Grenada

I haven’t blogged much about Grenada. Not sure why. Maybe ‘cause Chris is back in San Diego helping with her folks and I’m here hanging in the cruisers southern hangout. There are a lot of boats that spend the hurricane season in Grenada. It is far enough south, 12* latitude, that hurricanes are rare.
 
Rare, but not unheard of. This is part of the aftermath from Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Since there are so many cruisers down here, there’s a lot of services focused on cruisers. Prickly Bay is the ground zero for the Adult Daycare for Cruisers. They have yoga, Grenada Train Dominos, Hash hikes, Happy Hours, shopping trips, island tours, and dinner specials most every day. These all get announced on the interminably long morning VHF net.
We did some hikes with friends off Mirus who know the island well. We came across this small farm. It looks like the TSA beat us to it. The sign says: Visitors Please Respect Farm Biosecurity.

The biosecurity was in place to protection these precious guys.

The photo at the top of this blog is looking down on the capital, St. George’s. Above is a look from the waters edge of the crowded buildings and hillside.
I think the Caribbean Tobacco Company Ltd. has seen better days. Maybe the cigarettes and the business will rise out of the ashes like the Phoenix with the next revival business cycle.

Like most places, the cell phone has killed the payphone industry. At least these British style kiosks still have character.

At the top of the hill over looking St. George’s is Fort Rupert, now called Fort George. It is famous for the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop at this spot (see historical re-enactment above). Bishop lost his job when the Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard led a coup against him in 1983. Bishop himself became Prime Minister by leading a coup in 1979 against Prime Minister Gairy. All of this part of the run up to the 1983 US Invasion of Grenada. I don’t know about you, but I sure felt a lot more secure living in my California neighborhood in 1983 after the looming threat of Grenada was taken down by the Reagan White House and the 82nd Airborne Division.

The fort now spends its time guarding the Cruise Ship dock.

I needed to clean the boat bottom before we take off for Bonaire. The growth is starting to get ugly. Kind of a combination soft fauna interrupted by small volcanic looking hard critters. The water in Clarkes Court Bay is not very clear. Some say it is because of the Rum factory near the head of the bay. I decided to sail around to the anchorage off of St. George to get some clearer water to break out my Hooka and clean the boat bottom. The the two small rocks in the foreground above are The Porpoises. They are about 4/10s of a mile offshore. It is clear to pass either side of them. I went for the outside, as its hard to see these guys in the chop.
Chris gets back late Sunday night. We’ll start getting ready to do the 400 mile trip to Boniare next week.
Paul