October 20, 2010... Road Trip

After more than two months in Grenada we've been most everywhere, except the north coast. So we circumnavigated the island by bus heading east from our anchorage on the #2E bus to Grenville. We snapped a photo of our conductor on this bus -- nice guy -- he had worked for the Chinese project at La Sagesse (see sign.)

 In Grenville, we picked up some peanut clusters at the market (little spike of energy!) and took the #9 bus north to Sauteurs, the northernmost town. Like many places, the most impressive buildings were the churches. The Catholic church is built in front of Leapers Hill -- the place the last island natives, the Caribs, jumped to their deaths rather than live under French rule in the 17th century. Views from the coast are of the small islands between Grenada and Carriacou -- this day the water looked pretty rough for sailors headed north as hurricane season nears its end.

 Finished with our tour of the town we got the #5 bus which took us up through the mountains again and out to the west coast near Victoria, through Gouyave and south to St. George's. From there, back onto the #2E bus and home. The whole trip cost $38 EC -- around $13 US for both of us to ride through the countryside with madcap drivers, who race each other for fares, making us hang on as we careen around pin turns. Ah, what cruisers will do for entertainment!

October 14, 2010... Seven Sisters Waterfalls

Another day out in the wilderness of Grenada... along with Carrie and Carl from Sanctuary and Crystal from Dancing Dolphin, we took the bus to Grand Etang in the central highlands of the island. Our first stop was to see the mona monkeys that beg tourists for food -- Crystal had some bananas -- when finished, they aggressively approached Carrie for more, tugging on her dress.

Down the road to the waterfalls (aka St. Margaret Falls), we picked up our hiking sticks and walked through a farm. There we saw our first and only nutmeg tree since getting to Grenada. Hurricane Ivan demolished the island's nutmeg trees in 2004; something like 90% of the trees were ripped up and blown away. It takes several years for the trees to mature and bear fruit, and we have been on the lookout for a tree since we got here. Finally.

The weather was not as cooperative as if could have been, it rained pretty much the whole time (about an hour) we hiked down to the falls. While this did make the trip cooler (always welcome) it also made it pretty muddy. Carefully we worked our way through the rainforest and all that gorgeous greenery to the stream and then the falls. Pretty magical. Super Butterfly entertained us with some daredevil high dives off the falls. None of us followed, but the toughest of the crew (Carrie, Crystal, and Patti) braved the icy waters and swam in the waterfalls pool. It was refreshing!

October 9, 2010... Cricket!

We'd heard a fairly indistinct radio advertisement for a festival this weekend. Always interested in doing something not specifically geared to cruisers, we started asking local people about this festival. Bingo -- the Spice Sports Rhythm and Food Fest at Progress Park. Food? Music? We're in. Oh - and cricket. Our cricket viewing experience is quite limited but we were willing to give it a chance. We had no clue where Progress Park was but that it was somewhere near Grenville; #2W bus whisked us away. One more bus and there it was -- cricket being played by teenagers already underway.

The highlight of the day was yet to come -- an 'oldtimers' game, retired professionals -- West Indies vs. International (the latter we were told primarily Aussies, Kiwis, and Brits.) Sitting under tents getting out of the brutal sun, we were surrounded by people who wanted to make sure we were having a good time and that we understood what was going on. (We got the basics... the nuances were definitely beyond us... but according to the announcer, those 6-point hits were all 'lovely'!) One man who was a former player (first bowler, to be specific) was thrilled to be seeing some of the greats he used to watch in his youth. The kids we talked with were excited to be watching them too; they told us that this was a very good match. There were some acrobatic catches and the bowlers' choreography of their pitches was pretty impressive. The banter between the crowd and the fielders standing nearby was pretty funny too. The beauty of the setting at the Park was that all the oldtimers were available to talk with people after the match -- no walls -- just walk right over. BTW -- West Indies won.

The food part of the festival was setting up as the match finished (many vendors were those at Gouyave on Friday nights) but we were hungry all day, so we ate FANTASTIC corn soup sold by the only vendor there earlier. This soup was seasoned with terrific curry spices and had chickpeas, onion, and greens in addition to slices of corn on the cob in the soup. It was so good, we went back a second time. Snack vendors walked through the tents selling peanuts and plantain chips -- just like a ball game in America!

Live music started after the match too -- we couldn't stay long as we had to get buses back to the boat -- but we're certain those who stayed had a great time -- the beat followed us out to the road. We loved our day out. Enjoy the live action shots from the festival!

October 5, 2010... La Sagesse / St. George's Touring

Being closer to the east than west side of Grenada we decided to take advantage of that and visit La Sagesse, a cove with a sand beach at the southeastern-most tip of the island. The water seemed rough and the tide was up so there wasn't much beach. We didn't swim and the crabs seemed to have control of the beach that was left, so we sat and enjoyed the scenery a while and then decided to hop a bus to St. George's.

In town we stopped for lunch on the carenage at The Nutmeg restaurant (great fish roti) and thus fortified, headed uphill to the top of town. The trek was well worth it -- clear skies made for some breathtaking views all the way to the southwest coast.

September 26 - October 10, 2010...Calivigny Harbour, Grenada

We stayed at the Clarke's Court Bay Marina for a week after returning from the States. Trying to get back in shape by kayaking everywhere, we did some trips down the bay and out around Hog Island; also into Hartman Bay. We participated in some of the cruiser activities ... cruiser cricket on Saturday, Sunday beach party at Roger's on Hog Island, bus trip to Gouyave fisherman village for Friday fish fry, shopping bus to IGA, and the trek by dinghy to Hartman to walk across L'Anse aux Epines to the Tiki Bar for the Saturday night blues jam session with Rough Enough.

Getting a little restless though, we left the slip on Sunday for points east... not really sure where we would end up. Having been to Egmont, we settled on the next bay east, Calivigny Harbour, another protected cove on the south coast. This is a nice quiet little place, just the medicine we needed after all the cruiser community hoopla. And, we can still get to town on the bus from here -- another new route to learn! The bus also goes east to Grenville, so we've been able to explore there as well. After two weeks, we haven't even lowered the dinghy as we can kayak back and forth to the dock. The Mangrove Hide-Away restaurant on shore is a beautiful place to stop for a drink after returning from town, or to have a great local meal. Carrie and Carl on Sanctuary joined us here after their passage from Trinidad. It's been great catching up, having not seen them since April in Boqueron, Puerto Rico.

Several times we've thought, well maybe we should head back west to one of the populated anchorages, but we always seem to change our minds and just stay put. 'Peaceful' doesn't do justice to this place. See what you think -- attached are some pictures from one dawn in the bay.

Calivigny Harbour: 12d00.850'N 61d42.683'W