Grenada - Our Final Destination

Three months after my arrival in the British Virgin Islands, we arrived in Carriacou Grenada for our last customs and immigration check-in by sea.  With all the check-ins and check-outs, it is a bit of a relief to do the last one. However the sailing blogs are full of stories about the notoriously difficult Custom's officer here so we proceeded cautiously. 

  

We visited 9 countries, each with their own procedures and requirements for importing Pirate.  We had requested an import permit from the government of Grenada three weeks before we arrived without any response to the original request and follow-ups.  As a result, when we got there, Pirate did not have the proper clearance. The notorious Custom's officer was not amused. However Roger turned on the charm offering her a coffee and then buying her a Perrier from the bar while she took her lunch break. She got on the phone for us and in no time announced that the the quarantine officer would be there soon to clear Pirate, meanwhile Pirate was not allowed ashore. Two hours later (island time mon) a lovely woman named Princess showed up to check Pirate. She rolled her eyes when she saw our history of unanswered emails to her superior.  She declared that we had all of the required paperwork so Pirate was now free to walk around the island.  The quarantine officer went on to warn us that farmers sometimes put out poison for the stray dogs that are attacking their goats, so she suggested that we may want to keep Pirate muzzled so that she did not inadvertently pick up something harmful.  With this information in hand, we decided to keep her on the boat while I went to the ATM and picked up a few groceries.  Many business in the islands are cash only so we had been running low on EC (Eastern Caribbean dollars), and this was the first ATM since Bequia.  Unfortunately, the ATM was temporarily out of order ... a not uncommon occurrence in the islands.  Thankfully, the grocery store accepted VISA.

The next day we headed over early to Sandy Island, reported to be a spectacular spot and very popular anchorage for snorkelling.  We lucked out and a national park ball freed up just as we were arriving.  I was able to snag the ball with the boat hook first time, but neither Roger or I were happy with the situation.  The mooring was to close to another boat, the winds were blowing about 20 knots and the anchorage was fairly rough given the wind direction.  When we saw the reef on the lee shore just behind us and Roger noticed that the park mooring line was frayed polypropylene with no thimble,  we decided to bail and head directly to the main island of Grenada some 37 miles away, where we could find some more protected anchorages.  

We pointed the bow south again and had a beautiful sunny 5 hour open ocean reach in 17 to 20 knots of breeze, and beautiful easy ocean rollers. With a full main and full jib we hit 10.3 knots.  We were enjoying ourselves fully knowing it would likely be our last big sail of our adventure.  

What Roger had neglected to mention to me is that our passage would bring us right near an active underwater volcano called Kick 'em Jenny.  This volcano is actively monitored, having erupted 14 times since 1939 and most recently, in April 2017.  In order to protect boaters, there is a 1.5 km exclusion zone set by the government of Grenada which extends to 5 km when the volcano is rumbling. Roger assured me that we were "almost" outside the 1.5 km zone and then began singing Jimmy Buffetts song Volcano with the occasional heavy foot stomping to further heighten my concern until we were well clear.  Not exactly the kind of hazard you are used to when you typically go boating in Georgian Bay or Lake Ontario and not funny Roger!

After surviving Kick 'em Jenny, we continued on to Prickly Bay Marina on the south shore of Grenada.  As Roger took Pirate ashore, he encountered a lovely cheese shop called Boucher where a bunch sailors and locals were sitting around tasting wine and eating cheese before closing time.  Luckily he didn't have any money with him, so came back to the boat to grab me and we headed back to join the fun.  One gentleman, Patrick, is the manager of the Island Water World in Grenada and hearing our challenges with finding cash, he kindly offered to take us to an ATM and return us back to the marina.  Patrick knew all the backroads that would avoid traffic so we got a true sense of the island and the living conditions of many of the islanders.  

We then spent a few nights on our Toronto friend's Tony & Deb's mooring in Mt Hartman, a nice protected anchorage which is favoured by a number of Canadians.  Given that Grenada is thought to be below the typical hurricane belt, many people keep their boats in here, either "on the hard" (on a cradle on land), or at anchor.  Many people we met stay on the boat in Grenada throughout the summer.  We came to learn that summer is considered the 'high season' in the marinas because of the number of boats that come to stay here to ride out hurricane season.  

Before we headed to our final destination for haul out at Clarke's Court, we decided to go to Phare Bleu Marina, which has a 'resort-type' feel.  They have an excellent small grocer owned and operated by a French Canadian, so we were able to enjoy some real Montreal bagels and cream cheese, a very special treat.  Another French Canadian also owns the local coffee shop and laundry. Yes Roger had found yet another Patisserie and it was not even a French island! We spent several days at the Marina and even got the air conditioning going for some very restful nights.  I also took the opportunity to get a pedicure in the spa.  

We met a few other cruisers and it is amazing to be reminded once again what a small world it is.  Two sailors from the UK, Chris and Fiona had actually met our good friend Neil when they did the Salty Dawg rally from the US west coast to Antigua a couple of years ago.  We also had cocktails with Bill and Kate, who knew and used to race against Doug and Lucy back in Marblehead. Doug and Lucy were the first couple we had met on our trip in St Maarten. 

One of the wonderful things about this adventure is that we have met a lot of people and made a lot of new friends. Just yesterday, Roger met a woman who was enjoying her breakfast on the beach when Pirate, true to her name, stole the breakfast quiche off the arm of the beach chair.  Fortunately, Roger was able to replace the quiche, before I found out what had happened under his watch 😅 After the Pirate caper, he learned that the woman had had purchased a boat to explore the Carribean after raising 7 children in Kelowna BC. She said that in two years of sailing down here, she has made more friends than she did in 30 years of living in Kelowna and Vancouver. It truly is one of the highlights of this lifestyle. 

While we were moored at Phare Bleu Marina, our friends from Daggers Down, Ben and Kitra, dropped by to see us and arranged to pick us up in their rental car to go snorkelling at Magazine Bay near the airport.  The beach was beautiful, and there was excellent snorkelling with many large fans, schools of blue tang, parrotfish and even a squid.  Unfortunately the lovely beach front Aquarium Restaurant was full and were not taking any more reservations and they did not allow dogs. Undeterred, Roger set out to see what he could do. He retuned to our beach chairs to announce that he had introduced himself to the restaurant manager, "a lovely woman who liked Canadians", and we (including Pirate) had a reservation for 1:30. Not only that but she had made him an expresso and a Cappuccino for me. Thus we all enjoyed a lovely lunch, and Kitra crossed 'a visit to the Aquarium restaurant' off her list of things to do in Grenada.  It is wonderful to have people who will share their favourite spots with you.

Next stop is haul out which is always a concerning experience for a boat owner. We have prepped our boat for Canadian winters many times but prepping the boat for 9 months in the burning Grenada sunshine will be a brand new experience.