Rainy Grenada

It's the rainy season in Grenada but you wouldn't have known it from the amount rain that was actually falling. There has been enough "liquid sunshine" to avoid getting water from shore (the last time we had to do that was late June, almost 3 months) but we were down to less than a quarter tank on one side. Matt had beefed up our water collection system and modified it to go directly into the tank. We just needed a good rain.

Just as we were getting ready to haul water from shore, the sky opened up. Since then, it has been rainy. Both of our 120 gallon water tanks are completely full. So the rain can stop now. We have had to run our generator for the last few days because of the lack of sunshine. And there has been a bit of lightning, which always makes sailors uncomfortable.

We have spent our time indoors doing school, playing board games, watching a movie or two, and planning out our travels beyond Grenada. There was enough of a break in the rain to play at the beach for a bit as well. Although it was a relief to get to Grenada and stay put for awhile after speeding down here, we're getting antsy to get moving.

Still in Grenada

Royal Mt. Carmel Waterfall

Our stay in Grenada has been the longest anywhere as live-aboard boaters. There is lots to do for the kids and we could be busy every minute of the day if we were so inclined. We have seen a lot of the mainland of Grenada, especially around St. George's and Prickly Bay. But getting the gumption to go anywhere else, other than on day trips, seems to take Herculean mental effort (move the boat?  gasp!). There is comfort in knowing a place and its people (both cruisers and land-based folks) but staying in one spot hasn't provided much inspiration for updating the blog.

Another shot of Mt. Carmel with Four Coconuts

Our days have been spent sweating, swimming, and socializing. It's really hot here. Luckily, we've somewhat acclimatized and most of the time there's a nice breeze at anchor. But sweltering in the blazing heat while walking or being sardine-stuffed into a local bus makes you long for air-conditioning and bathtubs of ice. But it hasn't reached the point of nostalgia for Chicago winters.  I'm not certain it could ever be hot enough for that.

Prickly Bay Marina arranged a boat safety seminar for cruising kids.

The Coast Guard boat went so fast that it caught air. It was a thrill
for the sailboat crowd, used to doing 6-8 knots rather than 35+.
Michelle and Noah from Jade

Mark and Conrad have been working on school and enjoying time with friends. They participate in book club every week and attend kid yoga, as well as spending a decent amount of time at the beach and pool. The kids (mostly the girls) even put on a stage version of Disney's Frozen. The Tikki Bar at Prickly Bay Marina is like a second home to all of us.

Cruising kids plugged in. So much for getting away from it all.
(It's actually rare to see this many kids on devices.)

We went to Magazine Beach for International Rock Flipping Day.
According to Conrad, it is the best beach ever.

Matt has been plugging away at projects on the list. The pool noodle rain collection system has worked pretty well but got blown down in the first big winds that hit and needed to be reinforced. He installed brighter galley lights. The difference is literally like night and day. He has braved biting sea lice and ear-burrowing mini-crabs as he keeps the algae growth under control on our props, chain, and hull.

Nothing big has broken lately [knock on wood] except for the controller box on our less than 2-year old freezer. The system has never performed correctly and we have had to replace the controller three times. Although it is still under warranty, the company has decided that it's the boat's fault. Right now, we have a working freezer but who knows how long that will last.

In the past, we have been asked, "What do you eat?" Well, lately the answer is "Lots of good stuff at a reasonable price."

Gilles, a former butcher, owns a local dive shop and also volunteered
 to visit the abattoir with Matt and cut some steaks for us.

We haven't tried the steak yet because of all the fish we bought.

Toutou from Four Coconuts helping us to eat some sushi.

Chikungunya has hit Grenada in epic proportions. Cruisers are dropping like flies around us and it seems like only a matter of time before we're hit. Fortunately, it's not usually life-threatening and kids seem to recover pretty quickly. As if that and regular dengue weren't enough to worry about, there seems to be a flu-like virus (or several) making the rounds as well. It's quite a change from the general good health that we and our fellow cruisers usually enjoy.

Nana's dream charter

It only looks like Nana's happily drowning the kids.

Mark has been saying, "You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" a lot when I talk. This probably means I should work on being less sarcastic. Which I will do right after writing this post about Nana's visit with us being her best vacation ever.

