Nomadic life can be hard. On some, it is much harder than others. I, for example feel like I could just keep moving and never settle anywhere and be just fine with that. I, however, stand alone aboard our boat.
One thing that the weather in the tropics forces boaters to do, in general, every year is to pick a “safe” spot and settle down for a bit to watch the hurricanes blow past far over the horizon. This year, we had our goal set as Grenada. Our insurance company, and common sense, made us stay in Grenada from the beginning of August until the beginning of November. We stayed nearly three weeks longer waiting for a few repairs and other hiccups, but the three-and-a-half months we spent sitting still were a pretty great reset of our lifestyle.
St George’s
Our first stop in the mainland was at the capital city of St. George’s. The town is gorgeous from out in the anchorage and even up close-ish. Like many larger cities in the Caribbean, it is a bit on the grungy side once you are immersed. The entire island is very hilly which means there are pretty viewpoints all over the place.
We spent a few days exploring the city by foot and by dinghy.
Over the next few months, we made many more trips to the city but our first impression of how European the city looks from the water was slightly buoyed up by some of the architecture, despite the generally run-down look of most things.
Starting in St George’s, but continuing on during our entire time in Grenada, we saw dozens of rainbows, sometimes double rainbows and often several times a day. Like sunsets, dolphin sightings, and making love to my wife, I never seem to tire of rainbows.
In addition to the big city feel, there were some spaces of serenity nearby, such as BBC beach and some random small beach that is literally called Nameless Beach.
We went to the fish market and local farmer’s market downtown as well.
We ended up coming back a few more times because the best fish and produce on the island could only be found here.
There was a bunch of fish available, but we went back several times for the sashimi-grade yellowfin tuna that cost $10ec per pound (about $3.70 US).
The fish was great as a main dish, but mostly I used to to make seared tuna salads - seen here with some gluten free croutons I made out of the bread crumbles from the bottom of the bag.
Carnival
Our timing was pretty perfect, but our planning was a hot pile of smoldering garbage. Every year at the start of August is Carnival here in Grenada. We didn’t know anything about how to watch and/or participate and finding out anything was extremely difficult. In the end we found some random Facebook flyer that had something resembling a schedule (anyone who’s ever been to the Caribbean can laugh along with the word “schedule” which doesn’t seem to mean anything in the local dialect). One of the most famous parades which is essentially showing respect for the dead involves people walking solemnly through the street covered head to toe in chains and used motor oil. The parade was very early and we didn’t plan accordingly at all so we only have this photo from later in the day after sunrise of a couple of participants walking back to god-knows-where to try to clean themselves. Every time I have to change, or even check, the oil I think hard hard it is to get my hands clean. This is a whole other level.
The parades, much like the schedules and everything else here, were comically uncoordinated. We watched the daytime parade with our friends from Magistra and Catnip and during the parade a truck pulled up and blocked the road right in front of the grandstand so that they could offload port-o-potties.
It was exceptionally ridiculous, and trust me, the bar was high.
Le Phare Bleu (LPB)
Once we arrived on the south coast, we set the anchor and it didn’t budge for over three months. Within an hour of our arrival a 52 knot squall blew through the area and four nearby boats dragged anchor. Somehow, no collisions occurred but it was a very scary intro to “the cut” - the area we anchored in between Woburn Bay and the bay near Le Phare Bleu Marina (LPB). LPB was the friendliest, most inviting place we’ve encountered yet. There was loads of family boats in the marina as well as anchored by. They had a good restaurant with decent happy hour prices and weekly “dolla wing” night. We never missed wing night. At $1 ec per wing, it is literally the cheapest way to eat on the island.
LPB staff were always friendly and never pushy. They had a huge grassy area where the feral kids played a multi-month long re-enactment of Lord of the Flies. They had a pool that was eerily warm and it was basically summer camp for kids and non-stop chatting and drinking for adults. Yes, I gained 10 pounds, despite getting back into a very solid running routine on these grueling hills.
In addition to the other stuff, there was a sailing club and weekly kids lessons. Dublin wasn’t interested but Fira sailed almost weekly under the direction of Noah, the patient young instructor.
