Jacks & Sams Birthday Parties

Hillsborough is more of a working class town where as Tyrell Bay with its two marinas catered for all the yacht crews.

Hillsborough had a larger population and its where the banks,  government offices and the large police station are all located servicing  the whole island.  On our first afternoon there we bumped into the young guy who we had chatted to everyday while hauled out at Carriacou Marina he ran the well stocked little shop there, it was a nice feeling to be able to say hello to a familiar face, he was having fried chicken for dinner too.

You should have seen the rickety metal stairs we had to climb up to get ashore, they were originally made for a floating dock so all hinged and loose jointed but these ones were fixed between the concrete dingy landing dock and the huge town wharf. 

The frame was so buckled and bent and the actual steps had big cracks in the metal chain plate that you felt any minute your weight would crack them completely, there was a handrail to hold on to that only went part of the way up, luckily we didn’t encounter much rough weather getting in and out of the dingy and climbing the precarious steps, so no mishaps.

It’s  the rainy season with a constant flow of huge heavy clouds darkening the sky as squalls pass overhead, at some point on most days the sky’s will open and torrential rain will bucket down or there will just be a light sprinkling that was over before you’d closed all the hatches, it’s still hot and humid but on the water there is usually a nice breeze that manages to help circulate the hot air and help keep the mosquitoes and no see ums away.

The streets here are filled with hardware shops, small mixed businesses selling clothes and hair accessories,  lots of food establishments and little hole in the wall bars selling icy cold beer and rum, there are ladies selling fruit and vegetables dotted on either side of the street, we bought the best mangos there, slightly under ripe and not in the least bit stringy, those stringy mangoes would get so caught in your teeth.  

We are learning to only buy what fruit we need as it all ripens so quickly we are wasting just as many bananas as we are eating but it’s hard not to overbuy from the ladies on the street knowing that the town is really quiet compared to what it would normally be, it’s not a tourist town at all but if there are no tourists there is less work so less money in everyone’s pockets.

Jo and Daz - Requim suggested Snaggs a great little bar right on the beach as a venue for Jacks birthday and what a great spot it was.  

Everyone from Quaran-tilla turned up either anchoring in the bay or catching a bus to then a taxi home. The bar opened on a Tuesday night, just for us there were 20 of us, being joined by six of Jo and Daz friends as well, whom we had met before so they were not strangers.  For $40EC per person about $22 Aus they supplied a smorgasbord of delicious garlic bbq chicken wings, baked local fish, potato salad beans and rice.  

The owner cooked the chicken and fish over a half drum filled with hot coals, basting the garlicy sauce over the wings as he turned them.  The rice and beans were a bit tasteless but I think the wings made up for it.

Craig made Jacks cake, two layers of delicious cinnamon infused carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and coconut shavings on top. I made sure the owner who obviously appreciated nice food as he had so lovingly cooked the chicken wings, received a piece of the cake, he came and thanked me as we were leaving for feeding him the cake.

There was a BAND  they absolutely made the night, starting by singing a calypso rendition of Happy Birthday then getting Jack up to join them it was hilarious and so much fun, they played all the classic reggae songs and a few local tunes, by the time we said goodbye they hardly even noticed us leaving they were having so much fun jamming away to themselves.  

I have to say the location of this place was so picturesque, the actual building was a mish mash of timbers nailed together and painted white, the long bench seats around the rickety table were not the most comfortable and it was all a bit banged together but the view was incredible - ok I may have had a few drinks by the time the sun went down but the roof of the building, a local blue painted boat beached in the sand and a palm tree created a picture frame effect for the setting sun, the white sand and the water lapping on the shore and the live calypso music created a perfect Setting.

It’s Sams birthday - Fruit Bat,  this Saturday I don’t know how Scott will be able to top Jacks perfect party.

Scott and Sam - Fruit Bat are anchored at La Roche another bay just around the corner, so we headed over to join them in a tiny pretty little horseshoe bay, by the time we were all anchored there the last few boats were sticking out the back almost out of the protection of land. 

So this little bay is another one of those pinch yourself, this is so pretty places the sand is not pure white it’s actually quite dark from the residual volcanic ash.  

But the dense bush behind it rises up almost vertical creating a pretty green backdrop, there is only a couple of walking tracks that give access from the road a couple of miles away so really the only access is from the water. 

A local entrepreneurial couple & have built a bar/ restaurant right there front and centre on the beach, there is no electricity they run a small generator to plug in an electric hot plate to cook the sides and a hot coals bbq for the meat and fish.  They bring everything they need for the day in by boat, including 2 six week old puppies for us to go all gooey over.  They have put up a volleyball net on the beach and I watched them hand out snorkeling gear to some visitors too, it’s quite the set up but so simple and rent free to them as far as I can tell.

