D DAY, NEGATIVE RESULTS AND FREEDOM 

On day 12 we received notice that on day 14 We were able  to go for our COVID-19 test, it felt like a bonus not having to wait for the full 14 days to pass.

The running order used was alphabetical so we were asked to present ourselves at 9 am on the Q dock, Dan and Nawal from Breakaweigh arrived behind us and boy it was great to see them and have a chat and to have little Zeuss around. 

We all agreed the 14 days had actually gone quite quickly but we were ready to get off the boats and we were all looking forward to walking on beaches and checking out our new country.

Timmies Run are further down the alphabet so not invited ashore until the next day.

We stood in line for an hour or so, in front of us were 3 white tents, one for the new boats still arriving, boats are coming in daily with entry dates available through to mid August.

The other 2 tents are for testing, we are having the pin prick blood test, it looks like a small pregnancy test stick, a drop of blood on it then wait 15 minutes, the nurse had to manually prick our finger, no short little jab machines to ease the pain.

“Zena Zena” I was called back into the tent, and the nurse, dressed in full pp gear showed me the stick, “look it’s negative” she says, I wanted to cry... not that I ever thought it would be positive is more the relief of knowing we are allowed to stay here.

Once Craig had his negative result we then had to go to the next booth to receive a health certificate, then another short walk to the marina offices, only one person was required to go and check in with passports and boat paperwork so off Craig went, first to the onsite ATM machine to get local currency as we have to pay for a cruising permit and the covid test. 

Nawal and I sat outside the Open air marina restaurant under the shade of a big tree, we had Zeuss with us, Craig and Dan went to the customs office.

The boys took ages and we couldn’t wait so we ordered a beer, it went down so well we had a second one, it was 11.30ish by this time.  When Craig and Dan returned we ordered pizza and enjoyed the freedom of sitting chatting, eating and drinking without face masks.  We had all just been tested, the staff were all wearing face masks but once we left the restaurant the masks went back on.  

Wearing a masks when outside and inside the car is law throughout the whole of Grenada.

Nawal and I chatted to a lovely gentleman who has sailed the Caribbean for many years he was full of useful information, prior to quarantine he and his wife had sailed in from the island of Antigua where they had been quarantined on their boat since late March, Nawal and I couldn’t get a word in he was so excited to have an audience.

Timmies had had a radio call letting them know the medics were running ahead of schedule and they were able to come in too.  Nath sat with us while Brian did the customs thing, they had been in the middle of defrosting their freezer when they got the call so once Brian was done they headed straight back to their boat, our beers had kicked in and Nawal was ready to go home for a nap.  

We needed a few things from the supermarket as we had completely run out of fruit and veg, so after agreeing how much fun we just had and how lucky we were to have had our friends there with us to celebrate, Craig and I jumped in the dingy and motored further into the harbour we could see a dingy dock to tie up to so that’s where we headed, turns out the Foodland supermarket was a bit further around but this dock is opposite the marine store and we had to buy a new padlock so we can lock our dingy up when we leave it unattended.

The last padlock was dropped in the water at Frederiksted pier, Craig went back to snorkel down to pick it up but it was already gone.  The pier was used all the time by the dive shops as it was pretty spectacular spot for diving.  

We had walked into and asked at the 3 dive shops to see if anyone had mentioned that they had found a brass padlock, one staff member remembered seeing it but she had left it there on the bottom, it was a solid brass 4 digit combination lock, and it was open so whoever picked it up has found themselves a really good padlock. 

I sat taking in the sights, guarding our dingy while Craig went to the marine store.  Our dingy is the equivalent of our car we can’t be too careful and we were downtown with lots of sketchy boats around.

I sat on a stone bench to wait but oh the heat was so intense the concrete was too hot to sit on so I stood under the shade of a palm tree.  

It’s so much fun taking in the sights smells and sounds of a new place.

The culture is influenced by its 80% African descendants.

As we walk around we hear reggae music being played from shops and car sound systems, we can’t wait to taste the street food. 

All the buildings are painted different colors, white with colored trim or colored with white trim or bright shades of pink or blue or pastel colors of yellow and aqua.  Every color combination is used, add that to the abundant bougainvilleas and palm trees growing every where and it makes for quite a tropical vibe.

