Wednesday 13^th January 2010

We’ve been in Grenada over a week now, anchored in Prickly Bay.  We arrived with a list of boat repairs after the Crossing (as we could get nothing done in Barbados) and daily that list gets longer.  “Boat maintenance in exotic locations” aka “the cruising life…”

We have managed to get our torn sails and sail bag repaired at least, and even rehoisted the genoa, which leaves some electrical jobs, some welding, and broken down (again) generator to repair, and of course Talulah’s holed nose (port bow) needs a more permanent filling job (we’re saving that one for when the wind dies down a little, meanwhile its duck tape… o yes, the duck tape wasn’t reserved for Ali’s landrover! It came out with us)  So, awaiting parts from USA, and doing as much as we can meanwhile …. 

But… we escaped boat duties for a while a few days ago and went to explore this beautiful island inland.  Although still scarred by Hurricane Ivan (2004) which destroyed 90% of homes, the trees and rainforest, it has lush green mountains, crystal waterfalls, golden beaches and the fragrant spice trees that give Grenada its epithet “Isle of Spice”.  And an abundance of nutmeg, great/ grate in Rum Punches.

We went to see the Rum factory (of course) which still runs as it did in the 1800’s:   a giant water wheel crushes the cane, the dry stalks are burned to heat up the juice, and large wooden scoops are used to manually move the hot juice from one big cast-iron bowl to the next as it gets hotter …. And there we drank their 76 % Rum.  Good for those fish gills on deck if a little too strong for some.

We also visited the estate where they grow and extract cocoa from the beans … some squeezed into cocoa butter and some blended into a rich cocoa mixture.  Here they produce the most fantastic organic chocolate (71% cocoa). 

After long hot days working on the boat, we dinghy out to the nearby reefs and go snorkelling, or dinghy up to a choice of 2 tiki bars, open to the water, and catch up with other yachties … a good way to find the best “electrician” around … we have also caught up with a few boats we met in the Canaries, and even some we met quite a while back in Portugal.  It’s a small small world …..

Thinking of you all back home and hoping you’re coping with all the snow.

The view from Talulah at anchor, Prickly Bay

Entering the rainforest

Drying out the cocoa beans

The East coast

Fishing boats

La Sagesse Nature Centre

Taking a stroll