Is that Spice Island I can smell?
Lady Corinne
iain and gaynor macalister
Sat 13 Mar 2010 00:58
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Well there's a surprise. it doesn't smell at all
in fact you have to get pretty close to the spices to smell them but Grenada is
full of them. We took a tour around the island with Justin, a very
well informed taxi driver, who showed us how all the different spices grow
including the Cocoa beans, and told us what they do with them. Quite a lot
of their nutmeg trees were destroyed by hurricane Ivan 5 years ago which is
the one that happened just before we arrived to pick up our bareboat charter. We
must have been mad coming at that time of year and it isn't really surprising we
had the whole place to ourselves. We met up with Brigante again and it was
lovely to see them but a pity we just missed saying goodbye to Gaetano who
flew back to Rome the morning we arrived. Their boat was robbed, at the
anchorage, while they were ashore one night. one of the hatches had been
left unlocked and they returned to find their beloved boat in a total mess as
the thief had rummaged through everything trying to disconnect anything
electrical of value without success and finally leaving with some lipstick,
make-up and David's mobile phone. The thief then went to an American yacht
close by and broke into it, in the process of stealing a video camera he dropped
David's phone on the other yacht and made off. On realising he'd lost his phone
David used his wife's mobile to ring his own number. After several
calls that went unanswered a voice said in English "Hello who is
this" David replied,thinking he was talking to the thief, "I
am the owner of the phone" "Where is my camera" came the reply
from the American who thought he too was talking to the thief. "I don't
have your camera why you have my phone " The dialogue continued
along the lines of an Italian comedy until they realised what had
happened. The thief was caught by the police launch who spotted him
swimming away from the scene, they fired at him and also injured him by running
their propeller across his leg while trying to detain him so he went to jail via
the Hospital. This incident did put a bit of a dampened on St Georges and we
heard lots of stories of pirate attacks on boats South of Grenada, a place we're
not intending going to. One of the problems is that the authorities tend
not to report these incidents as they are desperate to keep the foreigners
coming and almost every day sees huge cruise ships arriving. Quite
amazingly most of the passengers stay in the very American style shopping mall
they are disgorged into until it's time to get back on the
ship.
Gaynor and I had been told of a fish fry at Guave,
about 13 miles north of St. Georges, that takes place on Friday night's and
decided to get a local bus there. We arrived at the very busy bus
terminal about 1800 and were directed to a Toyota minibus with four rows of
seats behind the driver, we got in and were at the back. It was very
warm, the windows were tinted black, very little air was circulating and
they kept putting people in. The rows are for 4 but they squeezed 5 onto
each and for someone who gets a little claustrophobic it was becoming a tiny bit
uncomfortable. Finally with 23 souls on board we set off over the first speed
bump and once on the other side of it a flat out sprint to the next one
ensued, the driver then slams on the brakes to go over the bump,
usually by veering diagonally across the road and then drives pedal to the metal
till he arrives at the next one. It took an hour and fifteen
minutes to go the distance and there were lots and lots of sleeping
policemen. The fish fry was very good and the taste of all that
beautifully cooked food was only tainted by the knowledge that we had the return
journey to look forward to. It didn't disappoint and in fact I'm
sure they got a couple more people in on the way back.
We also met up again with Paul and Lyn and had a
very pleasant evening with them at the Jazz club, the company was wonderful but
sadly the music wasn't. Lyn flew back for her Father's funeral
before we too left Paul to his own devices. Departing from
Grenada on Sunday morning we headed back into Cariacou, Tyrell bay and
established my temporary office at the Pizza Hut on the beach. Sorry
that's probably a bit misleading it's nothing like a Pizza Hut it's just a hut
on the beach where they sell Pizzas but they have good wifi, cold beer and
spectacular views. We have been getting information and quotes for
shipping LadyC back home at the end of May and have decided to go with a UK
company who will pick her up in St Thomas in the American Virgin Islands
sometime between the 10th and 20th of May and ship her home as deck
cargo. We are pleased with this as it means we will be able to
continue cruising around here until she goes. Gaynor and I will fly home
to meet her on her arrival in Southampton. As we're going to be here for
longer, Zara and Simon are coming out to spend a week with us around Antigua at
the end of April, it will be lovely to have some company onboard and to see
them.
Friday 12th March 2010
We spent one night in Union after clearing in and
then came over to Tobago Cays yesterday. More of the same I'm afraid, but this
is Paradise so what do you expect? I know you'd be disappointed if it
was cold and wet, wouldn't you? This morning we tiptoed through the reef
in the dingy, to the outside and snorkeled, Gaynor took around 300 photos with
her camera in the underwater case we bought in Grenada. It turned out to
be rubbish and the pictures aren't any good at all, such a pity, I guess the
only picture of all that stunning marine activity will be in our heads.
After lunch onboard we went to one of the islands where they have encouraged the
growth of the underwater grass that turtles eat. They have put a buoyed
rope cordon around it to stop boats going in and created a safe haven for
them. These magnificent creatures come in some number and snorkeling
around here is like being in their world. They come very close and
surface to breathe right beside you, I was around one for a long time
and he was very big, about 5 feet from tip to toe, and very graceful and
really didn't seem worried by my presence at all, I felt very privileged to be
allowed to observe him and occasionally one of his friends who came over to be
with him. I couldn't resist placing my hand lightly on his back as he surfaced
underneath me although I don't think you're meant to touch them. I was
shocked to see boat boys unloading a very large dead turtle, that they had
killed, from their small power boat onto a rickety floating jetty in quite a big
swell in Tyrell Bay the other day, I thought they were protected but apparently
there is a season for hunting them. It seems such a shame as judging from
my experience today they are very friendly and
trusting.
We have decided to stay here for "Just one more
day" and do it all over again tomorrow before we head off on Sunday.
We will be visiting a couple of places on our way back up North to rendezvous
with Brigante,whose company we will enjoy tremendously for the
cruise up as far as Dominica and possibly to Antigua. One of the stops
will be at Wallilabou bay, partly because I just think it sounds great but also
because it is where they have done a lot of filming for "Pirates
of the Caribbean" There is also a beautiful waterfall and a volcano fairly close
to the anchorage that we hope to visit.
Lady C and her underwater crew.
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