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| The Carenage in Grenada |
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| You can get anything from fresh produce to cooked food, juice, ginseng and someone has even planted a pretty garden, all on the side of the road |
Time for some us things, MaXScene got a clean and some
maintenance done, I got to see the dentist as I suspected I had cracked a
tooth– first appointment was cancelled as the x-ray machine broke and parts
have to come from the UK,
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| An unofficial bus stop |
no problem, down the road to the next recommended
dentist and they are unable to take x-rays as their machine is out of ink!
Fortunately, the spare part arrived pretty fast and the tooth got the all
clear. Island life escapes modernisation, think that’s probably the appeal.
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| A number of new hasher's shoes were filled with beer and they had to drink it up, should have been the 1st clue |
I’ve wanted to take part in a hash for quite some time. Hashes
take place worldwide, it is a run/walk event (see World Harrier Organisation http://www.gthhh.com/) whereby a course is
laid out with markers, some misleading which can send participants off in the
wrong direction, ending with a get together over a couple of drinks and
something to eat, a great way to meet new people.
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| And we were off, straight through a flowing river, 2nd clue |
This is the Grenadian credo :
We are an enthusiastic group of
“drinkers with a running problem” that meet every Saturday afternoon for a fun
walk or run in different locations around Grenada.
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| Trail markings in shredded paper |
Sounds like fun right? Annually they organise a hash on the
Island of Carriacou and this is the hash we selected to do. The trail from
Paradise Beach to Hillsborough Town Centre should be a beautiful walk along the
beach, we thought, we even roped JK and Nelia in to join us.
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| Scrambling up to the top |
Well that sweet
dream soon became a nightmare scramble, up to the top of the highest mountain
on the Island – we were literally vertical climbing, scrambling over and
through the mud, clinging on to tree roots with hands and feet – I managed to
grab a cactus and shove my hand into a fire ants nest, finally arriving at the
pinnacle, front covered head to toe in mud I was not overly excited about the
magnificent view out over Tyrell Bay.
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| It really was a beautiful view, easier to appreciate now |
Poor JK and Nelia, also thinking along
the lines of a placid walk down the beach, started out wearing flip flops and
when these proved to be dangerous, they took them off so now they were
barefoot, it took them ages to remove all the thorns.
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| Zorsted, filthy and fed up and we were only 1/2 way! |
The torture was not over
yet, for every up there has to be a down,
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| View over Hillsborough, where the hash was to end |
well there was, straight down and as
I have no sense of balance this meant swinging from tree to tree like Tarzan
and when there were no trees, sliding down on my rear end, with toes shoved so
hard into my shoes that a couple of days later 2 toenails deserted my feet, at
least when I got to the bottom the brown mud was evenly distributed front and
back.
The cold beers at the end, whilst welcome, did little to ease the incredulity
we felt, suffice to say hashing and obstacle courses are firmly out of my system.
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| Party of Five next to us taking a hammering from the wind & waves |
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| 2 Days later all was back to normal |
We returned to Grenada, to Prickly Bay and rode out
Hurricane Karen, this one was closer and caused more damage, 3 unmanned yachts
in the bay ended up on either the rocks or beach and we rode out a night of
waves breaking over the front of our boat, holding anchor watch all night
together with those around, it was our first close call with a hurricane and it
wasn’t fun, the weather certainly demands respect.
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| The Aziz burger, that's a dinner plate it's served on |
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| Aziz, great food and good value, just what cruisers like |
We had a breather for a bit, joined team “Kak Praat” (so
called by our Canadian friend Susan who was fast coming to grips with
Afrikaans, all the bad words of course) for Trivia evenings coming last, 2nd
last then eventually winning,
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| Front row seats for the cooking demo |
played Mexican Train dominoes, walked lots,
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| Ester & Omega are a comical pair |
celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving, learned more about cooking with Island
ingredients from the Esther and Omega cooking show at True Blu Lodge,
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| Bonus - we get to eat what they cooked |
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| Cocktails on Maxscene that became a party that lasted til the wee hours |
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| Yellow and green air guitars and air drums all came out to play |
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| The rugby WC semi final at Port Louis Yacht Club @ 6am |
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| See Ya party at Umbrella's |
Grenadian waters are incredibly nutrient rich, most
especially in Prickly bay, so it’s never a good idea to anchor there for too
long as your boat tends to grow its own eco system, so after removing the beard
and barnacles from our hulls once more it was time to go. We spent a couple of
days in Port Louis and had a farewell Grenada dinner at Umbrella’s before
heading up to Carriacou where we had booked a spot with Tyrell Bay Marina to
haul MaXScene out to redo the anti-foul and annual scheduled maintenance.
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| Up she came, very professional staff here with well appointed equipment |
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| Chocked and safe as we head for Bequia by plane once more |
That would have to wait however as we were required to do
two back to back charters in Bequia, so we chocked her, locked her up and flew
to Bequia once more.
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| Had to watch the Rugby WC final before the charter, South Africa's win set the tone for the week |
The work for a charter begins days before we leave the
dock with the guests, the boat needs to be checked, tested, fixed, all missing
items found and replaced, pre-cooking for the following two weeks done, stocked
and cleaned and checked again.
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| Table set for dinner |
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| Fruit salad |
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| Starters |
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| Breakfast table |
Then on Saturday all provisions are received and
packed, ice and drinks are loaded and eventually guests as well and by Saturday
evening we leave the dock and head out into the bay for dinner, the start of
the week of charter.
