Life on the Hook in Oh So Sweet Grenada!

Double rainbow over Mt Harman Bay!

Mt Hartman Bay from the walk to Prickly Bay
Wahoo to right of the tower

It's getting close to two months since we dropped anchor in Mt Hartman Bay, Grenada, on June 22nd. This is the longest time we've spent in one place since we moved aboard. In 2012, our first long stay was on the Rio Dulce in Guatemala, at least it felt long but was only 3 weeks (August 8th to August 29th). We ran from a hurricane threat in Belize and then flew into an actual hurricane, Issac, in New Orleans. In 2013. We stayed in Belize from 12/10/13 to 2/23/14 but we moved around in Belize a lot San Pedro, Belize City, Placencia, many cays and back around again. So being in one spot - an entirely new feeling!

South Coast Grenada - we're that anchor in Mt Hartman Bay

Like all new places it took awhile to get oriented, especially as Grenada is so spread out. We are actually NOT within easy walking distance to any large grocery stores or even an ATM. There is a small market in Woburn that we can reach by dinghy. The harbours are at sea level, the island is hilly, so all walks give us a good cardio workout as we go up and down the terrain. Here on the South coast there are 12 bays and most boats are anchored or moored in 6 of them. We can dinghy to all but the most populous, Prickly Bay. Prickly is a 15 minute hilly walk so that works too.  

My Turn as Net Controller

The cruisers call it Camp Grenada for a reason. Every morning we are all tuned to channel 66 on our VHF radios for the "Cruisers' Net". Each morning a different cruiser is Net Controller telling us where Yoga, Tai chi and Grenada Chain dominoes will be held, the marinas vie for our business by offering tasty lunch and dinner specials, 1/2 price pizza and movie nights. The wonderful bus drivers arrange shopping buses from the marinas to take us to banks, ship chandleries, grocery stores, hardware stores and fruit markets for the low price of 10EC per person, less than $3US. The inter-prising ones like "Shademan and Paul's Best Red Cab take us to learn how Pan Bands put on carnival or up to the Northern beaches to help with the turtle hatching or, for those hearty cruisers, each

Saturday is Hashing - you know, the Drinking Club with a running problem (in New Orleans we just call it the Red Dress Run). 

On the net, cruisers plan social activities, exchange helpful info on boat parts and services, buy and sell their "Treasures from the Bilge". During the day the VHF crackles with cruisers calling each other to make plans or get help. Occasionally just to give general info and, most importantly, there's always a Shout Out if a boat starts to drift.

The "Oil Down" - Grenada's National Dish
Land crabs, chicken, callaloo and other veggies plus dumplins cooked in an iron pot with coconut milk

We've met and have happily been adopted by Devon, who has a van to take us places but who also arranges to fill our propane tanks and do boat chores. Should we have to leave Grenada he will arrange mooring and watch out for our boat as he's doing right now for our friends on Caribbean Dream. Wonderful man that he is Devon drops off mangoes and avocados from his own farm, just 'cause!

Here he's cooking an Oil Down for "his cruisers" under the trees on Calabash beach.

Another day he took us to Grenada Rum Distilleries. One of which still makes rum using a water wheel and hand throws the cane stalks. 

  

         Older boiling kettles were so much more picturesque - but eventually it will still be Rum!

See the arm - See the canes!

River Antoine Distillery dates to 1785

Rum is the oldest of the distilled spirits - the oldest rum distillery, Mount Gay, is on Barbados and dates to 1703

And of course, Roy bought some - Blend 37, a 40 year old rum!!

Besides rum there was a visit to Belmont Estate where they grow nutmeg and cocoa, the two leading exports from the spice island of Grenada. Belmont Estate has been growing spices for 207 years and here I am ringing the bell that called the hands to work. We were also giving a lesson in "dancing" the cocoa beans.

Fellow NOLA cruisers from SV Lagniappe at the dinghy drift

But dinghies remain our main mode of transportation and fun. There was a dinghy drift the night of the blue moon and a dinghy concert last Saturday. For both of these cruisers tie their dinghies together and pass around food and adult beverages. Plus we enjoy many dinghy trips to Whisper Cove and La Phare Bleu marinas for lunch. Sunday afternoon is a good time to visit Hog Island - who doesn't want to visit a beach bar! 

Dinghys and more dinghies at the concert.

