9/15/2015 We had a
great visit at home and Liz Ann got her continuing ed requirements for her therapy license finished up.
We did some projects at home like cleaning up the gardens, painting the front
steps which we had rebuilt and cleaning the fence. We ate our fill of New
Orleans seafood and spent time with our sons and family.
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| Pere(Liz Ann's dad) enjoyed spending a weekend with us at the house |
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| The Power Squadron crab boil in Lafitte |
We made it back to Grenada without any
problems, carrying back more boat repair/improvement parts. We stayed at the
marina for about a week and a half to get some projects accomplished. We took
apart all the winches and greased them, installed a sensor on the holding tank,
washed all the lines, cleaned the stainless and put all the sails back on.
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| Cleaning the winch |
We
enjoyed the pool at the marina and had a few happy hours with friends at the
marina.
9/19/2015 We did our first hash while at the marina. The Grenada Hash House
Harriers sponsor a weekly hash which is a run/walk through the woods on a trail
that the hash master marks with shredded paper. There are false trails which
you discover after you have walked on it a while and then find an X made in
paper. Our first hash was a slippery, muddy, sweaty trek through the country
with about 300 other people, most of whom were ahead of us, making the descents
and ascents even more slippery after they had trampled all over it.
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| Getting ready for our first hash |
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| Participants with new shoes have to drink beer out of their shoes before the hash |
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| Climbing the slippery slope |
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| Melissa tries to navigate the slick downslope |
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| Apparently the real reason to do a hash--drink beer afterwards |
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| Evidence of having done a hash--Cheryl, Melissa and Jeff |
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| Cheryl, Melissa, Jeff, Izzy and Greg |
9/26/2015 After the
boat cleaning and projects were done, we sailed back to Mt. Hartman Bay and
anchored there. We spent September through the first week of November getting
to know Grenada better, going on more hikes, hashes and happy hours. We had another full moon dinghy drift on Spetember 27th in Mt. Hartman Bay. We sweated
and sweated and sweated some more. September and October are their peak
hurricane months but we escaped any storms this year. It is also the rainy
season which made us miserable when it rained at night and we had to close
the hatches and would be even hotter
Quiz:
You know you
are in the Caribbean when you wake up to:
a. Roosters crowing
b. The smell of garbage burning
c. A puddle of sweat under you
d. All of the above
Correct
answer: D
9/30/2015 We hiked up
to Mt. Qua Qua with Lynn and Ken from S/V Silverheels III. There is a pretty
crater lake and gorgeous views of the island. Pretty wildflowers along the way
and a split rock formation at the top with a steep drop off. A perfect day: a
leisurely hike with a picnic lunch at the top and the cooler temperatures of
the rainforest climate in the mountain.
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| Crater Lake |
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| Lovely vistas from Mt. Qua Qua |
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| Lynn and Greg going up a steep portion of the trail |
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| At the top of Mt. Qua Qua with a sheer drop behind us |
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| Pretty little pagoda at the base in Grand Etang park |
10/2/2015 A ladies lunch was organized and held at the Whisper Cove restaurant. We had about 50 women attend and got to know some new people.
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| The group from secret Harbor ready for the luncheon |
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| Caroline, Catherine, Brita, Janice and Melissa |
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| Rita, Leah and Sherry and? |
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| Ellen, Mary, Joanna, Gail, and Jo |
10/6/2015 We bought lobsters from some local fishermen one day and made a delicious lobster dinner.
10/8/2015 We did an island tour with Cutty, a guide who many cruisers use. He gives a tour from 9 to 5 for about $25 per person. He covers the whole island and is very knowledgeable about the local plants and culture. We visited a nutmeg factory, the Diamond chocolate factory, a farmer's cooperative, and Rive Antoine rum distillery and drove through the Grand Etang park.
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| View of St. George's |
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| Petroglyphs along roadside |
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| Looks like these were added more recently |
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| A Janet house: many were donated after Hurricane Janet by Venezuela and people still live in some |
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| Callaloo, the big leaved plant reminiscent of elephant ear is a local staple. It makes a wonderful soup and is used as a side and in stuffing chicken or pork |
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| The nutmeg factory where they remove the pericarp, dry and sort the nutmegs and then ship them around the world |
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| Nutmeg inside the pericarp.The red part is the spice, mace.Inside the mace is the nutmeg. |
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| Sherry helping sort the nutmegs. The floaters are no good. |
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| Cutty gives us some starfruit to taste |
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| A cocoa tree. Hurricane Ivan destroyed many of the cocoa and nutmeg trees, Grenada's main exports. They are now making a comeback. |
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| The cocoa pod grows right from the trunk or a branch |
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| Pretty fence outside the chocolate factory |
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| Diamond chocolate factory, makers of Jouvay chocolate |
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| Lipstick plant |
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| Lipstick plant's pod cut open. Seeds make a red gel that can be used as a lipstick. It also stains clothes permanently as one of our group found out! |
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| View from the Petit Anse resort at north end of Grenada |
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| Wild growing orchids |
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| Carib's Leap where Carib Indians are said to have leapt to their deaths rather than become enslaved |
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| Bagass, the remnants of sugar cane at the Rive Antoine rum factory |
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| he was not too happy to see us |
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| One of the old buildings at Rive Antoine |
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| The fire heating the sugar pressings to distill the rum |
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| Bagass drying to be used as fuel |
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| Sugar cane is pressed to get the juices out |
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| The big vats where the sugar syrup is cooked |
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| The stills |
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| Liz Ann waiting for her rum tasting |
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| Ready for our lunch at the restaurant next to the rum distillery |
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| Inside of a cocoa pod |
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| Prettiest caterpillar I've ever seen |
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| Another cocoa pod |
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| Beautifully striated bark on this tree |
10/9/2015 We finally made it to Gouyave for the Fish Friday. It was a bit disappointing because we expected more selections of seafood but it was still a fun experience.
