It seems that we have always been a day late and two dollars short when it came to being in the right place at the right time for regattas and carnivals. For the first time this trip, we were here in time for Spice Mas Carnival. This is four days of fun and revelry.

Many of the boats from Mount Hartman Bay and Prickly Bay made reservations up in St. George for the holiday weekend. From there they could walk to all of the festivities. We had only been in the bay one day, so decided to stay at anchor in Hartman Bay and get a ride into town. Glad we did, as we were still tired from the transit, and from all reports, the boats that went into St. George were begging for ear plugs.

The first event that we attended was the pan-o-rama. Sherry from Mythago,was nice enough to organize getting tickets for all of us. We caught a ride from "Shademan" into the St. George to the National Stadium. As we entered, it wasn't difficult to decide where to sit, right in the centre of the stands, was a huge group of cruisers; many of whom, we recognized. We met with friends who we hadn't seen in several months and a couple of friends who we hadn't seen in several years. It was nice having all of the those folks there, as the event that was scheduled to start at 2000 didn't start until 2130 (island time).

The event consisted of a group of pan musicians numbering up to 75 people, bringing up to 170 different pans on the stage, playing a number lasting approximately 8 minutes, then dismantling everything and leaving the stage. The next group would come up and do the same thing, with an hour's interlude. So most of the time the cruisers sat around, drank beer and gammed, and every hour of so listened to eight minutes of pan music. It was still a fun evening.

The next day they had many events scheduled, but Greig and I decided that the one we would like to attend was the Fancy Mas. This was to be the judging of all the fancy costumes (the ones with skimpy bathing suits and lots of feathers and glitter). We had the opportunity to enjoy not only the fancy costumes and the Shortknee bands. These were groups consisting of all men, dressed a clowns with cages over their faces and bells around their ankles, stomping and spraying talcum powder every where, chanting. It was very different, and we have not yet been able to find out the significance of the powder yet. Greig liked the ladies in the bright costumes, especially the one group whose costumes were based on different drinks. His favourite, why rum and coke of coarse!

There was a huge parade with the bands and costumes the following day, but we decided that we were carnivaled out. Maybe next year, we will be in Grenada earlier and will be all rested up to participate in all of the activities. We were happy to have seen some of the Carnival. Let me tell you though, these people sure know how to party!