Author: BettyChurch

Leaving Grenada is bittersweet. We’ve had a lovely time here for the last six months and will always think of it fondly. The Grenadians are a very warm people, always willing to help with whatever you need. They are also very proud of their island and want tourists to have a great experience while here.

One thing that you don’t see on the island is slovenly dressed people (except for a couple tourists). I’ve seen security at the mall turn away a group of ladies trying to enter because they were wearing skimpy coverups over bathing suits. Not acceptable.

Some of the things we will fondly remember from Grenada:

-The buses. Prompt, noisy, usually quite full and fun. They will actually have a friendly argument with other buses to get you as a paying passenger.

-The friendliness. Taxi drivers and boat workers will bring you fresh fruit from their trees, for free. Many of them consider themselves to be ambassadors for their island and act accordingly. Everyone we encountered were smiling, polite and helpful.

-The music. Grenada takes island music up a notch. It’s loud, crazy and we didn’t understand a word. But it was fun.

-The horns. Drivers on the roads talk to each other with their horns. Not in an angry way but as a way to say hello, I’d like to pass or just to let people know they are there. In six months we only encountered one impatient driver.

-GMT or Grenada maybe time. There really isn’t a sense of urgency about anything on the island.

-The unlimited wifi we’ve had at the marina. I can’t count how many series and movies we’ve binged watched while here.

-All our friends at Eco Dive, Grenada. They were the best.

-Ron at Island Water World. It was a medium walk to get there and back but Ron was quick to arrange delivery for anything heavy like anchor chain or a kayak.

-All our wonderful dock mates that we got to know. Richard and Olive, Chuck and Caren, Gary and Naimh, Liza and Kaz and many others. Some were there the entire summer, some came in for only a week or a month, but we enjoyed our time spent with all of them. We’ll look for them as we move north and hopefully share a sundowner or two along the way.

 

Who knew when we arrived in May that Gary and I would log 40 dives each while here in Grenada? We were very lucky to hook up with Eco Divers. Today was our last dives and we went out with Dirk, Keone and “Capt” Ron. Just us. Talk about feeling special.

 

One of the nice things about being anchored out is that whenever it rains we get a beautiful rainbow or two. Since it’s been raining every day and sometimes twice a day that’s a lot of rainbows. It’s also quiet and peaceful and I’m back in my happy place!

The other thing we’ll say a fond farewell to is our sushi restaurant at the end of the dock, Yolo. We consistently got really good sushi and a chance to share it with “friends”.

This will be our last night on the hook until we leave on Sunday. We have to go back into the marina onto the “super yacht” dock and fuel up and see if we can get our davit fixed. It broke yesterday when we tried to put the dinghy back on top of the boat. If not, we’ll be towing the dinghy until we get to St Marteens Island in February. Oh well. At least it broke with the dinghy in the water-not on top- and not halfway up!

We continue to prep the boat for travels north. One thing that has really spoiled us is the unlimited wifi we have utilized as part of our marina fee this summer. Binge watching several shows and catching up on a couple movies has become our evening norm. As Gary says, after Friday we’ll be back to books and playing cards. I think it’s a good trade off.

Our diving adventures continue with a wreck dive this week that we hadn’t done before. The guys at EcoDive have gone above and beyond to make our diving a great experience while here in Grenada. So much so that they agreed to pick us up off the boat in the anchorage next week so we can finish out our stay with a few more dives.

Three days to go and we’re “on the hook” once again.

We’re starting to get our heads wrapped around the fact that we’re leaving the marina here in Grenada  soon and leaving the island a week after that. It comes up fast when you start tallying up all the things that must be done before leaving.

Things like a final order with Fast Manicou who have been bringing us great salmon and steaks that you can’t get anywhere else, deep clean the inside of the boat (back in the states it’s called spring cleaning), wash and wax the outside of the boat (required twice a year), make new screens for the portholes that fell apart as we arrived in Grenada, redo the fishing reels and make sure they are in working order, yet another grocery run to knock off more on the provisioning list, update all charts while we still have reliable internet service and the list goes on. Being underway again will be so relaxing!

