After
our boisterous beat all the way up from Trinidad , lying at anchor in
Prickly Bay was a treat . Barely a couple of days after arriving in
Grenada we got to find out just how jacked up the place is for
yachties with a daily cruisers radio net broadcasting all sorts of
handy information relating to weather , social events , arranged
shopping transport into St Georges and even daily yoga and tai chi
classes arranged by yachties for visiting cruisers to the island .
We happened to be in Grenada over the festive season and all sorts of
parties and events took place at the various marinas . We even
enjoyed a great evening of blues at a jam session held at a nearby
marina with all the musos being yachties themselves and some of them
played really well .
The
one event no yachtie was enjoying was the annual “ Christmas Winds
“ season where through various influences the wind tends to blow
harder with more north in it creating more swell which in Prickly
Bay's case makes the anchorage a little rolly . It was while we were
rocking and rolling that l had to strip and remove our fancy new
clutch on our watermaker which is quite a job even on a solid
workbench in a decent workshop .
On the
positive side we were looking forward to our daughter joining us and
she would spend almost a month with us sailing up Grenada's west
coast to the Grenadines and back later in January to fly home to
Capetown from Grenada . She is a water baby of note and will happily
spend hours in the water , snorkeling and swimming especially when
the water temp sits around 30 degrees . On route to the Grenadines we
overnighted in Dragons Bay which is close to the world famous
Moliniere Underwater Sculpture Park . Without a guide we snorkeled on
our own and managed to find all but one of these famous sculptures .
It is quite something to be snorkeling along and all of a sudden
these strange figures appear out of the gloom . It is worth a Google
to see what we saw in the flesh , so too speak .
While
we were there with our daughter we arranged with a group of yachties
a comprehensive tour of the island with a local guide who goes by the
name of Cutty . It was worth every cent as Grenada is a beautiful
island with its lush forested mountains , beautiful waterfalls and
its fragrant spice trees that gives the island its commonly referred
to name of the ” Isle of Spice “. We visited every place of
interest including the famous chocolate factory and a centuries old
rum distillery that still utilizes an ancient water wheel to drive
the crusher .
Unfortunately
Grenada took a hammering in 2004 with Hurricane Ivan ( Ivan the
Terrible ) causing widespread damage to the rainforest and to the
nutmeg plantations resulting in many Grenadians being put out of work
. Fortunately the nutmeg trees are slowly recovering and hopefully
the jobs will return .
Few
islands are as photogenic as Grenada and with its hiking trails there
are plenty of opportunities to capture the natural beauty of places
like Concord Falls and the crater lake Grand Etang .
What
we have found that works really well when visiting new islands for the first time is getting a small group of
fellow cruisers together and organizing an island tour with a local
guide . You get to hear all about the history of the island and what
makes the place tick . We visited the capital St George by bus on a
number of occasions and got to see the town from up on Fort George
with elevated views of the Carenage and Port Louie the beautiful new
marina in the lagoon with the Grenada Yacht Club right opposite the
marina .
Talking
about the history of the island , Grenada has had a turbulent past
with wars and revolutions and in 1979 there was a left-wing coup by
Maurice Bishop a great admirer of Fidel Castro who attempted to turn
Grenada into a socialist state. Unfortunately for him he received
opposition from within his own ranks and his Second-in-Command
including the military arrested him and locked him up in prison in
1983 . After a massive crowd came to his rescue and freed him an army
group re-arrested him along with half his cabinet and executed them
by firing squad . We visited the very place at Fort George where this
event took place .
After
the executions had taken place the United States along with other
Eastern Caribbean islands launched a “ rescue mission “ and were
welcomed by the Grenadians who are warm and hospitable people and
today Grenada is an independent , vibrant , productive and democratic
country .
To end
this post on an inspirational note , we met an elderly couple in
Trinidad on a number of occasions while walking through Chaguaramas
and once in a restaurant while having lunch . The old guy had
suffered a stroke and clearly struggled to do the most basic things
like feeding himself and even walking . After arriving in Prickly Bay
after our bumpy sail overnight from Trinidad
they sailed in later that day and dropped anchor right in front of us . We
had seen another yacht abeam of us just before dark the night before
and we presume it was them . How he manages to move about and hold
onto a pitching boat in those seas is beyond me and two days later we
watched his amazing elderly wife remove and refit their genoa on
their roller furler all by herself while he watched her from the
cockpit . This incredible couple obviously love their boat and the
cruising lifestyle and where most people after suffering a stroke
would have hung up their seaboots they have continued sailing .
I have
real admiration for them as they are truly an inspiration .
Where
there is a will , there is a way .
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