We've taken the Grenada bus into the capital city of St. George's where there's a tunnel that connects the Carenage (In the 18th Century ships were "careened", pulled over onto their sides, so the bottoms could be cleaned and repaired) to the rest of the city. There's also a huge fruit and vegetable market as well as a meat markets and a fish market. Traveling by bus in Grenada is quite and experience. We dinghy over to an adjoining bay and the small town of Woburn, climb the hill and wait for the #2 bus. Like elsewhere in the Caribbean on the bus everyone is friendly, says hello and you better understand that bus drivers fit 14 into 10 passenger buses.

Walking through the tunnel


And of course we've had Grenada carnival with its wonderful costumes and parades!

Amazing that we got any work done, but Roy has installed the new jib furler that Lindy brought and cleaned the bottom of the boat. It gets much much dirtier the further South we travel plus there seems to be some issue with the bottom paint. We're not alone in noticing that it isn't holding up. I've done my normal amount of bread baking, cooking and cleaning (a woman't work is never done - well except when I'm reading, swimming or sunning). But we've even managed to stain, oil and wax the interior of Wahoo.

Roy under Wahoo scrubbing away!

Who wouldn't be having a great time here in Spicy sweet Grenada when mangoes are EVERYWHERE!! 

Grenada's favorite mango is Ceylon!

My Mango Basket is Overflowing!!!

Sipping Rum Recipe

40 year old rum

Rock glass

Ice (optional)

Getting below 12 degrees N Latitude!!

Carriacou

Moving South through the Grenadines we passed the imaginary line that separates the St Vincent Grenadines from the Grenada Grenadines. This line in the ocean falls between two small islands. Belonging to St Vincent is Petite St Vincent which is completely owned by a luxury resort that goes by the nickname for the island, PSV. Not even 1/2 mile to the South is Petite Martinique which belongs to Grenada. A little to the East of both is a reef  separating the Atlantic from the Caribbean. The blue water and white sand bottom make this a stunning anchorage, between the islands and behind the reef, WOW. Roy & I spent a couple of nights there before moving on to Carriacou (carry a coo), another of the Grenadine islands belonging to Grenada. We were basically dawdling around as we waited for Lindy. 

You don’t have to clear in to Grenada in order to visit Petite Martinique which was a nice touch. We cleared in at Hillsborough, the only real town on Carriacou then spent a couple of days snorkelling the reefs around Sandy Island before moving down for a week in Tyrrel Bay with all the other cruisers.

Boat Building

fishing Boats

Carriacou is what I imagine the entire Caribbean was like 20 years ago. There are no big hotels or marinas on the island. The locals understand and even cater to the cruisers but tourism hasn’t replaced local life, allowing island life to stay "real". They still build wooden boats on the beach in the area called Windward, because it is (windy and to windward). They still fish from sailing boats and it’s about as laid back an island as you can find. The big wonderful harbour in the Southern part of the island protects many cruisers as they get ready to complete their cruising season and head to Grenada, Trinidad or for the truly adventurous to the Aves and Roccas, off the coast of Venezuela. We found boats that will circumnavigate the Caribbean, stopping in the ABCs before venturing on, and boats that will head West from Panama through the Canal and on around the world! Everyone stops in Tyrrel Bay in Carriacou. 

Reef fish at Sandy Island

Sunset over Sandy Island

A tiny, tiny island off of Carriacou is one of the loveliest spots we’ve found. Sandy Island is a small spit of land on the Leeward (Caribbean) side of Carriacou. A lovely perfect curving white sand beach is on the Eastern side of the island, across narrow dunes topped with coconut palms and sea grape is the rocky coral edging of its Western shore.  Mounds of coral were pushed ashore as Hurricane Ivan plowed through the area. The North and South points are fringed with coral reefs. The North point is a great snorkelling spot with some of the clearest water we’ve seen. To make it better Carriacou has made this area a Marine Refuge. It has 12 moorings and is a no take zone, therefore protecting this bit of paradise. Included in the Marine protection zone, and located near Tyrrel bay, is one of the only mangrove swamps in the Windward Islands. We ate mangrove oysters! Delicious but it takes 3 or 4 to make up the same amount as a small Louisiana oyster. Still, we weren’t complaining. 

Her favorite spot!

Finally its was June 12 and we were excited to be welcoming Lindy aboard Wahoo. For so long we’ve tried to make this happen. Lindy hasn’t been back in the islands since the days she and my brother, Roger, ran the Island Fever as a charter yacht out of St. Thomas. She had lived on St. Thomas for 5 years. We were happy to have her back swimming in “blue” water! It’s a long long way from New Orleans to Grenada and with a fair number of obstacles she still made it down and brought with her 3 boxes of parts for Wahoo including our jib roller furler. Oh happy days, we’ll be a two sail, sailing boat again!! A huge thank you to her and to Grouper for helping gather and box everything that needed to get here.