It seems everyone drives or uses the bus system as there were very few pedestrians where I was,  opposite a wholesale warehouse, the marine store and further up a huge shop selling office furniture and office supplies. 

There are guys selling bags of mangos on every street corner, 

we couldn’t resist and bought two bags, they are small to medium and best eaten when slightly under ripe.  There were about 6 in the bag for $5 ec about $3 Australian. And they were juicy and sweet.

Craig also picked up the form that will allow us to be excluded from paying tax on the imported part for our watermaker that’s due here in a few days.

Back in the dingy and further around the harbour there was another dingy dock to tie up to just opposite the Foodland supermarket.

Apparently there is a large IGA supermarket that is much better than this one, I hope so.  The only fresh meat they had was chicken, all the rest was frozen, the fruit and veg were ok but seemed expensive, I was hoping there would be a wonderful selection of locally grown fruit and veg I think we will have to go to the open air market to find those. 

I was also looking for imported goods from the UK but I didn’t see any, we are hoping to find Golden Syrup to make Golden Syrup Dumplings.  

We picked up some beautiful deep brown colored local eggs, Argentinian garlic, a few potatoes, a bunch of  bananas a couple of apples and a small cabbage, we have plenty of carrots left onboard, coleslaw is a bit of a staple side dish atm.

We also caught up with an Australian couple Jana and Mick, Jana found out she was pregnant just as the corona virus started to affect traveling the world.  Jana has been desperately trying to return to Australia to have her baby but still has not been able to get a flight home even with consulate help, she is now in her 6th month and although still hopeful she realised her baby may be born here in Grenada.
We have been open to the idea that once we reached Grenada and could make Adriana secure for hurricane season we might be able to fly home but if a desperate pregnant Australian can’t make it happen it’s probably not going to happen.  If things were normal we might even have flown to the UK or had friends and family visit us here sadly there is very little travel around the world and no one knows when or if it will change.

St George’s is a huge big round harbour, down the back where the supermarket is it’s full of old derelict boats, local fishing boats, homemade shacks on the water, and some abandoned yachts.  I’d say the wall lining the harbour is a couple of hundred years old, the island was originally invaded by the  French in 1650 who enslaved or massacred the local indigenous people’s, then the English owned it, but the French, Spanish and Dutch have been involved too and as recently as 1983 the USA invaded the country, it is still part of the British Commonwealth but has its own government and manages it’s own affairs. 

The round natural harbour, sits in a volcanic crater, to give you an idea of the size of the harbour there is a yacht club and the Port Louis Marina inside it,  the Marina is relatively new and takes up a lot of space I did read that a few years ago yachts could anchor in this very protected harbour.  But nowadays all yachts have to anchor outside in a fairly sheltered area that is currently hosting all the quarantine boats.

We asked the guy selling mangos where we would go to buy fresh fruit and veg and he said the open air market in St George’s, we thought we were in St George’s but the main part is the old port where the road leads up to the fort and the two churches we can see high on the hill.   We are saving exploring this part of the town for another day.

The anchorage had been fairly rolly at the start of quarantine but it eased up a bit over the two weeks, but on our last night on anchor it was super rolly and rather uncomfortable so we were quite happy to move on.

We have to move anyway, once your Qtime is over you have to leave to make space for the next wave of boats, so after one days grace we took down the yellow Q flag, lifted the anchor and headed off, right into a windy rainy squall.  

It wasn’t too bad, gusts to 20 knots and rain.

We actually just sailed around the corner we had been heading to Prickly Bay one of the more popular anchorages that we heard about and it gets lots of reviews on Active Captain but on the way we spotted a very pretty little bay with a beautiful tree lined sandy beach and about 6 boats anchored in there.  

There was room for only a couple more so we headed in and dropped the anchor, quite far out the back as it gets very shallow closer to shore, the wind abated and it was nice and sheltered.  

We are looking at a Rotary park on one side a gorgeous beach in front of us with what looks like exclusive small hotels and resorts dotted up the hillside and spectacular steep cliffs on the other end.  We didn’t move very far at all.

The next morning we were up early, we were listening to the VHF  radio waiting to hear when Yellowbird and Gina Lee come in from USVI’s.  
They both arrived safely to start their 14 day quarantines,  Fruit Bat should be here by the end of  today.