Craig came back raving one night after playing volleyball Jim had cooked a batch of conch fritters for them and they were delicious.  The sauce was creamy and spicy nothing like anything he had tasted before.

Another day they cooked a leg of pork overnight in a 40 gallon drum with a fire inside, below the pork, we got to try some the next day it was so tender but a little bit too smokey  for Craig’s taste.

We have had a tradition within our little group of gifting something hand made, regifting or passing on an item we think that person might like.

Jack received his cake and I tied up a few of the Canadian boat magazines that we inherited with Adriana along with a small bag of sprouting seeds I had left, I know he will enjoy growing them.  

Sam was a bit harder she is such a beautiful artist it’s was harder to come up with something plus she had given Craig a pair of very expensive sunglasses when Craig was left without any sun protection, after losing his last good pair, we decided to sail back down to Paradise Beach and buy her a pair of earrings from the local artist Farsi, who has a container shop full of beautiful things, the nicest jewelry hand painted T-shirts and nick jacks we had seen in our travels.

So we lifted the anchor hoisted the sails and moseyed downwind for an hour anchoring in front of the shop, we dinged over made our selection Craig got a cool T-shirt too, we also stopped and ordered a takeaway chicken meal to share, it’s what the locals eat it consisted of two beautiful succulent chicken wings cooked down in a dark lightly flavored bbq sauce, served with rice and chickpeas plus coleslaw $20 EC about $12 AuS

We took the food back to Adriana as we could see dark storm clouds on the horizon and didn’t want to get caught in the rain, plus we had left all the hatches open, whew the squall skirted past us off in the distance we could hear the thunder rumbling.  

We hoisted the sails and headed back Craig has been practicing starting and finishing our sails without turning on the engine, scaring the wits out of me, we are flying towards land and I’m like shouldn’t we slow down ? a few minutes later I’m saying shouldn’t we reef now ? eventually right at the last minute we furl in the headsail and pull down the main.  

Twice now we have been able to just drop the anchor, he says he will only do it when there are no other boats around and there is no wind, the conditions will have to be perfect but it makes you think what would happen if something goes wrong with your engine as your coming in to an anchorage.

It happened to Scott and Sam coming into Tyrell Bay, Craig and Adam were all ready to go and help maneuver them in but the local boat guy Billy the one who moved all the unattended boats into the mangroves a couple of weeks ago when we had the hurricane Gonzalo scare, anyway Yellowbird had been somewhere when the call came through and the locals they were with had contacted Billy, the best person for the job.

On the morning of Sams party which is going to be held onshore Jim is happy to let us use his tables and chairs for our Mexican pot luck dinner as long as we buy a couple of drinks, he doesn’t sell beer but makes the best PainKiller cocktails.

That morning Scott and Sam came onboard for coffee followed by Jack and Kyra - Yellowbird.  We all sat chatting away until we realized it was no longer morning it was 1pm and oops we all had food to prepare so after a quick swim we got too it, Craig whipping up a chilli bean dish, Scott had already had a cake made in town so pressure was off Craig to bake again. 

We dinged to shore around 3pm a big volleyball game starting the proceedings followed by a swim, Hans on Vagabond supplied  a huge floating mat that of course turned into a wrestling, it’s a knockout type game.  

Everyone was ready to eat by about 5.30pm and I must say the food was delicious, Jim cooked up some bbq chicken and everyone there had made something different, salsa, guacamole, home made tortillas, chilli beans, coleslaw, rice and the most delicious home made corn chips I’ve ever eaten.  

There were a few newcomers Sam and Scott had met along the way, Jim had big speakers so there was iPod music, fortunately there were no takers for the karaoke. 

Scott had made a piñata for Sam an intricate monstrous ball of paper mache with cones sticking out the sides making it look like a Sputnik he had then covered it in tiny bits of paper to give it the full piñata look, so much work had gone into it, we had watched Scott liaise with Millennial Falcon, going back and forward between the two boats citing mechanical problems on Millennial Falcon while he made it

The piñata was destroyed so quickly I don’t think anyone realised how much work went into creating and decorating it, plus it was filled with all kinds of sweet treats.

Another beautiful sunset half the group sitting around chatting the others having another swim, then back for a round of Limbo dancing

Out of the blue two of the boats had a bump together, there was no wind so the movement of the current had swung them too close to each other, a few dingies including Craig motored out to check on them, one of the owners just lifted his anchor and moved so it couldn’t happen again by this time it was dark and we left the young ones to keep partying but it wasn’t long before the tiki torches were extinguished and everyone was home aboard their little floating homes.

I think we are due for some quiet time after all this partying we are going to head back to St George’s, Grenada To do some boat chores and a big grocery shop.