We took that quick trip to 'PETIT MARTINIQUE', to see the local regatta but that turned out to be a non-event ...... Lots of people hanging around the 'beer tent' but not a lot going on in the water, except maybe some school kids on what looked like a lazer sailboat ....... The anchorage is an open roadstead, with a hard coral bottom and definitely no place to leave a vessel unattended, although we were surrounded by locally built fishing vessels all on moorings ...... After several hours spent in waiting, we took off back to Carriacou .... Whatever 'island time' is in progress here, we may have had a clock that doesn't run on 'CARIB BEER' ...... We could see GRENADA in the haze ....... And life is short ....... If you look at the map you will see that it has taken us two and a half years to only come from FLORIDA to GRENADA ...... Not exactly 'killer speed' is it .... Then again, there's been so much to see and do ......
Most of the boats on the beach including the locally designed sailboats are all of plywood construction ...... The bigger vessels and the fishing boats are of planked construction ....... Shape and design may well be determined by what material is available at the time ........
We are finally on our way to GRENADA, the last island in this volcanic chain and along the way we gently pass over an active volcano 500 ft beneath the waves, at a place known as "Kick-em-Jenny" ...... We noticed the turbulence in the water, but nothing more serious ............No bubbles, no troubles ...... Every time we take on another passage, everything below has to be secured ....... The potted plant goes under the table, the lamp is tied off, and the swivel chair is secured with rubber straps, The hatches are all closed tightly ....... We know what happens if we don't ....
GRENADA's coastline is steep to, with very few places to anchor until you get to the historic capital of St. GEORGE .....
SUNDAY in St. GEORGE, and the streets are deserted except for a retaurtant/bar on the foreshore, where the locals are hanging out and limin' ....... 'kicking it up a notch, and talking loud' ....... Of course, if you want to talk quietly you can always hide in one of those English phone booths ...... You can even get changed in there and come out as 'Dr Who' or 'Clark Kent' and take on the World's catastrophies, for there is no shortage of those ....... Imagine the headline ...... WALL STREET white-collar crime fighter emerges from phone booth in GRENADA wearing bright orange and green .... Interestingly, the local cell phone company is called 'Lime' ...... That's to assist with the 'limin' .....
We motor "ARITA" around the quiet harbour and look at all the buildings ........... New and old, and marvel at the structures on the hillsides ....... There's another fort on top of the hill that will need exploring, and we end up motorsailing around the end of the GRENADA to anchor in one of the bays on the windward side that is open to the ocean but well protected by the fringing reefs .....
Found this beautiful rounded steel Bermuda registered motor vessel tied to a dock with an apt name of "STEEL" ....... Now if it had been named "STEAL" we might have given the subject a little more discussion ....
Impressive to see such clear evidence of the volcanic upheavals that the island has undergone .... The face of two separate lava flows kept fresh by the onslaught of the ocean waves ........
We are informed on the radio net (that's VHF channel 68 at 0730am) that tomorrow will be 'shopping day' and that a bus has been organised for the cruisers ......... So nice to be back in 'adult day-care' ....... The bus is due to leave at 10am, so collectively we jump into our dinghies, work our way through the various reefs and head for the marina around the point ........
First stop, obviously is the GRENADA BREWERY where the beer prices are better than anywhere else........... The bus driver, 'Shade-man' knows this ........ He gets his name obviously from 'waiting in the shade' while the cruisers do their shopping ....
There's no shortage on beer here ....... We visit the two large marine stores, the supermarkets, the lumber yard, the smoothie place and finally make a 'roti' stop where 'shade-man' has previously placed our order by phone ..... All very civilized, and by mid-afternoon we are back at the marina laden with ....... Well, everything .... And down comes the rain in buckets and buckets and buckets ...... After all, it is 'Hurricane season' .......
The rain and the squalls kind of goes with the territory ........
While still in CARRIACOU, we managed to dig up a buried dinghy from beneath the beach sands, to get enough 'hypalon' patch material to repair the multiple punctures in our dinghy ...... We fixed it after two attempts .... And then took the anchor winch apart, in order to reverse the 'gypsy' and thus get a better grip on the chain ......... Life has its moments ..... For don't ever think that the shiny near-new stainless steel screws in the anchor winch were designed to come out again in one piece ...... No sir, ....... Make sure you carry a tap and die set with you ...... And if perchance, you don't know what a 'tap-and-die' set is, then don't leave town until you do ........ And get 'imperial' as well as 'metric' .....
But eventually the sun does come out, .... A chance to go ashore, refuel and smell the bouganvillea, which of course, has no smell at all ......... Just checking ......
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