I had wanted to stay in the Q harbour so we could cheer them in but we will head back there when it’s time to pick up the watermaker part we can do a sail by and give them a wave.

A short dingy ride brought us to the most beautiful beach, clear aquamarine water and golden sand, the beach is lined with large trees so there is plenty of mornings shade.  Some of the trees are almond trees so of course I collected a heap. Sitting on the sand shredding the pulp off the exterior of the almonds gave me something to do but it did turn my fingers yellow. I have since discovered that the pulpy flesh will split open when the almonds are ready usually around August - September.

We met a few of the other cruisers anchored in the bay they hail from all over the world, a couple from England, she’s a Scottish lass, a Swiss couple and a few South Africans, we realised we are now closer to South Africa than Canada, that sort of makes me sad.

Craig had something bite his eyelid, causing it to swell up and his whole eye and cheek went all puffy luckily we have some antihistamines onboard, he took a couple and slept all the next day.  So another nice lazy day for us.

There are winds bringing sand in from the Sahara Desert so Adriana is covered in a light film of pink dust, the sand also made for surreal sunsets and stunning rainbows.  Combine the sands with an intense tropical low and it gave us days of murky thick pink haze, low thick clouds, rolly sea state, wind squalls, intense humidity and intense uv when the sun did breakthrough. The temps range from 31-33c during the day and average low 24-26c.

After a few days at anchor we were running out of fresh food, Craig still wasn’t feeling 100% plus it was quite windy and he didn’t want to leave the boat, he had dived on the anchor when we first arrived and it looked like it was only dug in in one corner so not sitting as it should have been. 

I decided to walk to the shops, the dingy ride to shore was a bit splashy due to the choppy water stirred up by the wind.  I could see some steps on the far left hand side of the beach so I headed for those.  

The walk into the Spiceland Mall was up a hill, then down again, great for going not so good for the walk back carrying groceries. 

The road was rough and unsealed winding up through the foreign owned resorts all placed to look down over the sparkling bay.  The pale pink,cream, yellow and blue painted walls highlighting the profusion of colorful bougainvilleas growing everywhere.  Sadly the buildings are all quiet and empty, closed while the country is in covid lockdown, so many closed restaurants in this area, this seems to be the high exclusive end of the island.  

I next passed a section where new apartments and a resort are being constructed still at the wire and concrete stage messy and ugly, but coming out of that section I’m walking along a made road with a sidewalk full of tropical palms, manicured gardens more colorful bougainvillea high walled resorts with names like Cinnamon Hill Resort and Spice Island Beach Resort.  I can hear lots of unusual birds singing and twittering it all looks and sounds very tropical.  

There is a signposted path leading down to Grand Anste Beach the No.1 beautiful beach in Grenada, the beach we are anchored in front of is rated No 2.

As I come to the bottom of the hill the road is completely flooded and as I’m looking to see which side is going to be the easiest to cross a car is going past at the same time and the guy inside stops and says hop in so you don’t get your feet wet, Im like “no no it’s ok” but he insisted ... he ended dropping me off at the supermarket saving me the last half a km walk.  Because I didn’t want to offend him by declining him his offer I could have been in a lot of trouble taking a lift from a stranger in an unknown environment.  In my defense everything I have read and heard tells me Grenadians are especially friendly and helpful.

We love our new anchorage and after talking to the other cruisers anchored here with us, it seems this is one of the least rolly, cleanest water, with easy beach access, pettiest beaches, we decide we don’t want to leave here for a while. 
It does get uncomfortably rolly when the swell comes from the north.  A few nights Craig lay in bed sideways so he wouldn’t roll from side to side but was rocked head to toe.  Apparently all the anchorages on the South end of the Island have the same problem with the rolling swell. 
The water is crystal clear and great for making water, we heard that normally the coast guard only allows 2 or 3 boats to anchor here at one time, there are 11 of us at the moment, this is an exclusive destination and I guess just like in St Johns USVI they are worried about pollution/ discharge from the boats.   

We receive notification that our watermaker replacement motor had landed via FedEx and so began the day from hell... We decided to catch the local bus into town instead of lifting the anchor and moving the mother ship.  So no waving to our friends stuck in quarantine.

