The (sea) grass is always greener on the other side

Throughout our sailing slog southeast from the Bahamas to Grenada, we enjoyed some beautiful and interesting areas. However, we had left our sailing friends behind and there were very few kid boats. We were really looking forward to getting to Grenada and getting Mark and Conrad some friends their own age.

Grenada delivered on the kid boats and social opportunities. And how. There is a great group of boat kids in Prickly Bay that are right around the same age as Conrad and Mark. They have participated in book club, a chess tournament, movie night, and good old fashioned playtime.

Kelly did a great chocolate tour at Belmont Estates.

We hosted our first boat kid sleepover. Mark and Alex stayed up much too late but they were outdone by Conrad and Noah who talked until 1 a.m. When they finally fell asleep, it was the parent's turn to stay awake: a violent squall tore through the anchorage and resulted in Matt (and lots of other cruisers) taking the dinghy to help the boat in front of us that dragged anchor onto some adjacent rocks. The winds clocked over 55 knots and several boats dragged (we were okay). Of course the kids were oblivious and did not wake up during the storm. By the way, the Rescue 1 boat out of Prickly Bay Marina provides a valuable volunteer service.

Rainbow the talking parrot was a favorite among the kids.

After several late nights in a row, including a rowdy Bingo* night and a send-off for one of the kid cruising boats, our whole family was exhausted. The kids were cranky. I was cranky. After a month of steadily moving the boat and being mostly on our own, staying put and landing smack dab into civilization has been an adjustment. All the camaraderie was fantastic but it was too much, too soon (except maybe for Matt). Change is hard, even when it's good.

Aziz at Options makes great shawarma and spiced rum,
and has an outsized personality that draws a loyal following.

Okay, I'm done complaining about the drawbacks of actually getting what I wished for. After a few low-key days, we'll be as good as new and ready to partake in the wonderful environment that the local business and cruisers have created. Depending on the weather, we may go back up to Carriacou for the regatta and to see our friends on Del Max.

*Bingo night at Prickly Bay Marina is quite an experience. If you get Bingo and there are other winners, you have a dance off to see who gets the prize. Darren, the manager and emcee, dryly mocks Bingo winners and makes people run up on stage to get goofy raffle gifts such as adult diapers and goats (yes, live ones). But it's not just silly stuff: there are significant cash awards, which draws a crowd of locals, University students, and cruisers.

Christmas in July



Nutmeg

My parents came from Chicago to visit us here in Grenada. They brought all kinds of goodies, including some boat parts and early birthday gifts for the kids, among many other items that filled two large suitcases. As usual, they were far too generous. We were all overjoyed to see them and we had a great week. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes loved my mother so much that she came and slept on the boat for a couple nights to get away from their invasion. Every night, a few wily skeeters would find their way into their beachside cottage and torture her endlessly.

Clarke's Court Rum Distillery

Grenada Hash House Harriers

Windy Prickly Point

Prickly Point

 

 

 

Concord Falls

Nutmeg factory in Gouyave

Sorting nutmeg

Laura's Herb and Spice Garden

Too soon, it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to leave. After dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant in Lance Aux Epines (run by actual Chinese people) we said our tearful goodbyes. Early the next morning, we waved to the plane as it flew over the anchorage.

We have been settling in nicely at Prickly Bay. There is a group of kids Mark and Conrad's age and they have had fun playing chess, participating in the book club, and generally having fun hanging out with other children. The cruisers at Prickly Bay are very involved in social activities and there is usually someone willing to help, as witnessed when a boat broke loose from its mooring in strong winds and started heading pretty quickly toward some rocks. Half a dozen dinghies quickly surrounded the boat and helped get it back to a mooring.

Carriacou, Grenada

Grenada has already established itself in our book as a place that sucks you in. We learned this the second morning after we arrived in Tyrell Bay on the island of Carriacou. We had checked in the day before and planned to make our way south towards Prickly Bay on the main island to meet my parents who were flying in from Chicago in a few days. We meant to leave in the morning.

During the cruiser's net, there was mention of a beach clean up for the kids at 9 a.m. organized by a local girl and aided by local boats Santiago and Spirited Lady. We decided to do that for an hour or so and then leave. Well, the morning cleanup was followed up by snacks, drumming, and playing.

We spoke to a family that had planned to stay in Carriacou for a few days and have been there for more than a month. Before we knew it, it was lunchtime, with The Lazy Turtle donating pizza to the event.

 

 

At that point, it was too late to leave so we stayed for the Fisherman's Birthday dinner at The Old Rum Shop. Dinner is provided for the whole town in honor of St. Peter (the patron saint of fishermen) with cruisers being asked only for a small donation. It was great fun. The kids participated in a giant tug-of-war, played with other kids on the beach, and observed arm-wrestling and beer drinking competitions (we're such good parents).

