Still St George’s, Grenada

Summer in the Caribbean. Balmy days, cool breezes, sunshine – what more could anyone want? Sadly, the reality is that the weather has been so bad the mate and I have been finding it pretty tough. So what’s gone wrong with the weather? Threat of hurricanes aside, the guides tell us that June and July should be the best months with winds of 15kts, rarely more, constant sun etc etc. We arrived in St George’s earlier than we planned as we were running from a TRS and since we’ve been here there has been tropical wave after tropical wave coming through. What’s a tropical wave you ask? Well, we’d never really heard of them either! They are, in fact, a trough (as we are very used to in the UK). What happens here is that moisture is picked up from the ITCZ (doldrums) ahead of the trough causing squalls and general unpleasantness, then the trough itself moves through followed by more moisture from the ITCZ (with more associated squalls) then, a day or so later, the process repeats itself. So overall, apart from the fact that it is hot and there is some sun around, it’s been rather like being in Falmouth again… We have no answer as to why there are so many tropical waves coming through vs normally expected conditions, but there are. All we can hope for is that they’ll reduce as the summer moves on. At least there is the winter to look forward to (I’m serious) the weather here is usually great in the winter!

Typical view towards St George’s!

So, what have we been doing? Within the context of fetching water, food  and bits and pieces – all of which has to be done by dinghy and can take ‘all day’ we have had a look around St George’s and Prickly Bay. We even braved the bus – these are hilarious – a people carrier of some sort with a number in its windscreen, screeches to a halt, a ‘mad person’ (the conductor) waves out of the window and asks where you want to go. If the ‘bus’ goes anywhere near that, then on you get (even if the bus appears full – there is always room to squeeze more people on!) and off you go. The Grenadians regard it all as perfectly normal… Actually, I have to say that you never have to wait very long, it is extremely cheap and it does seem to function perfectly well. Maybe public transport in other countries could learn a thing or two from Grenada.

View to the south at 12° North

So, what else? Well, it’s the mate’s birthday tomorrow (11^th) and it’s a big one, beginning with a 5. I’ll report in with how it goes, but for now, our friend Steve is moored next to us (for the same reasons that we’re still here) and he and his new girlfriend are going to join us a restaurant of the mate’s choice. Which is one we can dinghy to – hope it’s not raining!!