Lindy pointing out a spotted Moray eel!

Once settled aboard we did the logical thing and headed back to Sandy Island. This little island was made for Lindy to fall in love with and she did. With a tropical wave moving over the Eastern Caribbean we opted to stay right there for 4 lazy days of sun, snorkelling and beaching. We did get to Carriacou by taking the dinghy to Paradise Beach for a bus trip to Hillsborough, and then around the island to Windward to see the hand built wooden boats and the fishing sailboats. It was a rainy day, so a good time for a bus trip.

Luxury at the PSV Resort

Our next stop was 5 miles NE to the anchorage between the twin islands of Petite St Vincent and Petite Martinique. We spent an evening at the PSV resort enjoying sunset and cocktails "off the boat". The next day we decided to go to the reef to snorkel and in our enthusiasm were soon in deep trouble. Lindy and I, avid snorkelers that we are, were over the side and swimming away as soon as the dinghy was moored. Thankfully Roy had more sense! The current was so strong. Before we were aware of it we were carried far from the dinghy and far apart. Try as we might neither of us could swim back to the dinghy. Roy immediately saw the danger and climbed back aboard. The rescue was swift and effective. I hate to think what could have happened if he hadn’t acted so quickly! 

Rescue!!! 

For the rest of our stay here we only swam near Wahoo. I have to note that on our first day in the anchorage, as well as on Roy & I’s previous visit, we had never encountered a current that was moving so swiftly. I had spent a lot of time in the water in this anchorage with absolutely no problem. Just goes to show that caution is always necessary!

Happy Bar

Happy colours in Union Island

After the fun and games at PSV we decided on Union Island and the Happy Bar as our next island in the sun. A lumpy but quick couple of hours got us safely tucked in behind the reef that protects Union. I certainly wished for better weather for the visit but was grateful that the series of tropical waves were not too bad. Some gusty wind and higher than we’d like seas with a misting of rain now and then was the extent of it. But the Grenadines are not the Virgin Islands. The wind is higher and the only protection is reefs. So even a heavy boat like Wahoo moves around a bit. 

Union Island is a pretty place with a brightly coloured market and main street. The Happy Bar is built on the man made reef of conch shells and you never know whom you’ll meet. The wind surfers practise their jumps and turns in the harbour. All this made for a delightful spot to spend a couple of days. 

Our last night before heading to Grenada was spent at Sandy Island again. Lindy loved the spot and there was no real reason for Roy & I to go back into Tyrrel Bay. 

Building a rock sculpture on Sandy Island

Nice to have it appreciated!

part of the underwater sculpture park

On Sunday we headed 28 NM South to Grenada. It was a lovely day for a downwind run with the main sail hoisted. We passed Kick’em Jenny without a sign of the turbulence which is always a possibility from the underwater volcano. Our first night in Grenada was meant to be spent in Dragon’s Bay but the rolling was so bad we went around the corner to Molinere Bay. Dragon’s Bay is known for the underwater sculptures put there in 2013 to provide an artistic man made reef. Unfortunately one year later Hurricane Ivan did some damage and the day we were there was overcast and windy. Not the best conditions for snorkelling. 

After an hour of swimming around we decided our best bet was to move on to the South Coast of Grenada which was to be Wahoo's summer home.

A rough 15 NM passage brought us around the Southwest corner of Grenada to the 12 Bays that line the South coast. We bypassed True Blue as we knew that would require a marina stay, took a look at rolly Prickly Bay, central station for cruisers, but finally decided on anchoring in quieter Mt. Hartman Bay. This seemed like a good choice. Enough cruisers around for some company, Secret Harbor Marina for services and not as rolly as Prickly Bay. None of the Bays on the South coast are exceedingly deep and the swells roll around the headlands and find their way inside. At least Mt Hartman has a reef offering some protection.

Roy & I felt the thrill of having completed our journey through the Eastern Caribbean. Only 660NM but 18 countries and nearly every island. We’re finally at the magic number of 11.59* latitude N. (IE, below 12 degrees and now below the hurricane belt). While we haven’t conquered the Eastern Caribbean we have learned to live with its winds and high seas. There weren’t many days when the wind was under 25kts or the seas under 6 -7 feet. Our anchoring technique got better and the anchor has held us safely through 45kt winds. We don’t even blink when the forecast calls for weather that we would never have poked our nose into before. 

Cocoa Pods for chocolate, yummy!

