We spent our first few days in Grenada anchored off St Georges, close to Grand Anse beach (the nicest beach in Grenada - long white and sandy).
Hilary, my sister came to visit for a week, so we went into a marina for a couple of days. We enjoyed all the luxuries of a marina (swimming pool, no dingy i.e. no wet bottom ashore, plentiful water etc) but were please to head back out to anchor due to the heat/lack of breeze and mosquitoes in the marina. It had certainly warmed up a lot in the last couple of weeks, and so a nice breeze is essential at nighttime.
Hilary and Charlotte did the Island tour (that we’ve done a couple of times before) – they swam in waterfalls,
were shown all the different spices growing on the island,
had monkeys climbing over them,
visited the ancient rum factory, (where they still use all the old traditional methods from over 200 years ago),
and generally had a good time seeing all over Grenada.
We met up with Pacific Bliss, who we had originally met in Antigua back in December and last seen in St Martin in March. Charlotte got to play a lot with Zinnia and have sleep-overs at each others boats.
We then headed over to Prickly Bay, where a lot of cruisers anchor. Charlotte arranged a kids play date on the beach. We met a cruising couple from London (Pat and Nick), with 2 children (a girl, Finn, of 8 and a boy, Red, of 11) – Charlotte and Zinnia were soon busy playing with them. They had arrived in Grenada a month ago, having sailed across the Atlantic, and were staying for a while – Finn and Red had just started at a school on the island…. That got us thinking!!
Saturday morning Charlotte and I went to help with the Mount Airey Reading project – which involved spending the morning at a community centre in a small village in the hills and helping local children out with reading and maths.
Saturday afternoon, a motor over to Clarke’s Court Bay Marina’s pot luck, then on Sunday to Hog Island for Charlotte’s 7th Birthday party (see prior blog entry). Monday a trip over to La Phare Blue marina to enjoy their pool and restaurant – it was Hilary’s last night.
Tuesday, 25th May, was Charlotte’s birthday. Fortunately, due to Hilary’s visit, there were plenty of presents (from family in London) to open!
We sailed back to Prickly Bay, as it was close to the airport. Hilary seemed to have a fun relaxing time, enjoying a few of the restaurants, Jimmy’s cuisine and the sundowner G&Ts! After tea and birthday cake she headed off to the airport to fly back to London.
Finn and Red came over after to help Charlotte finish off the cake!
Other activities in Grenada so far included:
- Geocaching – I still had a travel bug that I had picked up back in Antigua in February that I needed to deposit in another geocache! So found one in the grounds of a hotel on Grand Anse beach;
- Ski-bobbing with Red and Finn and water skiing;
- Snorkeling the Underwater Statues
- Burger night and other social events at the different marinas.
Jerry and Tracy on Challenger arrived and so it was nice to catch up again – last time we had seen them was St Lucia.
The big boat "A", owned by Russian billionaire turned up in Grenada.
We are sure they are following our route... having seen them in St Barts, St Martin, Antigua, St Lucia, and now Grenada. Last year it was the mega sailing yacht Maltese Falcon that was following us..
One of the “highlights” for both us and Charlotte (although for completely different reasons!) was Charlotte going to school for 2 weeks at a local school in Grenada. It was the same school that Finn and Red has just started at, although they were in a different class.
Although very excited to go (mainly for meeting other kids), when we got to the school, Charlotte was a bit nervous. It was a good experience for her to be able to just join in a class of 20 children, not knowing anyone and join in the lessons and playtime. When I went to pick her up at the end of the day she said it was “grrrrreat” and that all the kids were so friendly. Hopefully the enthusiasm for going to school will continue for the whole 2 or 3 weeks, until we leave Grenada!! Meanwhile I am having a nice break from the every morning homeschooling!
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