Grenada Skies

Don and I are coming to the end of our visas here in Grenada and working on our plans for a visit home, haulout, and long term storage for the boat. Rentals and work are beckoning us stateside but it is difficult to go when there are beautiful skies like this. 

Grenada is a great place for boats. Chandleries, boatyards, and haulout facilities are readily available and the yards are already filling up with seasonal cruisers. This will be our first time leaving the Starship unattended during the hurricane season and even though she will be on terra firma and at 12 degrees a little trepidation is always with us.

We were happy to be able to visit with our friends Greg and Kate aboard Indigo whom we sailed with from Luperon, Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico two years ago via the infamous Mona Passage. 

As I recall that was a slow motorboat trip across a flat sea and we all waited three weeks for such an excellent weather window to head east. 

Yes we are a sailboat but going to weather is always better motoring, slowly, flatly. 

That way your beer bottle doesn’t tilt, your suntan stays even, and your dog isn’t drooling all over the floor. The roughness of a passage is measured by the drool factor on our boat.

It is nice to reconnect with old cruising friends as our friendships are always transient, a side effect of the gypsy lifestyle. But Greg is our favorite chemical paleontologist (how many degrees does that take?) and Kate excellent to chat with about beading and quilting. 

You should see her on the bow anchor chain, the woman rocks! They have a beautifully kept Costa Rica and a perfect cockpit for happy hour sunset.

After our last guest departed Don had to finally get serious about the sad and tragic death of our generator. 

Dealing with leaking (exploding) oil in the engine room and the fact that now we are in the calm season (aka: no wind power!) he had to really “get into” his work.

Don loves a clean engine room and this now will put repainting on our long haulout to do list.

Luckily the Starship is equipped with an excellent onboard garage/machine shop/paint locker/aft cabin and once the parts arrived via FedEx (ouch!) we were up and running and in ice cubes again. A dire emergency once more averted thanks to the Captain. 

I, the Admiral, am thinking about increasing his salary accordingly. 

The south coast of Grenada consists of half a dozen deep bays, all mangrove lined and with an abundance of boat friendly businesses. 

Here is where the main haulout facilities are located and Don and I are slowly making our way southeast, a mile or two per passage. Yesterday it was four, ……perfect. 

Even though the water is not crystal clear there are beautiful anchorages to idle in and some great hiking to be had.

Located on a mangrove encrusted inlet Clark’s Court Bay has two marinas, one of them French with divine freshly made pate from local meat and warm melt in your mouth French baguettes. Uh oh......

The hike to town and to catch the local bus is a little bit more difficult but the walk is rewarding and the smiles uplifting.

One of the great pleasures of the Caribbean Islands in addition to the turquoise water has been the incredible friendliness of its inhabitants.

Always ready with a smile and willing to give directions, this is the only place we have ever been where the local bus detours off the route sometimes for miles so Grandma can be let off right at her front door or the day's doctor appointment. The cost is a mere $2.50 EC, or one US dollar no matter how far your destination. There is something very right about that.

Boats come in all shapes and sizes here in Grenada, some even with their own private island. 

But every evening the local fishermen are out, catching with hand lines and coaxing the fish into their nets with infinite patience. 

Greneda skies……magnificent!