Grenada

Prickly Bay was our home for the week in Grenada. It’s a large bay at the South of the island with a small marina and a secluded beach. The bay is full of cheap mooring buoys but as we hadn’t been on a pontoon for a while we decided to moor up on the pontoon so that we could fill up with water, fuel and charge the batteries.

The Marina had a decent bar and restaurant (with typically Caribbean service) which served cheap beer and decent pizza’s and roti’s. After securing Rafiki, we made our way to the showers and headed in to the bar for some drinks. The usual moments of silence started the night as we all connected to the internet and caught up on the news (Whatsapp and Facebook). Plans were made for the week including my decision to attempt my PADI Open Water diving qualification as well as Golf, Rum Distillery, Chocolate plantation and a walk in to St Georges, the capital city.

We’d been tipped off about a good beach bar on Grand Anse which plays live music and a serves up a BBQ on Sundays. We walked to the beach from the Marina and made our way along the beach to the bar… On arrival we brought the average age down to about 65! The service was in desperate need of a smile and the bbq wasn’t looking too tempting… We had a few rounds of beers and a swim from the beach and made our way back to the Marina for dinner. Early next morning, we took the dinghy across to the chandlery and bought a few essential items for the boat including a shiny new BBQ which was a gift from Kate “Fitzy/Colin” Fitzgerald after staying with us for a month (it’s felt like six…). The rest of the day was spent in St Georges walking the busy streets around the main Fort and the hills surrounding the harbour. Dinner was eaten in the Nutmeg restaurant on the harbour friend just after Fitzy had made friends with local drunken crazy man on the street outside.. I’m not sure who I was more concerned for!

Tuesday morning started early for Pete and I with the first day of my PADI Open Water Scuba class and Pete’s Discover Scuba day. We took the dinghy over to the dive school and kitted up to complete our shallow training in the hotel pool. After the pool exercises I was given my text book and sent on my way to complete my homework! My afternoon was spent in the bar working through the exercises I had to complete for my certification and the others headed off to play golf at the local golf course. The guys are far from pro’s but from what I hear there were a few dark horses in the pack! The caddies apparently said they had never seen golf like it… After the golf the crew headed back to meet me at the bar and after a few beers were heading to the local club - Bananas! I had to miss out as I had an early morning dive but the rest of the crew made up for it by drinking my share of booze too! Clodagh and Kate were busy making friends as usual and met a very friendly local man with a rather large truncheon…

Wednesday morning was a very early start for my first assessed dive. There was talk of the rest of the group joining me for a snorkel but the Banana bar put a stop to that! I headed off to the dive shop and met my instructor and the others that I would be diving with. After a short boat ride down the coast we were at the underwater sculpture garden, kitting up and preparing to go down. The dive started at about 8m down with a ring of children, the rest of the dive took us past a man working away on a type writer, a statue of jesus, a mermaid, naked women and ended with a circle of adults. It was a fascinating dive and I realise how lucky I am to be using this part of the world as a training ground! On returning to Rafiki I told the guys about what I’d seen and they were disappointed they’d missed out so we planned to speak with the Dive school to see if I could repeat the dive and take the rest of the crew along to snorkel with us. Luckily, there was space on the boat the next day and we all spent the morning together - I completed my assessed dives and skills demonstrations and the other guys snorkelled above me.

Friday - our penultimate day in Grenada. Clodagh, Kate and Jim has been negotiating with taxi drivers all week for a tour of the islands highlights. Polly seemed to be cutting the best deal so we booked him for the day and agreed an itinerary. First stop was the Rivers Rum distillery in the North of the island. We set off on what was to be a lengthy and informative ride (Polly was a font of knowledge on local and global affairs..) and made just one stop at the old, disused airport to climb all over a couple of derelict planes and take a few snaps! Once at the Rivers Rum site we were led around the original features of the distillery which still uses the local river and waterwheel to grind the sugar cane to make the rum. Each step of the process was explained including the diluting of the original product (74% Rum) to a “weaker” product (69% Rum) so that it can be legally carried onboard an aircraft… At the end of the tour we were treated to a shot of the heavy stuff. I think the pics give a better description of the taste than I could.

In an attempt to forget the taste of the Rum we hurried down to the Cocoa plantation. After being made to wait for a while we were greeted by possibly the most enthusiastic and interesting tour guide any of us had ever encountered. He led us off to the plantation and before we knew it he was climbing trees in his loafers and chopping down cocoa for us to taste fresh from the tree! He continued the tour with the same level of enthusiasm with which it had started and showed us each stage the coca beans go through before being sent to the factory to be turned in to the good stuff! At the end of the tour we were given samples of their product which convinced us to head for the plantation store and fill our bags with the local product! 62% Cocoa, 70% Cocoa, 80% Cocoa, Salted Cocoa, Chocolate with Cocoa nibs…. We couldn’t leave ay behind so we took one of each! On our way back to Rafiki Polly had one more stop in mind for us - A small waterfall and pool in which we could take a swim. It was a great end to the day and a very welcome cool dip on what had been a very warm day!

Saturday was the day we departed Grenada - but worse than that, it was the day that Jim left the crew to head on to Trinidad and Tobago and then on to his own adventure in the states! We said our teary goodbyes and waved him off to his taxi. Jim had been with us from the start of our Atlantic crossing and has always been a big presence on board. He’ll be missed for his continual praise of Morrissey, his amazing playlists and his incredible homemade pizzas!

We prep’d Rafiki for the off and headed out of Prickly Bay and back around the coast of Grenada to head North for the first time on the trip. First stop - St Lucia to pick up Andy and Ayla!!