Grenada and on to Carriacou

It was Tuesday 2nd February when we arrived in Grenada at the capital St Georges where we anchored off a small quiet nearby beach. After checking in at Customs and Immigration, although we were both very tired, we decided to look around the town and explore the supermarkets. This is usually one of our first actions when we arrive in a new port, as being vegetarian, we sometimes have difficulty finding suitable food, especially our favourite - tofu!. We had visited Grenada before on our way down to Trinidad in 2008 and it was good to be back in this bustling town with its exotic smells of spices which permeate everywhere, of course Granada is called the Spice Island.

We returned to Sareda by 4pm and as we had both been awake since 6am the previous day, we decided to have a couple of hours sleep before dinner and sank into bed pleased to have arrived in this lovely island - and slept until 8.00 the next morning!

Later that day we visited the Grenada yacht club where we could use the wi-fi for a small charge. Paul had business to catch up on and I was intent on bringing the blog up to date. We had a drink but the only way I could enjoy a coconut milk, my favourite, was for Paul to have a whisky - they would not sell the coconut milk separately, it was given free as a whisky chaser, but I did not hear Paul grumbling!!

In the afternoon we decided to dinghy over from Sareda to the little beach on the headland to snorkel over the rocks. We have had better snorkelling experiences but it was so great being able to float in the clear turquoise seas again that we forgave the fish for not being as bright and colourful as we had seen on previous occasions in other destinations.

There is a Cruiser's net every morning at 7.30 to 8.00 on the VHF radio and they kept referring to the shopping mall at Grand Anse in the next bay, which was a dinghy ride away, and we could see the long white beach from the boat. We decided to investigate, remembering the West Mall in Trinidad. We were a little disappointed as there were only a few shops there but in the centre there was a pool with some fantastic Koi carp of which I enjoyed taking photos.

Later in the day on Sareda we received a dinghy visit from John and Doug from Carissima, one of the boats we had sailed with from Trinidad. They were going to a Fish Fry in Gouyave a village on the north east coast of Grenada on the Friday evening and wondered if we would like to join them and share the taxi costs. They told us it's a weekly event in Gouyave where the streets are closed and the fishermen's wives set up stalls to cook and sell their husbands' catches. Although we are vegetarian and don't eat fish we were assured that there would be food for us too and that it should be good to experience the atmosphere so we agreed to go. John was organising the transport and in the end ten of us travelled by a taxi/mini bus sharing the expenses. Dave and Sue from Barnstormer came and a friend of theirs, Alana, who was staying with them for a few days from America, there was also Jonathan from South Africa, and Gerry and Jim also from America. They were a lovely bunch and the one and a half hour drive up the coast taking in the local scenery was enjoyable and fun.

The "fish fry" is very much a local event attended by villagers but inevitably some holidaymakers and boaters journey up and enjoy participating.

The atmosphere was amazing in this small and friendly village and we were made to feel very welcome. There were lights, bunting and local music both piped and later on live - the fishermen's wives cooked their fish on portable stoves along with very tasty vegetables, potato cakes and polenta so Paul and I certainly didn't go hungry. We took several photographs which although good do not re-create the vibrant atmosphere which abounded. We all enjoyed our food and the very reasonable beer which was also for sale at each stall and we left at the end of the evening feeling very mellow and content. We said goodbye to our fellow companions at the yacht club, six of whom were then catching a bus to Prickly Bay the other anchorage around the headland.

There was a bank holiday on Sunday and Monday the 7th and 8th February, as Grenada was celebrating 36 years of independence. Paul had spent time doing the jobs he had hoped to do before leaving Trinidad. He sorted out the jib furling which had been very stiff during our journey up, did a couple of jobs on the engine and he fully secured the inner forestay which had caused a problem on the way north. I completed the first instalment of the blog then we decided to prepare the boat to sail to Carriacou, the next island, on Wednesday 10th February.

On the Monday and Tuesday I had a very bad bout of arthritis in my right hip - initially I thought I had put my back out and decided to go for a walk from the yacht club into town but by the time I came back realised the pain was coming from my hip. I do not know why it suddenly flared up as normally the glucosamine supplements I take keep it well under control - I can only think that with the change in routine I know I often forgot the lunchtime tablet. I took pain-killers when I realised what the problem was and resolved not to forget the glucosamine again. Luckily by Wednesday morning I had only a small twinge to remind me before we left for Carriacou.

On the Tuesday we took our last trip into the town of St Georges. We stocked up with tinned tofu we had found in one supermarket and decided to stock up in case we had problems on other islands. Outside the supermarket was a young lad selling mangoes, the first we had seen on this trip so I bought three for just over the equivalent of a pound and really enjoyed them over the next few days. I still find them a very messy fruit to eat but they are very delicious and palatable. We also visited the local chandlery where we had seen 'Crocs' for sale. Paul has been wearing the cheap versions and gets on with them very well and was finally persuaded to purchase the real McCoy.

