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.

A Trip to De Market ....Dis was Great Fun

On Saturdays there is a market in St. George's and we decided to take advantage of the fact that we are closer to the city here at Prickly Bay than we will be when we move.  We had hoped to have left this anchorage by now; however when you are dealing with boats and getting them ready to cruise there can be any number of things that can delay you.  We think that we fried the new radio when Rob was doing the connections.  The good news is that the radio can be fixed, the bad news is that we had to buy a new one to use now.  We will fly the radio home and either use it at the cottage to see the information on the freighters or install it on Free Spirit and she will have a very impressive new high tech radio.  Such is the life of cruising...you either wait around and hope someone can fix what is broken or you buy a new one and chalk it up to experience and the cost of cruising. 

The market was a bustling place and most of the people shopping were locals.  There were all sorts of things that we are unfamiliar with; however everyone is helpful when it comes to discussing recipes and what to do with the assorted fruits and vegetables. 

The market is all along the waterfront and the boats that you see are local colourful fishing boats.  

The young man selling sweet bread did not have much of a hard sell with my captain.  His mother no doubt sends him out and tells him not to return until the baking has gone.  The bread was yummy. 

Between the waterfront market area and The Carenage you have to either climb over a very large hill or go through the Sendall tunnel that was built in 1894.  The other day Sandy and I had done lots of climbing so Rob and I decided to try the tunnel route....just room for a single file pedestrian and one way traffic.  

On The Carenage waterfront there is a statue called Christ of the Deep.  It is a replica of the original which lies underwater off Genoa, Italy.  The original 1954 work, was recast and presented as a gift from the people of Genoa, via the Costa Shipping Line, to the people of Grenada.  The figure is of Jesus  with arms outstretched in a gesture of blessing to mariners leaving port.  The inscription on the statue reads:

"To the people of Grenada in grateful remembrance of the fraternal Christian hospitality shown to the passengers and crew of the Italian liner Bianca C, destroyed by fire in this harbour on October 22, 1961. 

Was it not the Costa Line of cruise ship that went aground off of Italy last year?  I am not sure I would be booking a cruise with this company any time soon???

Once back to Celebrian it was time to unpack and bleach the fruits of our labours. Given that there are cockroaches and other small critters that lay eggs we are very careful when it comes to bringing things aboard.  All cardboard is removed immediately and left ashore or in the dinghy.  Cockroaches like to lay their eggs in the glue.  As for the fruits and veggies I give them little bath in a light solution of bleach and water and this will kill any likely guests. As we have said on many occasions nothing is easy on a boat and daily chores seem to eat up one's time.  We did however, enjoy a lovely dinner of tuna and a vegetable pack expertly BBQ'd by the captain.  I am building up my courage to try cooking the vegetable that we bought called christophene, a type of squash that is popular on the Caribbean islands.  

Today is Sunday February 24th and we have moved to Mount Hartman Bay next to Prickly.  You will be able to follow our progress by looking at the chart in the past blog entry.  We followed our friends John and Kathy on Katerina who moved here yesterday. This is one of their favourite anchorages and because there are no buses town from this anchorage it is a little less crowded than some of the others.  The anchorages are like living in a floating United Nation's village and we have met and seen boats from Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Germany, Holland, England,Italy, as well as many other Caribbean islands, with very few American and Canadian boats. When I see how few Canadian and American boats are here in Grenada I realize what an accomplishment it was sailing here?!   

   

If you look close enough you will see two rainbows.

A Fun Day in De City of St. George's

I spent a great day with Sandy in St. George's getting an overview of this lovely Caribbean port.  Of course it would not be a tour without a stop at a Roti Restaurant with a Carib beer.  As most of you know I am not a beer drinker; however if I am hot and thirsty enough I can manage a few swigs!?!  Rotis are a Caribbean specialty made of pastry filled with local vegetables and a choice of meats if you wish.  Goat is popular with or without bones?!?  We ordered several to pick up later and take home for dinner.  The captain was delighted when I showed up with local fare for dinner...veggie not goat?  

