Arriving in Grenada following five weeks in relaxed and unhurried Tobago, where none or few yachts were found at anchor in any bay, was a jolt back to reality. The first thing we noticed as we sailed past the southern anchorages was the profusion of masts hidden in coves and tucked behind small outer isles and we had yet to see the unimaginable hundreds of stacked yachts stored on the hard in ALL the boat yards for hurricane season. Due to its strategic location and in no less part by seasonal insurance requirements, Grenada has truly become the Caribbean’s popular yacht haven. And with that esteemed designation comes opportunities both favorable and fearsome. We had been following the cruisers forum on the Grenada FaceBook Page for a couple of months, as we do for all of our destinations, to get a feel for the place pre-arrival, and we already felt uneasy about a spat of petty thefts in the area. In fact, we sourced a cool alarm system for the boat and installed it right away. Our fears were totally unfounded as the crimes were mostly isolated incidents and Grenada turned out to be a lovely place to spend time. The locals were as friendly as I remember and more than helpful in every way. We haven't felt the need to use our new alarm system yet, but we expect to need it very soon on our coastal route around Colombia and Panama. And even if we end up never using the system, we will have it anyway, just in case. Better to have what you don’t need than need what you don’t have, as the adage goes.
Adhering to our plan concerning some big ticket projects remaining on our wish list, we found the anchorage of Prickly Bay to be best suited to our needs. It had everything in close proximity and a local bus stop was a short walk away. There were two dinghy docks at our disposal which was extremely handy for meeting up with our vendors and contractors. It was also a pretty anchorage with plenty of boats and places to paddle around on our SUPs. Speaking of favourable opportunities; marinas, boatyards, chandlers, sail lofts, hardware stores, and supermarkets abound now in Grenada making it the ideal place to get some work done on a boat. Services that are certainly more advanced and abundant since my last visit years ago and compared to what we had foraged in other places, it was bountiful indeed. We immediately discovered delicious and affordable restaurants nearby in an area patronised mostly by students of one of the oldest Medical Universities in the Caribbean and other yacht cruisers. Our favourite, of course, was Indian Summer, operated by a sweet chap from Delhi named Delip, but there was also a good sushi restaurant, as well as Cuban, Mexican, Middle Eastern, BBQ, Wings, Local Cuisine, just about anything, really. We toured the local craft brewery and revisited at least once every week and the house jam band on a Wednesday was always a treat. There was even a local coffee roaster that we finally got around to trying. And every Saturday we ventured in to the capital of St. George to buy freshly caught tuna and mahi in the Carenage along with fruits, vegetables and the very spices that have given Grenada it’s famous moniker. The local cruisers have quite a community amongst themselves including some well known writers of Guides for Sailing the Caribbean, including Chris Doyle and Don Street. I have been taking their advice for years and insisted on buying the current guides on the Leeward and Windward Islands before we left on this trip. We subsequently sold them to northbound cruisers before we left. Grenada's cruising community has a VHF Net in the mornings which handles weather reports and useful information in general but also planned social activities and as well "Treasures of the Bilge" where some great bargaining is conducted. We sold some of our superfluous gear and found ourselves a good deal on a drogue and an Iridium Go antenna, things we will need on the Pacific leg. All in all, it was just a great place to be with perfect timing, right at the ending of hurricane season and before the high season of the northern islands sets in motion the grand exodus of yachts sailing fairer winds in all directions.