50+ pounds of goodies.

Nana's first mistake was to offer to bring a few things down for us. Well, since you asked, Nana...we may need a thing or two.

 

Since Grenada will be the last place where we can get things relatively easily (and nothing is easier for us than having someone bring stuff in their luggage), we took Nana up on her generous offer. Her 50-pound checked bag included a 20-pound sea anchor, bilge pumps and a toilet pump. Her carry on, which had no weight limit, was stuffed with heavy items and she had a big mailing tube for our new galley lights. Nana literally lost sleep trying to figure out how to transport everything. Everything got to us safely and we are beyond grateful for her services as a pack mule.

 

Muddy sandals.



Nana had a long travel day with a 5:30 a.m. flight and long layover in Miami. She finally arrived on our boat at around 10 p.m. The next morning, Mark was so excited to see Nana that he kept creeping into her cabin and making noise (unsuccessfully trying not to be too obvious about it). Fortunately, Conrad was at a sleepover so no morning bickering. Still, Nana was up bright and early.

We spent the morning in St. George's. The bus we took back to Prickly Bay had a particularly aggressive driver, which had Nana white-knuckling the ride. That evening, we took her to a Grenada Hash House Harriers run/walk. Unfortunately, in addition to being hilly, this was a very muddy Hash. We learned that Nana doesn't like mud. And she doesn't even care for beer, which is the big payoff for a Hash. But she did great and was a good sport about it. Robin (Rafiki) was a big help and other cruisers helped watch our kids while we helped as well.

Muddy trail.

So armed with this new information about Nana not caring for muddy hills, we dragged Nana to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls. It involves a 35-40 minute hike through, yep, muddy hills. At least this time, there was the payoff of scenic waterfalls.

A different muddy trail.



Muddy trail 2 complete.

 

Spider Dad

Nana swimming to the falls.

We managed to avoid any more mud for the remainder of her visit. Besides some super itchy mosquito bites, the trip improved (because there was no place to go but up). Nana got to spend some time on the beaches. We snorkeled the underwater sculptures. We tagged along on a tour with Rafiki and Four Coconuts. It was a good chance to see some of the popular attractions in Grenada.

Nutmeg cooperative.

Mmm, chocolate.

River Antoine Rum Distillery

2 generations bonding through extremely flammable over-proof rum.

Conrad, Mark and Tyler entertaining themselves
at the rum distillery.

The kids didn't care for the smell of fermenting sugarcane.

 

Robin (Rafiki) enjoying Annandale.

Nana, Toutou (Four Coconuts), Mark and Jen

Conrad leaping (Annandale Falls)

 

We had a great time with Nana and she seemed to enjoy herself as well. We'll head back over to Prickly Bay and our normal busy schedule <<sarcasm>>.

 

Cruising kids in a sailing dinghy. There were going to be lessons
organized by Millport II but the boat kept filling with water and capsizing.

 

Carnival Tuesday

Mark showing his carnival spirit...for 5 minutes
and then it was just too hot.

The camera battery died during the last big parade, but between yesterday's blog post and this one, I think you get the idea. Tuesday's grand finale was a lot like the Monday Fancy Mas except with more glitter and louder (not sure how it was even possible) music.

Despite the fancy costumes and non-stop visual overloads, Mark and Conrad spent nearly the whole parade off in a corner talking about Minecraft with Noah from Jade (the rest of the time they were asking when Noah was going to get there). So much for cultural enrichment. Carnival has been fun but I'm glad it's over. It's been an exhausting couple of days. I'm sure it's a different experience if you minus out the kids and the add in large quantities of booze, but once a year is plenty for now.

Matt put together a rainwater collection system using pool noodles, plastic tubing and Lego pieces. The rain drains down the hard top, into the pool noodles that line the edge (held open by the Lego blocks) and into tubes that feed into our jugs. It works remarkably well and we have gone from half a tank on the port side to a full tank with a couple of hours or so of heavy rain over the past couple of days. We haven't had to get more water from shore since we cleaned out Rodney Bay's water tank at the end of June.

Vibrant rainbow just a few minutes before sunset.

