Grenadines Charter

Thursday March 22, 2018 Off to Grenada

Our Jet Blue flight was uneventful as usual, C&I in Grenada went quickly. We took a taxi to the Grand Anse Beach Palace Hotel, our long time favorite. Lenny has made more progress in the recovery from the stroke he suffered a couple years ago, however Sharon was feeling a little under the weather.





Views from the hotel, one of the reasons we love this place

We unpacked and headed straight for the vendors market on the beach. Marley gave us a great deal on chairs for the next two days as always. I walked over to the local bar by the tennis court to find our friend Bob and make the arrangements for a cook up.
Dan and Em came down to the beach by dingy and we caught up on the happenings of the past year and a half and enjoyed their stories of their travels on their circumnavigation with the World ARC. We will be joining them on the last leg to St. Lucia.
The balance of the day/evening was spent lounging on the beach, swimming and having a few with our local friends. Kim had dinner from the Fish Pot, Ralph always does a fine job; I opted for some callaloo soup with salted pig tails from another food stand, I just love the local soups.


Friday March 23, 2018 Grenada Beach Day

We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Port Louis Marina to drop off the boat parts I had brought over for Skyelark. A quick stop at the supermarket across the street for some breakfast items and rum then it was back to the beach for the day.
Nancy, a friend I had graduated high school with, arrived on American Airlines in the afternoon. After seeing my facebook post for the last several years, she signed on for Skyelark’s trip to celebrate a milestone birthday. Once she was settled in at the hotel she met us at the beach. Dinner in the evening was again from the Fish Pot followed by drinks and storytelling.
After leaving the beach we stopped at a local bar just up from the hotel for a nightcap before going back to the hotel for a nice sleep.





Saturday March 24, 2018 In Search of the Elusive Babash

Nancy joined us for breakfast at our room; the room is set up nicely, split into two rooms, the full kitchen out on the balcony and the bed in a separate room.
We met Dan, Em and Tony (another crew member for our upcoming trip) in town at the central market.
Dan picked up some fruit and veg then we all went to Theresa’s stand to stock up on spices to take home. Grenada isn’t called the Spice Island for nothing, the variety and quality are very good. Next stop was a t the fish marker, Dan was quite impressed with the cuts available and the price (8 EC a pound for fresh tuna fillets). While at the fish market I struck up a conversation with a local gentleman and mentioned I would like to find some babash, local rum sometimes referred to as Grenadian moonshine.



The Carenage at St. Georges

Dan and Em headed back to Skyelark, Tony went on a tour of St. Georges and the girls made off for the beach. I on the other hand was on a mission; now apparently the making and selling of babash isn’t exactly condoned by the local government which means I can’t go into too much detail on my quest. I took a bus to a village in the interior and found the shop the fellow had told me about. I asked the woman at the shop for the man the that I was told makes the elusive rum. She led me down the street and pointed out a path down the mountain and into the forest. Now at this point I hadn’t realized this was all frowned upon as in Dominica the homemade rum is sold openly. I wasn’t quite sure how I would be received once I found the little shack in the woods but walked up to the door and knocked none the less. The man that answered was very surprised to see this old white guy from Buffalo on his porch asking for babash; he repeatedly said “I can’t believe you found me” and asked how I had heard about him which I gladly explained. Finally he said “well you don’t look like the police” and asked how many bottles I wanted and what strength. He also asked that I didn’t speak to any of the people in the village on my way out.



The secret spot

Bottles securely packed in my backpack I grabbed a bus back to St. Georges and then another to the hotel. A quick change and it was off to the beach to meet the girls and pass the afternoon swimming and having a few from the bars.

We had to cancel our plans with Bob as Dan had already arranged a crew dinner, sort of a meet and greet and to go over our loose itinerary. The dinner was at Coconuts on the beach; not a “high end” place but certainly a step up from the local beach restaurants. The setting is very nice, open air, steps from the water and very nice décor. Everyone enjoyed their meals, which were reasonably priced considering the quality of the food.
The three of us Buffalonians headed back to the vendors market for drinks and to say our goodbyes to our friends.

Sunday March 25, 2018 And the Charter Begins

We met at the marina around 9:00 as instructed and were soon on our way to Carriacou, our first stop on the trip. The sailing was brisk however the wind direction forced us to motor the last bit so as to arrive while it was still daylight. We anchored off Sandy Island and Paul and Sue from Firefly dingied over for sundowners, we had meet them on the WARC in 2014. Afterwards Dan made us a nice dinner, any plans to go ashore were put aside as the long sail up in the tropical sun had us all ready for an early night to bed.



