel mechanic and a general handyman. I am blessed in both cases.  As for me I need to be able to sail the boat as well as do all of what are called "the pink jobs" and of course be the computer nerd.  May I remind you once again of the definition of cruising as "Fixing deh tings in deh exotic places."

A saying that cruisers know well is B-O-A-T or "Break out another thousand!"  This year we have replaced our anchor chain, the radio, a battery and lots of small items...breaking out a couple of thousand boat units.  Of course if nothing breaks and you sail rather than motor and you don't go out for dinner much the cruising life can be an inexpensive way to live.
Most of the sailors we meet are retired and have sufficient money to keep their boat afloat; however we do meet young families who have chosen to travel now and work later.  Some young people work along the way; however that must add stress and frustration to an already busy boat life.  As any cruiser can confirm; nothing is easy when you live on the water.  Grocery shopping takes half the day. Hauling water and fuel takes hours. First questions asked ashore are , "Where is the nearest laundromat?", "How about propane?" and "Are there buses to get to town?"  Boat errands never stop.
Before idealizing or desiring a life afloat, you have to realize the lack of comfort and what's involved. We live by what the weather tells us we can do.  Managing a "moving household", while using a row boat as the family car is not for the faint of heart. So when someone asks me how my vacation was you can see why it is not an easy answer.  Sometimes I ask myself why I have chosen this lifestye if it isn't a vacation?  I think the answer lies in "the perfect days", the days when we see dolphins while sailing, the days when we meet friendly local people who make you feel welcome on their island, the days when we gaze at the milllions of stars and a full moon while having a sippy in the cockpit ....these are the days that make the tough days worth it.

 We meet many folks who live this sailing life all year round; however Rob and I love the balance in our two lives. We hope to be able to continue doing this for a few more years. Besides, it's not as if we are on vacation?!?

Liming in Grenada

"Liming is defined as kicking back, enjoying good food, music and especially good friends."
Roger's Bar is a make shift bar (there's no electricity; all the lights are run off batteries) and on Sundays there is a sort of pilgrimage across the water to Hog Island to chill out, kick back and enjoy the vibes.  Roger's is popular with locals as well as the yachting community and the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed. The island has been purchased by a develper but at the moment there is nothing to stop Roger from his weekly party set up complete with local band.  In fact Roger has been doing this since Rob was first here in the 1990s; however in those days there was a BBQ and food was cooked fresh on the beach.  Now there is a lady who brings food in chafing dishes and sets up beside the bar.  

The first Sunday we went we paddled over from Mount Hartman Bay and just stayed for happy hour.  We met our friends on Katerina and enjoyed the ambience.  The next Sunday we were in Clarke's Court Bay, nearer to Hog Island so we rowed over in Goldberry for more rum punch, Caribs, the local beer and dinner which was barracuda.  The fish was tasty but overpriced for what was served; however Roger does make a mean rum punch?!

Celebrian in Clarke's Bay

Hog Island 

Celebrian in Clarke's Court Bay 

Deh Island Reading Program

A local Grenadian woman started a Saturday morning reading program for children from any school on the island.  The cruisers volunteer and a bus will come to your bay and pick you up.  This is Myeeshia, a very shy but lovely girl who was in Gr. 4.  She and I read to each other and then played checkers.  There were at least 40 children and close to 15 volunteers both local Grenadian and cruisers who gathered at Jan's beautiful home in the mountains.

Our friends, John and Kathy on Katerina brought their friend and guest Andrea along.  We had learned the other night when they came for happy hour on Celebrian that Andrea was a children's author.  Not only does she write children's books but she also illustrates them as well.  Andrea had brought some of her books with her to Grenada to donate to local schools.  Andrea also did a presentation and read the first book that she had ever written.  She showed the kids how she began learning to draw as well.  The kids were captivated and really enjoyed her presentation.  The Grenadian folks running the program were thrilled and very appreciative.

We had left at 9:30 am and were back to the bay by 1:30pm....it had been a good morning and we all felt good at doing our part at giving back to the people of Grenada.

Deh Island Tour

The cruisers have a connection with a local tour operator that runs an around island tour.  I signed Sandy and her friend Kathy and myself up for a tour and left the captain back at the boat to get our water maker up and running.  Every year Sir Anthony Water Maker the Third is temperamental and usually it takes some fine tuning and a few new plumbing parts to get him up and running smoothly.  Since the forward pull man has to be taken apart and the mattress and Freddy the foam  be placed in the salon it is rather chaotic, thus the captain's desire to have the last mate off of the boat. It took little convincing and since Rob has done the tour it seemed like a good thing to do.

Grenada is about 120 square miles and since it is a volcanic island it has some mountainous areas.  We climbed and climbed up through the rainforest into some very pretty valleys and hills.  The views were great of St. George's and the western side of the island.

