Chapter Eleven - Grenada and Christmas
Hi Everyone
We motored over 22 hours from Los Testigos to Grenada with the wind on the nose – (where else) and numerous strong squalls but finally arrived early morning. During the night Thora Too left the convoy to head directly to Carriacou. What a calm, cool dude he is. During the morning cruiser net at Margarita, Venezuela, he calmly announced “just thought you ought to know, the yacht next to us appears to be sinking – maybe someone could do something”? Everyone rushed outside to look – yup, there she was with about 1 foot of freeboard left – going down. There is something very male bonding that happens when they hear the call to the buckets. Within minutes at least 20 dingies were tied around the yacht – there was no way she was going to sink now. Apparently the owner had been working on the engine, disconnecting the hoses and only propping them up at which point she promptly started to fill up. Since when does a propped anything in Margarita stay up? Including eating dinner on board with guests – I’ll bet they never had a dinner like mine before – where they ended up being hosed down in the cockpit when the excessive rolling emptied the stew right out of the bowls into their laps and sent the wine glasses skittering after it. I digress - the rescue of the yacht was successful after a couple of hours with lots of buckets and 3 electric bilge pumps.
Home Sweet Grenada! How blissful to be back in a luscious, green island with great buses and shopping and no language.
We moved from Prickly Bay to Hog Island and now we’re in Clarke’s Court preparing for tonight’s Thanks Giving Feast on board Allegro. I’m bringing the traditional goulash and rice plus the great drinks we discovered onboard Zenitude – Thanks Oscar.
The recipe:
- One half of a small lime – cut into slices unpeeled
- 2 to 3 tablespoons white sugar – depending on how tart the limes are
- 1 ˝ oz. of white rum – or more
- A few ice cubes
In a small glass pound the limes, with the peels on and the sugar, with a wooden spoon. This releases both the juices and oils of the lime. Do not use metal to do the pounding. You may have to adjust the amount of sugar depending on the strength of the flavor of the limes. Add the rum and make sure the sugar is dissolved. Add the ice cubes and swish them around – enjoy.
We arrived in Carriacou today but the anchorage is extremely rolly – reminded us of Margarita; so we move to the North side near the mangroves where there is relatively little swell.
We met up with a great local couple – Allan and Jelma and their four kids; she drives a local bus and he is a fisherman, sailor, gardener and cook. They invited us to their home and proudly showed us their garden which looks like Eden full of every imaginable fruit and vegetable and a couple of goats to mow the grass and keep the weeds down. With pride Allan showed us the house which he had built for his family. It sits on stilts on a slope surrounded by grape vines, banana trees and dozens of rain barrels to collect the very precious fresh rain water – there is no other water supply! We sat in their living room sipping champagne which they brought out to celebrate meeting new friends. We hope to visit them again when we return next spring.
We left Carriacou for Union Island and then on to Tobago Cays where we again met up with Tevai. If you every come down to the Caribbean – come to the Tobago Cays – most cruisers say that this location epitomizes the ideal island setting of turquoise waters, palm trees, reefs and numerous small islands just waiting to be explored. We snorkeled behind the reefs in the turtle sanctuary and had a chance to see them up close. Had a great impromptu get together with Allegro, Tevai, Tiger Frightener, and Thankful, nibbling snacks out of one of the beached dinghies while standing on a white sand beach chatting and drinking while watching the sunset.
Saw the strangest sail boat come in today – she had two wooden park benches on the stern deck facing each other, festooned with two large flower planters like a mini balcony – somehow I just can’t visualize them sailing in a gale with the garden equipment.
After five days we left for Bequia with the same group and met up with Bob & Lynne on “Leap of Faith” – a great couple sailing on a 44 foot PDQ catamaran – she almost makes me want to switch from a mono hull plus she has a WASHING MACHINE!!!!
A full day dive was organized out on the surrounding reefs with a lot of bright blue coral, colorful fish and a rumored barracuda. That evening we all met on DRUM for a farewell cocktail hour – it was a little crammed with 12 people but with Oscar’s rum cocktail, good fun. Early next morning a convoy of 11 boats left for St. Lucia. The winds were strong from the east with swells of 10 feet which made for energetic sailing. DRUM had all three sails up and in 23 knots of wind we reached 8.1 knots!!!!!! The first time ever – Yahoo. I think we have finally got the sail trim right.
We spent one night in Soufriere which was incredibly rolly and then moved on to one of the prettiest anchorages/marinas we have ever seen – Marigot Bay, St. Lucia. This is a tiny, narrow bay with marinas in the middle and at the end of the lagoon plus beautiful gardens, restaurants and gift shopping. The holding was very poor – coral scrabble and giant rocks – so unfortunately we only stayed one night.
Another good sail and we are now anchored in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for Christmas with Allegro and Leap of Faith. The Christmas lights are up, the tree is out and the parties from the ARC are starting. ARC stands for Atlantic Rally Crossing – the 247 boats that left the Gran Canarie in November are now arriving here in St. Lucia and they are ready to party – we have to join in – being Christmas and all.
We were planning to spend Christmas in St. Lucia but the weather is changing. Next week the trade winds are increasing with high seas towards the end of the week. Time to change plans and we are off to Martinique to sped Christmas with Allegro.
That’s it for now and Roy and I would like to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Roy and Maggie
s/v DRUM