We walked the 2km up and downhill to Spiceland Mall (I must admit it gets easier each time) we caught the attention of a local bus that stopped and waited for us, meaning we had to run across a busy intersection in the 30 degree heat, we piled in to a 12 seater mini van, these guys hustle for fares, they will spot you half a km away and wait for you while you hitch your skirt and run, then they take off at breakneck speed, reggae music blaring hurtling along with the spotter hanging out the side door scouring the footpaths for the next passenger, this one sprayed our hands with alcohol solution they are allowed 8 passengers and everyone must wear masks.  

We get dropped off only a short walk to the Fed ex store, the parcel is there but we must have it cleared through customs and pay an import tax.  We take off walking almost a full circle of the harbour, the customs office is located at the Port Louie Marina which is directly opposite the Fed Ex building about 2km away, we can see it across the water.  
We stop in at the office supplies store and pick up ink for our printer we are learning to grab things when we find them because if you don’t you might not ever see what you need again. 

At the marina the customs officer asked for the invoice which is probably attached to the package, and we don’t have one in our hands !!  We email the watermaker company and request a copy of the invoice, Craig is dubious that our email will be answered straight away.  We start walking back to the office supply shop where we can have the invoice printed.  And yay the copy invoice came through.  On the way back to the marina printed invoice in hand we stopped and had a quick bite to eat we chose a chicken and a beef burger, it was only ok we should have gone with one of the local specials, we promise ourselves that next time we will.  We enjoyed a coca cola I reckon it’s the first bottle of soft drink I’ve bought in years it tasted perfect just what we needed.

Craig very kindly offered to walk back to the marina to get customs to stamp the paper while I waited in the open air restaurant, there was a slight breeze and I was sitting in the shade.

We picked up another bag of mangoes as we walked back to the Fed Ex store they are for sale on every corner and so delicious.

The Fed Ex building has a 4 person limit so I wait outside in the shade, it’s Monday and very busy.  Craig comes out, “we have to take this form to the post office and pay $13.60 duty and come back with the receipt”. So off we treck another 1km in the opposite direction, I found a covered bus shelter and sat in the shade while Craig walked the rest of the way, when we got back to Fed Ex I was unapologetic to the other customers, I don’t care, I’m waiting in the air conditioning.
Eventually  we collect our parcel it weighs about 12kg, luckily there is a bus stop close by, we jump aboard and are dropped off back at Spiceland Mall, Craig hasn’t been to this Supermarket yet so I sit outside with the heavy box and he goes in to have a look around, he comes out with 2 bottles of rum and a cantaloupe to add to our already heavy load, I can’t believe my eyes.  What is he thinking!!

That’s it we are getting a taxi back up that hill, at 25 EC (about $13) its worth it.

On our return we dropped our parcels off and returned to the beach for a swim and a catch up with the other cruisers anchored in the bay, already on the beach to celebrating a birthday. 

We had another day in at the shops we took the local bus to the marine store in Prickly Bay, the next bay going south.  We picked up a “Bad Boy” wifi booster.  This should help us pick up more WiFi signals, where we are anchored now the Rotary park has free public WiFi and we are hoping we can log on to it with our new Bad Boy booster. 
On the way back we were dropped off close to an insurance company that we had heard do a reasonable boat insurance.

We went in to see what they could offer us, it was so funny twice the lady popped her head in the door  “someone will be with you in a moment” “that’s ok there’s no rush” we reply giggling as we are sitting in a lovely cool air-conditioned office, using their free WiFi, eating their mints, as it turns out we need to submit the form online.

Yellowbird arrived as soon as they were out of quarantine they made a beeline to this beautiful beach, it was so lovely to see Jack and Kyra, we dinged to the beach and had a beer and a good old catch up in between cooling dips in the water, it’s so pretty sitting in the shade of the almond trees.  

Another perfect day and a get together on the beach for one of the other cruisers wedding anniversary, it’s nice to talk to other couples who are stranded miles from their home countries too, while we were on the beach the coastguard patrol boat called into the bay and a few of the men walked into the water to get close to the patrol boat to see if we were in trouble, there was no mention of us doing wrong by Lymin on the beach but they wanted us to vacate the bay tomorrow morning.  We think because it’s quite an exclusive area and it was looking pretty full with about 14 boats now, monohulls and catamarans. 

