We have definitely been on the move since my last post. We continued north to explore the islands of Guadeloupe and then turned southward to return to Grenada and finish up this year’s cruising season. Since we arrived on Grenada in January and launched Delphinus we have visited 12 different islands, many of them more than once.

Iles des Saintes

Iles des Saintes (or The Saints) is a small island just south of the main island of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe and its island group are a department of France. We visited this island last year and enjoyed it immensely, so were glad to return.

One day we hiked up to an abandoned fort overlooking the harbor. In addition to the beautiful views, we were greeted by this very friendly goat. In the back of Pete’s backpack is fresh-baked baguette we had picked up in town. I think the goat may have smelled it and was hoping for a treat.

The town is very quaint and the streets are lined with boutiques and restaurants and we took full advantage of them. We enjoyed several wonderful meals and snacks along the way. Pictured below (along with the beer) is a dish of “accras.” Accras are on almost every menu in the French islands. They are deep-fried fritters, usually with salt fish in them. We discovered along the way that every chef puts a different spin on their accras and enjoyed trying out as many different ones as we could.

We also crossed paths with our new friends from s/v Cinderella and shared a very nice meal in town with them.

Another afternoon while we were enjoying a gelato with our friends from s/v Nancy Lu and Sea Frog when we heard the church bells ringing loudly and continuously so we walked up the hill to investigate. We got there just in time to see the bridge and groom emerge from their wedding in the town’s church.

Guadeloupe

Our next stop was the main island of Guadeloupe, which is actually two islands joined by a bridge – Basse Terre and Grande Terre. We treated ourselves to several days in a marina. While there we rented a car for a couple of days to more thoroughly explore the islands. On the first day we drove around Basse Terre, armed with a map of various hiking trails. Basse Terre is the more mountainous island with lots of the area being a rainforest, with waterfalls, lush foliage and brilliant flowers.

The next day we drove around Grande Terre which has a flatter terrain, much of which is used for farming. Our drive took us along the Atlantic coast, with beautiful beaches, to the northernmost point of the island with its rocky cliffs.

On our way south again we made a quick overnight stop in Dominica before leaving for Martinique.

Martinique

Next we spent a couple of days in Les Anse d’Alets, a small town on the western coast of Martinique. Like so many of these small towns in the French islands the church is a focal point of the town. We did manage to score a fresh baguette and a chocolate eclair from the local bakery.

We make our final stop in Martinique in La Marin for our final provisioning in a French Island. We stocked up on wine, foods and baked goods. On our way out of the harbour we found ourselves in the middle of a race among local boats called Yoles. They have large colorful square sails and long poles that extend over one side. As the boat sails the crew climb out on the poles to balance the boat, sometimes even dangling over the water from the ends of the poles.

Bequia

On our way north we only made a quick overnight stop in Bequia in our haste to get to St. Lucia and our new dinghy. This time we spent a relaxing few days anchored in Admirality Bay.

Bequia is one of many islands in the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The waterfront is lined with many restaurants, shops and produce vendors.

The vendors in the produce market were all anxious to sell their wares. As we picked out a Caribbean pumpkin from one stand, a man in the next stand told me to cook it with curry and saffron (which of course he was selling). He threw in a fresh nutmeg as a gift. We tried his suggestion and it was very good!

Mustique

We have never visited Mustique before and decided to stop there on this trip. Mustique is a privately owned island. It was initially developed to sell homes to the very well off people who wanted privacy. As more homes were developed, the owners decided they wanted to control development and formed The Mustique Company. Today The Mustique Company manages the entire island. Visiting boats are welcome but are asked to respect the privacy of those in residence. The time we were there felt like we had the island to ourselves.

A big part of the mission of The Mustique Company is conservation of the natural resources and ecosystems of the island. They’ve developed nicely marked hiking trails which follow the coast and then turn inland to a lagoon which also serves as a bird n.

Canouan

Our next stop was Canouan. It is a small island that is a study in contrasts. Most of the island resembles other Caribbean islands with narrow roads, modest homes and small businesses. The northern part of the island is a gated (and guarded) community of exclusive homes.

We rented a golf cart for a full day and toured the entire part of the island we had access to in about two hours. The Atlantic coast of the island had spectacular views. When we reached the gates of the private community we received a friendly greeting but were not allowed any further.

Shortly before leaving for Union Island we bought a lobster from a local fisherman, which we planned to grill that night.

Union Island – Chatham Bay

Soon after dropping anchor in Chatham Bay we were greeted by Vanessa who runs a small beach side grill. As she tried to convince us to come have dinner on shore we explained that we already had a lobster to cook. Being the great sales woman that she is, she suggested we bring our lobster, she would cook it for us along with a variety of side dishes and rum punch. It was an offer we couldn’t refuse! We had a delightful dinner and met an interesting French family who were there on a charter boat for the week.

