Sat
1st
First
day of the lobster season so we went to our favourite restaurant
“Whisper Cove” for surf and turf. Delicious!
Sun
2nd
First
Sunday of the month is the boat jumble sale in secret Harbour. A load
of old rubbish, but we meet Shais from “Fantasy” Her and Jim are
Australian and have been living on board with 4 kids 5 to 15 for over
five years and all kids are self taught. We remove the sail bag as
tomorrow we visit the sail maker. Pm and it is time to go to Roger's
beach bar again. We are all looking forward to a rest!
Mon
3rd
First
thing we get the bimini off and take it, plus the sail cover, to the
sail maker. We have some repairs, and we will reinforce some areas
against chafe and some for “though skins” to use as water
collection system.
Tue
4th
A
trip around the shops with “Shade-man” to visit all the hardware,
chandlers and supermarkets in a quick dash. Then Danny arrives with
the stainless steel frame for Trudy's dual helm seat.
Wed
5th
Jo
the electrician turns up at 8:30 and spend about a minute assessing
our requirements. When our stainless steel pole arrives he will do
the work.
Great,
no need to wait in, its the first Wednesday of the month so we can go
to the best book swap in the Antilles. We book a taxi with
“Shade-man”to take Trudy's seat frame to see Rambo at the wood
yard to fit the base and the back.
Thurs
6th
Another
busy day. Joanne, former “Miss Dallas” and Bill from trimaran
Ultra invite us to a fishing seminar. They are parked in the marina
next to Ron from Cat “Molly Bloom” who was a professional game
fisherman. He gives a thorough explanation of methods and kit
required to feed yourself on board. Cedar plugs, spoons, teasers,
squid jiggers, feathers and more. He even has a rod and reel
specifically for catching bait. This is followed by a lobster
barbecue. The local fishermen had been out this morning and collected
about 100 all swimming about in the bottom of their boat. You
weighed and paid for your lobster, the guys cut off the tail and used
a spine from the lobster to twist and pull out the gut. On to the
barbecue for 8 minutes; nothing better.
Fri
7thto Sun 9th
Quiet
weekend spent making mosquito nets, checking batteries (¾ litre
water) and cleaning.
Mon
10th
Research
net. We are looking for SSB radio, aerial, ground, modem, auto-tuner
and watermaker. This is all expensive kit that we will need if we go
into the Pacific and as this may be an option we would prefer to fit
these now and bed them in before they need to be used in earnest.
Tues
11th
We
collect the base and back for the new seat from Rambo at his workshop
where he builds kitchens and bedrooms. He has done an excellent job.
Wed
12th
Drop
off the seat and pick up the bimini from the sale-maker and fit to
the boat. This takes about two hours, then we plumb in the new water
collection system. During the night it chucks it down and we collect
over 50 litres of water in less than an hour. Very pleased, tomorrow
we will both take an extra long shower!
Thur
13th
Bus
into St Georges. The driver is listening to the news on the radio,
unusual.. a girl gets on and suggests that some music would lift the
spirits. This started a row that lasted the entire journey .. you are
a service...should keep your customers happy...you should be
interested in your country...you shouldn't bore tourists with our
politics..We missed most of the political debate...and didn't get any
music!
Tour
the hardware shops and buy more parts for the boat. Order SSB and
auto tuner.
Fri
14th
Pick
up our sale bag and fit it together with a new (red) topping lift. We
now have our name in large writing advertising the boat. We have also
picked up Trudy's double helm seat that has been upholstered in
bright red sumbrella.
Cricket!
I joined 27 other people to play 14 a side cricket. There is a mix of
nationalities with only 5 on each side that new the rules! I have not
played for 41 years but fielding and batting came back quickly.
Bowling ugh.. I used to be a fast bowler (at school) but luckily only
had chance to fire off a few practices. All wide or high except one
that I threw into the ground a metre in front of me. They didn't pick
me to bowl. We got the other team all out for 59. I managed a
respectable 8 being caught at square leg by a Frenchman! We managed
80 to take the match.
We
couldn't stay for the after match craik but instead followed this up
with a trip to the north on the island to the fishing village
Gouyave. Shademan is our driver. Each Friday they produce a wide
range of fish dishes sold in the streets. A live drum band plays with
dancing in the streets. It is quite hypnotic. On the way Shademan
buys us each a bag of “snow ice” a small plastic bag full of
flavoured ice. You bite the corner and taste either peanut or custard
flavoured concoction, a bit like a popsicle made in a plastic bag.