Swimming in the water fall

Grenada is called the Spice Island and its main exports are nutmeg, mace, cinnamon and cacao. Of course there’s always a little rum. So for Lindy’s last two days we wanted to explore a bit of this spicy island. 

One day was spent at Grand Anse beach, 3 miles of soft white sand fronting the turquoise waters of the Caribbean. Picture postcard stuff! The last day we went inland up the mountains of lovely Grenada to a waterfall and a Spice Farm where the paths where made from crushed nutmeg shells. Heavenly!!

 We were so sorry when the time with Lindy was over. We hated to see her go and will miss her here in sweet Grenada

Lindy at Grand Anse Beach, Grenada

  

The Iconic Island Drink  - A Painkiller

Not sure what pain you’re killing here in the islands, maybe the stings of a sunburn or sea urchin. 

Anyway, the Painkiller is the drink, your choice of 2 - 4 shots of rum.

Our favourite was from a beach bar in Nevis

For 1 Drink 

Multiply for a Partyyyyy!!!

2, 3, or 4 oz of rum (depending on your level of pain)

4 oz pineapple juice

1 oz orange juice

1 oz coconut cream

sprinkle liberally with nutmeg

serve over ice - umbrella optional

Grenadines - Ultimate Caribbean!

That's It! We're Here!! - we can finally call ourselves Cruisers with a capital "C"!

Anchorage Tabago Cays

That was the feeling upon finally dropping anchor in Bequia (Beckway). Not that Bequia was so far from Wallilabou, St. Vincent, our last stop. We departed the morning of May 17 and just 5 hours and a15NM broad reach brought us to Bequia, the Northern and largest island of the Grenadines. But this was it, what we'd been aiming for all along.

The Grenadines are a group of nearly 100 small islands, islets and reefs in the Southern part of the Windwards. Most belong to St Vincent but a few, Carriacou and Petit Martinique, in the South belong to Grenada. Considered one of the greatest sailing areas in the world. It's where you find all you were dreaming of when you planned to come to the Caribbean. White sand beaches, coral reefs, coconut palm trees, beach bars and restaurants that are not much more than a hut and a BBQ grill. A variety of small islands not co-opted by mega hotel chains and huge cruise ships. So if the coral isn't as pristine as it once was, the fish not as plentiful and most of the islands have limited services...who cares. The colour of the waters vary from cobalt to pale turquoise to everything in-between. Wonderful anchorages are everywhere; some look out beyond a sheltering reef directly into the Atlantic with Africa your next landfall. You know that every second you can stay is magical!

Wooden boats under the trees in Bequia

All the islands are small. Those that are inhabited mostly have a subsistence economy eking out a living by fishing, farming and the money that visiting yachts bring in. The people are friendly. We're no longer locking our dingy or the companionway hatch! A few islands have become home to small luxurious hotels where guests are not interested in being seen. One, Mustique, is private with yachts allowed there only for their picturesque quality to the owners, I guess. 

Bequia & Carriacou were famous for boat building. Prior to the 1970s trading schooners built in those islands plied the waters from Trinidad Northward up the island chain. There is still a boat building tradition. Locally built wooden boats still fish the waters and try to best each other in local regattas.

Bequia has a history of whaling and is still allowed to take 4 humpback whales a year, but they must be fished in small open sailboats with hand thrown harpoons. Needless to say they often don't get any.

Tanisha showed us the whale museum. Her grandfather is head harpooner.

Bequia

Path along the cliffs to the bars & beaches of Bequia

Admiralty Bay the main anchorage was considered home to England's fleet prior to the discovery of English Harbor, in Antigua. So sailing ships have been at home here a long, long time. The inner harbor nearest the main town of Port Elizabeth has been taken over by moorings but there is still plenty of good holding near Princess Margaret Beach. 

This good holding is important for while we were here the trade winds were seriously blowing and due to the hills surrounding the anchorage they'd get held up for awhile then come gusting down into the bay. We'd see winds go from 13kts up to 40kts within minutes then back down to do it all over again. Wild! Luckily most days the winds would go down during  the evenings and night before picking up again with daytime heating.

In Bequia water & diesel come to us!

Bequia understands boating. So there's no wonder that several ship chandleries are here plus sail makers and mechanics. In Bequia service comes to your boat. Daffodil's Marine Service delivers water and fuel plus takes care of your laundry. Wonderful small bars and restaurants hug the waterside. The island has worked to make it convenient to visit them all. They've built an amazing set of steps and walkways on the face of the cliffs overlooking the bay to get you from town to Princess Margaret beach and on to Lower Beach. We fell in love with Papa's, run by Gert, who is Swedish and his Bequian wife. The restaurant sits high on a hill, open to the breeze and with a great view of Admiralty Bay. In the month we lingered we found ourselves there for lunch, dinner, cocktails and soursop ice cream more often than we want to admit. 

