Hurricane Season In Grenada

Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada

So nearly 2 months have passed since Carnival and what have we been up to?  It’s hurricane season so first and foremost not very much sailing, it’s the time of year to find a nice spot drop the hook and catch up on all the boat maintenance that needs doing.

To that end my work has mainly been the unseen, uncelebrated type eg remove the pulpit, replace a couple of broken bolts and reinstall, while Linda has been doing some wonderful eye catching boat improvements mainly of the sewing variety.

New cockpit cushions make life more stylish and comfortable, new cockpit sides to keep the sun and water out, adding gutters to our sunshade to make a rain catcher, re designing the stack pack and finally as a nice change from that, the varnishing. 

It certainly makes a nice change this year to be doing the more mundane boat chores rather than major improvements, eg the engine last summer. 

Perhaps a good time to say that last summers work has paid great dividends this year. 

The engine is superb, great to be able to relax and enjoy the ride without fretting about what might break, great to be doing 8.3 knots under motor rather than 6.3 knots, and easy to maintain because of the clean and tidy engine room.  The new fridge and freezer are a revelation, we never have to think about when to run the generator, what temperature they are and so forth, and instead we can just enjoy cold beers and ice cream out of our own freezer.  But in many ways the best of all is the installation of the electric heads which have done 15 months now without a single blockage!

Aside from boat chores we have been enjoying the routine of life here.  With the cruising community collectively putting their feet up for a few months, the seeds of stable community life bear fruit and the ways to fill your days expand.  The list of things we have been doing is much shorter than the list of things we have missed, yoga twice a week in the classes run by Gabrielle from Santosha, beach volleyball, cricket, half price pizza night, trivia night, and of course the weekly hash house harriers run.

Hashing has been a revelation, it’s basically running or walking through forests, grassland, mud, river beds, steep hills and even wading through the sea following a trail of paper left by the hares.  Usually it takes about an hour, leaving you hot, sweaty, muddy and thirsty which is lucky as there is ample opportunity to refuel at the lime afterwards with beer, BBQ chicken or Grenadian oil down if feeling strong enough! Grenada Hash House Harriers

Given the unforgiving nature of the terrain, and the fact that usually I am running mean that the photos from these events are sparse but hopefully this selection will give you an idea.

		Hashing VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

From a tourist perspective we have done a couple of island tours, some hiking usually terminating at a waterfall, and a snorkel trip or two.  Buzzing round the island on the excellent buses with a sound track of blasting Soca music.

		Grenada Living VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It’s now time to start heading north, and I hope to be updating this more regularly from now on as we explore the islands, it’s a resolution type thing, let’s see how I do!

Thank you Grenada and Grenadians for being our hosts for the past few months we will miss the island and the people hugely until we return next year.

Grenada Carnival

Port Louis Marina, St Georges, Grenada

No sooner are we returned from the UK and we are plunged into Grenada Carnival.  The marina is basically on the route so you can either sit on board listening to incredibly loud Soca at 3am or go out and join in!

Carnival starts on Monday morning with J’Ouvert, a 5am start to find the streets filled with people. 

The history is that the Jab Jab demons that own the night are gradually pushed back to where they belong by the sunlight and the people. 

The reality is a 50:50 split between people covered in old motor oil and people covered in brightly coloured paint. 

Sadly like everywhere else in the world corporate marketing types have got involved so yellow paint for the Carib Beer float, red for Digicel etc.  That said it’s lots of fun.

After a well earned rest we are back on the streets for the Pretty Mas, the traditional carnival parade all colours, feathers, sequins and dancing – a spectacular sight and best summed up in photos.

		Pretty Mas VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The best thing being the complete lack of body image issues, no matter your age, colour, BMI get out there whack on an outrageous costume and shake what you’ve got.

Another rest before the final leg of a long day, Night Mas.  We had joined up with the Carib Beer float.  So we walked the 3 miles into town behind a booming sound truck, chipping and whining, waving our light sabres and drinking free beer.

The trips to the beer truck to get refills were either painless (no queue) or like a scene from a famine in Africa as 100 people hang off a slowly moving truck banging cups on the sides and begging for beer from the overworked and stressed “relief” workers.

At 2am we called it a day missing the final 2 miles into the national stadium and generally being useless cruiser woosies rather than hardened Carnival party goers!

Back From UK and Canada

Port Louis Marina, Grenada
After a few weeks of boat chores we parked Matsu in Port Louis marina to keep her safe and most importantly insured for hurricanes and I caught the Virgin flight to the UK for 4 weeks with family and friends there, Linda had a short stay on the boat, weeks in Canada for Anouck and Jimmy’s wedding, back to Matsu for a week and then 2 weeks in the UK with me arriving just in time for the Olympics, we even got to go and see Canada beat Team GB in women’s soccer at Coventry stadium much to Linda's delight.

As usual the trips home were lots of fun and with nowhere near enough time to catch up with all our friends – to those we saw we wish we could have seen more of you and those we missed altogether, sorry we didn’t make it and we promise to do better on our next trip!

We are now back on board and gearing up for Carnival in Grenada.

Travels To Grenada

Prickly Bay, Grenada

We have had a pretty fast trip down to Grenada from the Virgin Islands, we finally left Virgin Gorda on 6th May, with a goal of getting here in time to do a few boat chores before heading off on our various land trips in July/August.

First stop was St Martin and the long awaited reunion with French supermarkets. 

In conjunction with Bleu Marie we organised a blind taste testing evening of 12 wines, 4 saucisson and countless cheeses – what decadence, what gluttony, what joy! 

We set a self imposed target of a maximum of 4.50 Euros a bottle to compare with the various US chateau cardboards we have been drinking while in the Bahamas and Virgin Islands. 

We managed to remain sober enough to write down the details of the wines, most drinkable, the odd horrible and a couple that were very good – so the next day we returned to the shops to buy a couple of cases of the good stuff!

Even Charlie got to do his own taste test!  Although he prefers the posh US vet only food to the crappy French cat biscuits!

Next stop is St Barts, one of our favourites, we spend a few days in the superb Anse Colombier enjoying the weather and the water, some great hiking and a fabulous lunch in sophisticated Gustavia to celebrate 15 years together.

Onwards ever onwards we sailed from St Barts to Guadeloupe stopping overnight for a sleep at Montserrat, the anchorage there was very comfortable and we must go back soon to do the volcano tours.

A few days in Des Haies doing some sightseeing, a trip to Carrefour to stock up on French delicacies for hurricane season, and for Linda some busy days as she makes some stunning cockpit cushions for Bleu Marie.  When we bought Matsu Linda got an industrial sewing machine and has gradually pushed back the boundaries of yacht sewing starting with some simple covers and through to our dodger that she made so well in 2011.  The combination of Michelle’s artistic eye for colours and Linda’s sewing making for a stunning addition to Bleu Marie.

From Des Haies a long and superb sail to Roseau Dominica for the night and then on to Grand Anse D’Arlet in Martinique, where we ran into our long lost cruising friends Sam and John on Imagine, last seen in early 2009. 

We found them in great form and sailed with them on to Rodney Bay St Lucia for a few days of exploring that area.  Highlight being a superb hike up to the old fort and gun placements with spectacular views back over Rodney Bay.

We also got our first Roti of the trip at the excellent Jambe De Bois on Pigeon Island – heaven.

Another great but long sail took us from Rodney Bay direct to Bequia via the Pitons of St Lucia, great views and safely anchored before sunset at Bequia.  We celebrated Linda’s birthday there before a final leg to Carriacou and Grenada our home for hurricane season.