But we were not quite ready to leave we had planned to go to the supermarket close by.
The next morning along with Jack and Kyra we walked to the Spiceland Mall to provision ready for our next anchorage, the IGA here is supposed to be the best stocked supermarket in Grenada.  Again we bought way too many heavy things, a large container of olive oil set us back $50 AUS  that was the heaviest add that to a few cans some onions, eggs and a butternut pumpkin you get the picture.  

Our walk there had been quite adventurous, a huge squall went through and we were caught in pelting rain with wind gusts to 50 mph it didn’t last long but Jack ran back along the beach and back up the big hill to check that our boats hadn’t dragged their anchors.  

We were soaked through we couldn’t get any wetter, we were a bit worried that the shopping Centre would give us a chill so we walked a bit further and as the sun came out it helped us to dry off.  I was wringing the water out from the bottom of my skirt. 

We had a coffee and some cake and the local lunch special “doubles” a kind of roti with a mild chickpea curry wrapped up to form a parcel, there was a choice of what sounded like 20 sauces that we didn’t know but I’m sure they were just varying degrees of spiciness, I chose a cucumber salsa, just in case the chickpeas curry was hot. It was soft and yummy, spicy but not hot full of chickpeas and chicken.

By the time we were back inside the mall we were dry enough not to be uncomfortable.

That evening the 4 of us treated ourselves to a meal out, the first sit down meal in a nice restaurant since we hired the van in The Bahamas and had Lunch in the Flying Fish Marina, Long Island. 

We had walked past this particular restaurant for days but it had been closed due to the covid lockdown and this was its first weekend of being open now that restrictions were lifting.

It was a very simple menu, Vegetable Spring Rolls w Asian dipping sauce, Blowtorched snapper, Seared Tuna and Chocolate pots.

To our dismay they sold out of spring rolls and snapper before we had even ordered, but the waitress said someone had gone to get more snapper and they would do a chef’s special for us.  We ordered two of each dish. The food was delicious, but small portions and really reasonable only about $70 Australian per couple and that included 2 drinks each, I had 2 vodkas and Craig a local beer then a Negroni. They even had their own dingy dock so an easy trip home.

We felt we had been lucky to get in our shop and a meal out, so the next morning along with the last of the other boats we upped anchor and set of for Grand Mal a small bay on the other side of St. George’s.

We took Adriana out 3 miles offshore so we could empty our black water tanks, then motored into a busy little anchorage full of local fishing boats.  Dan and Nawal in Breakaweigh were already there and Dan snorkeled out to help us position the anchor.  The bottom is 90% coral with only small areas of sand patches, it took us about an hour, 3 try’s of dropping and lifting the anchor to get it to hold, even now we dive on it everyday to check it hasn’t moved, the sand patches can be deceptive just sand over a a hard impenetrable base.

Grand Mal is different to our previous anchorage, we are now anchored just off a local village it’s actually only a short drive/bus ride to downtown St George’s, it’s working class and close to the city.

Looking up the hill there are hundreds of colorfully painted little houses dotted throughout the luscious green foliage with palm trees lining the shoreline, the beach is tiny and not as pretty as the last anchorage but the water below us is crystal clear, we are anchored with less than 2 meters below our keel it’s fascinating to snorkel around the boat and see it almost sitting on the bottom but after the first tide switch we are happy it won’t get too low and we won’t actually ever sit on the bottom, it’s still rolly but bearable. 

Every day we jump in the water,  at least twice a day, to cool off, usually after the morning dunk I wash my face and underarms with soap and rinse off with fresh water, I’m getting used to only washing my hair about once a week.
The snorkeling is amazing, there are all these clusters of coral that look like fairy castles that are surrounded by tiny bright coloured yellow, blue striped and plain, tiny to hand sized fish swimming around and through the coral, I can now hang on to my rope with the snorkel mask on, observing all the activity Going on below our keel.