Port Louis Marina Grenada



Safety briefing and PFD fitting

Monday March 26, 2018 A Day on Carriacou

Breakfast was on board while Dan explained to options of things to do ashore. Most of the crew were going for a snorkel at Sandy Island; the wind was blowing and the waves a little too rough for Kim’s comfort and since we had been there many times before we went ashore instead.

Stopped at Off the Hook to say hello to Curtis and Colleen, Curtis showed Kim the new apartment he was working on which is smaller than the one I stayed in but still nice. I headed over to the shop that sells the Jack Iron and had the lady put two bottles worth in my litre and a half water bottle. Her measuring bottle held more than mine, but fortunately she had a glass handy so the excess did not go to waste. We stopped at the Banana Bar, Joe was doing some repair to one the support post. Freshy was there so I gave him the small bottle of babash I had brought for him.

Kim and I took a leisurely stroll into town through the mangroves, this is one of our favorite walks in the islands as we stop along the way for her to sun while I swim. We stopped at Butterfly Bar for drinks and lunch; Kim had a pizza and I a mutton roti, both were good as usual. Dan called to see where we were and put the crew on the bus with instructions to the driver to drop them off at Butterfly

We stopped off a Snaggs, he wasn’t actually open as he had a rough night the evening before, but he was happy to open for us. After a quick stop at the supermarket for water and rum we took the #11 bus to Bogles to take a walk around the north end of the island. Again it was nice and cool going up in the shade but a little hazy once we reached the high point, we could still see some of the islands we would be stopping at. On the way down some opted to go straight to Windward to see the boat building that takes place there while the Buffalo soldiers stopped at Petit Carenage for a nice swim.

It didn’t take long for a bus to pass by and we were back on our way to Hillsborough. From there we took the #10 bus to L’Estere, the driver took the long way around through Tyrell Bay which was nice since it provided us with a bit of an island tour.

Dan and Em meet us ashore at Off the Hook for drinks then went back to the boat for dinner, while the rest of us had dinner at the bar. The food was enjoyed by all and Colleen served our side dishes family style which meant there was plenty to go around.

Tuesday March 27, 2018 Petit St. Vincent & Petit Martinique

I went ashore with Dan and Em in the morning and enjoyed a nice swim while they had their morning run. We moved Skyelark closer to town to clear out, I went in search of a saltfish and bake while they were at customs.




A nice brisk sail

We set sail for Petit St. Vincent where we visited Goaties Bar on the beach and had some very poncey and expensive drinks (iced cappuccino and a vodka drink 90 EC). A quick dingy ride over to Petit Martinique and we soon found ourselves at G G’s Bar and Grill, beers 5 EC were much more to our liking. The girl was streaming steel pan music but was happy to put on some local soca once I asked. Kim caught some sun on the beach while I swam in between drinks. Dan came by at the pre-arranged time and we went back to the boat for dinner on board.







Petit St. Vincent & Goaties Bar



A place a little more to our liking on Petit Martinique

Wednesday March 28, 2018 A Snorkel Stop & Union Island

Anchor up after breakfast and a quick motor over to Mopion for some snorkeling. It was the first time I’ve been here and there were the usual assortment of fish, I did see a small eel and an octopus which was a treat.



Mopion

Next stop was at Clifton on Union Island, the wind was favorable, so we were able to sail the short distance. It was busy with lots of boats, but we were able to find a suitable mooring ball. We had a nice walk around town stopping for some beers and wifi. We made our way to Kite beach where the kitesurfing school is located. The bar/school has an eclectic feel to it with various loungers and swing seats as you would expect of a place that caters to the kitesurfing crowd. Sundowners were some nicely made rum punches on Happy Island, almost mandatory in this anchorage, especially for first timers.



Kim and Nancy at the fruit market on Union



At Happy Island

We had dinner ashore at the original pizza place, the pies were nice and loaded with toppings. Back onboard we finished the night with rums in the cockpit before retiring for the night.

Sammy--as always, entertaining and great pics!

We loved Grenada. Keep the reports and photos coming!

As Carol said, great report, as always with the real local flavour captured beautifully. Particularly love the contrast between getting a pound of Tuna for almost nothing and the ridiculous price for two drinks at a tourist hotspot.