Lovely Grenada

As part of the living on a sailboat adventure, we had to learn to sail. Yes, I realize it is backwards to decide to live on a sailboat before knowing to sail. We took our first two sailing classes on the Potomac with the Pentagon Sailing Club. It was great! A 22 foot day-sailing boat, though, isn't quite the same as a 40+ foot cruising sailboat. Since the initial classes did not derail the dream, we needed to find a live aboard learning experience on a 40 - 45 foot boat (comparable to the size we think we'd need to live on). Thanks to Dave's diligent research, we found LTD Sailing in Grenada. Seven days, six nights on a 45 foot sailboat with a captain/instructor and three other students - perfect!

Grenada, the Spice Island, is the southernmost island in the Lesser Antilles and is about 100 miles north of Venezuela. The Caribs inhabited Grenada for a thousand years before Columbus stumbled upon the island in 1498. It was more than 100 years before the French and then the English became serious about claiming the island. Grenada became fully independent from England on February 7, 1974. As with many newly independent countries, Grenada has experienced power struggles. The US invaded Grenada in 1983 in response to a coup. Many of the older Grenadians we met mentioned the US invasion as soon as they knew we were Americans. One woman described hiding with her children in the home of a friend and watching a nearby house explode from a US missile strike. I got the impression that Grenadians are ambivalent about the US intervention... not feeling too much like they were rescued from a dire fate, but also not bitter or angry about the "intervasion" as one woman called it. I have digressed from the story of our trip...

Two days before our trip, we signed the agreement to purchase "Scrumpy" an Outbound 46 sailboat that looked perfect for the Sailboat Adventure Chapter of our lives and were waiting for final acceptance from the owners. On Friday (12/2) we left DC on a freezing early morning. At 3:30 pm, we stepped off the plane onto the tarmac into the Grenadian warmth. It was lovely. The air feels different in the tropics - softer. Dewayne, who is really Ethan, picked us up and took us to the Reef View Pavilions - our abode for a couple of days before getting on the boat for our sailing lessons. Sharon, proprietress of the Reef View, upgraded us to a villa. It was the most magical place I have ever stayed! We had our own pool, right outside our door!

We swam, walked all around the neighborhood, watched kids play soccer on Grand Anse beach and hung out at the West Indies Beer Company.

Sunday morning, we headed to Port Louis Marina to start our live-aboard sailing class. Caryl, who was really Darrel, talked us into booking an island tour upon our return. we were set: after a week of exploring the coast by sailboat we were going to explore inland by taxi. When we met up with our Instructor/Captain, Miles, we learned that we had been booked on a Catamaran. Oh No! We need to be on the monohull! So, off to a different marina, the one with the monohull, to sort things out. Fortunately, one of the monohull students really wanted to be on the catamaran and we switched. We had a crowded little boat: 5 students (two couples and a single person) and one Instructor/Captain named Sarah. After stowing all the gear and supplies, we set sail in the mid afternoon. Our first night, attached to a mooring ball off of Grand Anse beach, was a bit rolly. Our brave crew did great and were ready for sailing the next morning. We still didn't know if we were boat owners.

The week was exhausting, challenging, and incredible. We sailed to Carriacou and spent time practicing our sailing skills and exploring beautiful beaches. Rather than the usual prevailing easterly winds, we had light northerly winds. This was a good news/bad news kind of thing: we had little wind for sailing practice, but we could go some places that are usually harder to get into because of the prevailing winds.

The second night, we anchored between White Island (a ten acre private island that is for sale) and Saline Island. The clear blue water was warm, the white sandy beach was deserted, and the snorkeling was incredible! Lots of colorful fish, a nurse shark, coral... amazing. Our mornings started with sailing theory, followed by practice as we headed to our next destination. We went for swims, took "mermaid baths" (rinse in saltwater, shampoo, rinse again in saltwater followed by a freshwater rinse) and watched magnificent sunsets. My hair was not a fan. Still no word about Scrumpy.

We met up with the catamaran folks for dinner at Tim's and learned they were calling us "SS Nausea" because of our rolly first night. They were "Team Scopolamine." The student who switched with us was a psychiatrist and had provided his crew mates with seasickness prevention patches - like they needed them - hah! Tim's is an outdoor grill/bar on a secluded beach. The only way to get to Tim's is via boat. Tim serves the most delicious lobster I've ever eaten. We happened to be on Tim's beach during the full moon when the turtle babies decided to hatch and head to the sea. Magic!

We practiced man overboard maneuvers by throwing two floating boat fenders tied together overboard and then retrieving them. At one point, a local fisherman picked up our fenders. We thought he was being kind and returning them to us, not knowing we had them in the water intentionally. He put the fenders in his boat and took off in the other direction. We yelled at him to return. Whether he couldn't hear us, or ignored us, I'm not sure. Our fearless leader, Sarah, jumped into our dingy and went in hot pursuit of the fender thief. She caught up to him and we could see an animated discussion taking place. Eventually, the fender thief threw the fenders in the water and took off. We were back in business.

Finally, on 12/7, we got word that we were boat owners! Scrumpy was ours! That night we met up with Team Scopolamine at Paradise Beach and toasted our good fortune with Painkillers (rum and something). We had a delicious dinner of barracuda cooked in paper with coconut rum cake for desert.

After days of practice driving the boat (a challenge for me because I like to look around too much), navigation, tacks, jibes, and dinghy maneuvers, we had a party on the catamaran the last night. We were in Mt. Hartman Bay - the bay we walked down to on our first full day in Grenada!

The second week we spent at Marcelle's Place. An Airbnb with the most amazing hosts ever! Marcelle and Peter spent their childhoods on Grenada. Their families moved to London when they were teens. They met in England, fell in love, had a couple of kids, and then decided to return to Grenada. They wanted their children to have the same kind of childhood they experienced in a close knit community with lots of time outside and playing on the beach. Marcelle and Peter were incredibly kind and generous. They gave us rides to the store and restaurants. They took us to a craft fair (the Grenadian PM stopped by while we were there), Rocky's Bar (a gazebo on the beach) where we became honorary Grenadians and a little coffee spot that was really someone's front porch. Everywhere we went, Marcelle and Peter were greeted by friends.

Driving in Grenada is an experience in itself. The roads are narrow and the pavement uneven. People make however many lanes they need. And the honking! Drivers honk to say "hi" and they honk to see if you want a ride. They honk when someone is going too slow, or if they are slowing down to let someone in front of them.

Our island tour was too short. We visited with monkeys, watched a diver jump off a cliff into a pool that was fed by waterfall, toured a rum factory, went to the spice market and learned about chocolate production. We need to go back - next time on Aevitas (the sailing vessel formerly known as Scrumpy)!