The nicest thing is hearing all the kids swimming on the beach.  We had a visit from 3 young boys they swam out to the boat their little black bodies glistening in the sun and the droplets of water sparkle like diamonds in their hair.
We gave the first 3 an icy pole from the freezer but when we saw another half a dozen kids swimming towards us we asked the kids already with us to tell them to turn back they can’t all visit us.  One young 13 almost 14 year old came aboard and stayed for a while, he was very chatty and full of information about where he lived and his family, his brothers and sisters,  Craig quizzed him about the local fishing spots, there is no school at the moment they do lessons over the phone, he said he was quite bored and wanted to go back to going to school. 

Breakaweigh and Timmies Run are here, Fruit Bat and Gina Lee have all just arrived out of Quarantine and join us, Yellowbird Stayed for a couple of days then headed to Carricou One of the smaller Grenadian islands.
Almost  all the Quaran-tilla back together again, only Imiloa are missing they stayed longer in USVI’s and are island hopping down towards Grenada as a few more islands are opening up on the way down.

There is a pink building in front of us with a large balcony looking out to sea, and on Monday 29th of June it was a holiday for all the fishermen. From early in the day there was loud music, we could see lots of people gathered on the deck, it turns out this is the local fishermen’s club and there was food and drinks being served all day.  

Nawal and Nath (Timmies Run) invited me to go shopping with them, leaving the boys at home and sure enough on our return they were all having a great time at the Fisherman’s party.

Us girls caught the local bus into St George’s about $1:70 aus each way.  Everyone is wearing face masks and a few shops sprayed hand sanitizer as we entered but really there was no social distancing the shops are tiny and crowded.  The shops are a bit like our $2 shops there is lots of made in china plastics, the clothes are cheaply made and there is such a mixture of products in each shop it was fun for the first few but then they all became the same.  They are also full of hair accessories, products and hair pieces, lots of braids to be sewn into existing hair like hair extensions. I have a running argument with Craig that not every head of beautiful black braids is real but he doesn’t believe me.  

We did stumble across a couple of shops with uk brand clothes that were of better quality closer to where the cruise ships usually tie up, most of the shops in this are were closed though.

After a few hours of climbing up and down the steep streets we were exhausted and started looking for a nice bar to sit down in and have a beer before we headed home but all we could find was a little hole in the wall that served cold beer - opposite the bus station !!  it was full of local men but they welcomed us in and found 3 stools for us to sit on.  And of course we were surrounded by people wanting to talk to us, it was a little bit intimidating but they were all really friendly most Grenadians seem to have been to the USA or the Uk.  We stayed for a second beer and as we were leaving one of the men who wanted to chat had bought us a third we had already walked outside before we realized and felt bad but it was time to go the locals were starting to get a bit too friendly.

There was no social distancing at the bus station it was crowded and noisy but a nice local helped us find the number 8 bus that we needed to catch to get back.

I handed over our $7.50 to the bus driver and said “that’s for the three whiteys” and the lady next to me laughed.  We were the only white people there, in fact I hadn’t seen another white person all day.  Checking with Wikipedia The vast majority of the population of Grenada are of African descent (89.4% at the 2001 census). There is also a significant mixed population (8.2%), along with a small European origin minority (0.4%), East Indians (1.6%), and there are small numbers of Lebanese/Syrians (0.04%) and Chinese (0.02%). 

Everyone was at the fisherman’s club, we got straight off the bus and into the bar, the boys and Yellowbird were already half cut, Kyra was rap dancing with the little kids, Craig is playing dominos with the locals, Brian and Dan are deep in conversations, it’s noisy and fun.  Down the side of the building someone starts playing bongo drums and the dancing starts, everyone is so friendly and welcoming, the others had all been treated to oildown the local dish.
Oil down is a stew of breadfruit, salted meat, chicken, dumplings, callaloo, and other vegetables, all stewed in coconut milk, herbs, and spices to make a hearty and flavorful one-pot meal. It is called oil down because the coconut milk simmers down and releases its rich flavored oil into the pot. 

and have  been handed so many free beers, then the moonshine was passed around it left everyone a bit spaced out with numb lips.

The curfew at the moment is 9pm so we made sure we said our goodbyes and thanks and jumped in our dingys before 9pm. 

What a fun night,  it was good to let our hair down and socialize with new people we just have to be careful we don’t flaunt our wealth and our privileged white skin, here we are in the minority and in the local people’s eyes wealthy beyond what they could ever have.

Oh no it’s Canada day tomorrow another boozy celebration.......