We bid farewell to John and Myra, who after 10 weeks away from home were looking forward to heading back to Australia. Steven remained on board as skipper while Garth and I joined as crew. We were all looking forward to a leisurely cruising schedule through the Windward Islands before other guests join us. The four islands included in the Windward Island group are Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique. The British called them the Windwards because you had to beat to windward to get there from many of their other possessions.
The weather had been quite variable since our arrival in Grenada in late January. Before joining Trilogy, we had stayed a few days in a resort at the beautiful Grande Anse beach just to the south of the port, in order to sleep off our considerable jet lag. Black cloudy squalls rolled through rapidly most of those days, making our beach front balcony the perfect spot to hang out, with intermittent walks along the beach and swims in the refreshing clear salt water when the sun did shine. We asked our taxi driver at one point about the weather as the rain pelted down and he said 'we can't talk about that, it is just too strange!' I also commented after he had yelled and waved out the window several 'Yah Man' greetings to people along the short ride 'Do you feel like you know everyone on the island?' to which he instantly replied 'No 'mam, everyone knows me!' You can't help but chuckle at the island humour. From taxi chats it is also apparent that Aussies are still appreciated in the Caribbean, if for nothing else, the shared national love of cricket, but sadly the comment from more than one driver was 'we're done'.
We had two delightful meals with John and Myra in St George's before their departure, one at the Arawakabana Restaurant, the other at Yola Sushi Restaurant at the Port Louis marina. Yola Sushi served excellent Japanese food with a Caribbean twist, most memorable being the excellent mixed platters of delicious sashimi and sushi. Having recently visited Japan ourselves, we were very pleased and surprised to find a seriously good Japanese restaurant in the heart of the Caribbean.
Port Louis marina was home to lots of super yachts and Trilogy's 54 feet (almost 16.5 metres) seemed diminutive in comparison. There is endless pleasure for us in big marinas watching the very beautiful young guys and girls who crew these massive vessels, strutting their superb physiques as they polish every inch of chrome to a blinding shine. I have not noticed a reciprocal glance in our direction!
No sooner had we got our bags on board Trilogy than it was time to put our minds to the victualling. After a quick check of all the food storage areas, we were off to the Real Value IGA supermarket, however nothing is cheap in the Caribbean. What seemed like many hours later Garth and I emerged with four stacked trolleys as there are not many decent supermarkets in the Windward islands. Our taxi driver managed to reverse the laden vehicle up a narrow alley at the marina, which considerably reduced the distance the marina carts were hauled to Trilogy's berth. With the heat of the Caribbean at its maximum in mid afternoon, we worked quickly to stow our bounty, challenging Trilogy's fridge and freezer to the maximum. We had become quite dehydrated and after imbibing all chilled water in sight, we showered and wandered off to Yola Sushi, for another delicious feed.
The day dawned with less clouds and even more blue sky and as we needed to depart by midday from the marina, we sprung into action, after enjoying our homemade muesli breakfast followed by plunger coffee. A load of washing dried in a flash and a last minute trip in the tender to the other side of the bay to the chandlery and nearby small supermarket, completed our tasks.
Before we knew it we were casting off the lines and easing out of the berth. The marina staff warned us that a regatta fleet were about to arrive, which hastened our departure but the skipper kept his cool and squeezed Trilogy around a tight curve created by the large surrounding yachts and headed for the fuel dock. With the two diesel tanks topped up, water tanks full and plenty of outboard fuel, we headed out of St George's Harbour and headed south to cruise the south coast of Grenada. It was a great feeling to be leaving the busy-ness of the chaotic traffic, supermarkets and marina heat behind!