It was definitely a busy time for us which required some research and focus. The first weeks were spent getting quotations for our projects and working on design while tending to immediate engineering needs. David found the new engine mounts we needed locally and replaced both sets because once a failure is detected, it must be rectified completely. We also replaced the ball joint connections on our rudder bar. Ours worked fine but David discovered on a Lagoon Forum that this part becomes rigid in time and on further inspection ours had seized. Just another thing that is good to replace now preempting an inconvenient and costly future disaster. Once our projects were underway, there were templates to be constructed and materials to order and we were constantly in touch with our teams for transport (between the boat and shore) and scheduling but had down time for ourselves to fill in with small projects on the boat and future travel plans. We had a nice interruption by a visit from an old friend of mine from St.Martin and his lovely lady who were in the neighbourhood on their Dean 44. Marc and I sailed together in the 80's and he was a positive mentor who pushed me to sail the only other boat I have ever owned, a Hobie Cat 14', to neighbouring Anguilla and Tintamarre from SXM. It was a wonderful interlude of catching up and talking about old times and the invariable boat chat. Always a pleasure to meet up with the diaspora from SXM. We also sneaked away for a couple of SCUBA Dives to keep our skills current. In the end it all came together on schedule and to our satisfaction which left us with some free time to explore the island. We rented a jeep and explored some waterfalls and Grand Etang National Park. So it wasn't all work, we played as much as we were able!
So before I sign off on the Spice Island of Grenada, I want to tell you a little about the island itself as I know it. I was greatly impressed by the Carenage in the capital city of St. George the minute I saw it. In 1990, it was still a small circular waterfront harbour with most of its 18th century warehouses, wharves and shops still intact. The city dwellers built homes into the surrounding hills with red tiled roofs. These red tiles were carried across the Atlantic as ship's ballast and traded for spices, chief among them, nutmeg and sugar cane, in great demand in Europe. As the story is told, nutmeg was introduced to Grenada in 1843 when a merchant ship called in on its way to England from the East Indies. The ship had some small nutmeg trees which were left behind. These trees were well adapted to the climate of Grenada and so began the local industry. In fact, all the West Indies spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves and ginger have origins in the East Indies and have been grown here in Grenada for centuries. The Carenage is still intact and many businesses are built into the ruins of old structures much like in St. Thomas. The city itself has really expanded and dwarfed the now small harbour but one can still pick out the old buildings and the churches remain. The southern anchorages are well protected and fringed with coral reef and high bluff jutting out to sea like fingers waving on a hand. Every cove was full of yachts of all dimensions and origins. For the most part, I think the locals are happy to have the business and the cruisers, from what we have seen, are very supportive and respectful in return. As for us, on India, it was like a supercharged pit stop. We are system enhanced, power packed, and almost ready for the South Pacific. Just a few stops left before we transit!
Adhering to our plan concerning some big ticket projects remaining on our wish list, we found the anchorage of Prickly Bay to be best suited to our needs. It had everything in close proximity and a local bus stop was a short walk away. There were two dinghy docks at our disposal which was extremely handy for meeting up with our vendors and contractors. It was also a pretty anchorage with plenty of boats and places to paddle around on our SUPs. Speaking of favourable opportunities; marinas, boatyards, chandlers, sail lofts, hardware stores, and supermarkets abound now in Grenada making it the ideal place to get some work done on a boat. Services that are certainly more advanced and abundant since my last visit years ago and compared to what we had foraged in other places, it was bountiful indeed. We immediately discovered delicious and affordable restaurants nearby in an area patronised mostly by students of one of the oldest Medical Universities in the Caribbean and other yacht cruisers. Our favourite, of course, was Indian Summer, operated by a sweet chap from Delhi named Delip, but there was also a good sushi restaurant, as well as Cuban, Mexican, Middle Eastern, BBQ, Wings, Local Cuisine, just about anything, really. We toured the local craft brewery and revisited at least once every week and the house jam band on a Wednesday was always a treat. There was even a local coffee roaster that we finally got around to trying. And every Saturday we ventured in to the capital of St. George to buy freshly caught tuna and mahi in the Carenage along with fruits, vegetables and the very spices that have given Grenada it’s famous moniker. The local cruisers have quite a community amongst themselves including some well known writers of Guides for Sailing the Caribbean, including Chris Doyle and Don Street. I have been taking their advice for years and insisted on buying the current guides on the Leeward and Windward Islands before we left on this trip. We subsequently sold them to northbound cruisers before we left. Grenada's cruising community has a VHF Net in the mornings which handles weather reports and useful information in general but also planned social activities and as well "Treasures of the Bilge" where some great bargaining is conducted. We sold some of our superfluous gear and found ourselves a good deal on a drogue and an Iridium Go antenna, things we will need on the Pacific leg. All in all, it was just a great place to be with perfect timing, right at the ending of hurricane season and before the high season of the northern islands sets in motion the grand exodus of yachts sailing fairer winds in all directions.
