Upon arriving in Grenada we stopped for the night at the Underwater Sculpture Park and took a mooring. Several artists have placed over 100 figures on the sea floor between 2006 and 2021. James and John snorkeled it the next morning, taking many photos. The one above is “Christ the Redeemer”.
St George, the capital was next, and we anchored just outside in front of the long, appropriately named, Grande Anse (beach). We rented a car and took in the sights at Clarke’s Court Rum distillery, the local fresh market, the view from Fort George (closed for renovations), Annandale Waterfalls, and the Belmont Estate. The distillery was founded in 1937 on the edge of town and once sourced all of its cane from Grenada. Over the last 50 years, development has driven out all of the cane farmers and they now have to source molasses from other countries. This trend is happening throughout the islands: as their populations grow, arable land is disappearing and more and more food must be imported at great cost. The waterfalls were a lovely respite from the heat and we watched a local leap from the cliff into the pool. We also discovered they do have wild monkeys on Grenada! In the 1700’s, Mona monkeys were imported from Africa and have adapted nicely. We watched one high in the trees by the waterfall and, sadly, saw a baby being kept as a pet on a leash at a nearby home. (Perhaps it was an orphan?) On cemetery hill we found mausoleums right up to the edge of the road. Not a bad place to rest as it has a magnificent view.
The Belmont Estate is a beautiful old slave plantation that still grows many small crops for artisanal use and the on-site restaurant. Although last year’s massive hurricane Beryl didn’t actually reach Grenada, the outer winds still destroyed much of the cocoa crop and so there were very limited nibs being dried when we were there. Our guide said the drying trays would normally be ankle deep. The main warehouse, water wheel and the drying tables were all built in the early to mid-1700’s. On the way to drop James at the airport we stopped for grilled corn (crazy hot, cheap and tasty but really needs butter or seasoning!) We then had a drink at the very fancy Aquarium restaurant before saying goodbye to James, who is off to start Physician Assistant school in San Antonio.
We moved the boat to Prickly Bay and then onto the hard for some upgrades and safe storage during hurricane season as we are returning to the states to visit family and cool off a bit. We stayed in one of their small rooms on site and somehow, neither of us tripped over any of the hundreds of tie downs used to secure boats from high winds. They aren’t marked and are EVERYWHERE! We had originally booked this haul out last year when we had the monohull. We didn’t know until we arrived that they have a very narrow travel lift and we only had 4″ on each side. Fortunately, all went well but we will seek out larger facilities in the future.
Aside from being a “safe” place from hurricanes and allowed by all the insurance companies, we needed/wanted the following things done: new bottom paint (repels growth which slows the boat); a new handrail to the lido deck; underwater lights; new fuel filters for the engines (much easier to maintain, cheaper filters and a clear housing for visual inspection); steel reinforcing where our anchor touches the boat when stored; additional aft life lines; several new lines and halyards to replace a few worn or oversized lines that came with the boat; a spare halyard and down haul (helps us to pull down the main sail); several gel coat fixes (the coating on the fiberglass); replace an engine blower; line cutters on the propellers; re-certify the life raft and fire extinguishers; and fix the chafe points/tears on the sails.
Of course, a couple other jobs did not get done due to the inability to get parts. And when the guy was tidying up the wiring for the underwater lights, he put four screws all the way through the hull, just above the waterline. We found this the night before we were to splash. But they got it all fixed and we splashed a few hours late. A week later we thought all was well and set off for Trinidad at 0400, only to discover a lot of diesel in the starboard bilge. So we turned around and they immediately came on the boat to fix it. Three guys spent two hours and couldn’t figure it out so they sent us out to open water with a mechanic onboard and we finally discovered the problem. There was a small gap, impossible to see, in the liners under the engine where diesel had apparently pooled and sloshed out when the boat was tossed around. No actual leak. We assume the fuel had accumulated over time as we had discovered the inspection port of that fuel tank was not properly sealed shortly after we got the boat. Every time the previous owners had filled up, a bit of fuel had probably seeped out and found its way to this low spot. So they sucked out all the fuel and permanently filled the gap.