Back to Grenada

On our way back to Grenada we have to sail by an area with an active underwater volcano, Kick-em Jenny, which is clearly marked on the nautical charts. Mariners are advised to stay clear of the 1.5 nautical mile exclusion zone. If the volcano erupts, the gases rising to the surface of the water can actually cause you boat to lose buoyancy and sink. We have always given the area a wide berth when passing through. The day after we passed Kick-em Jenny this time she had an eruption, with people in the northern end of Grenada feeling the tremors. I’m glad we missed that event.

We arrived back in Grenada, first anchoring in St. George’s bay and then a few days in Port Louise marina to get some work done.

On Sunday afternoon we went into the town of St. George’s which was deserted, with all the businesses closed on Sunday. We climbed up the hill to the old Fort George, which was originally built by the French and then claimed by the English. Parts of it are still in use today as police headquarters and a training facility. The church tower below is what remains of the Anglican church after Hurricane Ivan blew through in 2004.

After moving to Prickly Bay we arranged for a day long tour with Cutty, who is known as one of the best tour guides on the island. He will pull over his bus when he sees something worth sharing with us, pick it and pass it around for everyone to smell or taste. Below is a cocoa pod full of cocoa beans and a nutmeg.

Along the way we visited a nutmeg processing facility and an organic chocolate factory. It was amazing how much of the work in both is done by hand, the way it has been done for decades. Hurricane Ivan, in 2004, destroyed about 80% of Grenada’s nutmeg crop, but Cutty pointed how the crop is beginning to make a come back. Of course we got to taste the chocolates and enjoyed every bit of it.

Another stop was for a tour of the River Rum Company, which makes rum the same way it was done 100 years ago. It was maybe not the best tasting rum, but still impressive seeing how they crush the sugar cane using the power of a water wheel, boil it down, ferment, distill and bottle it. Much of the rum distilling today is done with already processed molasses and aged quite a bit longer than River Rum.

In the central area of Grenada there is the Grand Etang Lake, which is a crater lake in an extinct volcano. The lake and surrounding areas are part of a national park. Living within the surrounding rain forest are Mona monkeys, some of which will come out and interact with people if they think there might be some fruit available. They have come to know Cutty’s van and that he usually has fruit for them, so a few of them came out to say Hi.

Pete’s New Friend

After enjoying much of what Grenada has to offer, it was time to get serious about preparing Delphinus for her summer hiatus. One of the major concerns with leaving a boat in the hot, humid climate here is mold. To minimize that we wash down every surface inside the boat with vinegar and water and store all of our clothes and linens in vacuum sealed bags.

Our next step was to have Delphinus hauled out and stored “on the hard” in Grenada Marine. We have about a week here to do the final preparations that need to be done out of the water. Pete is doing most of this work because I don’t tolerate the sun and heat of the yard very well.

The very nice part of this is that we are staying at La Sagesse, a small boutique hotel in the next bay over. As I write this final blog of the season I’m sitting on our balcony with this view. It’s a tough life but someone’s got to do it!

I know this was a long entry, so if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. We’re looking forward to getting back home, catching up with family and friends, and enjoying the amenities of land based life. We are planning to return to Grenada in November to do it all over again.

Stay tuned and stay in touch!

We’ve had a busy few weeks since our last post and put a lot of nautical miles under the keel – some of the sailing delightful and some not so much.

Grenada

We spent quite a bit of time in Prickly Bay, but decided to move to Secret Harbour because we hadn’t been there before. It is a small bay tucked into the southern coast of Grenada. There were not as many boats here as in Prickly Bay, but a nice marina and restaurant. Pictured below is the view from the upper level bar.

We stayed in Grenada for their Independence Day celebration. One of the local bus drivers, Shade Man, organized a trip for cruisers to attend the formal Independence Day military parade in the national stadium. It’s not obvious in the pictures below but nearly everyone in attendance were decked out in bright combinations of red, green and yellow, the national colors.

The ceremonies were full of pomp and circumstance. The parade units included the military special forces, coast guard, police, police band, youth cadets, girl guides and boy scouts. The local politicians gave speeches and inspected each unit. The police band played throughout, but gave their best show when they got to march. Their band leader danced and pranced around the field to the crowd’s delight.

After the parade, Shade Man took us all to a small local rum shop for Oil Down, Grenada’s national dish. The story goes that it was a mainstay in the slaves’ diets during plantation days. It is made with salt fish, chicken, breadfruit, callalloo, dumplings, coconut milk and whatever other vegetables and meats are on hand.

After lunch, Shade Man stopped at a favorite cruisers spot, Nimrods, for rum punches. Like our lunch stop, it is a tiny wooden structure on the side of the road with only a few seats inside and some benches and picnic tables outside. A very nice way to end a fun day.

