CARRIACOU BOUND

We've been a bit lazy keeping up the blog so before getting to the fun at hand we're going back a bit.

Clark's Court Bay Senior's Dingy Races Leaving Elephant's Child at anchor near Calivigny Island we dingy'ed in to watch a bit of the races. While the 8 year olds were having lunch the Senior Masters stole the dingies and headed out to do battle.

Being first might not be all THAT important, although bragging rights would be worth a drink or two, however imagine being last! We think we spotted the most likely candidate for this position as he seemed to have a hard time knowing which side of the dingy to sit on as he (was that tacking?) maneuvered around. His dingy seemed to have the least amount of free board of all. What was particularly remarkable was his ability to go in reverse! After a while it became a bit painful to watch so we ventured on to the book swap in preparation for our journey north where fewer opportunities would present themselves.



Cruiser's Net This is a broadcast in Grenada by the cruising community every morning but Sunday that deals with information, sources of services, things for sale, social events and so on. Saturday meant that the Cruiser's Net would be particularly animated, and entertaining due to the rolling tones of Morgan Dodge aboard s/v Nirvana. He added, as only a Southern Lawyer could, embellishments designed to entertain and inform keeping us glued to our radios.

As we listened last Saturday on the morning of our departure for St. Georges Harbor, there was a warning of two 100' trees floating off the entrance to St. Georges. Given the ideal sailing conditions to head in this direction we were preceded by a catamaran that spotted one, hailing us via the VHF. As you can see from the picture hitting this would have ruined our day. Our Cruise to St. George's Harbor from Clark's Court Bay After John gave an overview with the charts to Jan, we proceeded with a trip that Elephant's Child had done many times. It was a perfect day, by choice. As John so smartly says, there is no time line for a reason. Safe sailing happens when the weather is right rather than when someone needs to be somewhere at a particular time. As we rounded the southwestern corner of Grenada we could see the new runway that was built by the Cubans, capable of handling the heaviest Russian transport aircraft, and thought by many down here to be the real reason for the US military invasion. Interestingly, when we were traveling around the island with Cutty on our tour, we were taken to the old airport where drag races take place. We both thought that was odd given how expensive any car is on the island. Coming into St. Georges Harbor we docked at Grenada Yacht Club to fill up with water. Elephant's Child holds 150 gallons which cost us $25 EC (East Caribbean Dollars or roughly $7.00 US). The attendant, a native Grenadian working on what was his Thanksgiving Day, was a delight to talk with. Koran, as he was named, although born two years after the assassination of Maurice Bishop (Prime Minister of Grenada just prior to the US invasion), was knowledgeable and opinionated about the history and political infighting that characterizes Grenadian politics then and now. Koran thought that if Maurice Bishop, his hero, had been able to put in place his policies, supported by the Cubans, that there would have been huge benefits in terms of political stability, education, jobs and health care.

Two go shopping So....there we were at anchor in St. Georges Bay. We were treated to two turtles passing by the boat at anchor before deciding that it was time to get to the chores including shopping for provisions. Given that we would not be seeing a real grocery store for a few weeks, it was a major shop. Into the dingy, motored to the dingy dock just to be greeted by a Christmas Tree all aglow. John's absolute favorite music on the planet is Christmas music in October. :)

Here were are at the IGA, the shopping completed and John's reward near at hand. He's thinking how good it's going to taste and how long (months) until the next opportunity would present itself for that orgasm in a glass. We pushed the cart to a table and John walked over to his favorite smoothie bar only to find out that Mangoes (his absolute favorite) were out of season. Given the look of disappointment on that 6 foot 3 inch rather large Scotsman's face, Jan was surprised they didn't send out for one from the neighboring island.. All that taken in he settled for a grapefruit smoothie.

Shopping complete, crew back aboard just in time for another Sundowner in the cockpit as the sun went into the sea. We'll let the pictures fill in the words we're at a loss for.

As John would say, The Lords and Ladies of the sky have outdone themselves many nights. A typical, if there is one, sunset where yotties are begins with a Sundowner (gin and tonic, rum and coke or dark and stormy on Elephant's Child) followed by a cushion to sit on in the cockpit. Looking around the anchorage you'll see nearly all sailors hanging out in the cockpit watching the show.It was a spectacular show. Again, the Lords and Ladies must have sent out for extra bright highlighters before setting to work on this one.

Hurricane Savvy sailors spend a few minutes every day checking on the weather, watching the developing systems exiting the African coast and the full blown hurricanes although well west of us that still represent potentially unsafe sea conditions. Grenada is about as safe as it gets in the Caribbean given it's latitude. But we have had a sharp reminder that Mother Nature writes her own rules sometimes as we watch that wayward child, Sandy, taking a highly unusual course. We hope our friends and family in the North will awaken on Wednesday with roofs over their heads, trees upright in the yard and boats still safely at their docks. Our thoughts go out to those Cruiser's in the Chesapeake Bay especially.

St. George's Bay to Carriacou. Leaving St. George's Bay we passed Carib Leap

where the native people, the Carib's, jumped off a cliff rather than surrender to the British or French (we're not sure which).

We had a wonderful sail up with little use of the motor on a couple of occasions.

Our three lines with a little pink octopus on the hook of each didn't attract any fish, much to our disappointment. Ever since Jan had that Curry Tuna Roti she's been looking for more!

Given the generous amount of time and favorable wind we stopped in a bay for lunch and a snorkel before moving on to Tyrell Bay.

Our first night here was a little uncomfortable from swells (predicted) courtesy of Hurricane Sandy. The morning came early with roosters crowing before dawn and the baying of a donkey being 'encouraged' to do something he would have rather skipped from the sounds of it. This afternoon well after the hottest part of the day had passed John narrated a dingy tour of Tyrell Bay including a trip into the Mangroves. The mangroves are a common place for boats to be secured (if that's possible) when there's a big storm coming. Still, the storm surge may take a yacht into the mangroves to a resting place that it isn't possible to retrieve the boat from. We passed the marina where Elephant's Child had her bottom spruced up just last month as well as many other boats in various states of condition. Then we spotted some pelicans and got our cameras going with some fairly good results. We decided that the relaxed pelican must have modeled for some current catamaran designs. They certainly had some attitude!