After finishing the Arc rally November 30th, we stayed in Grenada until December 9th. Port Louis Marina is the cosiest port we have been to, surrounded by lush and beautiful scenery with small wooden shacks for shops, marine office, immigration&customs and a bar. It almost felt like being at a luxury campsite. The climate is very different from Cape Verde, which we just came from. There are large bushes and trees with huge leaves and lizards and iguanas everywhere. The first days in port the weather was quite volatile. One minute it was sunny and 28 degrees, the next a big downpour of rain followed by sun again, and so it went for a few days. That seems to be normal here.
During the Atlantic crossing, several things on the boat were broken and the list of things to be repaired on the boat had become even longer.
December 4th Anton arrived from Denmark together with Ian’s family. Ian’s grandmother is from Grenada, and the Atlantic crossing for Ian was the realization of a goal he set a few years ago that the next time he came to Grenada, it would be by boat. We think it’s so cool that he set such a big goal at such a young age and actually accomplished it.
Our other crew members, Christina, Morten and Peter stayed in a hotel for a few days to see what the island had to offer. We stayed on the boat to get the bare essentials fixed, namely toilets and not least a blackwater tank, which is an absolute necessity in the Caribbean where we will be anchoring much of the time. The starboard engine, which leaks diesel, could not be fixed locally and we have to wait until Matinique to get it fixed.
Shopping opportunities in Grenada are surprisingly limited. It bears witness to the fact that almost all goods are imported. Prices are like in Denmark or more, and the selection quite small. Although most people are nice, we have the feeling that we are paying tourist prices for everything.
One of the days we took a trip to Seven Sisters waterfall. You had to walk about 40 minutes through the rainforest over rocks, mud, stairs that were almost lost in mud and through a creek. We swam in the waterfall, which was nice and cool, and for us it was the first time bathing in a waterfall.
On December 8th, there was an awards ceremony for Arc+ participants, and our participation in the Arc+ rally came to an end. The following day we sailed from Port Louis Marina to Woburn Bay on the south side of Grenada, where we were invited to Ian’s aunt’s house for drinks and dinner. After a very pleasant evening, we said goodbye to Ian. Here’s a view of the sunset at Woburn Bay.
The next day we headed up the west coast of Grenada and for the next few days we anchored in various places.
At one point Elliott was snorkeling near the boat and saw a ray and a bunch of different fish. Christina saw 5 rays that stopped briefly below her before swimming on. It seems that Elliott has found a new passion in snorkeling.
Our slightly ailing anchor winch, which we had some challenges with earlier, was finally giving up on us. On December 12th we sailed into Tyrell Bay on Carriacou and dropped the anchor. Martin disassembled the winch and together with Morten and Peter he took the dinghy in and delivered the winch to a mechanic.
The outboard motor for the dinghey was also acting up, only going reverse. Fortunately that was a quick and cheap fix at a german guy living there. As for the dinghey itself, it was taking in water and loosing air, which he couldn’t fix.
Christina and I were left on the boat with the kids. The dull grey weather changed, the wind got very strong and and it started to rain heavily. The anchor started to drift. We could see that we were getting too close to two of the other boats in the bay. One was at anchor, and would most likely drift the same way as us. The other was in front of us moored to a buoy and in danger of colliding with us. Many of the other large catamarans anchored in the bay moved to buoys or completely out of the bay. We had an engine that was leaking and no anchor winch to pull up the anchor. It would be impossible for me and Christina to pull up the anchor by hand. Anton had the most experience steering the engines, and had to be at the helm. A bit stressful situation, but we made a plan of what to do if we had to move the boat. Luckily we managed to ride out the storm without having to move. This was done later when everyone was back on the boat. The anchor was moved and an extra anchor was put down to avoid drifting.
We had a quiet night. The next day we took the dinghy over to Sandy Island, which is a reef just off the coast of Carriacou. We saw a lot of fish in the reef. Christina saw a barracuda. Later we went into the town of Hillsborough. On the way home we had dinner at a very nice yard restaurant. It felt like sitting in the garden of acquaintances and eating good food.
On December 16th, we celebrated Anton’s birthday with a trip to paradise beach and a walk in the mangrove.
This was also where we said goodbye to our 3 crew members, and are now just us family on the boat again. Although we had a lot of help and good company, it is nice to have a home again.
Martin turned 41 on December 18th. We tried to make his favorite cinnamon buns for him, but found out we were out of regular flour. Instead we used rye flour, which gave very peculiar cinnamon buns. Later, we headed into Hillsborough to see the Parang festival, which is a local fest with concerts and comedy on the year past where the local artists do comedy on the politicians and themselfs. It turned out, we were too early. There was not much to see in town and we waited for a while at the beach.
Since it was sunday, everything was closed and we ended up eating dinner at a local grill that served hotdogs with fried bread and meat that seemed like chopped up chicken wings. Martin had a headache, and we decided to call it a night.
Next day we checked out of Grenada and sailed on to Union Island which is situated in St Vincent and The Grenadines.
