Apr 21
I went shopping for burger night today. While I had success in our new arrangement with Foodland to have one ten pound bag of ground beef at the store, I had to make a total of five stops to get everything on the list. We have been trying for several weeks to arrange for the beef to be available Monday's at the store rather than me having to drive to the distribution center, and this time it worked. We'll see if it works two weeks in a row.
We had a big catamaran come in from Brazil today. There are three young guys crewing it, and they will be here about a week before getting a haulout. They have been out of touch with the world during their passage, and were very anxious to get hooked up on the wi-fi. We also met spent some time visiting with another newly arrived boat. Bob, Joan, and their daughter Lisa anchored nearby recently and came in to check us out. They are originally from the US, but in their travels, they settled in New Zealand. They now call New Zealand home and have continued the circumnavigation in small chunks over the years.
In the afternoon, a friend of Bob's named Richard was in to talk to Bob. Richard is the guy who is from Trinidad and had his pan-playing eleven year old here a few weeks ago. We had a very interesting conversation with Richard about pans, and some of the famous Trinis who play them, like Robert Greenidge (Buffett's pan player) and Ellie Mannette who is known as the father of the modern steel pan.
We had a nice happy hour and then were back on the boat in time to listen to the Houston Jimmy Buffett concert live on Radio Margaritaville. I'm sure a bunch of our friends were there.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 22
It's the time of year that boats are heading back south, either to here or to Trinidad or Venezuela for hurricane season. We have met lots of boats this year by virtue of us being stationary, and now many of them are moving south again. Yellow Rose is one of those boats. We met Tom & Kathy here when they were northbound for their cruising season, and now they are headed back to Trinidad. They have been regulars checking in on the Coconut Telegraph SSB net, so we knew they were coming a couple of days ago.
We had a boat planning to leave today too. Suhaila has been in and out of the marina several times this season, this last time being when Gordon & Sue traveled back to the States for three weeks. They planned to leave today to cruise north or a few more weeks before returning to Grenada to haul out for hurricane season, but last minute things to do made them decide to stay another day. The weather helped to conspire against them also. The wind was supposed to be 10-15 knots from the east, but here in the bay it's been more like 18-20 with higher gusts, and from the SSE. When Yellow Rose came in late in the afternoon, they reported that outside the bay the wind speed and direction were more like the forecast than it was here in the bay. We must get more of a funneling effect around the end of the island than we realized.
We had a large turnout for happy hour. About eighteen people were in the bar for a couple of hours.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 23
Once again, Suhaila planned to leave today, and once again they didn't. Again, it was quite windy, and again they still had a few things to sort out before departing. We'd like to think they just can't stand to leave such good company, and hey, it's burger night so why leave now.
Burger night was a huge success. With the ten pounds of beef we got this week, and a few pounds left over from last week, Barb had made fifty burgers. We didn't expect to sell that many, so we only had forty buns. Since we accidentally sold more tickets than we had burgers once, we now count out just enough tickets of whatever our constraining ingredient will be, this week buns. I started cooking the burgers a little early because we had a couple of people who had to leave at 18:30. I had a steady line of customers, but didn't really appreciate how large the crowd was. I hadn't cooked twenty yet when Barb informed me that we had sold all the tickets and had more people wanting some. Bob jumped in the car and made a quick run to the grocery store where thank goodness he was able to score another dozen buns. With the addition of those buns, we sold all fifty burgers. That left none for the staff, but we had a few frozen Bubba Burgers in the freezer, so the staff got those. The turnout was quite a surprise. Ten pounds per week might not be enough after all. Tonight we did not have the pan player, but we showed a movie after everybody had eaten. The movie was National Treasure with Nicolas Cage. I hadn't seen it before, and after a slow start it turned into an ok movie. Probably twenty folks stuck around for the whole movie.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 24
Suhaila finally broke free of our grasp this morning. They are but one example of boats who have come in and stayed longer than they expected to. I hope that means we've been doing a good job.