For lunch we found a local café called the Creole Shack. It was largely local workers eating there and we were pleasantly surprised to find a whole section of food that was vegetarian including soya chunks in a delicious sauce, fresh vegetables, rice and a cheesy vegetable pie similar to the one I enjoyed in Trinidad. Our only disappointment was that this was our last day in Grenada and that we could not enjoy this feast again - it was so reasonable too, working out at little over £2.50 each including drinks.

The next morning we were up early and planned to leave Grenada at 7.30 am to sail to Carriacou. It was 24 miles away and the wind was from the North West so, as we would most probably have to motor we wanted to leave early to ensure our arrival before dark - Carriacou means the Island of Reefs so daylight is preferable to ensure our safety especially as lights and buoyage are very unreliable out here. Unfortunately we hit a snag - we padlock the outboard motor to the dinghy using a strong brass heavy padlock with a combination lock - to avoid losing keys - unfortunately it had jammed. We needed to pack the outboard and dinghy before we could leave so Paul decided to saw it off using a hacksaw but this made no impression, however we both remembered the bolt croppers I had bought Paul many moons ago when we were first considering long term sailing - Paul had said we should have them in case of rigging failure and we had to cut it free. They were good quality ones and when we extracted them from their storage place Paul just made one snip and it cut through the padlock as if it were butter - we hadn't used them previously but we were certainly glad they were on board!

This delay meant we didn't leave Grenada until 8.30am. We headed North keeping to the lee coast of Grenada until we reached the tip, then headed to Carriacou via an island called the Isle de Ronde and by-passing a big rock called Kick'em Jenny and three other rocks called the Sisters. There is an anchorage off the Isle de Ronde (according to Doyle's cruising guide) but it is likely to be very rolly even for a lunch stop. Doyle says this is a shame, as the snorkelling is excellent and the island has some good walks. Only about 20 inhabitants live on the south coast.

There is also an active underwater volcano about two miles west of the Isle de Ronde which erupted in both 1988 and 1989. This has also been called Kick'em Jenny and again according to Doyle it is reputed as giving a very big kick if you happen to be on top when it erupts, therefore the Grenada government has declared a 1.5 km exclusion zone around it at all times, this increases to 5 km when it is rumbling.

I was very nervous about this trip as it was my first trip following the Trinidad to Grenada passage, and both the wind and the seas were against us. I took my tablets and stood at the stern until the last 2\3 miles when I sat in the cockpit and looked at the crossword Paul had started. It was a long time to stand but I was able to see the way ahead and had the benefit of the fresh air. I was fine so hope that my sickness on the previous passage was caused by not sailing for so long and a very lumpy sea.

By 1pm we could see Carriacou in the mist. This for me is what sailing is all about - discovering lands and islands that we have not been to before. We sailed up the coast of Carriacou, passing a small uninhabited island called Sandy Island which is reportedly good for snorkelling, and we anchored in the clear turquoise sea off Hillsborough bay at 4.30pm. I took some photographs as we approached and these and others of our adventures so far will appear in the gallery in due course. As night falls very rapidly after 6pm we decided not to go ashore until the morning - I cooked our dinner as Paul had looked after me on the passage cooking lunch and supplying me with water.

We sank into bed anticipating a good night's sleep leaving us fresh to explore in the morning - unfortunately we had reckoned without the celebrations leading up to carnival the following week on the 15th and 16th and the night we arrived there was a very loud Road Show ashore. Paul slept spasmodically during the night but I was awake until it finally closed down around 3am the next day.

However, excitement woke us fairly early and as soon as we had had our breakfast we inflated the dinghy and went ashore. Our first impressions were good. Carriacou is a small island only 13 square miles but never the less the largest island of several between Grenada and St Vincent. It is an island with over a 100 rum shops and only one gasoline station but their main means of making a living are farming, fishing and seafaring.

We were pleased to discover a vegetarian outlet called The Spot. Over the next few days we discovered that Mike, the proprietor (a mature Rastafarian) did a fantastic soya roti at very reasonable cost - we also sampled his burgers and one day a soya stew with rice and lentils which was delicious.

On the Friday we went ashore and I managed to book my flight home to the UK. My granddaughter was due on the 21st February and I therefore booked my flight for the 3rd March by which time I was sure she would have arrived. We booked it from Grenada and therefore planned to move on after a few more days to Petite Martinique, Union Island and the Tobago Cays before sailing back to Grenada again. In the evening, after a full day ashore we decided to unpack the new game we had treated ourselves to whilst at home, 'Rummikub'. We had been introduced to this the last time we were in the Caribbean by our good friends Hans and Linda from Holland. As the name suggests the principle object of the game revolves around the card game of rummy. If we are having friends aboard they are quite often of a different nationality to us and it is good to participate in this multi cultural game which is number based and does not discriminate against someone who speaks a foreign language as 'scrabble' is inclined to do. It took us a couple of games to remember fully how to play it and this made us very nostalgic for Hans and Linda, who, the last time we heard from them were sailing through the Panama canal and into the Pacific. It reminded us we must e-mail them and find out where they are now.

