Drawing to a close.

Oriole
Sun 19 Apr 2009 17:11
Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada. 12:00.519N  61:44.042W
 
 
Funding and time brought a close to our diving idyll in Carriacou and we raised the anchor on Monday morning to continue south, with the plan to stop at one of the small uninhabited islands between Carriacou and Grenada.
 
 
Hopefully we are now experienced enough reef navigators
to pilot our way safely through this lot.
 
Our choice was Isle Ronde which has two possible anchorages both of which inspite of the calm conditions had some swell creeping in, so we had a night disturbed by Oriole rolling from gunwhale to gunwhale. We decamped from our normal double bunk in the forecabin to the seagoing pipecots in the saloon.  Ahhh! ... sleep possible once again!
We were woken at dawn by the cheerful shouting of the local fishermen and we were surprised to see 10 small boats in the anchorage with nets strewn everywhere.
Underway we romped down the windward side of Grenada to St David's Bay where we endured two more rather less rolly nights for which the prize was dinner at La Sagesse where we used to stay when we laid-up Oriole here.
 
 
Oriole romping.
 
We are now anchored in one of the deep bays along the south coast of Grenada where a short dinghy ride and walk brings us to a bus route to St George's where for 50p equivalant you are whisked into the heart of the market area where the excellent local fruit and veg is sold.  For your 50p you have the delights of sharing a 12 seater minibus (for that is what the buses are) with 20+ other sardines and hurtling at breakneck speed from one speed bump to the next with either the brake or accellerator fully applied, entertained by full volume reggae.  All senses are fully saturated on arrival and the carefully packed soft fruit rather the worse for wear.
 
 
John introducing the Ocean Cruising Club morning SSB radio net with
up to 20 daily contributors from Trinidad to the Bahamas.
 
Meanwhile up in Antigua, Andrew and Sea Shuttle are preparing to depart for the Azores while he is weekend race crew on Galetea which he is hoping will be overall winner of Antigua Classics Week. Many of our friends are also departing the Caribbean for the UK and are preparing for their Atlantic crossings while we are probably equally carefully scanning the weather predictions for a fast smooth trip to Trinidad during the next week or so.  However our passage is more likely to be 14 hours rather than 14 days!