Grenada is known as the spice island and in particular nutmeg.  Our driver Justin made a stop at a little garden and shop that sold spices.  He showed us all of the different plants and vegetables that are grown on the island and explained the various uses.  I bought some ginger (both ground and fresh) to try in a drink mix.  It is supposed to be good for digestion and motion sickness.  We hope not to need too much sea sickness medicine this year but it is always best to be prepared.

Up at 1,950 feet is Grand Etang National Park where we were able to view crater lake.  Justin told us that there were 52 rivers on the island and those rivers were a god send after hurricane Ivan.  Some areas of the island were without electricity for many months and the people living in those communities had to collect water and use the fresh water rivers for bathing.  Listening to him talk about the hurricane was very sobering; although at the same time he talked about how everyone joined together to help each other which was very positive.

We stopped at Annandale Waterfall which is a cascade of water 10 m high in a very pretty garden setting.  Naturally I took the opportunity to go for a dip in fresh water.  It was quite wonderful to cool off and experience a waterfall.  The locals jump off of the cliff in hopes of tips from the tourists.  

Justin honked his horn and grunted calls for the Mona monkeys in the park.  They have learned that when they hear the calls there are bananas to be had....and the heads of tourists to sit on!?!?  Not the least bit afraid of people these monkeys were brought to Grenada from African in the days of the slave trade.  Their numbers are down after the hurricane and it now rarer to see them.

From Grand Etang we visited a Nutmeg Factory in Grenville, the second largest city to St. George's and located on the east coast.  Back before Ivan Grenada was the top producer of nutmegs in the world with Indonesia as the other competitor.  After two consecutive hurricanes the nutmeg production is only 50 per cent of what it was before Ivan.  Nutmeg trees take upwards to 10 years to be productive so the recovery is slow.  The processing plant that we visited used to be a bee hive of activity but now there is only one factory out of 3 doing actual production.  The whole nutmeg is used for something...the outer soft fruit is used to make jams, jellies and syrups...the red scale lace over the inner seed is the spice mace and the inner seed is the nutmeg itself which is used as flavouring for baking and beverages.

Grenada is also famous for growing cocoa beans and making a wonderful organic chocolate.  I had no idea how labour intensive making cocoa was until we toured The Belmont Estate where they grow and process cocoa beans.  The white sticky beans out of the shell take many weeks of drying and fermenting before they begin to smell like cocoa.  They need to be dried in the sun and turned over every hour on the hour.  The women used to shuffle in the beans called "walking the beans" to keep them aerated. The ladies on the tour had a chance to try out the process. They now use long rakes to move the beans but it still has to be done on a continuous basis.  After the tour we had a chance to try both the chocolate and the cocoa....both equally delicious.  A chocolate bar has now gone in to Celebrian's sin bin....a place to go looking for comfort food.

We had lunch in Grenville at a local restaurant where I picked up a vegetable roti for Rob for dinner.  I must say I really quite like rotis....a dish made of flatbread that is stuffed with a mixture of curried vegetables, fish, chicken or goat.  It is tasty and very filling and a by product of the East Indian influence.

A visit to Grenada would not be complete without a tour of a rum distillery.  We visited The River Antoine Rum Distillery which was constructed in 1785and has been running continuously since that time.  The machinery and the processes of rum production employed by the estate go back to the 18th century to a period of colonial rule and to a time of slavery.  The huge waterwheel, some 8 m high, is powered by water channelled from the river along an aqueduct and over large wooden paddles.  The wheel in turn drives the machinery, which includes a huge crusher used to extract cane juice.

The cane juice is filtered through wicker mats and then ladled by hand along a succession of enormous copper bowls which are heated by fire below. This is where the cane develops its sugar concentration. Once this has happened, the juice is channeled into large tanks where fermentation takes place and finally after about a week it is superheated and distilled in these large tanks with ovens underneath.  The bottling is a very manual process.  The rum is decanted into large plastic drink coolers and then hand- poured into bottles.  They produce about 80,000 bottles a year!?!?

Of course we had to have a rum tasting...straight at 150 proof and in a rum punch form.  Gratefully there was a water
chaser available!!!  This rum was definitely not a sipping variety at 75 per cent alchol.  Evidently the airlines won't let you fly with anything 70 per  alcohol or more so The River Antoine includes a 69 per cent rum as well.  I think you could pour this rum directly into the airline tanks if necessary?!?

It had been quite a day....monkeys on my head, walking the beans, swimming in a water falls, eating chocolate and drinking rum if you can call it that!?!?
The good news is that when I returned to Celebrian the captain was all smiles and Sir Anthony was ready to turn salt water into drinking water once again....our own on board distillery.

Free enterprise is alive and well in Grenada....Mark's rum punch was a popular purchase!?!

Some  homes have outdoor ovens built into the cliff side.  It makes sense in a country where the temperatures seldom go down lower than 25 all year round and 24 hours a day.