One of the highlights of our stay in Grenada was an island tour given by a taxi driver named, Cutty. He is know throughout the cruiser community for giving one of the best and most entertaining tours. We had booked our tour and unfortunately Pete had been trying to get some electrical work done. The electrician couldn’t make it on the committed day, but was available on the day of the tour. We opted for me to go alone while Pete stayed on board Delphinus to wait for the electrician.

Cutty’s tour did not disappoint. There were eight of us in his taxi and he started the day by asking what everyone wanted to see and do. One of the biggest highlights for me was when he would suddenly pull over to the side of the road and take leaves and/or fruit from trees and pass it around the taxi for us to smell or taste. The first taste of the day was pigeon peas right off the vine. Throughout the day we tasted all kinds of things, including the apple like fruit that grows below the cashew nut. One of the things I found amazing was that he would go into people’s yards to pick these things and no one said a word. It is accepted that these fruits are available to all. Cutty said that no one in Grenada should go to bed hungry as so much is available to pick along the roads.

The modern history of the island includes a coup in 1983 followed by the US invasion. As I understand it, most Grenadians see the US action as a liberation. Below is an ad hoc tribute to America’s actions.

In addition to touring some of the beautiful spots in the rain-forest and along the coastlines, we visited a rum distillery that still makes rum as it was made over 100 years ago. We also visited a small chocolate factory that hand makes and wraps each bar. The samples were delicious!

With all of the work completed, we were now ready to begin our journey north. We had been debating for some time whether or not to sell our current dinghy, which is large, heavy and has limited space, and to buy a new dinghy.

Pete put out some feelers with people we’ve met on the island and on the day before we planned to leave we got a call that someone wanted to see the dinghy. They looked at it, liked it and made an offer. We scrambled to ensure the dinghy and engine we wanted were in stock at the local Island Water World and were assured both were there.

The next day, Sunday, we sold the dinghy and moved Delphinus to a marina in St. George’s since we now had no way to get off the boat while at anchor. First thing Monday morning Pete went to Island Water World anticipating purchasing the dinghy, engine and various accessories. When they showed him the dinghy it turned out not to be the one we wanted – just one digit off on the stock number caused the confusion. They had one of the specific model we wanted, but it was marked sold.

What followed were several phone calls to Island Water World in Grenada and in St. Lucia. St. Lucia confirmed they had the dinghy we wanted, but did not have the engine. Grenada had the engine, so we bought the engine in Grenada and strapped it to the table legs in the cockpit.

Carricou and Bequia

Our original plan was to spend about two weeks in Carriacou and Bequia on our way to St. Lucia. Without a dinghy, this was no longer practical so we planned one night stays on both islands to get to St. Lucia and the new dinghy.

We spent one night each in Carriacou and Bequia and left before first light to make St. Lucia before dark that evening. While crossing between Bequia and St. Vincent, which is open to winds and waves from the Atlantic, we had winds of 30 to 35 knots and 6 to 7 foot waves with short period (close together) so we bounced our way along, feeling quite beat up by the time we got through it. I was reminded that this is what happens when you have a schedule. If we didn’t need to move we would have waited an extra day for a better sail. The pictures below show rain clouds that came over the top of St Vincent while we were underway. The weather projection for the crossing from St. Vincent to St. Lucia  was 10-15 knots from ESE. Not anywhere near that: 20 to 25 knots NE and 6 to 7 foot waves again. We were headed NE of course. The good news is we made it safe and sound into the marina in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia in late afternoon.

St. Lucia

After showers and dinner on shore, we both got a good night’s sleep. The next morning, after clearing customs, Pete was at Island Water World to purchase the new dinghy. They got it set up, attached the engine (which had been riding in the cockpit) and launched her.

We ended up spending another week in St. Lucia to take care of more maintenance items and provisioning. There we caught up with Ian and Joy from s/v Reberth, whom we met when we were both recommissioning our boats in Grenada Marine and staying at La Sagesse in January.

While we were still in Grenada, Pete made some modification in our cabin (extra lighting, power and fan) so I can have a dedicated sewing space. While we were at the dock in St. Lucia I managed to finish this quilt top. I’ve enjoyed the space to set up and work.

Although we didn’t explore much of St. Lucia this time, we did enjoy our stay. On our way into the marina we saw Gregory (the man who sells produce from his small boat). See the small boat (blue top) in the first photo below. He found us in our slip and visited us everyday to sell us produce from his mother’s garden – or so he says.