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| David, Me, Marc and Laura in St. George |
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| Delip and David at Indian summer |
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| Fresh tuna for dinner along with those "Trees of Doom" (Broccoli) I make David eat! |
It was definitely a busy time for us which required some research and focus. The first weeks were spent getting quotations for our projects and working on design while tending to immediate engineering needs. David found the new engine mounts we needed locally and replaced both sets because once a failure is detected, it must be rectified completely. We also replaced the ball joint connections on our rudder bar. Ours worked fine but David discovered on a Lagoon Forum that this part becomes rigid in time and on further inspection ours had seized. Just another thing that is good to replace now preempting an inconvenient and costly future disaster. Once our projects were underway, there were templates to be constructed and materials to order and we were constantly in touch with our teams for transport (between the boat and shore) and scheduling but had down time for ourselves to fill in with small projects on the boat and future travel plans. We had a nice interruption by a visit from an old friend of mine from St.Martin and his lovely lady who were in the neighbourhood on their Dean 44. Marc and I sailed together in the 80's and he was a positive mentor who pushed me to sail the only other boat I have ever owned, a Hobie Cat 14', to neighbouring Anguilla and Tintamarre from SXM. It was a wonderful interlude of catching up and talking about old times and the invariable boat chat. Always a pleasure to meet up with the diaspora from SXM. We also sneaked away for a couple of SCUBA Dives to keep our skills current. In the end it all came together on schedule and to our satisfaction which left us with some free time to explore the island. We rented a jeep and explored some waterfalls and Grand Etang National Park. So it wasn't all work, we played as much as we were able!
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| David transporting our new bed mattress! |
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| He designs and installs all the solar and power systems. He says it is work but I can tell you he enjoys it! |
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| You see solar panels, I see more air conditioning! |
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| Lucky to find these guys! |
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| Really friendly but so serious! |
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| Dry and comfortable. Who wouldn't want to be at this helm? |
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| More shade! |
So before I sign off on the Spice Island of Grenada, I want to tell you a little about the island itself as I know it. I was greatly impressed by the Carenage in the capital city of St. George the minute I saw it. In 1990, it was still a small circular waterfront harbour with most of its 18th century warehouses, wharves and shops still intact. The city dwellers built homes into the surrounding hills with red tiled roofs. These red tiles were carried across the Atlantic as ship's ballast and traded for spices, chief among them, nutmeg and sugar cane, in great demand in Europe. As the story is told, nutmeg was introduced to Grenada in 1843 when a merchant ship called in on its way to England from the East Indies. The ship had some small nutmeg trees which were left behind. These trees were well adapted to the climate of Grenada and so began the local industry. In fact, all the West Indies spices such as turmeric, cinnamon, bay leaf, cloves and ginger have origins in the East Indies and have been grown here in Grenada for centuries. The Carenage is still intact and many businesses are built into the ruins of old structures much like in St. Thomas. The city itself has really expanded and dwarfed the now small harbour but one can still pick out the old buildings and the churches remain. The southern anchorages are well protected and fringed with coral reef and high bluff jutting out to sea like fingers waving on a hand. Every cove was full of yachts of all dimensions and origins. For the most part, I think the locals are happy to have the business and the cruisers, from what we have seen, are very supportive and respectful in return. As for us, on India, it was like a supercharged pit stop. We are system enhanced, power packed, and almost ready for the South Pacific. Just a few stops left before we transit!
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| Stealing sweets out of David's pocket |
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| Carenage, St. George, Grenada |
