Grenada

Jigsaw
Fri 1 Feb 2008 18:11

11 59.8N 61 45.7W Anchored up securely in lovely thick mud, almost like Southend.

Greetings from Grenada (Prickly Bay to be precise)

We have not posted a blog for such a long time...We are having to much fun and Internet access is a bit hit and miss (poor excuse).

It was good to finally get away from St Lucia (beautiful as it is). We headed first to Martinique, to take of advantage of the French shops and then with a boat laden down with goodies head back to St Lucia, to meet up with our sailing companions on the good ship Beyzano. Took in Marigot Bay and the Pitons (which were absolutely fabulous) on route and then did an overnight passage down to Grenada. The passage was a bit lively and had Paul and I up in the cockpit all night one on watch one sleeping, but ready for action! Grenada now feels home, it is an incredibly friendly Island with great services including Budget Marine (I have had to hide the catalogue from Paul ax he keep seeing things that he believes to be essential eg a new auto helm even though the other one is in good working order and we also have Vera the Hydrovane)!!!

Since arriving at Grenada we have been around to a few of the local bays, each one them has its own unique charm. We also took in the local sailing regatta, where the boats with home made rigs made of bamboo set off from the beach. As well as racing these boats were constantly seen bailing out to keep them afloat, unfortunately this type of event would never happen in England, as the boats would not pass a health and safety check.

For me Hogg Island has been the highlight so far, it is an uninhabited island, with a rustic bar providing the focal point for much activity. The bar also provides very good reasonably priced local food. Yesterday we had a lobster lunch with a few other families, the kids had a fantastic time exploring the Island (spotted a couple of monkeys and a scorpion), had ago at body skiing (basically being dragged through the water on a body board) and canoening. Whilst the adults sampled to much rum punch, which Paul has developed quite a skill at making.

I have know completed my PADI open water, which means that we can all go off diving. I found it quite tough, but I am pleased I have done it as the sights are phenomenal, numerous species of brightly coloured coral and fish is just to good an opportunity to miss.

We will probably be staying in Grenada until after independence day and them moving on to explore the Grenadines.

Bye for now

Mary

Grenada is really neat, the cricket ground looks particularly fabulous and I am desparately trying to find out when I can go and watch some cricket here in the Caribbean. The 20/20 inter island competition is going on in Antigua at present, but I have failed to find out how to get hold of fixture information for other tournaments that will be taking place whilst we are here. I am very keen to watch a game or two and it appears that tickets are not too hard to come by, if I can find out when I need to be at a particular island to coincide with a match.

This weekend is Rugby though, Wales v England and Ireland v Italy on Saturday and I think I have found a bar to watch the games in, albeit with  the 10 am kick off time meaning a possible long day in the bar!! Odd to be watching 6 Nations Rugby out here, really enjoyed watching the games last year and will miss that very special atmosphere.  

At anchor last two nights with very clear sky the stars are once again out in force and providing spectacular opportunities for star gazing and mooning! Very fond of my moon I am.

On the rum big time last night, and therefore waking up slowly today, rum, lime juice, cane syrup and lots of ice make for a wonderfully refreshing drink.I made a slight mistake yesterday though in using rum that is 69% alcohol, 138 proof, got the proportions a bit wrong and a few of us ended up a little wobbly! Bear with a sore head!

Paul.