Obviously I can’t and won’t recall everything we did, I’ll try to capture some of the highlights. We went hiking nearby on Hog Island which had a scenic south coast that felt more like England than the Caribbean.
Fira turned nine and we baked a GF cake in our boat oven. It came out surprisingly well and she wanted to eat it at the LPB pool, so there were a ton of kids in attendance.
Fira and I went on our annual birthday date.
Grete and I ran 3-4 days a week with our friend Jesse and really explored the heck out of the south coast.
And of course among all the other things is just lazy life aboard with each other and this selfish boat cat.
Muddah Goose
Since we were in one place for a while, Grete’s mom (Muddah Goose) flew on in for a two week visit. She stayed at a fancy beach cottage place about 15 minutes away by car. We rented a car for the two weeks and the kids had summer camp at the Goose Nest.
We drove around a bit and explored, though the island roads are narrow, winding, and covered with stray dogs and humans. I hated driving in Grenada, despite the beauty of the landscape because I was often white knuckled. Our friends rented a car for a few days and joined us, although one day we were supposed to meet at the beach and they didn’t show. Turns out that they had a wheel go over the edge of the road and had to get hoisted back with the help of many locals. The clearances on the driving at many times are inches.
Put up with the crappy driving though, and the rewards are ripe.
We made it out to Mt. Carmel Falls on the east end of the island and got in a nice, cool swim.
The lower set of falls were not as pretty as this one:
But the falls are a natural waterslide which I did after psyching myself up for a while. It was nothing like the locals when I did it, but it was still a good thrill. It was also a good teaching moment. Dublin wanted to swim in the lower falls but there were about 20 people swimming already and we were the only white people around. We were able to discuss how sometimes people feel excluded for reasons we might not even realize and that it in no way means that they actually are excluded. Once I tried going to falls, the locals that were swimming gave me pointers and didn’t take any issue with our being there…obviously.
We spent a day driving and hiking with friend boats up in Grand Etang National Park. We stopped at the Rainbow Tree for a quick breather and photo op.
We fed some bananas to the Mona Monkeys.
We walked around Grand Etang Lake.
It is the single best flat trail I have ever hiked.
The terrain and forest canopy were so diverse that even flat, it was both challenging and interesting from start to finish.
Another day, we trekked up to Belmont Estate in the north part of the island for the estate tour and buffet (not all you can eat! They really wanted that point to be made clear to us Americans booking it) lunch.
We got to see the fancy chocolate-making process at every step. We walked into the woods and found ripe cocoa pods and sampled the raw seeds. They don’t taste anything like chocolate, they taste like a starburst - with very sweet, fruity flavors.
We saw the drying racks and the kids and women (us men couldn’t be trusted, I guess) were invited to walk among the dried beans to help break down the outer coating.
At the end we got to see the factory where the chocolate is cooked and formed, etc. It wasn’t wing night, but I still wore a button up shirt since the place was so classy, like me.
On the drive back from Belmont, we broke off from our buddy boats and decided to do our obligatory off-roading in a compact rental car that Grete and I always seem to do. We got lost a couple of times, encountered a cow that Grete had to get out and scare off the road, and ultimately took the normal way home after bottoming out the car and coming to the end of civilization.
Near the end of her visit, we ate at the Umbrella bar and swam at Grand Anse Beach near downtown. The view of the town was pretty and the food and drinks were luckily nothing like the standard Caribbean service.
Another thing that was great with the kids being at Muddah Goose’s Nest every day was that I was able to get some projects done around the boat. Since there were no school books out and no kids needing to move around, I was able to dig out all of the tools and spare parts needed to get a few repairs and upgrades completed. One non-boat such task (although everything on a boat is tangent to boat projects) was to sew some tote bags and cut down the rest of our old mainsail we replaced in Puerto Rico. I ended up sewing bags for us, Muddah Goose, my mom, and one for each of our buddy boats who were going to watch our boat and cats for us while we flew back to the US for a week.
Visiting the US
When we were packing out our house to move aboard the boat nearly a year ago, we had an expression, “If it’s in the tote, it goes to the boat.” The cats started getting in the totes and it made us laugh because they clearly wanted to be part of whatever was going on. Well, we decided to go visit my mom and step-dad in California for my mom’s birthday and when we started packing, Tuna Baboona decided that she didn’t want to be left behind.