Now that Carnival is over, we'll head elsewhere. We may visit some of the other bays on the south end of the island.  Or not.  Nana, whom we haven't seen in a year, is visiting in a week and a half and we want to be back in Prickly Bay by then, if not before.

2014 Grenada Spice Mas Carnival - Monday

Carnival in Grenada culminates in 2 days of parades and celebration. This was our Monday:

1. Jouvert - celebrants douse themselves and others with oil and paint (and even a splattery-brown, chocolate based mixture) and dance to loud music. It starts at 3 a.m. but we arrived around 6 a.m.
2. Fancy Pageant Mas (short for masquerade) - colorful costumes, dancing, loud music.
3. Monday Night Mas - a parade of lights, dancing, loud music. It was like being in a slowly forward creeping disco.

 

 

This wall of speakers was one of many such parade vehicles that
exist solely to make your ears bleed.

It was a long, exhausting day but we had a great time. Mark and Conrad held up remarkably well throughout and their hearing still seems intact. On the other hand, they might have a good excuse for 'not hearing us' when we ask them to clean their rooms. The big parade on Tuesday is supposed to be when the craziness really starts. We can't wait.

Sometimes a dull moment

We won 7 goats and a sheep. This little guy is trying to make it 8.
On stage. Surrounded by children.

Back when we worked traditional jobs, our daily routines made a lot of the days run together for me. These days, there's more variety. We might be winning a herd of goats at Bingo one day and then spending a good chunk of another killing houseflies. The buggers keep coming in droves. Wasn't flies one of the 7 plagues? I'm pretty sure.

Water balloon toss quickly deteriorated into a free-for-all.

These girls killed in the 3-legged race.

Conrad turned 8 and was very happy to be able to celebrate with friends from other boats. We ended up not moving to Carriacou because we weren't sure what Bertha was up to. Instead, we have been hanging out at the beach and pool, as well as leisurely crossing off small boat projects. Matt spent the better part of one morning cleaning growth from our bottom. This was our propeller after about a month in Prickly Bay.

 

 

The view through a couple fences and a full tennis court.

One day the swell was getting obnoxious and we fled the boat early to attend the Kids Frolic, which is one of the events leading up to the SpiceMas carnival. Groups of young people perform traditional song and dance numbers, as well as Soca steel pan music. The performances were entertaining but the whole process was frustrating.

 

The actual start time was about 2 hours after the advertised 11 a.m (which meant it was still setting up even though we initially went to the wrong location and walked a couple of extra miles). The ticket-buying process was so difficult that it was amazing that anyone actually attended the event. We were told by several people (including the person at the ticket booth) that you couldn't buy tickets at the gate but when the one and only ticket booth down the street couldn't print tickets, we learned that their solution was to walk up to the stadium and have someone up there print out a stack of tickets, which were then brought back to the booth for sale. 

 

So instead of waiting in the sun even longer, we went to the stadium and found that you could buy tickets. Or at least try to buy tickets.  The entrance consisted of a huge throng of people pushing towards the ticket booth and pre-paid entrance, both of which were in the same spot. Conrad kept yelling that he was getting crushed. Although he was being a bit dramatic--it wasn't soccer hooligan or rock concert level--it was an unpleasant experience in the heat of the midday sun.

 

When we got to our hard-won seats, they were butt-numbing slabs of concrete placed far from the action. Conrad and Mark were interested for awhile because of the colorful costumes, loud stomping and singing, and spewing of talcum powder. But it got too hot and crowded so we got ice-cream and cotton candy and left to play at a nearby park.

 

 

The view was much better outside the venue.

After spending all day walking around in the heat, we did what any sensible person would do: even more walking.  It was off to the Hash House Harriers run/walk. It was much more challenging than the last one we did, with almost 4 miles of hills to scramble up and down. If we had suggested to Mark and Conrad that we add this on to an already tiring day, we would have been accused of torturing them. But because their friend Noah was doing it, there were no issues.

 

By the way, there were lots of goats on this trail, one of which head-butted several participants in the rear end. Maybe it's for the best that we sold our goat herd.

 

We'll be moving the boat to St. Georges for a few days to better position ourselves for the carnival. From what we've heard, we have some loud and sleepless nights ahead of us.

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.