Baby turtles at the Turtle Hatchery

Teen Age Turtle

There's a turtle hatchery where over 900 hawksbill turtles have been reared and released in the past 20 years. This has greatly improved their normal 1 in 3000 odds of survival. The hatchery has all been the work of one man, Brother King, who once fished turtles and now saves them. As it takes over 20 years for a turtle to return to her beach and lay her first clutch of eggs, Mr King is hoping to start seeing his first turtles return soon to lay there eggs on the Bequia beaches he watches over. 

Provisioning is great here there's a Rasta market for fruits and vegetables that can get rowdy but the produce makes braving the ribbing worthwhile. Doris's Fresh Food market, in an entirely hand varnished Bequia house, has such things as anchovy stuffed olives for Roy's martinis and leg of lamb for a special dinner onboard. You can see why we stayed so long!

Mustique

Looking for Mick at Basil's Bar 

No Mick but tortoises are everywhere!

14 NM Southeast brought us to this private island with its picture postcard "Yachting Center". Corporate CEO's and rock stars like Mick Jagger and David Bowie have homes here. No wonder cameras are frowned on. But Mustique is home to world famous Basil's Bar which hosts a Wednesday night Jump Up and every year near the end of January they have "Basil's Blues Festival", voted one of the Caribbean's 10 Best Music Festivals. Two hotels are open to the general public and, we heard, have great chefs. The anchorage was rolly and our finances are still stressed from the tours in Dominica and Martinique so maybe next year. 

Breakfast at Sweetie Pie Bakery and still no Mick Jagger!

Tobago Cays

Preparing to snorkel. Look at that water!

A 14NM Southwest, nearly downwind, run brought us to the Cays. A few small islands sit behind a large horseshoe reef and if you anchor here it's just you, the reef and the Atlantic Ocean. It was all we had hoped for. It's one of the few places in the East Caribbean where you anchor on the Eastern (windward) side of an island. I got up to watch the sun rise and saw a shark while snorkelling   Also here at last we saw the Southern Cross rising low on the horizon. It was visible in the night sky now that we could see South without obstructions. 

Local vendors came up and offered freshly caught red snapper which we cooked immediately. We snorkeled out on the reef plus around one of the small islets and then in the turtle sanctuary. It was great!!

Pinch yourself, life is too perfect!!

So of course something had to give - our phones quit! What!! We're trying to re-rent 7th St plus help arrange Lindy's visit, she's flying to meet us - Yey!! 
Is it the cell towers? We ARE at the edge of the world! 
Other cruisers are using their phones - something's wrong!!
So after only two days we motored the 5 miles over to Union Island to get wifi and the ability to call AT&T using Viber (VoiP service). 

Union Island

Home to a world class Kite Boarding school, a tiny island with a tiny bar called Happy Island and another East facing anchorage behind a reef. Plus a front street that Crayola must have painted. 

Colourful Front Street Market

Phone problem - Roy's phone number had been hacked and AT&T had shut down our account to stop International calls from being made. A morning and afternoon of frustration finally resulted in my phone being turned back on and a new sim being sent to 7th St for Roy. How can this happen? The phone and sim are here on the boat!!!! Grrrrrr!

We're enjoying Union. Did a little hiking, bought some conch, love the market LOVE Happy Bar and sundowners while watching the kite boarders perform for the boats in the anchorage. We even took the shuttle and spent a day at Sparrow Beach. Been here a week, how time does fly.

 

Happy Bar at Happy Hour

Happy Island built of shells, home of Happy Bar

Our aim is to clear out of SVG soon. Customs is here in Union. We'll then head 5 miles South to Petit St Vincent(PSV) and Petit Martinique(PM) before moving on to Carriacou and clearing in to Grenada. Petit Martinique and Cariacou belong to Grenada but the two Petit islands are so small no one expects clearance in either one. 

View from Fort Hill overlooking the reef of Union Island and looking towards Petit St Vincent and Petit Martinque

It's all set. Lindy will fly into Grenada June 11 then take the ferry to meet us in Carriacou. Plus John Edward and Laura have booked their trip to meet us in Grenada on July 6th.
July 7th is John Edward's 40th birthday (my baby boy!!!).

Roy slaughtering the coconuts!

My New Favorite Sundowner

Rum

Fresh coconut water

Fresh lime

ice

Any amount, any order ...

"You put di rum in di coconut you drink it all up!"