Oriole back in her element.
Oriole
Sat 11 Dec 2004 20:12
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We have returned to Grenada after a wonderful month
with Stuart and Annabelle mostly in the South Island of New Zealand. After
arriving in Christchurch 24 hours late because of a flight cancellation we
crossed to the west coast through Arthur's Pass, luxury accomodation for
three days included guided walks into the mountains and we learnt a great deal
about NZ.
 After the west coast we took an overnight
cruise on Doubtful Sound seeing penguins, dolphins, humpback
whales in very erie overcast conditions in this remote
fjiord. We have thoroughly enjoyed the amazing variety of topography,
flora and fauna and have sampled most of the Kiwi activities with the exception
of bungey jumping and whitewater rafting and have done lots of walking. We are
now experts on quadbikes - up mountains, through bogs, down streams. Close
proximity with at least four varieties of albatross at sea was awesome. (Kiwi
speak). We have stayed in b&bs, homestays, farmstays, vineyards, motels and
occasional real luxury. We had two days sampling the Marlborough wines and
touring the cellar doors by bike - safer than car possibly.
 We finally bid our generous hosts farewell from
Auckland on 1st December and have been quietly recovering from a month of
whistle stop NZ accompanied by some degree of gastronomic excess.
We returned to Grenada to find Oriole exactly as we
had left her, with none of the jobs that the yard had promised to do even
started! There were a few red faces or the Grenadian equivalent and they
started work right away and worked right through the weekend and finally had us
ready only 48 hours after our scheduled launch date. During our absence it had
been very wet and the yard was still very soft and Oriole's
trip in the travel lift was a white knuckle affair with the bulldozer
pushing through the boggiest bits.
 We finally hit the water on Wednesday 8th
December and have been working nonstop to complete the commissioning. We
think we are now in a seaworthy condition and are planning to leave for Trinidad
tomorrow where we have a couple of jobs to do. We hope to be clear of there
before Christmas, but if not we understand that Christmas in Trinidad is quite a
wow.
Grenada in general has progressed a lot since the
devastation of Hurricane Ivan. Rebuilding is going apace although there is
still much to do. The shops and market are well stocked with food although
most of the fresh stuff is imported from Trinidad and St Vincent. The
chandleries are working as usual but the yard workforce is under great strain.
Mains electricity was restored to the St David's yard this week and our
little hotel at La Sagesse is also back on mains power. Around the island there
are lots of mastless yachts waiting for new rigs to arrive and get fitted and
many damaged hulls are being repaired. Although there was a brief spate of
lawlessness after Ivan everything now appears normal. Most of the big hotels are
closed for rebuilding and many people are out of work. The big cruise liners
however are returning, bringing in vital income. Some of the small hotels
are running normally and tourists are welcome. Nobody should feel that
their arrival here might be a burden, tourist income is needed. Grenadians are
happy and cheerful people and in answer to our enquiries many confirm that their
houses were blown away but are happy and thankful to be alive.
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