Back in Grenada - Looking Through Fresh Eyes

Welcome Back!  Pirate's Adventures in the Caribbean continue.  

In December last year, we left the British Virgin Islands and sailed our boat south to Grenada.  Over the following 3 months, we visited 9 different islands and covered about 700 nautical miles.  Our plan this time is to head north, island hopping back to the British Virgin Islands.  Eventually we will leave the boat in Antigua for the summer.  

We arrived back in Grenada on December 10th, 2024, 7 months since we left Adventure I up on the hard at Clarke's Court Marina.  We left the boat there because it is apparently out of the hurricane belt and so insurers have preferred that location.  However, that changed this summer when the very first named Hurricane of the season, Beryl, hit Grenada. It landed just 20 miles north of where our boat was being stored.  We were lucky, but those on the small islands of Carriacou and Union Island were not as fortunate.  Many lost their homes and livelihood.  Some cruisers we met last year lost their boat and won't be returning.  We also met a woman who is 6 months in on repairs to her boat and nowhere near completion.  We were very fortunate indeed.

It's a 3H 40m flight direct from Miami to Maurice Bishop Airport in Grenada.  As we walked down the stairs to the tarmac, the first thing that hit us was the heat.  We are used to the warmth of Florida, but Grenada is 1500 miles south of Miami, just north of Trinidad and Tobago.  Even though it's winter here, temperatures of 29 and 30 degrees Celsius seem to be the norm.

The airport staff were all very welcoming, and pointed us towards customs and immigration.  We had packed a number of pieces of equipment for the boat, including a new Mini Starlink (yeah!) and some marine hardware for our new davit system that we will be getting in Martinique.  I also made sure to pack some food for Pirate and some Nespresso pods for our Nespresso mini that Pierina brought for us last year.  Between Roger and I, we had 170 lbs of luggage, with each of our large roller bags weighing in at exactly 50 lbs at the airport (right at the cutoff for excess fees).  

Because it was the first time that Pirate had arrived in Grenada through the airport, we needed to pay a $100 USD one time fee.  While we had all the paperwork for her entry, including documents signed by the US government, the focus of the customs officials was entirely on getting the fee paid, which also meant they were less concerned with the rest of the things in our luggage. 😉

It was interesting to see Grenada with "Fresh Eyes".  Last year we were at the tail end of our journey, and anxious to head home.  This time, we were familiar with the island and we arrived just after rainy season.  One of the noticeable differences was how lush the island is at this time of year.  

After a 20 minute taxi ride, we were back to Le Phare Bleu where we stayed for 2 weeks last year before we headed home.  The cottages have an open air kitchen and living room, and an air-conditioned bedroom which makes for very comfortable sleeping.  As we walked around, we ran into old friends from this past spring.  We got a big hug from our favorite waitress at the on-site restaurant, Island Fever, and soon had a couple of delicious cocktails in hand.  

The plan was to stay in one of the cottages for 3 nights, launch the boat and then motor it over to Le Phare Bleu marina, only a 45 minute trip away from Clarke's Court where we left it for the summer.  We would then transfer all our luggage to the boat.  While the overall plan remained the same, we ran into a few small snags which slightly impacted our timing. 

The launch itself went very smoothly, and the Clarke's Court boatyard staff were very professional.  

Under the theory, better safe than sorry, we also purchased a new life raft.  The marina determined that ours was at least 10 years old and at that vintage, the life raft must be checked out annually.  As a result, we were able to see our old life raft fully deployed - a great lesson on how to do it and what to expect is stored within your life raft.  The idea is that you ensure the life raft is tied to your vessel, then throw the life raft container into the water.  Once it reaches the end of the tether, you tug a couple of times and it will automatically inflate by means of a compressed carbon dioxide canister.  The 10 person life raft explodes out of the canister with a bang and inflates rapidly.  There are 'stairs' hanging from the side of the life raft to facilitate entry.  The life raft itself has a large orange cover with a light on top.  Inside, the life raft is equipped with emergency water, flares, a bailer, plugs in case of tears in the raft, first aid kits, etc.  In addition, for larger ocean passages we always travel with our emergency kit which contains flares, fresh water and food such as granola bars.   

Here is a video of us deploying our old lifeboat - fortunately on land!  Pirate was quite excited about it too. 

Before launch, Roger replaced the zinc anodes on the propeller shaft and propeller and had the deck and topsides power washed.  Once launched, Roger found a couple of guys to polish the hull and redo the teak.  They also helped Roger put the heavy mainsail back on, which was a huge task.  Meanwhile, I shopped for dry goods that could be stored away until we were ready to depart.

In the evenings, we enjoyed ourselves at Le Phare Bleu, getting into the Christmas Spirit(s) and Pirate & I even got to hang on the beach and by the pool late one afternoon, where I was feeling the 'Vibe'.    

Wednesday night is 'wing night' at Le Phare Bleu, attracting cruisers from the surrounding bays.  Wings are only $1EC each, so quite a bargain.  We met up with our long time Canadian friends Tony and Deb, and met their new little puppy, Scuppers.  It was great to catch up again and share stories of prepping the boat to get underway.

The work at Clarke's Court was finally completed, so we motored around to a dock at Le Phare Bleu and transferred our luggage and gear to the boat, where we slept that night.  Pirate was all smiles as she got back onboard her home away from home. 

We were now ready to go shopping for our final supplies the next day.  Fortunately, before we set out to provision, we found that the freezer had conked out overnight.  Roger hastily got in touch with a repair person.  The young gentleman who helped fix it last year was able to get it going again, but that repair was short-lived.  Another repair person was called in the next day who seems to have been successful as we now have an operational freezer and fridge.  For me, an operational freezer is key to a stress-free life on the water.  Fortunately, Grenada has a couple of very good grocery stores, so I was able to stock up on both dry goods, fresh and frozen foods before we headed out to islands with less selection.  

Meanwhile, I took Pirate to the vet for her health certificate which is required within 7 days of entering St Vincent.  While this seems relatively straight forward, it took the entire morning before I could come back from the vet with papers in hand.  These documents then had to be taken to the Grenada Ministry of Agriculture to get stamped in order to be 'official' as required by the St Vincent Ministry of Agriculture.  I arrived at the government building in my good shorts and a conservative top, only to be told that I could not enter the premises, as 'short pants' were not permitted  The staff at the entrance told me to come back the next day when I would be more appropriately attired, however, we were hoping to leave the next day.  I asked what the alternatives were and asked if perhaps they could take the forms up for me for sign off.  Finally the staff person relented and rummaged through some drawers and found an old 'sarong' that I could wear over my shorts, thus allowing me entry into the building.  Phew! 

One week after our arrival in Grenada, we were finally ready to head out to sea.  The new cockpit cushions arrived at 8:30 that morning of our departure, and we were very pleased with the outcome, and so was Pirate 😉

This time our departure from Grenada was quite a fond fairwell.  We met some very nice, welcoming people who were keen to help us out.  

As we got ready to leave that morning, a couple of squalls went through but we were able to start heading north around noon - destination, Carriacou, a small Grenadian island that was heavily damaged by Hurricane Beryl this summer.  Our goal was to do our customs check out in Carriacou and then head to St Vincent and the Grenadines.  With our delayed departure though, and a 6 hour sail ahead of us, we were running a little short of daylight.