The Big Tour

June 16, 2011

Mt. Hartman Bay, Grenada

After sleeping in a little bit today, we met with Patrick “Shade Mon”, and the crews of “Persephone”, “Arita” and “Liahona” for an island tour. Strangely enough, after being here for seven months last year, we had never done an actual island tour! We had people who were interested, so we went with it.

We departed Mt. Hartman Bay at 10:00 am, and didn’t get back until 7:30pm. We took a scenic trip around St. George’s to avoid the worst of the traffic, then headed up the West Coast Road. We stopped at “Mom’s” Rum Shop and were treated to frozen custards. They are frozen in plastic baggies, so to eat them you bite off a corner and squeeze out the contents. Very refreshing and very appreciated!

The first stop was the Concord Waterfalls. A couple of us availed ourselves of the chance to swim in cool fresh water. It was a nice re-visit for Ken and I, as we have been there before.

We continued up the road to the town of Gouyave, “the fishing capital of Grenada”. We have been there a couple of times for the Fish Fridays, the street fest that features seafood and entertainment. This time, though, we were visiting the nutmeg processing plant. This is a cooperative effort by the farmers where they bring in the gathered nutmeg and the outer layer of mace to have it processed and sorted for export. It is a very labour intensive process, but it isn’t easy to mechanize some aspects of it. The processing involves grading the nutmeg, drying it for two months, taking off the outer shell, grading again by “floating” it (first grade floats), redrying it for 48 hours, then bagging for shipping. The mace and nutmeg is shipped internationally.

Next stop, besides for photo ops, was for lunch. Helen had a wonderful buffet-style meal prepared for us, and the only complaints we had were that we didn’t have room for more! Accompanied by fresh local juice and finished by nutmeg ice cream, we were all ready for naps by this time!

After being held up by a funeral procession where the hearse was a large Cadillac SUV with speakers blaring out bad Gospel music, we sped on to Belmont Estate to arrive just before closing time. This is a plantation that specializes in organic chocolate beans and chocolate. We learned that cocoa trees must grow in shade, so they are usually under mango trees, coconuts, and citrus trees. If you look from a distance, it doesn’t look like a cocoa plantation because of the required extra growth. Cocoa is processed by picking the pods, removing the beans with their pulpy exterior and fermenting the pulpy beans for 8 days. This removes the pulpy exterior and allows the beans to mature. They are then left to dry in the sun, with women stirring them up every 30 minutes by hand and wooden rakes to ensure even drying. After grading, they can then be used for the manufacture of chocolate or whatever other use one chooses. The Grenada Chocolate Company makes organic dark chocolate that even a confirmed milk chocolate lover like me can enjoy. We had a good tour guide with Kelly.

After the required chocolate purchases (who couldn’t after sampling such good chocolate?) we took off for the River Antoine Rum Distillery hoping to catch them before they closed. Well, they were sort of closed, but we were allowed to wander around the premises to take a look for ourselves. Unfortunately, Patrick had a difficult time with some of the staff, but we did manage to get a look at a distillery that has been around since the 1780’s! None of us were overly enthusiastic about the 75% rum, though. I have never had my lips tingle after trying rum before!

We drove back south, checking out the original air strip for Grenada. It is now home of drag races and cows. There were a number of bovines along the edge of the tarmac, including one very large bull that just lay on the hard surface, quite unconcerned about the red bus parked next to him and the stupid tourists taking pictures of him. However, we scurried back into the bus when he stood up. Farther down the air strip by the old terminal buildings were the hulks of two Russian built aircraft, left after the Grenada revolution. One was an old Air Cubana plane, and the other was a large Aeroflot BIPLANE! A biplane as a passenger plane….hmmm.

We drove up into the rain forest to the Grand Etang Nature Area to check out the lake. The lake is the main source of drinking water for the island, and is what remains from a volcanic eruption in the early 1800’s. Even after attempted surveys, nobody actually knows how deep it is. It was a little eerie in the rapidly fading daylight with the fog rolling through. With an elevation over 1100 feet, there is a lot of rain and a lot of fog some days!

We finally rolled back down to sea level and back to the marina where the dinghies were parked. It was a long day, and very educational, but it was good to be home!

We’re a “Two Car” Family Again… for now

June 15, 2011

Mt Hartman Bay, Grenada

Ken and I are less than overjoyed with our current dinghy (although we love our outboard engine) and figure we would look around for a used one again. We’ve even taken a few looks around on other islands to see what was available. Last week on the Cruisers’ Net someone advertised a dinghy and an outboard for sale. The price was right for the combo, although we have no use for another Yamaha 15hp outboard.

Sunday Ken went with our friend Patrick, a.k.a. “Shade Mon”, to take a look at the dinghy. Ken also ended up getting an unofficial island tour as Patrick took him around the island as he made some pick ups that are part of a contract he has. Instead of the assumed two hours, Ken was gone for 4 and a half hours!! He got home in time for dinner, at least.

