12:02.7N
61:44.9W
23
Jan 2009, St. Georges, Grenada.
This
is Paula's take on life at the moment:
Hi
all
Just a few lines 'because I can'...
We're in Grenada at the mo...on a
very swish marina which was the brainchild of Peter de Savery, apparently. It's
our first marina stop so it's absolute luxury to have mains electricity and more
than a teaspoon of water to shower in. I look a complete wreck most of the time,
so I've stopped looking in the mirror - that seems to work. I'm also sporting
about 350 mozzy bites, some of which have turned into blisters as they used to
when I was a child. Oh joy! Jungle Formula is the new Chanel!
We had a
wonderful mini-bus tour around the island yesterday, which was very interesting.
We went to a nutmeg factory (this island exports 1.5 million lbs of nutmeg per
year, and before the hurricane in 2004 it was 4 million lbs!) I'm sure if it
were Health & Safety inspected (JIM) it would be closed down on the spot
-very 19th century with women sitting on broken down old chairs sorting good
nutmegs from bad nutmegs as they slide down a chute from the cracking machine,
on the floor above. They do that by immersing them in water - the good quality
ones sink and the less good float (I could make a reasonable tour guide couldn't
I?) We also went to a plantation where bananas grow next to papaya, nutmeg,
cocoa, breadfruit etc and, apart from the avocados, they crop all year round.
Strangely enough they don't seem to grow much in the way of salad stuff, which
is a bit of a shame. Lettuce is hugely expensive and tomatoes can be,
too.
When we got back we called in at our local supermarket for supplies (the
first place we've managed to find some 'affordable' wine) and I rustled up a
Catalan-style fish stew, with local King fish and Blue Marlin - not bad! Our
Swedish 'next-door neighbours' were walking home, so we invited them on board
for drinks. They have covered many miles and she is a 'new' sailor AND she gets
seasick - must be mad.
That's it for now - we will be moving North tomorrow:
Union, St Vincent and working our way towards St Lucia. Thankfully all the long
hops are done. The last overnighter was Tobago to Grenada - a bit lumpy but we
made good time - in fact too good time as we arrived in the dark and had to kick
our heels a bit to wait for daylight. Phil rolled the gib and we were still
doing almost 6kts!
Love to you all
Eventually
we made itto St Georges and tied up in Port louis marina for a bit of
luxury. The Marina is still being built but iy looks promising and is
expensive enough already. However, the staff and facilities are very good.
Three days here chilling out, a brief tour of some of the island and the rest
relaxing. It's hot though. We're off to somewhere north (Union
Island) tomorrow. Still having fun but it's tough, believe me. More
soon.
Pics:
Result of Hurricane Ivan 2004, Nutmeg factory, bananas ripening, our marina from
other side of Lagoon.