Sat
15th
Pam
and Nick have laid on a Mississippi dry rub rib party. Usual thing
for here, you bring your own nibbles and salad and enter the
competition for the best potato salad. There is live music supplied
by some of the cruisers from the regular jam sessions, ice-cream, cup
cakes and brownies followed by a raffle for cases of beer bottles of
rum or “Jack” and free nights in the marina.
Sun
16th
Another
jam session, but this time more of a jazz feel about it.
Mon
17th
More
net research, mainly for a watermaker. Send list to Sherri from
Wholesale Yacht Parts. Sherri can get us better deals on import
costs using Fedex.
Tue
18th
Visit
St Georges to order watermaker from IWW. Then a day browsing shops
and lunch in town.
Wed
19th
Tour
the black sand beach with Shademan and trek up the cliffs to a cave
with petroglyphs and vampire bats. Really! Wingspan about 40cms on
average. Nike trainers ruined after only second trek in Grenada.
Terrain is tough out here.
Thur
20th
Stainless
pole on board for final measurement for welding. We go to cooking
class. How to cook cou cou, a bit like couscous or polenta with extra
spices and cooked with coconut milk. We like this class
http://www.truebluebay.com/activities/details/cooking-class
as the two cooks take
the mick out of each other and make it a hoot, you get strong rum
cocktails for £1.25, the class costs £3 and you get a meal at the
end. Apart from that you get some great advice on cooking local
dishes. Back to the “Oasis” near where we are anchored and waste
an evening on karaoke. Even Trudy “sings”.
Fri
21st
Stainless
pole arrives, it is a tad loose so needs extra washers. I re-rig all
our reefing lines with extra padding to prevent chafe. Sherri calls,
she will have quote available by Monday.
Sat
22nd
Danny
arrives to fit final part of stainless pole for our wind generator.
Sun
23rd
Finally
it rains in daylight so we can adjust our water catching system. We
fill tank to ¾ full.
Mon
24th
Get
a call from Palm Tree Marine, Jo should be with us by lunch time to
help fit wind generator. Batteries were low this morning and we
needed to start an engine for an hour.
Wind
geni fitted but nose cone gets broken. PTM will obtain and fit
replacement.
Tues
25th
No
wind all day and night so we cannot check generator.
Wed
26th
No
wind again. It is Barracuda’s birthday party tomorrow in Prickles
Bay Marina. So we motor round and park in the bay.
Thur
27th
Relaxed
morning as cooking class does not start until 15:00. good fun as
usual. Barbecue sauce and scallop potatoes. Recipes from the True
Blue Bay resort website.
The
party is billed as an open jam session but in reality several of the
local bands perform and jam with each other. We get a bottle of rum
punch from Barracuda on each table and the vibe is very good. Many of
the usual jammers have turned up with their instruments but don't get
t play, some leave early; At 1.30am they dismantle the set so a
Canadian guy and I start some blues on guitar and ukulele near the
bar. Barracuda and his son join us and we jam for about another half
hour. Well worth the wait.
Fri
28th
Cricket
again. We thrash the opposition by over 100 probably because we have
some local ringers on our team; actually the gardener and the dock
manager. Then back to the Tiki bar to listen to a very subdued
Barracuda band, after last nights late session.
Sat
29th
Seconi
is supposed to play at De Big Fish but does not turn up. Oh well at
least we get an early night. We meet Hans (AKA DJ Paul or Pink
Panther) an Austrian entrepreneur who has sold his DJ business to go
cruising. He has also raced in GT2 against Fixman2 among others.
Imagine winter in Austria and in a warehouse 400 tons of sand, palm
trees etc several beach bars and all heated to 40 degrees C. Well its
a bit like here actually but I guess the Austrians like it.
Sun
30th
Jam
session in whisper cove is well attended. Probably because it is
chucking it down and not a good day for the beach. All that practice
on “Moondance” pays off as it is well received. Even when we play
it for the third time! Just got to work on Girl from Ipanema now.
Ric,
(cstaguy) a fellow cruiser videos the southern bays in Grenada ending
at Rogers beach bar.
http://youtu.be/bvAY2CenQ_Y
