Grenada

We had plans to leave Carriacou at a decent hour, but were forced to depart a bit early.  At about 0600 (06:00 AM) we were visited by some of the crew of a tanker that was on it’s way in and we were too close to where he was planning on mooring.  I wish I had taken some pictures, but these guys wanted us to move pronto, so no time for photos.  I really didn’t see the need for us to move based on where they were going, especially since we were actually anchored only about 10 feet closer to the tankers’ destination relative to the boats in front and behind us, but I wasn’t going to argue.  We pulled anchor, headed out to the open area of the bay, and drifted for a bit while we got organized to go for a sail south to Dragon Bay on the southwest side of Grenada.

We had a nice south easterly breeze and started out sailing pleasantly for our 30 nautical mile hop down to Dragon Bay.

As we approached the south end of the main island, the winds completely died and we had to motor sail.

We arrived in Dragon Bay, grabbed a mooring ball, and I headed into the water as fast as I could after securing the boat.  With little to no breeze, I was hot and sweaty.

Anna Marie, Dan, and Jason hopped in the dinghy to head around the point to do some snorkeling of the underwater statues.  I was content hanging home after a good swim to tidy things up on the boat and get my bearings in our new, temporary home.

Construction of the Underwater Sculpture Park began in 2006 and was created by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor.  You can read more about it and view many more photos here.

After the crew returned, I jumped in the dinghy and headed to shore to find the restaurant we read about in the guide book.  Just inland of the beach was the restaurant.  I can’t remember the name of the place, but the food was good and the prices were reasonable.  I got their phone number and promised to call with our arrival time and order when I got back to the boat so they could guarantee they would have what we wanted.  If it was seafood, their fisherman had to head out to catch our dinner.  They also told me we were in luck.  That night was a dress rehearsal for the upcoming carnival events.  There would be live entertainment of some of the local performers practicing the routines/songs they were preparing for carnival.

We had a great dinner, did some dancing, and dinghied back to the boat to try and sleep.  The LOUD music continued until about 0200 (02:00 AM).

The following morning, after Anna Marie and I had a wonderful snorkel and swim, we motored around the corner to Grand Mal Bay.  I think it took about 15 minutes.  We dropped anchor, dove it, and headed in to shore to find a place for lunch.  The winds were still calm (no pun intended) so it was hot – especially on land.

We were looking for a particular restaurant that was mentioned in the guidebook, but we couldn’t find it.  We think we found the building that used to be the restaurant, but it was boarded up so we kept walking.

After a while, we passed what looked like a house.  Someone on the porch yelled out to us to come on over.  It looked like a family gathering although they had an elaborate cooking station set up under the tent.  Our haler invited us to stay for lunch and drinks.  He explained that this is what they do on the weekends – they BBQ for family and friends and they sell food to JQP (John-Q-Public).  That’s us, so we sat down at a table and waited for our chicken and chips lunch.  It was delicious and the price was about $3.00 US per person.

We headed back to what seemed like a cool boat.  The boys did some snorkeling and some fishing (unsuccessfully), and we enjoyed another beautiful sunset before dinner.

The following morning, we weighed anchor, and motored out to deep water to empty our holding tanks.

On a boat, our human waste is stored in small holding tanks connected to each head.  We have the valves on these tanks closed when near land.  You are allowed to release waste three miles out in open ocean or have them pumped out, when in a marina.  As most marinas in the Caribbean don’t have pump out facilities,  we needed to empty our tanks before heading into Port Louis Marina.

When we got far enough off shore, we opened the valves and released our waste.  We then made a 180, and headed into the marina.  We got settled in, took a short walk around, and then dinghied over to the yacht club across the harbor to have lunch.

The next couple days were spent getting the boat ship shape.  We cleaned, we polished, we organized, and then we packed.

One night, we did get out with a group of cruisers to the local brewery.  On this particular evening, there was live music scheduled.  The music was to be played by talented cruisers from the local marinas and anchorages.  The place was really cool and they had awesome beer.

Our friends from North Carolina had arrived a few weeks before us, and told us about an Island Tour they had taken with a local tour guide.  We made arrangements for him to pick us up at the marina our last day and give us an abbreviated version of the tour before taking us to the airport.

Cutty arrived on time, but we were not quite ready.  Even though Anna Marie and I started at 0600 doing the last few chores like flushing all the systems with fresh water, turning off all the power, locking hatches and lockers, we were a little behind schedule.

Nevertheless, we got going.

Next stop was the chocolate factory.  This place was really cool, and has a very interesting history that you can read about on their website.

From here we moved on to the rum distillery.  The River Antoine Rum Distillery began making rum in 1785 and when they say they make it the same way today as they did in 1785, they mean it.  They even move the pre-distilled product from one vat to the next with a hand carved wooden bowl attached to a wooden stick.  Old school on steroids!

This tour was really cool.  Afterwards, we went for a tasting.

Now we were off to the Grand Etang Forest Reserve.

Cutty called the monkeys when we arrived, and they obliged.

We went back to the marina to pick up our laundry and put it back on the boat.  When we arrived, we were most surprised to see our friends from Cream Puff docked right next to us.  We knew they were coming, but we thought it would take them a few more days to arrive.

From there we headed to the airport for our departure back home.