Last Day in Grenada

Sunday, May 5

It was time for us to leave Grenada and start our journey back up north.  We had a decent weather window that we needed to take advantage of before the winds changed direction in a few days.  

On our last day in Grenada, we enjoyed the sights of Prickly Bay and sadly said our goodbyes.  

View from Prickly Point, the south end of Grenada, looking east.

Prickly Point

House shaped like a lighthouse at Prickly Point

Looking out over Prickly Bay

Kalalau at anchor in Prickly bay

One of our favorite type of trees in the Caribbean - "Flame of the Forest"

 

Leaving St. George's and sailing north to Martinique

Cookout (Oildown) With Cliffon & His Community

Saturday, May 4

During our hike, Cliffon invited us to come to his hometown for a cookout party with his community.  He told us he'd cook oildown for us outside his brother's rum shop in his town.  Oildown is the national Grenada dish which is kind of like a curry stew with coconut, saffron, chicken, salt fish, and a bunch of local produce.  

We met up with Bob and Christine and headed towards the bus stop near Prickly Bay.  The bus driver was awesome and agreed to take us all the way to Vindome, Cliffon's town.

When we arrived at Vindome, the bus driver decided to stay and join in the party.

Here's Bob and our bus driver

Cliffon preparing the oil down 

(The oildown is a big pot with carrots, green bananas, breadfruit, calaloo, onions, celery, okra, chives, green peppers, chicken quarters, salt fish, sea crabs, saffron, curry, dumplings, and coconut milk)

Raddi showing us the crabs that will be steamed on top

 Cliffon's brother's rum shop.  

Gene, Cliffon, and Bob displaying the oildown

Christine and I played cards with some of the guys inside the rum shop.  Here we're learning the rules.  (I'm hidden behind the bus driver who's teaching me how to play.)

Oildown cooking on the open fire

 

This is Talman who's somewhat of a celebrity in Grenada.  He's a singer and on tour throughout the Caribbean performing.  Here he is being interviewed by the local paper.

Talman's picture is on the beer bottle.  He's showing us his pose.

Mmmm... oildown and a cold Carib beer

After we ate, Cliffon took us to his house up the hill.  

Atomic moment!

 

And finally, we caught the bus driver taking a nap, too much rum.  So Christine's going to drive the bus home while I'm the conductor.  

Friday Night Blues, Hog Island, Grenada

Friday, May 3

We decided to check out the Friday night Blues that goes on most Friday nights on Hog Island, put on by some old salts that have been cruising in Grenada for years (they sailed down to Grenada and never left).  Basically anyone with an instrument is welcome to join in.  We ran into some of our friends from the Grenada Hash, so it was a fun night listening to music and catch up with our buddies.

Four piece band with the bongos, accordian, guitar and electric guitar

Solo on the accordian

Here's a Brit and a southerner jamming out to Sweet Home Alabama

Grenada Rainforest Hike

Thursday, May 2

We arranged to do a hike with our buddies from Virginia Dare, Bob & Christine.  They're always up for a challenging hike, and we have a blast with them every time we're with them, so we were so excited that they met up with us in Grenada.  Christine found a great hike in her book of "The Best Hikes in the Caribbean" that also was noted as one of the most difficult hikes in Grenada.  After the four of us hiked Petit Piton in St. Lucia, we have no fear of anything called a difficult hike!  After further investigation, Christine found a guide mentioned in her book that would take us on the hike that starts at the Grand Etang visitor center near the Grand Etang lake, hikes up to the top of Mount Qua Qua, then heads down through the rainforest ending in Concord Falls. 

We met up with Bob and Christine early in the morning and took the bus to St. George's, and then a second bus to Grand Etang where we met up with our guide, Cliffon.  

The hike was really beautiful, tons of waterfalls and streams through the rainforest.  It wasn't very difficult with just a few steep downhill areas.  The hike took all day and we calculated later that we covered 14 miles.

Here's Cliffon, our guide, chopping a couple of branches into hiking sticks for each of us.

View of the south west coast of Grenada, looking out over Cliffon's home town near Gouyave.

That's the trail through the break in the trees that leads to the top of Mount Qua Qua.

Grand Etang Lake - a high elevation lake in the middle of the Grenada rainforest.  The locals have told us that they do not swim in the lake because of the huge dangerous lake fish.

View of the east coast of Grenada towards the town of Grenville

Here we are on the top of Mount Qua Qua

Bob, Cliffon, and Christine under the boulder at the top of Mount Qua Qua

Rainforest streams.  We passed a bunch of these on the way down to Concord Falls.

Looking down from the top of one of the waterfalls in the rainforest

Here's Bob, admiring the waterfalls

Concord Falls

At the end of the trail, Concord Falls, we had a couple drinks and talked with the locals that live in the nearby village.

 

Sharing some trail mix with our buddy, Dawane.  Here he's sharing some of his Pringles with Bob in exchange for trail mix (just the M&Ms) and crackers.

 After the hike, we walked another 2 miles down to Black Point Bay where there's a beautiful black sand volcanic beach.  Gene and I spotted this beach as we were sailing south to the bottom of Grenada and decided we had to find a way to get there.

St. George's, Grenada

Wednesday, May 1

We spent the day exploring the town of St. George's which is the main city and capitol of Grenada.  

On our way to shore to catch the bus, we ran into some of our friends from other boats, and one of the guys was planning on doing a life raft demo with his old expired life raft.  So we decided to hang out for an while to watch the demo.  We figured it's probably a good idea to learn how to deploy the life raft in case we get into a situation where we need it!  It was also good to catch up with our buddies from Virginia Dare and Beaudacious and make dinner plans with them for later that evening.

Here's the demo of deploying the life raft.  The key is to make sure you tie the raft to your boat as you deploy it so it doesn't float away before you can get into it.  Seems obvious, but apparently that's the biggest mistake people make.

Fully inflated life raft.  This one is a 10-person.

After the demo, we headed off to catch the bus into St. George's.  Gene and I are now experts at traveling on the Grenada local bus system.  It's such a great way to get around the island and mingle with the locals.

St. George is a beautiful city with a lot of history and local culture.  There's a huge local market in the center where local farmers sell their spices, fruits, vegetables, and other locally made products.  There's also an old fort (Fort George's) where there are some beautiful panoramic views of the city below.  

View of a beautiful church on our way up to the fort

Fort George landmark

View of the city of St. George and the protected Carenage 

 View of the bay just outside St. George's.  We anchored out here during our first and last nights in Grenada, but spent the rest of our time in Prickly Bay area.

The Lagoon and Port Louis Marina

View of the west coast from the fort

Carenage waterfront area of St. George's