So I guess we are not superstitious sailors as we left Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou on Friday 13th for the Spice Island of Grenada and our chosen harbor of Clark’s Court Bay by the town of Woburn. We decided to sail down the windward (east) side of Grenada as the wind was forecast at 15 knots and the leeward side has a large wind shadow which makes sailing all the way difficult. So we enjoyed a boisterous sail in the open Atlantic water with 15-20 knots and an east wind sailing the whole way. The 3 southern bays on Grenada are home to many cruising sailors and their boats during hurricane season, with the fleet choosing either here or Trinidad as their escape from tropical storm paths. We are in a very protected bay and choose a spot with good winds as our batteries are fading and need to be replaced. We have ordered them but need to catch as much wind at night as possible to avoid our fridge cutting out from lack of power. More on this later.
We met m/v Tusen Tackk II with Chuck & Barbara who we spent lots of time with in Tyrrel Bay and resumed our noodling class with them. Then we met s/v Eye Candy (Aus) and Andrew & Claire almost immediately on arrival and it was a warm welcome as we had been chasing them since our haul out in Deltaville. We also met up with s/v Miss Molly (UK) Phil & Monica and s/v Serenade (USA) Gregg & Jo who were all at Hog Island just by us. So we had our first few days just meeting up with old and new friends and enjoying the social life of the cruising community.
Our first trip was the Turtle tour up to the North end of Grenada and a 1 1/2 hour bus ride. We joined several other boats who also booked on Paul’s “Best Cab” tour and set off across the twisting roads of the island, which are for the most part paved, but not in great order, so it’s not very fast at all because that and all of the traffic. We arrived at a small Levera Bathway visitor center near Sugar Loaf Island on the NE coast. We had a short discussion on the do’s and do not’s of turtle watching on the beach at night and then an explanation of the nesting habits of the Leatherback turtles that nest here. The season is from February to August so quite wide and therefore we had a chance to see both nesting and hatchling in one visit as other cruisers had earlier in the month.
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| The visitor Center (Monica, Phil, Guilome, Devin) |
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| Mock Leatherback turtle |
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| Our group listening to the guide |
We left the bus in a line headed into the blackness of a waning moon and a covering of stars onto the beach where the wind was blowing ashore at around 10-15 knots and the surf was down behind the island and reefs. We came out almost immediately to a group of researchers surrounding a large Leatherback turtle that had just come ashore. We all grouped around the large turtle to watch her dig the nest with her two back legs and it took several minutes to complete. Once the turtle begins digging the nest depth they apparently enter a trance like state and are unaware of their surroundings, which is just as well as the researchers are afraid this nest is too close to high water and therefore decide to collect the eggs for repositioning later. So as the laying begins the researcher spots the change in the turtles behavior and fills the hole she has just finished to prevent eggs dropping out of reach, then he asks a cruiser to hold one of the rear legs out of the way so that he can reach under the turtle to collect the newly laid eggs in his hands and pass them out to some of us holding bags for him. The collection went really well and the eggs then started to get smaller, apparently the turtle lays both yoke and non-yoke eggs. The smaller non-yoke egg is a spacer to fill the nest and maintain even temperature. Interestingly it’s the temperature of the nest that dictates the eventual sex of the turtle as well so at the time of laying they could be either. The turtle then finishes the laying and fills the remainder of the nest hole and then begins the camouflage routine where she passes over the nest area disturbing a wide area of sand. When this is complete the turtle turns to the surf and heads back to the sea. Once in the water it seems everything accelerates as the turtle is soon on it’s way, which goes to demonstrate they are much more agile when their weight is supported by the sea than lumbering around on land.
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| Turtle digging nest |
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| Gathering eggs |
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| All done |
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| Camouflage of nest site |
We witness another turtle coming ashore and are told to stand back as they are not yet in a trance and noise or light can disturb their coming ashore. Unfortunately the guide then leads us away from the beach, we don’t get to see this second one dig her nest. Unfortunately we also missed any hatchlings as it was near high tide and the beach is not so accessible for seeing them or getting more groups to them. We heard afterwards that the other bus had seem hatchlings so it was a big disappointment. So we hand our visitor badges back and return to the center and the late night journey back to our boats. So if you want to watch turtles and hatchlings we recommend to go on an evening with a full moon and low tide around 8pm-2am.
