We’ve been bay hopping for the past month; between Mount Hartman, Prickly Bay, St. George, Hog Island and Clarkes Cove Bay.

August has been a very exciting month for us.

We watched the closure of the Olympics in Prickly Bay, enjoyed one of the Carnival parades in St. George then attended a Jam Session at Whisper Cove Marina followed by a beach party at Roger’s Beach Bar.

The major project on our boat was the installation of an additional solar panel; the new 240 watts will complement the existing two-135 watts. What a difference! On a sunny day, which is the majority of the time, our batteries are fully charged by lunchtime.

The highlight of the month was the arrival of Nick & Autumn on Sunday night; what a fun-filled week we had.

They made it through customs like a breeze because our little smarty pants, Autumn, had a pen in her backpack while everyone else were waiting to share the few pens available….that’s my girl!

So they could get familiarized with the surrounding bays, Monday we did a dinghy excursion and visited Le Phare Bleu Marina, Whisper Cove Marina and Roger’s Beach Bar.
Sylvain came over for happy hour and delighted Autumn with a few tricks; in return, she taught him how to play Go Fish.

We set off early on Tuesday morning for a tour of the island.
Our first official stop was in St. George where Joe briefed us on the history of Grenada and from this vantage point, we could see many forts. We then made a brief stop in Gouyave to observe fishermen slowly pull a fishing net to shore; this process usually takes several hours.
We proceeded through the old town of Grenville to the first airport on the island where ruins of the Grenada Revolution can be seen.
Unfortunately, a squall came through so we weren’t able to visit the River's Rum Distillery.
We headed on to the Belmont Estate for lunch and again due to the rain, we were unable to tour the grounds.
Returning via the West coast, we visited the nutmeg processing plant and headed to Annandale Falls where Autumn enjoyed a swim.
We travelled up to the rainforest to observe some of the most picturesque views from the higher mountains of the island.
Seven hours later, we’re back at the marina.

Wednesday morning, we motor-sailed to St. George so Dan & I could go to Immigration to get an extension on our passports; they allow a maximum of three consecutive months.
Autumn made new friends at Port Louis Marina; Juliette & Elianne of the s/v Don Quillechotte. We all enjoyed the pool as it was a very hot afternoon then had a few sundowners.

Thursday…more swimming…did I forget to mention that Autumn is a little mermaid…can’t get enough of swimming…headed to of Clarkes Cove Bay in early afternoon.
Nick’s attempt at fishing was unsuccessful.
Early evening, we dinghied to Whisper Cove Marina to meet with friends and enjoy their scrumptious chicken dinner; Autumn, Juliette & Elianne were happy to visit once again.

The highlight on Friday was the dinghy concert….the lowlight was laundry…LOL.
If you want to see an extract of the conert, you will find it on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uQwIXeq8sg

Saturday, we raised the anchor and headed to Calivigny Island to enjoy the beach for a few hours before heading to Mount Hartman Bay.
Nick caught a small tuna on our way from Calivigny to Hartman…how exciting was that….you had to be there…this was his first salt water fish and also the first one successfully reeled in on our boat; we will be attending a fishing seminar this Thursday so hopefully we can get pointers…LOL
Within the hour, that cute little fish was cleaned and sitting on the grill; this was the best happy hour snack we’ve had in a long time.

Sunday morning was a sad day; time to say our goodbyes. We had a fantastic time with Nick & Autumn and are anxious for them to visit again.
We expect Erik to be our next visitor at Xmas time unless anyone else wants to come for a visit before then.

Today is indeed labour day for us….we’re getting the boat back together…LOL

Plans for later this week are: fishing seminar, lobster dinner (the season opened on Sept. 1st) and reading classes with school kids on Saturday morning.