Last Friday, as we headed back to Grenada, we had a great tail wind which blew us quickly south. The weather was wet and windy all day but, surprisingly, the passage between the islands, which is usually rough whatever the weather, was calm. The rain was fairly consistent all day with only brief spots of sunshine. Our initial plan was to head to the beach in the afternoon so the girls could get a last minute tan but that was not to be. Even Saturday, their last day was wet and horrible - they were very unlucky as this is about the worst week of weather since we left home in July! That said, they did at least enjoy themselves. Over the weekend we spent some time doing jobs and getting the boat straight. It looks as though our next port of call will be Barbados, so we can get our US visas.
Today we went on a tour of the island. Grenada is by far the prettiest island we have been to, there are flowers everywhere. Our first stop was a small bar run by Pappy, who makes wines and liqueurs from just about anything that grows on the island. We did some tasting and tried some unusual wines such as tomato, sorrel, tamarind and nettle wine as well as grape liqueur and his own version of planter's punch - so good we bought a bottle. He has also discovered the secret recipe for Angosturas Bitters, a Trinidadian product, which he now brews and uses in his drinks. Bearing in mind it was about 9.30am, we left there fully set up for the rest of the day!
In Pappy's bar with some of the wines we tasted.
To clear our heads and get some fresh air after our early start on the booze we went to Concord Falls. A beautiful waterfall - but much the same as any other. After the appropriate oohing and aahing, we ate a fresh papaya, picked from the tree by our guide and went to the nutmeg factory in Gouyave.
As you can see - a waterfall!
Here the work is still largely done by hand. Nutmeg was once the island's main crop and they supplied most of the world, but in 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck and destroyed over 90% of the trees. The replanting process is a slow one as the trees take about 10-15 years to become fully productive again. The factory now employs about one third of it's original work force.
When the farmers pick the nutmeg, they remove the outer casing, which is another spice called mace, and bag the two separately. The farmers are paid about $4EC per pound in weight for the nutmeg, and for the mace about $6EC per pound, which equates to about £1, and £1.50 per pound.
The nutmegs are then brought to the factory and dried on huge racks on the top floor of the factory for about 2 months, being turned regularly.
Once dried, they are crushed through a really ancient looking crushing machine, and the nutmegs are dropped to the floor below where a group of 6-8 women sit and separate, by hand, the shells from the nuts. Any shells which have escaped the crusher are sent back to be done again. These women are paid piecemeal, by weight at the end of their shift. Once they have been shelled they are tested for quality, again there is no hi-tech method of doing this, they are dropped into a tank of water, where some float to the top and some sink. The floaters have the least oils and are worth less, than the sinkers. The floaters are taken for use in cosmetics and medicines, the sinkers are sold as nutmeg. A small amount of these are also sold ready ground. Again they have to be dried and this takes about two days.
The nuts are graded, again by hand, by rolling them over metal grids with different sized holes for them to drop into.
Once sorted they are put in sacks, which are hand stencilled with the name of the country they are going to and sewn into the sacks.