Regardless of the detour, Ken liked what he saw with the dinghy and the outboard, so we called the sellers and told them we would buy them both. We arranged to pay them for the outfit on Tuesday, as Monday was a holiday here in Grenada (Whit Monday) and the banks would not be open, making the acquisition of U.S. currency pretty much impossible for us. Ken went to his doctor’s appointment (follow up on a mole removal and to check his skin infection) then met up with Mary and Kirk to pay for the dinghy and get the odds and ends associated with the exchange.

Through another friend, we found out about Allen, a Grenadian gentleman who has a small truck that he has available for jobs for fair rates. He was available to move the dinghy from the Carenage in St. George’s to where we are located for a very reasonable amount of money. David from “Persephone” offered his assistance to help us move things around. We all met Allen at 9:00, but since there was only room for one other person in the cab of the truck, David and I jumped into the back. It is not uncommon to see Grenadian workers doing this, but two “lilies” in the back of the truck got a few double takes.

We got the dinghy, and the fifty pounds of growth on its’ bottom, out of the water and onto the truck with a minimum of drama, but now the seating space for David and I was severely diminished. He found a spot under the tilted up boat to sit, with his nose about 6 inches from the diversity of sea life that was domiciled on the hull of the dinghy. I jumped into the back of the truck and sat on the transom of the tender. I had a better view and fresher air, but no protection at all from the downpour of rain that hit us. Of course, this kind of activity would be illegal where we are from, but even the policeman we passed just waved and smiled. We had a number of people on the street wave, smile or outright laugh at the sight we provided.

We arrived back at the marina in our bay without difficulty, and the dinghy was unloaded. I dropped David off at his boat, then went to “Silverheels III” to get shovels and rakes and implements of destruction to evict the critters from the bottom of our dinghy. Okay, just paint scrapers and the like, but we had a job to do. After about 2 and a half hours of scraping and having the shelled varmints “spitting” at us, the dinghy’s bottom was back to being plain fiberglass. Toilet bowl cleaner is very good for this job as well, but nothing beats elbow grease. The cleaner did help get bits of the barnacle, mussel and oyster shells off that scraping didn’t catch.

We towed our “new” dinghy back to the mother ship and put the “new to us” outboard on the stern rail, then put our engine on the new dinghy. The test ride confirmed that we had made a good purchase, as the new dinghy is smoother, drier and more comfortable… and maybe even faster!

We now have a used outboard to sell, but we figure a little work will make it worth more, and our old dinghy is going to go to a new home when we find a buyer for it. Yup, “Silverheels III” crew has a new ride!! W

Now for a different take on the dinghy pick up, here is David’s blog. I could refer you to the link on the side of the page, or put it here, but it is so good, I am cutting and pasting it here with his “okay”. Warning, do not eat or drink while reading this, you WILL spew something onto computer!

une 15, 2011

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.....

So, there I am just out of the bunk (still in my boxers...TMI ? ) when Lynn calls on the radio to say 'good morning'. She mentions that today is the day she and Ken are picking up their 'new to them' dinghy and outboard engine. They have hired a small truck to pick up the dinghy in St. George. "I'm not doing anything, do you need some help" ? I offered. "Sure, come along....." "OK, sounds like fun...." (little did I know !)

After a short ride we arrive at the dock where the dinghy was stored in the water probably forever. There is an inch of growth consisting of barnacles, crabs, shrimp, muscles, weed, slime and quivering yuck covering the entire bottom of the dinghy. Simply, the dinghy has become it's own living, self-supporting ecosystem !! (I'm staring at the 'Origins of Species' on planet Earth ...Darwin would have orgasmed !! I nearly wretched !! ) I'm figuring that Lynn and Ken are going to need a jack hammer to evict the inhabitants. Gingerly, we carry the dinghy and load it into the back of the truck....Now, this is a pretty small vehicle, with only two seats, yet, there are four people !! So, I get volunteered to sit in the back UNDER the dinghy !

The "science project" is not happy about being yanked from of the water, so the critters start 'abandoing ship'; landing on me.

We don't drive more that 100 yards and it starts to rain; well not really rain, think tropical down pour....can this morning get any worse ?? Oh, yeah...the back of the truck starts filling with rain water creating a living soup mix, with me sitting in the middle !! Did I mention the smell ?? It smelled like a portable, perpetual low tide....

So, to get to the marina we have to climb a VERY steep, long hill. Allen, our driver shifts into low gear, revs up the engine and up we go. Little do I know that I am sitting directly over the muffler. The strain of the hill heats up the muffler. All of a sudden my butt feels warm...then hot....then too hot to sit !! I raise my butt so as not to get burned and hit my head on the dinghy....a couple more angry creatures fall off and stare at me. Now the water in the bed of the truck is heating up creating a primordial soup with me looking like a giant dumpling !! The seafood broth is sloshing around the bed of the truck, semi sauteed, as we pull into the marina. Get me otta here !! Lynn has to pull me out from under dinghy....Next time I want bouillabaisse, think I will just sail up to Martinique !! Bon Appetite,,,NOT !! Capt Dave