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| Mr Quality sells t-shirts from his boat to yachts @ Tobago Cays Kevin got this as a gift from him |
We love the SVG Island chain and its easy to be enthusiastic
with guests about it,
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| Jazz & Blues @ Basils bar on Mustique every Sunday & Thursday evening |
from the Island of Mustique where many of the rich and
famous have homes and where they may sometimes be spotted in Basils bar, to
Union,
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| Tradewinds Aqua Terra resort on Mayreau |
to the turquoise water home of the turtles in Tobago Cays,
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| The flashy new Super Yacht Marina on Canouan |
to Mayreau
and Canouan and back to Bequia. They seem to love it and so far we have had
really great reviews and have made a number of new friends.
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| Servicing the sail drives |
Two weeks hard work done and we were winging our way back to
Carriacou, no peace for the wicked as all that back breaking work awaited. We
sanded the old anti-foul off, serviced the sail drives and propellers, painted
undercoat and then applied the coats of anti-foul between bouts of torrential
rain – of course.
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| Our neighbours, smoked heaps of dope, played awful music really loud but were a generally friendly lot |
We polished the fibreglass and stainless steel too and paid a
fortune to a slip of a French girl who does fibreglass work, to do some gel
coat repairs and realised just how very lucky we were in South Africa, labour
back home is affordable and Alfred’s work ethic and skill set irreplaceable.
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| The Dolly C ferry, we had to travel to Grenada twice on her to get stuff a complete day event |
We
splashed back in the water without incident but discovered an issue with the
raw water coolers on both engines,
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| Brass fitting in the raw water system had rotted away |
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| Polished and painted and ready to splash again, proud of us |
which fortunately Kevin managed to work a
solution to, boat spares are so hard to find, from Carriacou it’s a 3 hour
ferry ride to Grenada if you’re lucky enough that they have what you need.
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| Caribbean Chicken salad complete with Palm tree |
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| One of our guests was a Barrister and these were his boots, this is how I want to be represented in court |
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| Yet more food |
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| Different take on banoffee pie |
Not much time for messing around though as we needed to be
back in Bequia for another two back to back charters, so in time to wave hello
and goodbye to our friends heading north from Grenada we set off on a fantastic
sail to Bequia. More guests, more food, more sailing and by 22 December we were
tired and ready for a break.
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| The Meat Man |
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| Happy hour @ Frangi Pani on Xmas eve |
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| Steel pan drums on Xmas eve |
In the run up to Christmas the bay was filled with cruisers,
the cruise ships arrived almost daily and super yachts were here too. The
little town was buzzing with its beautiful Christmas lights and people getting
their last minute shopping done, enter “The Meat Man”, he owns a farm in St
Vincent which I am told guarantee’s that his meat is fresh and brings his cooler
boxes filled with fresh meat across on the ferry a couple of days per week.
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| Christmas lights |
He
sets up under a staircase and wields his machete with vigour – funny that there
was a plaster on each of his fingers but best not to ask. The locals seem to
mostly want stewing meat so standing in line waiting for your turn at the table
gets you liberally sprayed with blood and meat bits as the big knife slams down
onto unrecogniseable chunks of meat, bone and fat.  |
| After a couple of beers and some rum, Angela & I ended up on Santa's knee on this stage, think he's ok, everyone got presents |
This means, however, that
the unpopular cuts like fillet (or tenderloin as they call it here) and the
t-bones are packed neatly in cooler boxes in the back, perfect for Christmas
lunch in the absence of turkey – haven’t seen one turkey (feathered variety
anyway) since arriving in the Caribbean.
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| Nice way to meet fellow cruisers |
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| The rum version of 12 days of Christmas |
While we were busy chartering, fellow cruisers had organised
with the Figtree Restaurant the use of their facility on Christmas day, they
close for the day so we all arrived for Pot Luck lunch, bring a bowl of
something you wish to share, such as salad, bread or dessert and your own meat.
When one guys lobster tails went on the braai next to the t-bones we were all
sorry that the sharing didn’t extend to the meat as well. A fun day of
mingling, laughter, games and singing, proof that a like interest easily
overcomes language barriers.
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| Dinghy parking lot |
Old Years eve was a braai on the beach followed by fireworks
which are sadly becoming popular on the Islands but seeing in the New Year was
a fairly quiet affair.
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| Nothing like a wallow - "talking heads" |
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| Leaving Bequia on the ferry to St Vincent |
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| Colorful people and streets |
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| and very colorful murals |
We took a trip to St Vincent by ferry, this ones fast, only
an hour and St Vincent has much to offer, a number of good supermarkets,
pharmacies, fish market, opticians –
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| Trying out frames |
I had to get a new pair of glasses made as
the coating on my previous ones has peeled. The eye test is very manually done
with the old heavy glasses but at least I can see again.
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| Sardines I tell you |
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| The boxes of frozen chicken |
After a shopping spree
of note we treated ourselves to lunch at Blue Lagoon. The bus ride there was
entertaining to say the least – 5 of us were squashed into a mini bus together
with 13 other people (yes, you read that right, 18 people) AND 5 boxes of
frozen chicken and obviously Mr Schumaker the driver couldn’t wait to get rid
of everyone so the journey was done in double quick time, don’t know if I was
grateful or not.
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| Great company, great lunch |