We are going to take an afternoon off again this week. About 11:00 we left with Gary & Jeannie for a trip to the north end of the island. We have been as far north as Gouyave on the west coast for Fish Fry Friday a couple of times, and we were as far north as Bathway Beach on the east coast when we did an island tour back in October last year. But, we have never been all the way around the north coast in between those two places. We started by driving up the west coast to Gouyave, where we stopped for lunch at a little local place that Gary & Jeannie had been to before. We had rotis and a couple of cold beers for lunch while watching a very loud cricket match on the TV. I figured out rugby after watching two or three games. I still have no idea what's going on in a cricket match no matter how much I watch. From Gouyave, we continued north along the coast, through Victoria. We took a little detour to an old plantation that has been taken over by squatters. The original plantation was over 150 acres. Now there are numerous little houses scattered about, and the people cultivate bananas, nutmeg, and a host of other things on the property. The only original building that is still intact is the building where they would have dried and sorted nutmeg. The large drying racks aren't used anymore, but there was still hand processing of nutmeg being done. Several ladies work in the building packaging spices for sale and giving explanations of the spice for tips. We've already heard the explanations, so we just looked around and took some pictures. From here we passed though Duquesne. In Duquesne we took a turnoff on a relatively new concrete road that went up a steep hill. We kept climbing through woods to nearly the top of the hill where the road abruptly ends. The point of this detour was to show us that this nice road goes nowhere. I'm sure it must have been built for some planned development, but there is no evidence of any other building now. After that little detour, we continued towards Sauteurs. Sauteurs is on the northern tip of the island. Before reaching Sauteurs, we stopped at the home of a couple that Gary & Jeannie had met a couple of weeks ago. They are former boaters who have now built a beautiful guest house on top of a hill on land that used to be a plantation. This one has been subdivided but there aren't many homes built yet. The house is called Treetops, and the view is spectacular. It was overcast when we were there, but the view was great regardless. Pam & Chas used to have a boat named Night Owl, but it was destroyed in Hurricane Ivan. That was when they decided to plant permanent roots here in Grenada. The house they have built has a main level that they occupy, and then two guest rooms on the lower level. The whole place is built from purpleheart wood, which is local and extremely strong. They used lessons learned in Ivan to build the house so hopefully it would survive a storm like that. They have also integrated several boat ideas in the house. Such as the fresh water system. They catch rain water in a huge cistern under the house and pump it with twelve volt boat pumps. Also, all the lighting in the house is twelve volt. This system is powered by several batteries which are charged by a couple of solar panels. If there were a storm and the power goes out, they would still have lights and water. The water is heated by an on-demand propane heater that is very efficient. A regular barbeque sized propane tank lasts more than a month for all their hot water needs. It was very nice meting them. From Treetops we continued east to Levera Beach. This is where Leatherback turtles come to make their nests. The season for this is April through June. We didn't see any evidence of nests being built yet, but we have been hearing announcements on the VHF of turtle watching tours starting to be organized. After a stop at Levera Beach, we made the turn at the northeast corner of the island and stopped at Bathway Beach. Bathway is very popular with the local population on the weekends, but it was pretty quiet today. We walked the beach a little where Barb found several neat purple shells. From Bathway, we headed south along the east coast, towards Grenville. At Grenville we turned west and cut through the center of the island, through the Grand Etang rain forest. We have been through the rain forest before. Even now, in the dry season, it is still very lush and green up here. As we began our decent from the rain forest back into St. Georges, we stopped at a little local bar. Gary & Jeannie had stopped here before because the view is great. One wall of the building is all windows looking west over the valley where the river from Annadale Falls makes it's way down to St. Georges. It was quite overcast, so we didn't get to enjoy a sunset here, but I bet they can be spectacular. After one beer, we headed home, with a stop at Prickly Bay Marina to pick up some pizzas. We got three pizzas to go and got back to the marina at 19:45. There were a few people in the bar. Ashley left when we got there, and Bob left a little while later. We stayed until almost 23:00 when the last customers left.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 25
Today is shopping bus day. There was a large crowd and fortunately Elvis sent the big bus. Last week the bus was forty minutes late, but this week he was twenty minutes early. Right at 10:00 they loaded up and took off. About noon, I drove to town to get sandwiches from Subway. You know you've been in the same place too long when you have a frequent customer card and it's almost full. Free sandwich next time.
The day was pretty quiet. We had a nice little crowd around happy hour, but everybody retired early and we were closed at 19:00. Speaking of retiring early, I hadn't slept well last night, so I retired at 21:00 with the help of a little Advil PM. I slept ten hours with only one bathroom break. Sweet.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 26
We had a quiet morning, with one new boat arriving. Sutton Hoo has Jeff & Jo onboard. We had met them a couple months ago when they were anchored nearby. They decided to come into the marina this time for a few days to drop off a guest who is leaving and to prepare the boat for their summer haulout.
Once Ashley got to work, Barb and I went to the grocery. We didn't have a lot to get, but I did manage to forget something. The store carries Ben & Jerry's ice cream usually. They have not had any the last two weeks, but this week they had gotten a fresh shipment. We always wait to pick up the ice cream just before checking out, and this time we forgot. This may necessitate a return visit to the store tomorrow.
We had a nice crowd for pot luck. There were a dozen folks eating, and a few more who just came to the bar. Afterwards, we did karaoke for a while with the usual suspects participating.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 27
We had a few interesting things to report for a normally quiet Sunday. In the afternoon we split our TV time between NASCAR and the NBA playoffs. We primarily watched the basketball game, switching to the NASCAR race during the commercials. What I want to know is how do they coordinate the commercials so that when you change channels it's a commercial on the other event too? It's a conspiracy.
This time of year, there are many boats coming in to the marina for a few days to prepare for their summer haulouts. That means they are emptying their refrigerators and food in general. We have become the beneficiaries of this food unloading several times now. Sometimes we use the things donated for burger night, sometimes we keep things for ourselves, and sometimes Ashley takes things home. In any case, food isn't going to waste.
