The Lowdown on the Slowdown
03 August 2010 | St Georges, Grenada
Allen Valkie
The Slowdown Lowdown Update
Hi Everyone. As you can probably tell from the lack of update letters, we have slowed down a little here in Granada. That's not to say that we are bored, but we are practicing the art of liming. Liming is just hanging around. Not doing much of anything. Some liming activities are trading gossip, having a beer, watching the scenery and thinking about nothing. We have been at anchor in a place called Mt Hartman's for about a week. It is a Bay about four times the size of Fond du Lac Harbor and we're here with about 30 other boats. The entire bay is not suitable for anchoring. There is a section that you just can't get your hook to hold and there are reefs, rocks, sand bars, wrecks and other obstructions as well. The bay offers many comforts though. It is quiet, calm, a nearby bar, wi-fi that we can get on the boat and good holding once you're locked in. We are doing well. Patricia still has some lingering things that bother her from her auto accident in the Bahamas and I have been struggling with Dinghy fever. We just try to not let things bring us down and keep truck 'in.
We left Grenada a couple of weeks ago and sailed north to Petit Martinique and Petit St Vincent. The two islands are about a mile apart. Petit St Vincent is part of Grenada but Petit Martinique is not. The better anchoring and snorkeling is at Petit Martinique so we anchored there but never really went ashore so we never checked in with customs, etc. Since it's sort of in the boonies, they are a little slack and it seems as though no one pushes it. It's not lobster season, so I behaved myself but every day I found lobster and left them alone (but I know where they're hiding). While we were there, it was our anniversary so we took the dingy over to Petit St Vincent and had a wonderful dinner at a seaside restaurant. Our table (all tables) was outside, on the grass and under a thatched roof with open sides. Later back on the boat we made a slide show of our wedding pictures at the Yacht Club and had friends on a buddy boat join us for drinks and desert. It was great to see all of your smiling faces and enjoy the memories of that day. We stayed there for several days it was so beautiful. We just swam, went snorkeling and relaxed every day. The trip back to Grenada was a lot of fun. We got to put the spinnaker up for the entire day and just relaxed while the auto pilot brought us back.
Yesterday we took the family car (the dingy) and went to the next bay over called Clark's Court Bay Marina. We were invited to play Cricket. Not knowing a thing about the game, of course we jumped at the chance to play. We were confused about the rules but we had a blast and our team won. Patricia turned out to be a very good batsman and made several runs (I think between 12 & 15). Her production and contribution of runs was beat only by one other person on our team. I think that's pretty awesome for a rookie that never played before. I was so proud of her and you could tell she was having a good time by the big smile on her face. I was thrown out after falling in the grass after only making about 6 runs. However I did get a Wicket as catcher and they had me be a bowler a couple of times. It was a great afternoon, the laughs never stopped and the beer went down easy. Afterwards we all had a pot luck dinner with lots of good food brought by the cruisers. Out here, things tend to stop rather early and most had gone home around 9:00pm (that's the official, unofficial cruisers midnight).
Grenada is gearing up for carnival. It is a big island wide 3 or 4 day party with parades, band competitions, costumed dancers and all the like. Mindful of this and wanting to participate as much as we can, today we will pull the hook up and traverse around to the other side of the island and go into a marina called Port Louis in St Georges. Today is a good day to move, we are between tropical waves and it's mostly under 4 ft seas. The marina experience will be a big treat. Just think; Showers, pool, washers and dryers, wi-fi, bar, restaurant and most of all, no wet dingy ride back to the boat at 3:00 in the morning. That is if you can find it. They tell us that Carnival is pretty wild. That's about all I have to say for now except for this. I know we've said it before; you are all in our minds and hearts every day and hope that all is well with you. Be safe and have fun. Allen & Patricia