The visit was great, as always. My mom is such a great host and the kids loved watching TV with Papa and eating Nana pancakes and everything else.
We managed to get new passports for the kids since theirs were set to expire in the spring. It meant that we got to grab lunch with one of my oldest friends while we were in the city.
We also had a pug encounter, which to us is like normal people seeing their favorite movie star. We all miss Sophie so much, but this rando-pug scratched the itch if only for a few minutes.
We are such a big deal that Dublin even had his own train on BART.
Also, true to form, the weather in SF was hot with blue skies, the same it always is when Grete goes to the city. I think she assumes that everyone is lying about weather in the bay.
We went for a couple of hikes and runs. The kids actually got along at times.
Grete and I were able to run without dying in the Grenadian heat. Of course, that included our now traditional lap around Lake Chabot, a beautiful reservoir nearby.
Pretty much the last thing we did while home, other than pack three massive suitcases full of boat parts, Xmas presents, etc., was to visit my aunt and uncle in the north east bay. I always love visiting family, and Uncle Tom and Aunt Sue have always played a big part in my life since they lived so much closer than other extended family and I was always more similar to my Uncle Tom than I was to basically anyone else in the entire family tree.
As always, saying goodbye was hard but we were very glad we got to make it home if just for a handful of busy days.
Halloween
Our final event back in Grenada was Halloween. It’s kind of strange. First, the carvings tend to be any squash or gourd available since we aren’t in the US and there isn’t tons of abundance.
Second, it was strange because the kids don’t walk door to door, they get dinghied from boat to boat.
Third, we’re in the tropics so it’s crazy hot. Dublin actually asked to be brought back to the boat halfway through because he was so hot in his black costume he didn’t want to get more candy.
Another thing that is unique is that since most of us are in Grenada for hurricane season, which most insurance companies end on November 1st, right after Halloween is a mass exodus from the area. So most friends we’ve had for a few months, and some such as Magistra and Catnip that we’ve had for over half a year, all spread out on their next adventures. It’s a lot of goodbyes.
After trick-or-treating, a huge Halloween party took place at LPB and it was bittersweet. We did get to be the lives of the party with the kids since Muddah Goose had brought out a box of glow-in-the-dark things that we passed around.
Repairs and Clean-up
While in Grenada, since we were sitting still, we were able to do some things that we’d been putting off.
We had our clogged exhaust elbow and seized turbo in our diesel engine replaced by the local Volvo technician.
I installed an electric toilet conversion in the kid’s bathroom. Up until then, we had manual pump toilets, which is perfect for me and Grete since it is quiet and doesn’t need power, but the kids weren’t able to flush for themselves which got old a long time ago.
I also installed our new AIS unit. It is a transponder that communicates with nearby boats, so that we can show up on their chart-plotters, and they can show up on ours. That second part where they show up on ours is still a work in progress.
I changed oil in all the things, fueled up our main tank, and other similar ongoing tasks. I repaired our running lights and a bunch of other small things that are slipping my mind now.
Right before we left, we had all of our hatches replaced as well. The acrylic was crazed which isn’t safe since if anyone stepped on the hatches, or fell, they would likely shatter through. It was an expensive upgrade, but now we have a safer situation topside and can clearly see out which is really nice.
Parting Ways
After about seven months in close travel with Magistra and Catnip, about five months with Machete, and a few months with other boats, we all have our own agendas and thus are pursuing our next phases. We’re glad for what we had but of course a bit sad to be parting ways…for now.
Bye-bye to Grenada as well (this girl likes to party).
We sailed a different route north than we took south. It was very gusty and a bit scary, but we saw some beautiful craggy rocks near Ronde Island.
Now, we’re really looking forward to moving again, but doing so much more slowly than last season.
Random Inside Jokes and Miscellany
People
Grenada didn’t just attract a few of us insured boaters. It attracts hundreds of boats every year. As with other stops along the way, some boaters (or their boats) arrive a bit roughed up and are not excited to move on. Additionally, some people simply fall in love with a place and decide to stay for a while which can quickly become years. In the case of Grenada, it means that there are lots of people in need of simple things that are challenging when you don’t have a car. Things like cases of beer, large packages of things like toilet paper, or other hard to carry items like 5 gallon jugs of fuel make using the public transportation intractable.