Martinique

We are now in Martinique, anchored off the town of St. Anne. We had a delightful sail here in 15 to 20 knot winds, we have already taken advantage of the French food and wine, and caught up with new friends we met in Grenada who are on s/v Brilliant (Carl and Carrie) and s/v Nancy Lu (Mark and Kathy). Baguettes and croissants abound! This week is “Carnaval” which is the island version of Mardi Gras with daily parades and celebrations. More on that and our other explorations in my next post. “Au Revoir.”

Stay tuned and stay in touch!

Welcome back to Delphinus after our seven month hiatus! We enjoyed our time at home catching up with family and friends and are quickly getting back into our boat life routines.

On January 5 we arrived in Grenada after a long, but uneventful day of travel. The day started with a 6:00 am flight from Norfolk, VA to Miami, FL, followed by flights to Trinidad and then Grenada.

We stayed at a beautiful little hotel, LaSagesse, while we got Delphinus ready to go back in the water. LaSagesse is located in the next bay over from Grenada Marine, where Delphinus spent her summer. There we met several interesting folks. Some were fellow sailors also readying their boats for this cruising season and other travelers there for a laid back holiday. We caught up over rum punches and gin & tonics before dinner.

The owners and staff were exceptionally friendly and accommodating. They provided us with transportation to the boat yard and back each day; although Pete found out from a fellow sailor that there is walking path that takes about 30 minutes to the boat yard. He and his new friend Ian walked there most mornings. Ian’s wife, Joy, and I both struggled with the heat in the boat yard and stayed back at LaSagesse for a few days.

We were pleased to find the boat in good shape. All of the cleaning last May paid off in that there was almost no mold.

Finally, on January 17, all of the work was finished and we were ready to launch Delphinus. It is quite nerve wracking to watch the staff lift her into the travel lift, drive her to the dock and lower her into the water, but all went well. We still weren’t ready to leave yet, so we tied up to the pier to await parts we had shipped here to clear customs and final work to be done. It sure was nice to be back on the water. Any boat yard, by nature, is a noisy, dirty place and we were both glad to be out of there.

About two weeks ago we left Grenada Marine and motored into Prickly Bay, a place we enjoyed from our last trip here. It is a popular place with cruisers because of the many conveniences on the bay. At one end of the bay is nice dinghy dock with a Budget Marine (think West Marine in the states). There is also a restaurant there that is unfortunately closed for renovations.

Across bay is the Prickly Bay Marina, which is small marina with a large open air bar and restaurant and different activities every evening of the week – Movie Night, Trivia Night, Bingo, Steel Band and more. Also, on the property is a small butcher shop called La Boucher which we discovered this time. It is run by a French couple who stock French cheeses and wine, in addition to meats from local farms and a wide variety of house made sausages. We’ve sampled some of each and enjoyed it all.

It is still the rainy season here which means we deal with showers that pass through on an almost daily basis. They rarely last long but can be intense. It sends us scrambling to close up hatches on Delphinus (good aerobic exercise?). Afterward it is usually a bit cooler. Below are three photos taken from different places on deck within moments of each other at sunset after a rain shower.

We have ventured out on shore to shop and explore. Getting to the local shops can be quite the adventure. Some of the local cab drivers arrange group shopping trips, designating a day, time and place to meet. You take your dinghy to your chosen place, along with eight or ten other cruisers and all climb into the van. First we went to a local bank and everyone piles out to line up for the ATM. Next stop was the IGA grocery store. Afterward we all line up with our shopping carts and the driver works his magic to get all of us and our groceries back in the van. We made a couple more quick stops at the request of our fellow shoppers and repeated the process of piling out, rearranging bags and getting us all back in. It’s almost like a party atmosphere in the van as we get to know each other and swap information.

One day we went ashore and walked to find a wine wholesaler we had heard about. After about a one and half mile walk we found it and stocked up on wines for the trip north. The good news is they delivered our order to Prickly Bay Marina so we didn’t have to carry it back.

Along the way we discovered a local micro brewery, West Indies Beer Company. We stopped in for a cold draft on the way back to the boat and brought back growler, which we enjoyed later that evening.

This past week has been the Grenada Sailing Week with different races daily. We’ve caught site of some of the very high tech boats with their crews as they sail through Prickly Bay. Quite a site!

On Tuesday, February 7 Grenadians celebrate their independence from Great Britain in 1974. They are still a young country as an independent state, but have a very long history from before Columbus landed here in 1498. In preparation for Independence Day many public spaces, businesses and homes are all decked out in the national colors of red, green and yellow. We’re anxious to see what kind of celebrations take place.

Pete has been trouble shooting an electrical problem on Delphinus. The batteries just aren’t staying charged the was we would expect. We had a technician out here this week and he took the alternator in to bench test it. We hope he finds the problem.

After nearly a month in Grenada we are ready to move on. Our next stop is Carriacou which we enjoyed last year. Looking forward to getting back.

Stay tuned and stay in touch!