The people we met in Tyrell Bay were incredibly friendly and welcoming. If we weren't on a schedule, we likely would have stayed longer.  I'm sure we'll be back,  though.

The Grenadines

Steph on Endless Pleasure took this. It looks like we're sinking.

We started for Bequia at daybreak and decided to sail along the windward side of St. Vincent. It was a bit lumpy (2 of our wine glasses broke that had survived a year and a half on the boat) but the wind was decent and we made good time. It was weird watching Endless Pleasure in the big seas because it was like watching ourselves get bounced around. It also looks worse from a distance, as you don't realize you're moving around as much when you are on the boat. We caught a nice Black Fin tuna just as we rounded the bottom of St Vincent.

Steph took this shot of poke
and sushi from our catch.

Oceanside trail to town

 

After spending a day in Bequia, we headed for Canouan and the Tobago Cays. It felt like being in the Bahamas again with the clear and shallow water, as well as the abundance of conch. We couldn't get over how many turtles were swimming around as we snorkeled. Like many animals in Marine Parks, they seem to have figured out that they're in a safe place. Mark and Conrad took some nice shots that you can see on their blog.

Not all the animals charmed us. For example, we didn't really appreciate the bird that came and pecked out a small banana hanging in our cockpit, leaving behind a gift for us to clean up.

 

 

 

When there's too much excitement

Endless Pleasure (before it all went pear shaped)

We finally met a boat we had heard about from our friends on Del Max. Tim and Steph on Endless Pleasure also have a Privilege catamaran that is very similar to ours, albeit a bit larger and spiffier. They're in the process of launching charters of their boat. They are nice, interesting, and fun, with personalities that should make their charters a success. Matt and I agree that most likely I do not have the personality to do charters. Matt says it's "definitely" rather than "most likely."

Rodney Bay - there's our boat right there.

 Tim and Steph helped us eat the gigantic wahoo we caught on the way to St. Lucia and we had lots of fun hanging out with them and swapping Privilege stories.

By the way, the sail from Martinique to St. Lucia was fantastic. We had the wind on our beam for the first time in a long time and we were flying in comfortable seas that only kicked up when Matt went onto the transom to clean the fish. Matt's advice when you're in that situation is not to look at the waves because they look way bigger from down there.

Steph nicknamed the produce boat guy Whole Foods Greg.

The best pineapple ever from Greg.

On our last day in St. Lucia before heading to Bequia (St. Vincent and the Grenadines), we took up moorings next to each other near the Pitons. Moorings are required because it's a marine reserve and it's also extremely deep. We thought the moorings looked a little close together but figured we would swing the same way, being almost the same hull design. Everything was fine until around 8 p.m., just as we were putting the kids to bed. We heard Tim give a shout and found that the boats were swinging in different directions, putting us very close to one another. We had flashbacks to St.Augustine.



Steph took a break from fending off
 the boats to snap this picture.
We got a lot closer than this.

Endless Pleasure spun away and then spun back again, closer this time despite the fact that we had both shortened the mooring lines.  As we got out fenders and pondered what to do, our transoms actually overlapped and our dinghies were touching. 

A scale diagram depicting a bird's eye view of the near miss.
To be more accurate the dinghies should be touching.
Yes, those are supposed to be pictures of catamarans. Shh!

Matt and Tim averted disaster by pushing like heck on each other's dinghies. It is amazing that the boats were undamaged and that Matt didn't injure himself (because he has a knack for shedding blood in the most benign situations). We lowered our dinghy and Matt helped Endless Pleasure pick up a different ball in the pitch dark. Later, the wind picked up something fierce as we were held into the wind with the opposing current. It was an even clearer indication, as if we needed one, that moving was the right decision.

The next morning we headed to Bequia at the break of dawn. In hindsight, it's good that the decision was made to move one of the boats because otherwise no one would have slept a wink.

Elegant Martinique

It's so hot as we head south in the Caribbean that it seems like the dogs have become nocturnal. Almost every dog we see is napping in the shade. As the sun goes down and the temperature becomes more tolerable, we start to hear the howling and barking. Strangely, we never see dogs in the water.

 

Martinique is another French island where we get to butcher the language, talk with gestures and point a lot, and eat amazing bread and chocolate croissants. However, the amazing-ness of the food does not appear to extend to the local poultry. We bought some chicken labeled "local" and could barely chew through it. It made a good soup though, which we enjoyed with foie gras and fresh baguettes. Mark loves the foie gras. Although I admire his adventurous palate, we may need to shut it down as we can't afford to feed the boy foie gras. Also in the spirit of cheapness, we continue to gather and hoard mangoes and coconuts.

 

The slow season has officially started, so we have been missing most of the crowds, as well as a lot of the excitement. We continue our march south to get away from any hurricanes that might decide to pop up and to meet my parents who are visiting us in Grenada (Mark and Conrad ask us at least once a day whether we will be seeing them tomorrow; apparently we need to work on the calendar more in school).