One thing we’ve discovered in Grenada is the laid back approach to getting things done. You’ve heard of GMT, Greenwich Mean Time? That was replaced by UTC or Universal Time Coordinated. So now there is a new meaning for GMT… Grenada Maybe Time. Whenever someone here gives you a time or date that they will show up it really is just an approximation. You either get frustrated or you roll with it. While we still get frustrated some times we’re rolling more and more.

For instance, Tevin is a nice young man that has been doing repairs to our a/c system all summer. As parts are delivered he shows up to perform the next set of repairs. It’s been a process but Tevin is a gem and everything is finally working as it should. Tevin is also a musician and we had expressed an interest in seeing him perform. Last Friday he said he would we playing at a bar in Phar Bleu and offered to pick us up from the marina and drive us to the restaurant. Originally he would pick us up at 6pm and we would eat dinner there. At 7pm we ate at the local marina restaurant. At 8pm he showed up with members of his band and we all squeezed into his car and took off for points unknown. We got to the bar to find out that they wouldn’t be playing that night as the bar had scheduled someone else. So we had a couple drinks and talked with Tevin who then drove us back to the marina. Did we hear him play? No but we had a great adventure. GMT in action.

After not diving at all last week it was great to get back in the water yesterday. When doing multiple dives back to back you have to maintain a “surface interval” to allow your body to out gas nitrogen. The longer the surface interval the deeper you can go or the longer you can stay at a specific depth. We typically do two dives and Eco Dive finds a nice place to set the boat for 30-45 minutes or so. We pour the ginger tea and pass around the snacks. Yesterday during our rest time we encountered spotted eagle rays all around our boat. One of the dive masters jumped in with his snorkel gear and our camera to get some close ups.

During the second dive Shark Reef lived up to its name with 3 shark sightings as well as some more sting rays and the assorted lion fish, lobsters and shrimp that we normally see.

In 16 days we will finally leave the marina here at Port Louis and anchor out for a week or so prior to heading north. It’s been fun being here in Grenada but we will be very ready to get moving again.

In the meantime we’ve acquired a lobster man who comes most afternoons and will catch lobster on demand. He brought 7 yesterday so we had a wonderful dinner and consigned 5 to the freezer. Some of them are big enough that we can split one between us and not go hungry.

We also decided with recommendations from several people to engage a sail maker/upholsterer to make new cushions for the bow and the chairs in the aft seating area as the ones we currently have retain water and make a mess. A nice navy and white stripe will jazz up the looks of the boat as well. Always a good thing!

The cruise ships have started up again with St George’s being one of the stops. That means timing is important if we need to go into town for anything like the fish market or just lunch because if we choose poorly we’ll get run over. Definitely time to leave.

 

One of the things we truly love about boating is meeting new friends. It’s easy and fun to learn about new people and hear their backstories. Let’s face it. There’s already a common interest, boating. Add to that the fact that boaters are usually very friendly and the conversation flows. Add a couple “sundowners” and friendships are born.

A concern we had, albeit a small one, about being in Grenada for so many months with boats within feet on either side was who would our neighbors be? When we pulled into Port Louis in late May, we docked next to a 55’ Nordhaven, Chinatsu. The owners were gone so it was very quiet. Within a week or so another boat docked on our starboard side, a 46’ catamaran. People got off, people got on and it took a couple days to discover that a lovely couple Liza and Kaz, had bought the boat and just taken delivery. They would be with us for a couple months before leaving the marina to anchor out and do some day sailing. We still meet them for lunch every couple weeks and keep in touch.

The owners of the Nordhaven? Olive and Richard have become dear friends. We played together all summer with lots of restaurant exploration, golfing, and many, many sundowners across the bows. We discovered that between Gary and Richard they have a tool and a spare part for most any contingency. Unfortunately Chinatsu departed yesterday for Bonaire and points west, eventually heading to New Zealand. We’ve promised to visit them in Fiji if not sooner. They will always have a place to stay wherever we are.

We’re also starting to hear from people we met last winter/spring as they migrate back and start putting their boats in the water for the season. Plans are being made to connect up at various points and I’m sure we will have a fun trip back up the islands.

In the meantime we’ve hung up our golf clubs and are diving twice a week instead. The visibility gets better each week and we’re logging some fun dives with lots of creature sightings.

With departure from Grenada only a month away we’re starting the process of provisioning the boat and getting the last minute stuff done like cleaning the bottom and a clean and wax job topside. We’ll pick up a second kayak tomorrow and see if that isn’t easier then using the dinghy all the time.