10/10/2015 We attended the 900th Hash with about 500 other people. This was our favorite hash. The hash master went all out, making about 7 different trails and the one we chose, the long walking trail, was excellent. Challenging but fun. Many people "dressed up" for the occasion.
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| The "Hash Master" dressed as a bride |
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| Our choices of trails: we chose the 3.1 mile long walk |
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| Caroline and Greig from Lequesteau walking across an aqueduct over a gorge |
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| Liz Ann (in grey) on the aqueduct |
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| Fording a stream on the trail |
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| Not done yet but already tired |
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| Cocoa trees along the hash trail |
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| We finished the 900th Grenada hash! Greg, Liz Ann, Caroline and Greig |
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| "Getting down" to the music after the hash |
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| Some of the "dressed up" participants |
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| A rookie drinks his tub if beer after his first hash |
10/20/2015
We took the bus to town and then a taxi to the start of the Seven
Sisters waterfalls trail. We had a young guide who directed us and then
helped us over part of the falls where we had to walk through the falls
at one point. We took a picnic lunch and had another fun but exhausting
day.
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| Flowes along the hike to Seven Sisters waterfall |
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| There must have been 300 of these steps! |
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| More giant bamboo |
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| Zipline being constucted |
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| Greg crossing the stream |
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| Guide helps Liz Ann walk up the waterfall |
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| Made it! |
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| Greg works his way up |
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| Honeymoon Falls |
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| Now can we get back down in one piece? |
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| Another one of the Seven Sisters waterfalls |
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| Our guide jumping off the top of the falls |
10/24/2015 We did our last hash which was our least favorite. Too much walking on the road and it was miserably hot.
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| Nice view of the mountains as we hiked |
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| WAY too hot! |
10/25/2015 A group of us anchored in Mt. Hartman Bay treated ourselves to a nice Sunday lunch at the Aquarium, a restaurant attached to a resort. The view is beautiful and Liz Ann had the best steak in a lo-o-ong time.
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| Lovely view from the restaurant |
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| Caroline, Ellen, Greig, Sherry, Dave, Mark, Melissa, Dan, Harry, Liz Ann |
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| Local fishing off the rocks at the beach by the restaurant |
10/28/2015 The kid boats all trick or treated in their dinghies in Mt. Hartman Bay on the 28th. We had great fun handing out candy to the little "pirates."
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| Trick or Treating by dinghy |
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| Gotta hand out that candy fast or we might get boarded |
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| Leave it to the teenagers to think of a bucket on a stick to get the candy more easily |
Then the adults had a Halloween party at Secret Harbor marina. Great DJ and so much fun. We had been advised to bring costumes so we got some while we were home.
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| The Mulvany Pirates |
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| Venessa from Neptune II gets another use from her Carnival costume |
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| Dominoes, Gavin and Catherine |
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| Paul and Sherry, Rasta Zombie and Punker |
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| Dirk from Renegade and Liz Ann |
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| Ruby from S/V Carried Away |
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| Glenda and husband as jellyfish |
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| Sue from Kool Kat and Sherry |
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| Sherry and Paul enjoying those Witches Brews |
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| Nancy (S/V Renegade) and Sherry (S/V Tehani) |
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| We pirates made it back to our boat after a long but fun night |
10/29/2015 We toured the former Westerhall rum distillery which is now a museum and distribution center in the southern part of Grenada.
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| The old water wheel used to drive the cane crushers |
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| Beautiful grounds on the estate |
11/6/2015 We raised anchor, went to the dock and got fuel and water and left Mt. Hartman Bay after over 4 months. We sailed on a run from Mt. Hartman past Glover Island and then jibed to a beam reach past Pt. Saline making over 6 knots. We had a great sail to Dragon Bay on the West side of Grenada. S/V Lequesteau met us there and we picked up moorings. Friends had recommended this spot for the beautiful snorkelling so we dove in but were disappointed due to the murky water conditions resulting from recent rains and runoff. Later that evening we started to roll. AND ROLL AND ROLL. We rolled all night long and got absolutely no sleep.
11/7/2015 We couldn't wait to get under way the next morning and we pulled anchor at 0630 and headed out. However, Lequesteau had engine problems so we turned back, picked up the moorings again and they changed their impeller and we headed out again at 0730. We sailed up to the north coast of Grenada and turned to go along the north coast a bit before turning toward Carriacou. We passed London Bridge, a rock structure which had reportedly partially fallen down during the summer when Kick Ém Jenny, the underwaer volcano nearby was acting up. However, most of it was still there and it was neat to see it. We sailed past La Ronde and Les Tantes and up to Tyrell Bay in Carriacou where we anchored almost exactly where we had been the last time we were here. However, at 0330 the next morning, we were awakened bu our drag alarm. The wind was picking up and we tried to re-anchor twice with no success. A squall started coming in and we could not see due to the darkness and the rain so we headed out to sea figuring we'd be safer out there and so would everyone around us.We stayed out until it got light and the winds and rain died down some and then went in and re-anchored in a new spot. We had squalls and winds up to 35 knots for four days. Boats all over the harbor dragged and we put out a second anchor. We were entertained by boats struggling to avoid one another while they dragged and others who were just clueless. One boat dragged while the owners were on shore and started going out to sea. Several people got in their dinghies to go after it but just then the owners realized what was happening and chased the boat about a half mile out and brought her back in. It was not the first time they had dragged and they bought a new anchor soon after.
We didn't do any sight-seeing on Carriacou this time but did have lunch ashore one day. It was time to leave Grenada all together (Carriacou is part of the country of Grenada) so we headed out on November 12 for Union Island, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