St. George's is the capital of Grenada.  The population of the island is just over 100,000 with about 22,000 of those people living in the city.  It is said to be one of the prettiest cities in the Caribbean.  It certainly it is one of the hilliest I have seen and climbing through the streets is a good workout.
The Carenage is the name given to the waterfront of St. George's and the harbour is lined with local fishing boats as well as tourist boats.  There was lots to watch while sitting on the front deck of the Roti Shop.

Sandy said that most days there was at least one if not two cruise ships in port.  After Hurricane Ivan devastated most of St. George they built a new cruise ship dock away from The Carenage complete with a market.  We tried to stay away from that area of the city after the ship disgorges 3,000 passengers on shore.

In 2004 Sandy's daughter Jodi and her family were living in this apartment above a store right in downtown St. George's.  The hurricane removed their roof in 20 minutes and they scrambled to the next building that had a basement of sorts and spent close to a day huddled with many others.  It was over a week before Sandy heard from her.  After the hurricane she and Troy decided to build a new house out in the country where they are now.  Hurricane Ivan had been the worst hurricane since the 1950s.  There are still many buildings that have not been re-built since Ivan.  The architecture is quite lovely but if the money is not there the buildings can not be re-built.

The local people are very friendly and this lady wanted Sandy to take her name and write to her.  She was a custodian and on her way to work at the local primary school.

The fish boats come and go from The Carenage.

The anchorage outside of the city of St. George's where we anchored last year.  When Rob was in St. George's in the 1990s you could anchor in The Carenage but there are far too many cruising boats now to allow this any longer.

De Tings Te Do before De Boat Leave De Harbour

It is day three on the hook and we have been working hard at getting Celebrian seaworthy and ready to move to another bay on the south coast.  The wind has been 30 knots plus and gusty so we definitely did not want to pound in to 6-9 foot seas.  This is the view from Celebrian's cockpit as the sun rises in Prickly Bay.

The large map shows the whole of Grenada. I will have a better idea of the island once I go on a tour which I hope to do next week.  The other maps are taken from our cruising guide which shows all of the bays along the south coast.  It is no wonder that so many boats come here with so many wonderful deep bays to anchor in.  Most of the best anchorages are on the southern coast.  The trade winds blow consistently from the east with a little north thrown in once in awhile so these bays couldn't be better.  That being said we still get quite a swell in Prickly Bay and it took us a little while to get our sea legs.  Some of the other anchorages will be better protected; however there is bus access here as well as the marine store so people will put up with the motion.    

 
The captain has been working on the wiring and we now have a new depth sounder installed.  The previous depth sounder drowned in hurricane Irene.  We have said many times that we were very lucky that the only thing that we lost during that almost direct hit of Irene on Green Turtle Cay was our depth sounder.  This depth sounder we flew down from home and now is happily telling us our depth.  Of all the instruments on board the depth sounder is by far the most important piece of equipment.  Because of its importance we have depth available on our radar screen as well. In addition to the wiring for the sounder Rob has installed our new radio microphone which is mounted at the helmsman's station.  Our new radio has what is called AIS which allows us to see information about other vessels and in particular large ships.  We will not only get their position but we will see their name,course and speed.  If necessary we will be able to hail them and make sure that they are seeing us.  On many an overnight last winter we had large container ships unwilling to let us know if they could see us.  It is unnerving in the dark when you know that they are travelling at plus 20 knots and we are sailing at 5.

The admiral has been doing some stainless steel polishing and basically trying to stay out of the way of the captain....not an easy feat on a 36 foot vessel?!?  In fact he has been encouraging me to do things on my own so I have been doing a little kayaking and running errands at the same time.  Tomorrow I am heading over to Grand Anse to meet my friend Sandy and we are going to take the bus into St. George's and show me around.  This kills two birds of paradise with one shell....I get a feel for the capital city of Grenada and I get out of the captain's way.  

Bougainvillia is the national flower of Grenada and it is in bloom everywhere in many colours.