In the afternoon, Barb and I were in the bar when we heard the familiar sound of seagulls. I say familiar because we have been around the water for years. However, it struck us both immediately that we have never seen a seagull in Grenada. We looked outside and saw a lone seagull circling near the stern of Gigi, another Texas boat in the marina. In another minute there was two. Then three. Then four. This is how seagulls work. Somehow they communicate a food find, and next thing you know you have a flock. We ended up with seven circling the area behind Gigi. We learned later that Leta had thrown some food in the water, which attracted them. It still was odd that we have never seen a seagull on this island.
Last but not least, was the busload of old folks that showed up just before dusk. A large (by Grenadian standards) bus came on the property about an hour before dark. It stopped just inside the gate and disgorged about twenty people. They wandered up the hill on the grass, and generally just hung around. It turned out to be a load of senior citizens on a tour, who decided to stop and take a break from the tour. They hung around on the hill until just before dark and then left.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 28
We have a new addition to the team today. Crystal is a local girl who is attending school locally, specializing in the hospitality industry. Her father is a good friend of Bob's. She has to do a six week internship at a business involved in the hospitality industry. We are a unique part of the local hospitality world, but maybe we can give her a good experience. Unfortunately, Monday's are usually pretty quiet, so she spent her first day reading a book and watching TV with us.
I have mentioned the stray animals at the marina before. We have Lou the cat, and Tammy & Mom, the dogs. Through other ex-pats we found out that the vet school has a free spay and neutering program. Tammy was going to be the first beneficiary of this. The school van showed up with three people, leashes, and containers, hoping to catch Tammy and Mom. After a bit of unproductive effort to catch either dog, I offered my help. Without any problem I walked up to Tammy and picked her up. I had not done this before, and she was a bit confused by it, but I carried her over to the van where we put her in the back with no problem. Mom was more of a problem. She has never let me touch her other than to let her give me little kisses on my extended fingers. Much as I tried, she wasn't going to be caught today. After the van left with Tammy, Mom kept looking around for her.
I did the burger night shopping today. For the second week, I found the ten pound bag of meat waiting at Foodland. It was humorous though that when I asked a meat counter person for the meat, she sent out a different guy from in back. He said they had a ten pound bag in back, but didn't know who it was for. With authority, I said it was for me. He accepted that and went and got it. I thanked him and went to checkout, chuckling inside because he had questioned me as if lots of people show up looking for ten pounds of ground beef every day. The rest of the shopping went pretty well this week, with only two stops.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 29
There's only one short story for today. We love Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We can pretty regularly get it here, albeit for over $6 USD per pint. While enjoying a pint tonight, something funny occurred to me. When we were in the Bahamas, a mere hop skip and jump from the US, we got Ben & Jerry's a few times and found it very icy or separated, meaning it had not been kept fully frozen during it's transport. Here in southern Grenada though, we have never experienced that. We may only have a few flavors to choose from at any given time, but it's always good.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Apr 30
Tammy was brought back from the vet school today. She was as reluctant to get out of the kennel as she had been to get in it a couple of days ago. Once she was dragged out of the kennel, we set her down on the ground and she slinked off to a shady spot to rest. We discussed options of capturing Mom and the school left a kennel for us to try and catch her in. After a half an hour of so, Mom & Tammy were playing together again like Tammy had never been gone. I have never been able to touch Mom before, and we are wondering how we are going to lure her into a kennel next week for her visit to the school. As she and Tammy were playing, I came up behind her and just picked her up. She squirmed a little but then held still as I held her to my chest and talked softly to her. I could feel her heart beating hard for about thirty seconds and then it noticeably calmed down. I held her for several minutes and then let her go. We'll she if that helps in a couple of days.
We had several old friends return to the bay today. Sam & Margie on Encantada, Mark & Deb on Sea Cycle, and Cliff & Debra on Watermark I, all came in and anchored off the marina. They have all been up-island for a few months and are on their way south for hurricane season.
Tonight is burger night. We sold out at about fifty last week, and we are prepared for about the same number this week. About twenty people were here shortly after 17:00 for happy hour, and people just kept coming. Once again, we sold out, but everybody got fed. When the last two people arrived, I told them I was sorry but we were out of burgers (we still had a few buns). Turned out they both wanted veggie-burgers, so we were able to accommodate them too. The staff got fed too, although not as usual. I had picked up a dozen frozen Bubba Burgers last week, so I got six of them out and cooked them. I only had two buns left and four staff burgers to cook, so Bob and I were going to just have a burger with no bun. While I was cooking the burgers, the two buns I had were on the table next to the grill. I looked away for a few minutes and when I turned back, there was only one bun. Damn dogs! I didn't see who got it, but they got away clean. Smokey the pan player was here for his hour, and after he was done we put on the Jimmy Buffett DVD Live At Wrigley Field. A good number of people stayed until that was over, so it was a very successful night.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.