John “Fast Manicou”
One solution is to use a delivery service. In Woburn Bay a guy named John, local name “Fast Manicou” (fast possum) will take your fuel cans to get filled, and delivers beer, toilet paper and other large case goods right to the dinghy dock. So we used him for a lot of stuff. This grouchy-ass Karen lady in the local WhatsApp chat group hated him to the core. Any time anyone, including me, mentioned his services she’d fly off the handle about how she has morals and therefore would never use him. Her reasoning is because he argued with another local (John is a white guy who emigrated to Grenada a decade or two ago and will never be considered ‘local’) and that local started attacking him with a machete. John showed me the dings in his van and after the guy climbed inside and was swinging at his head, the slashes in the headrest. John runs a cash business and thus carries a sidearm. He shot the other guy. It was non-fatal and John was never arrested, which since he is a ‘foreigner’ is a pretty clear indication that his side of the story is true. Anyway, this lady (codename JS) acted like this guy just drives around the island shooting locals. It was nuts. She was/is nuts. Luckily, she seems to be one of those people who doesn’t plan to leave Grenada and since we don’t plan to return, I’ll never have to encounter her again.
Patrick “Shademan”
Shademan runs a shuttle service for about $6 per person. He takes about 20 people in his van to marine hardware stores, the ATM (it’s crazy hard to get cash in Grenada which is wild since most transactions are in cash), and grocery stores. He’s been doing it for over 15 years and he’s the most miserable self-employed person I’ve ever met. He grumbles about every single thing anyone says or does and just generally seems angry that he runs this service. I took it twice out of dire need and that was far too many times. He runs the same few routes on different days of the week and one of the routes makes no sense at all. After going to the grocery store, he makes a huge circle through part of downtown to get to a bulk store called CK’s. At CK’s, people buy cases of canned goods, beer, soda, and other really heavy bulk goods. The van is packed with people and groceries and the last stop is the heavy stuff that belongs on the bottom…but it ends up on the top. So on top of the eggs, chips, etc picked up from the grocery stores go cases of beer, etc.
On top of that, he literally drives past CK’s to get to the grocery store and then has to do a large circuit to get back afterward. So, a friend of ours mentioned that he should stop at CK’s on the way. Then he would have to circle back to it, and the heavy stuff can be on the bottom. He blew up at her screaming how he’s been doing this for 15 years and is not taking suggestions. Classic Shademan.
Jenny
Jenny is a British woman who can to Grenada to go to the university decades ago and never left. She works with the Grenada SPCA and lives on a large chunk of land in the mountains with a bunch of animals. She runs a farmer’s market once a week. We went the few several weeks we were there because she had veggies that we wanted and we not able to get at the grocery store. The rumor is that she goes to the store and buys up the supply and sells them at her farmer’s market. I think like the Manicou nastiness, it was started by someone who just doesn’t like her. We stopped going to the market simply because it was very high stress with people cutting in line (especially this one group of old ladies) and just being very mean/angry. After a month or so of our being there, Jenny hosted a fund-raiser at her land to raise money for the GSPCA. We went, and it was overall a nice day out with virtually ever boater we know in attendance. We stayed later than most people and in the end were rewarded with the chance to hose of a pig.
Hoss
At every place we hung out at, we ran a tab each visit. Since there are a million forty-something year-old, white guys named Steve, I chose to start our tabs under our boat name. It also helped for if Grete was ordering something since her name is clearly not Steve. The humor, at least for us, is how locals in Grenada pronounce Sea Horse. “Sea Hoss”. It never got old. Odds are if I ever get another boat after we’re done cruising, I’ll want to name it Sea Hoss.
Bonka Toe
In classic “me” fashion, just walking down the dock after buying some eggs from egg lady I stubbed my toe. It hurt pretty bad and was a bit purple. Over the next few days, the whole toe was swollen and purple and the nail went black. Now, as I finally write this post probably six weeks or so later, the toe is still struggling. Clearly my klutzy self broke my toe, literally just walking down the dock. At least I didn’t break it on a cat-scratcher like I did last year :)