June 9 - July 23
We arrived into Clarks Court, Grenada after our visit in Carriacou. It was lovely to see our good friends Maple anchored there as well. A few days later s/v Dream Catcher and Manado arrived.
Luckily we were able to drop anchor right next door to Maple. The water in the bay was brackish so swimming was not our first choice. The Maple crew dropped by on their way into the marina to visit with mutual friends on s/v Counting Stars. Our timing was perfect as Counting Stars were flying out the following day for a few months. The girls and I tagged along to say hello. This same evening the marina was celebrating their 2 year anniversary. It worked out perfectly.
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| a blurry picture of the kids on Counting Stars, Element and Maple |
Clarks Court was not our favourite anchorage. It was windy, brackish and far from town. The plus side, was our friends.
The bus system in Grenada is wonderful and reasonable (2.50 EC per adult and 1.25 EC for kids). They are always on the lookout for fares and will wait for you even if you are around the corner.
On the our first Saturday we dropped the kids at Maple and Darryl took us in to St. George’s to show us around. There is a market everyday but, Saturdays are the best day to go as it is the largest. Usually, it is 1 bus from Woburn to the bus station but on this day we hopped out at gas station near Island Water World and walked all the way around to Port Louis marina to check it out as this is where we had a reservation.
If you like Roti, Nimrods in Woburn is really good and, at 12 EC a portion is good value. The roti can be pre-ordered on Tuesday at lunch. Nimrod's Mom is the lady who makes them.
On Wednesday, we got our butts in gear with Maple and Manado to take the local buses (usually 3 in total) up island to see the River Antoine Distillery and Belmont Estate Chocolate Factory. The driver that picked us up at the bus station in St. Georges happened to live near the distillery. After he dropped all the Grenville people off he continued on to the distillery. The extra charge was very small.
The entrance fee is 13 EC for adults and the kids were free. The distillery still uses the traditional ways for making rum that date back to the 1700's. Water from the river is diverted and used to turn the wheel to crush sugar cane. They only run the wheel at certain times of the day so call in advance. They offer 4 different rums for purchase, a 75 proof (not allowed on airplanes), a 69 proof, mango/passion fruit punch and a chocolate liquor. The property is beautiful with flowers, trees, lizards and birds.
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| beautiful flowers |
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| we spotted this Grenadian Black Crow, larger than the Grackle |
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| the traditional water wheel to crush the sugar cane for the rum |
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| the cane "crusher" |
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| the left over crushed cane aka "bagasse" |
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| huge piles of bagasse |
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| the boiler room |
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| a sign in the boiler room |
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| a view from above in the boiler room |
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| the fermentation room |
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| distillation area |
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| the fire under the distillation container |
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| best friends forever (Iris and Jordan) at the rum tasting |
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| crew of Element |
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| crew of Maple |
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| view as we were leaving the property |
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| good friends walking down the road |
After leaving the distillery Element and Manado wanted to head over to see Belmont Estate chocolate factory (we didn’t want to make the trip back up island later because it was a very long trip). We parted ways with Maple as they had already visited Belmont.
Belmont is a MUST see in Grenada. The grounds are incredible. Our guide Meshach is enthusiastic and engaging. The orchard where the cocoa grows has a plethora of fruit from mango, golden apple, bread fruit, avocado, to banana. It is located across the street from the buildings. We were shocked to find out that 1 cocoa pod can create 4-6 bars. Meshach explained the cocoa pod they use is called a Trinitario (hybrid of Creole and Foresterio pod).
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| all the fruits and spices found at Belmont Estate (wax apples, bananas, cocoa , nutmeg, golden apples, papaya and more) |
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| bridge to the orchard |
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| mangos |
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| bananas |
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| cocoa pods growing |
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| the cocoa pod before Meshac opens it |
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| the fresh cocoa beans from inside the pod |
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| the fermenting boxes |
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| fermenting cocoa beans |
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| mace from the nutmeg drying out |
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| drying cocoa beans |
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| moving the cocoa beans around to help dry them out |
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| a professional, moving the beans |
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| burlap bags full of cocoa beans |
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| sign on the property |
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| an old bell (not sure of the significance) |
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| large copper pot to polish the cocoa bean by foot (aka dancing the cocoa) |
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| while waiting for mom and dad Jordan practices her ballet positions |
Once we finished at Belmont we walked out front and hopped on a bus heading back to Grenville. I sat beside a lady who recommended a local restaurant The Melting Pot (above Aldars). Super cheap local food that is excellent (2 EC - 12 EC per portion).
The following Saturday, Janet (s/v Maple, Darelle & Deon (s/v Dream Catcher), Paige and I took a local taxi to the Grenada Hash House Harriers (http://grenadahash.com) hike. Every Saturday there is a hike held at a different location around the island. It was super fun.
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| Deon having his shoe christened |
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| Deon drinking water from his shoe |
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| Janet at the beginning of the hike |
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| views along the way |
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| the loss of our Hash virginity certificate |
As time went on, a tropical storm "Brett" was heading towards Grenada. Shaun and I decided that we would be more comfortable if Element was tied safely in Port Louis marina. We called and moved our reservation up a few days in order to prep Element before we were scheduled to fly back to Canada.
Prepping for a tropical storm is a lot of work. We removed fore sails (which ended up in Jordan's room), secured the main, and removed everything on deck that might blow away. We used the windlass to tighten our bowlines to make sure there was very little movement. Luckily the storm bypassed Grenada, the highest gust we saw was 40 knots. We were able to leave Element safely tied up while we flew back for my parents 50th wedding anniversary.
Once we returned from our trip, we stayed a few extra days in the marina because another tropical storm "Don" was forecast to hit. Again, the storm bypassed us. During our final stay at the marina, Maple's kids would often join us to play at the pool. Janet and I also were walking in the mornings before it got too hot. A day or so before we left the marina a "bunch" of kid boats organised a beach day. It was fantastic!
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| just a "few" kid boats in Grenada that we hung out with at the beach (there were 28 kids in total that day |
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| water fun |
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| building sand castles |
We finally moved out into the anchorage for a few days before departing for Los Roques, Venezuela. It was lucky that we did this as our dinghy motor was acting up. While we were out in the anchorage, Shaun and I provisioned Element as we knew that it would be difficult to find anything in Los Roques.