Our next tour on Grenada was the famous “Island Tour” by Cutty with 12 of us sharing his van. The first highlight is Cutty’s brand new van with great suspension and air conditioning which makes a huge difference. Cutty is a fantastic guide and an extremely knowledgeable individual, he recognizes almost every plant and stops at lots of places to show us fruits, spices and vegetables growing either wild or on plantations. His tour covers a lot of the famous forts on Grenada as well as many interesting buildings and towns around the islands. Our first photo stop is of the prison where the grounds and farm are all tended by inmates. We also stop to see the harbor view of St Georges and the overlooking forts.
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| St George from the fort above |
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| St Georges |
Are first destination stop is the Annadale falls where we all walk through lush tall trees and exquisite flowers to see the tall waterfall that is here. The flowers are truly spectacular cascading out besides the path and with such elegant shapes and contrasting color, we hope the pictures do them justice.
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| Lovely flowers |
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| Large group of them |
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| Stunning displays |
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| Unique rain forest flowers |
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| Positively gorgeous |
The fall is also very large and a jumper greets us and asks for a donation to take pictures of his jump. Devin has jumped from higher but we let the local guys do it here, a few visitors do brave the water for a swim however.
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| Annadale falls with a swimmer |
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| Annadale falls |
The next stop was a visit to the Grenada Cocoa Association where we saw the local worker bottling Cocoa oil & Noni which is supposed to be a very good natural cure for a number of things including cancer. They also bottle a number of spices and have a large co-op warehouse for storing dried coco which they sell in various states for cooking and making drinks.
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| Cocoa drying on racks |
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| Stored Cocoa |
We also had a tour of the 100+ year old plantation house next door as the owner allows visits when he is not in. It was quite amazing to see it in such good condition given its age and continuous habitation, it also had lots of period furniture inside as well.
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| Inside plantation house |
As we wound through the mountain roads Cutty sounded his horn to a short tune a couple of times and gave us pause for thought. He asked if we knew why, then explained it was to attract the local monkey's to come meet us, he does this every time and they have learnt he tune and come to greet him. Cutty takes us to a clearing where he asks who wants to have a monkey climb on their shoulder, well who would? Of course a few always do, Gregg and Gregg go up and Cutty puts a banana on their shoulders to get the monkey to come up. It’s a wonderful sight so Devin volunteers too and to his surprise gets two monkey on him!
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| Anything for a banana |
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| Whatever you do don't pull that tail! |
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| Monkey business |
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| Their natural habitat |
Our next stop is lunch at Rivers Plantation and distillery, it has wonderful grounds with large tree and again beautiful flowers. We have a really nice buffet style lunch and it include free entrance to the distillery. The tour of the distillery is great as it is the oldest in Grenada and still makes rum from sugar cane which is crushed on site by the water powered mill which dates from 1857. The rest of the tour shows us the process and the old buildings which are still in use. The finale is the tasting, as it uses all natural ingredients we expected and awesome taste, but sadly it’s over proof and like rocket fuel and not really to our taste however locals certainly crave it!
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| Our group at Rivers Distillery |
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| Water wheel driven cane masher |
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| The still |
After lunch we stopped at the Grenada Chocolate factory. Here they use an organic recipe and natural ingredients locally grown to make their chocolate in various concentrations. We toured the rooms of the old house to see the many machine required to dry, crush, grade, press and hand pour into molded chocolate bars. What an attack it was to our olfactory senses as we delighted in the aromas of the place and the finished product they were so proud to let us sample.
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| The Grenada chocolate factory |
Our last visit of the day was to the Nutmeg co-operative where they store the hand gathered nutmeg from local farmers for drying, opening and grading for eventual sale as mace (the outer red covering) and nutmeg (the inner seed). The industry is still recovering from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 which destroyed 90% of the nutmeg trees. As it takes 7-10 years for a tree to mature and produce fruit it is still too early to be back in full production. Many of the warehouses and processing plants are not in full use even 10 years after so it’s a big blow to the island economy.
Well that’s it for now, we are having a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying the area as you can see. We have walked a few paths locally with friends and attend the daily Noodle class so we won’t get too lethargic. We also enjoy the local beach bar get together on Sunday with the other boats here and the locals that come to enjoy the beach and party.
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| A walk with Chuck of Tusen Tackk II |
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| A walk of our own found this local's bar |
A regular Sunday event is the beach bar t Hog Island run by Roger. He has locals and cruisers attend and it's a great way to end the week. The pictures are of a party of locals having a local dish called "oil down" which we saw made and shared a plate too which was delicious!
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| Oil down cooking on the beach |
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| One of the chef's |
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| It was delicious! |
We wish everyone a wonder summer.