On the Saturday we were wondering in\out of the local shops when I heard 'Hello Lin' I turned around to see Sue from Barnstormer. She was with a friend called Jane, who was staying with them on their yacht. Jane hailed from Dartmouth and had left her husband at home working on his own boat whilst she came out to join Sue and Dave on 'Barnstormer' for four weeks. They told us that Dave was in the local bar by the dinghy dock that we also frequented. We caught up with him and enjoyed a happy hour, Sue and Jane also joined us and they told us they would be returning on Monday for the carnival. They were anchored at the main port in Carriacou, Tyrrel Bay, and had taxied up with Jane to go to the museum which unfortunately was shut.

The small bar is run by Cuthbert who told us that it was originally opened by his grandfather who passed the business to his parents and now he is the proprietor. One day we met his son Kevin who is still at school but was helping him with the bar as one day it will pass to him. We took photographs of Cuthbert under the sign which still has his grandfather's name on it.

On Sunday we decided to motor out to Sandy Island as from the anchorage we had seen several boats anchored off. Unfortunately, the weather has to be very calm to overnight there but much deliberation as to whether the waves were too big to land ashore we decided to take the dinghy and do some snorkelling on the reefs. It wasn't as rough as we had imagined on the shoreline and we took the dinghy on to the beach where we enjoyed our dip in the water but unfortunately could not see many fish as the sand had been churned up at the bottom and made the water very cloudy - we hoped that at some stage we could return.

Today is Monday 15th February. We were up really early, even for the Caribbean, as the pre carnival celebrations started at 5am. I put on a dress, instead of my usual shorts and top, and Paul was looking very smart in his best shorts and a nice shirt. We could hear the preparations ashore from 4am so soon after 5 o'clock we were climbing into the dinghy and making our way ashore.

We had a surprise when we arrived. The entire population of Carriacou seemed to be about, despite the early hour, but what we hadn't realised was that 'Jourvert', the name of these pre celebrations, was a time when the locals completely plastered themselves and others with either thick black oil or pastel coloured emulsion paint. There was paint and oil being thrown everywhere, I luckily escaped the onslaught but Paul was brushed by an enthusiastic individual running away from yet more oil, so yet another shirt was ruined! What was so different from similar celebratory events in the UK was that everyone was so happy and cheerful, nobody became aggressive and everyone enjoyed themselves to the full. After a couple of hours snapping photographs of this unusual event we returned to the boat to have breakfast and catch up on our sleep, we could hear the celebrations continuing and couldn't help wondering if they would ever get the paint and oil off their bodies.

In the afternoon the official carnival started at 4pm. As we made our way ashore we saw that some of the participants from the morning celebrations still in the sea scrubbing their bodies clean, but surprisingly everyone ashore seemed clean and fresh with no trace of paint or oil on them. The afternoon celebrations were completely different with small children and adults all joining in. The costumes were magnificent and the colourful arrays were dazzling. We seemed to take hundreds of pictures but when looking at them later decided our photography couldn't capture the celebratory atmosphere that abounded. We thoroughly enjoyed our day and sank into bed in the evening feeling that the Grenadine islands in particular just had to be revisited and with there being so much more of the Caribbean to explore we decided that we could not possibly bring the boat back across the Atlantic this year and that we would stay another year possibly leaving the boat in Grenada instead of Trinidad for the next hurricane season.

The next morning we awoke to discover that the winds funnelling down from the hills had been so strong in the night that they had flipped the dinghy. Unfortunately, the outboard was still attached and was now caput, however after looking in his handbook Paul stripped the engine down and dried out the water that had gathered in the carburettor and, with fingers firmly crossed, the engine was restarted, apparently with no permanent damage. Sadly, we had lost the sponge and paddle that we leave in the dinghy and because we were tired by the time we returned from the celebrations the day before we had left our shoes in the dinghy and they had also been lost overboard. We were both upset as Paul had lost his new 'Crocs' bought barely a week before in Grenada and I lost my 'Reef' flip flops that Lucy had bought me for mother's day when she visited us in St Lucia.

In the afternoon we went ashore again for the 'Shakespeare Mas' which we had heard so much about. Two men from a group dressed in bright colourful costumes have to recite passages from Shakespeare at one another, if one hesitates at all he is hit by the other. Again this event is very competitive but enjoyed with good spirit. Several groups roam around and even enter the local hostelries. We were enjoying a veggie roti with Mike in his vegetarian Rastafarian roti shack, when a group entered - they performed just for us and left after we had contributed to their collection. Again we had a very enjoyable day.
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Easter Sunday - We are now in the UK. I have decided to get up early and put this account so far on the blog. So much has happened since Tuesday 16th February, unfortunately, one event in particular, causing us to change all our plans. I am busy writing an account of the last six weeks, it won't be a very long account, as I have not been writing notes as I usually do, but it will put you all in the picture so look out for the next instalment.