Grenada

After six days in Carriacou we decided to head to Grenada about 15 miles to the South. It was another good sail in brisk winds. We stopped for an hour at Isle de Ronde Island about half way to Grenada and did a bit of snorkeling. Then continued on to Grenada while trying to avoid "kick em Jenny" an underwater volcano. From the top of Grenada it was another 14 miles or so along the coast to get to St Georges near the South end, where we anchored. We had already cleared customs at Carriacou so were free to go ashore and explore.


Almost 90% of Grenada had been wiped out in 2004 when category 3 hurricane Ivan hit it, but you see few signs of that now. Most trees were blown down and the majority of houses lost their roofs or were knocked down completely.

There is descent shopping near by and other conveniences for yachts and we got lots of walking in. There is suppose to be less crime here than some of the other Caribbean islands.

After a few days we moved the boat over to Prickly bay for a change in scenery. This bay is more on the SE side of the island so the last 2 miles were bit of a bash to get there. We finally found a yacht we knew and anchored near Harmonie whom we had meet in Sri Lanka. Caribbean yachties aren't that friendly so it was nice to have a great dinner with Don and Anne. A couple days later we joined them on a tour of the island in a small mini bus. We saw how rum is made from sugar cane. The distillery has been running since 1785 and still uses a water wheel to power part of the plant. Then we visited a coco bean drying business, the sun does the best job. Also saw a nutmeg processing plant that is finally getting back on it's feet after the hurricane. We eventually had to say goodbye to Harmonie as they were going up to the next bay to be hauled out for the season and we were going back to St Georges.

That afternoon after dropping anchor back in St Georges we saw a large American yacht drifting through the anchorage. It had been tied to a mooring buoy at the front of the anchorage. The mooring must have broken free of its anchor point, because we could still see the mooring ball hanging off the side. Amazingly the boat did not hit any yachts as it drifted rapidly between them and then coming right for us. I could see another yachty had just jumped on board and another was trying to push it with his dinghy. The yacht missed us and started heading out to sea. I got in my dinghy to help the other guy push the boat and we managed to push it back into the anchorage area and the guy on the boat dropped the anchor.

The next day we did a hike up Mt Qua Qua. We took a bus up to Grand Etang for 5ec each and then hiked up a good trail to the top. It was billed as a 3 hour round trip hike, but we did it in a hour and a half. It was a great hike through a beautiful jungle and giving occasional views of crater lake and the surrounding forests. Dorothy was disappointed she didn't see a Mona monkey.

In the next week or so we will be heading for Trinidad where we well store the boat for a couple of months and fly home for a Canadian summer. Should be a nice break from the heat down here.


INFO

-Round island for snorkeling anchored at 12 18.83N 61 35.36W in 30ft.  Snorkeling was so so


-St Georges anchored in 23ft 12 02.60N 61 45.4


-The hike up Mt Qua Qua is on a good trail in Grand Etang park. The start of trail is marked with a sign and is about a 100 meters before the booth where you pay a park fee. So if you are just doing the hike you could get away without paying the 5ec fee.

-Prickly bay anchorage. Anchored in 32 ft at 11 59.84N 61 45.78W It is a bit more rolly here and looks like some surge in the marina. I don't know why so many boats here, as St Georges has all the shopping much closer and not as rolly and calmer marinas and generally more convenient for everything.