We’ll be back in a few weeks after we return from Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

Our friend Justin came for a visit and brought tropical storm Karen. We’d been watching the weather reports and decided it wouldn’t be a bad storm so much as a slightly uncomfortable storm. Lots of rain and wind but we are so protected in our marina it really wasn’t a big deal.

Justin arrived on Saturday and we went out for a nice lobster dinner that night at a local favorite, Aquarium.

We were worried that the storm would stir things up too much to dive on Monday so moved it up to Sunday morning. As we were heading out of the harbor on the dive boat we saw all the local fishing boats coming in to anchor inside the marina area. We all looked at each other thinking “what are we doing?”

It was a rough ride out to the first dive site and I was glad I had taken some anti-sea sick medicine, but once in the water it was no big deal. It was a little challenging getting back on the boat with all our dive gear but nothing unmanageable. The second dive was pretty and by the time we were done things were settling down. Our trip back into the harbor was much calmer and we learned afterward that the storm basically passed over while we were under the water!

By Monday the skies were clear and the rest of the week was beautiful. I can only hope all our storm experiences are as non-eventful. For those anchored out it was a bit more hectic with several boats dragging anchors and one unoccupied boat drifting out not to be seen again.

We then spent Monday showing Justin around St George’s followed by a couple days at the beach. Since the restaurants and bars are right on the beach it’s easy to grab a table and then swim as the mood suits.

The previous week hospital ship USNS Comfort was anchored out in St George’s Harbor providing medical attention to anyone in need. Part of their mission is establishing friendships wherever they are and to further that they put on a concert in town. The Navy band The Navigators performed with a local band and everyone had a great time.

It is the rainy season but some days it just rains all day. Even tho we’ve been seeing regular rain in St George’s apparently the eastern side of the island has been getting a little dry to the point that their reservoirs are only half full. So on days like today  I console myself with the fact that it’s good for the island and we didn’t really have any outside activity that we HAD to do today.

On Sunday we decided to run over to Silver Sands to check out their lunch offerings only to find out they are closed for the month. Of course we found this out as our taxi was becoming a blip on the horizon. So we walked up the hill around the corner and down to Coconuts on Grand Anse Beach and lucked into a great lunch complete with steel band entertainment! Some things were just meant to be.

Of course we went diving yesterday even tho it was raining off and on. If you’re going to get in the water and get wet what matters a little rain, right? Because of the rain it was a little darker than normal underwater and things that usually only come out at dusk were starting to emerge. Fun!

The current was also a bit stronger than usual. I should have known something was up when Ron, our dive master, casually asked if anyone would have problems with stronger currents. Of course that meant in reality that we had to swim against the current to stay over the reef on our second dive. Otherwise we would have been swept out into deeper water. Not a safety issue but we wouldn’t have seen much. After a 50 minute dive of constant motion on top of a deep dive on the Bianca C ( a very nice wreck dive) we definitely had naps in our future when we got back to the Laa Dee Dah.

We also learned how to play Grenada Train Dominos last week with couples from the two boats next to us. It takes every bit as long as Monopoly. With a few libations and nice munchies we had a great afternoon. Definitely something we would do again.

After sitting on Abacos, Bahamas for more than 48 hours Dorian slowly moved west and north. Thank goodness it just glanced the lower eastern seaboard, missing Daytona, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington where we have friends and family. At last count Dorian made landfall a total of five times, bringing extensive damage each time. Total travel time was a couple weeks thru the Caribbean, Bahamas and north thru Nova Scotia.

I’d like to think that because of the severity that will be the only one to worry about this season but since it’s only early September we’ve got eyes wide open.

We are managing to get out for lunch at new restaurants either on our own or with friends at least once each week. There are so many restaurants it’s really not difficult.

One of our lunchtime adventures took us to a cute restaurant on the point at Carnage called Sails. Great food, nice views and a wonderful breeze.

 

We forgot to take our camera for diving yesterday and so missed what would have been a spectacular picture of two lion fish, one large the other a little smaller tucked inside a barrel sponge sleeping. It’s now lobster season so I’m trying to talk the dive masters into letting me bring along a net bag and glove to pick up a couple of the many lobsters we see on our dives. Not sure how that will play out.