Grenada Reports

It was quite a treat to have a yacht club so near and most of the facilities were inexpensive so the washing was done, we had showers, we disposed of our rubbish and we filled up with drinking water. There was a supermarket nearby with its own dinghy dock and a chandlers. Civilisation indeed!

Much of St Georges (the capital of Grenada) has been rebuilt since hurricane Ivan destroyed it in 2004. There are 3 churches at the top of a hill that are still without roofs. We stood in the shell of the Anglican church and looked up at the sky. It was as though a bomb had hit it and we began to have some understanding about what it must have been like. Horrendous is not really a strong enough word. We walked through a tunnel on another visit to town, which had no footpath or barrier and the traffic rushed by just inches away from us. After climbing many steep steps we reached the hospital and after following a steep road upwards we reached St George’s Fort. The police headquarters are housed here, but visitors are allowed to wander around the old fort viewing the sights but we didn’t expect to see the young man wearing only a towel retrieving his boxers from the washing line. He didn’t expect to see us either and awkward greetings were exchanged. We turned our attention to the English cannons still clearly numbered and overlooking the harbour after two centuries. As well as keeping out the French, the fort was the place where the Communist leader, Maurice Bishop, was executed along with half his cabinet. We stood in the courtyard and saw there was no easy escape. Some of his followers threw themselves off the sheer cliff to avoid capture. There is no safety rail even today and we could wander right up to the edge. Back at sea level, we spent some time in the Grenada Museum, which had once been a women’s prison, and now outlined the history of the island.

The next day we left the lagoon at St Georges and carefully navigated our way through the extensive shoal patches to True Blue Bay on the south coast. We went ashore the following day looking for a shop and a hairdressers. The shop had next to nothing in it and the hairdressers was closed so we walked to Prickly Bay, chatted to someone who had bought a Westerly Corsair which had been damaged in the hurricane and had a look in the large chandlers. We caught a bus to the tourist area of Grand Anse and stocked up at a large supermarket. The return bus kindly took us right back to True Blue Bay, but the fare was triple the cost of the outward journey! After lunch, we weighed anchor and motored round the corner to see Prickly Bay from seaward. It was too crowded for us - the Solent of Grenada - so we carried on to the next anchorage, Mount Harman Bay. We spent 3 quiet nights here, but there was a drawback. Martin’s Marina at the head of the bay charged 10$EC per day to tie up your dinghy so we didn’t go ashore. As we were anchored off a mangrove swamp the snorkelling was pretty poor as well.

By now we were running short of supplies so we weighed the anchor and motored through the many reefs to Clarkes Court Bay and anchored near a village called Woburn, which has a small yacht club called Whisper Cove. On the way we stopped for lunch at Hog Island, which has a well protected anchorage and a small beach. We explored by dinghy and went ashore, followed a rough path through the trees and came out on a recently made dirt road. Many signs seemed to indicate that plots of land had been earmarked for development and a bridge had been built, but was now closed, linking Hog Island with the mainland. Sadly, another piece of wilderness is to be transformed into a resort, but not in the current economic climate, it seems.

The next morning we chained the dinghy to the village dock and caught the bus to St Georges. Twenty of us squeezed into the minibus and soon we were looking for a hairdressers and being mistaken for cruise ship passengers. I eventually got my hair cut by a young barber as two ladies’ hairdressers were closed and two others would not or could not cut it. I now look a bit like a boy, but at least it feels tidier. We shopped at a supermarket next to the bus station and bought fresh produce at the market. Today we have done our washing at the yacht club and filled up with water. The snorkelling in this bay has been better and we have seen numerous reef fish and corals. Just before dark, Jeremy was recognised by a couple in a dinghy from a Nicholson 35 footer. They had had an hours conversation in Rubicon Marina, Lanzarote in October, 2008. No chance for robbing banks then!