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Date: 28 Apr 2011 05:11:47
Title: Driving in my car
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Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th, Monday 25th, Tuesday 26th and Wednesday 27th April.

 

Saturday and Sunday were spent working flat out (in between the odd rain showers) on Serafina, but on Saturday night there was a diversion by way of a live band in the marina bar.  The Doc Adams Blues Band were quite a revelation and I sat and enjoyed a number of old favourites being performed by this very accomplished band. Doc Adams is something of the local hero as he is also the resident Chiropractor and he lives on his motor boat in the marina! (Although I may never forgive them for their sanatised version of Route 66!)

 

Monday we definately began to run out of steam, but mainly because we were just about ready now for the craning out onThursday, so Sarah was persuaded that on Tuesday we would go round and have a BBQ with our friends, the Roche family, who had now returned their charter yacht and were spending their last few days in a villa. However before we turned up at the villa, we took the opportunity to visit the boatyard at Spice Island where we are craning out, to chat to the staff and clear up a few questions.

 

We then walked round to the Roche’s villa and were left almost speechless by the incredible size and oppulance of the place. Not only was it huge and spacious, but it also came with staff! Wonderful views across the anchorage at Prickly Bay and an infinity pool for good measure. (couple of pictures at http://www.rhbell.com )

 

On Wednesday we hired a car for a day out exploring the island as we have tried to do in most of the places we have been. In true tradition it poured with rain for a good part of the day. This is still the dry season out here and by comparison, this time last year they had a serious drought and water shortages. We did however have a better map than usual, not that there are any road signs to help and Sarah did an outstanding job of navigating us around the island.

 

However we did have one bit of luck. We always hire the smallest car of course, but this firm probably only have a couple of cars, so we were upgraded for free to an excellent four wheel drive, four door SUV. This was pretty handy as the island features lots of difficult and steep roads, mostly riddled with large potholes. We did also take the opportunity to briefly take it off road at Levera Bay.

 

Sarah had planned a full day trip taking in some of the major attractions, but first we had to go to the main post office in St George to collect some goods ordered from America. This did not go quite as well as expected as we were given some very duff directions and so we lost the best part of an hour dealing with this in pouring rain.

 

Once we were on our way we headed into the centre of the island passing through the impressive rain forest during some even more impressive rain storms!   We made a quick detour (and ducked the ticket purchase as the hut was unattended) to see the slightly uninspiring Great Etang Lake (altitude 1800 ft) – although the fact that it is somehow connected to the ‘Kick Em Jenny’ submarine volcano that is  still active offshore (when the volcano is active the water heats up in the lake!) made it more intriguing. We made our way up to the north east of the island passing through Grenville which is sort of regarded as the ‘other’ capital of the island. It represents very much the other side of life in Grenada away from the tourist areas in the south. Like so much of the island there is abject povety here and we felt very conspicious in our shiny hire car as we passed through clearly defined Rasta areas, where people are living in tiny shacks on stilts – the size of which we would honestly consider garden sheds at home and housing goodness knows how many people. The island itself is beautiful and we probably enjoyed our trip round Grenada more than almost any of the other islands we have visted out here and again it is impossible not to remark on the incredibly smartly turned out school children everywhere we went. Despite all the problems and difficulties, all of the children are immaculately dressed in smart clean uniforms and remain like this even after school has ended and they are making their long and difficult journeys home largely on foot.

 

We visited the Belmont Estate which is the largest cocoa plantation on the island and which runs tours and a small museum. All very interesting and surprising that it is still working almost as it did nearly three hundered years ago with just the important distinction of no longer using slaves of course! Grenada is very proud of its chocolate and rightly so and we were probably not too surprised to learn that it can be bought in the UK at Waitrose!

 

After a quick paddle on an Atlantic beach with great rollers, and a further detour to another lake, Antoine (altitude 20ft we were proudly informed) which is supposed to have great birdwatching, but like all our visited sites today, very muddy; we reached Bathway beach along the north east coast in time for a late light lunch at Aggies tiny restaurant which had been recommended to us by several pepole during the day. We then viewed Levara bay and took some more photos before wending our way round the northern tip and all the way down the west coast back to le Phare Bleu Marina.  As we drove through Gouyave a funeral procession was underway with an immense queue of mourners all very formally dressed in black following a coffin being processing along the high street.

 

In some of the roadside shacks we have seen fairly basic square kites have been constructed out of plastic sheeting and sticks for sale.  This appears to be the latest fad here and there are dozens of wrecked kites attached to the power lines around the island.   Indeed we were treated to several on the hill above the marina over the weekend – the more exotic ones sport very irritating whirring, whining mechanisms! 

 

And finally we have enjoyed the friendly attitudes of the locals on this island, but Rob was a little disconcerted by a hand-painted sign we saw on our travels today:  Trespassers will be Executed!

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