On August 8th, 2014 we made it to a year long planed destination of our adventures - Grenada, WI. We found this beautiful island the most interesting, amazing and friendliest from all other Caribbean islands, so far at least...
There are no many nice sandy beaches around here, but the mountains with dense jungles and plentiful waterfalls are very beautiful. From the tour of the island we learned that every little wild plant in the forest is actually a spice, or some kind of herb which could be used in cooking and as a natural remedy from any pains and aches. Nobody here ever could be hungry, for there are a lot of fruits and veggies growing here in different seasons. Just amazing! And the main market in St.George is full of vivid colors of the crop growing around here, and yes, there is a great Fish market which is supplied by the local fishermen every day with plenty of seafood.
Grenada has a great public transportation system - multiple lines of the little buses are running around the island and it's very cheap, starting at EC$2.50 per person one way. We found the Grenadian buses as the best entertainment and attraction of this island: the 12-14 seats buses are packed up to 17 people, have to seat literally on each other laps, the music (Soca and hip-hop) is so loud than cannot talk, buses are running on the highest speed on the hilly and windy roads - and there are NO seat belts! The bus is operated by two people - the driver and a conductor "bus boy" who's job is to get and pack as many people as they can soliciting people on the board walks. This is Kevin's dream job - once he even managed to work as a "bus boy" and he got decent amount of people on the bus: "Come, come. Bus! St.George!" using specific for this job hand gestures. That was funny, locals were laughing getting on the bus because nobody was expecting a gringo working as a conductor!
Our first anchorage in Grenada was in St.George - very pretty neat and pretty city. Just a short dinghy ride to the Carnage and you are in the middle of the town. We arrived on August 8th - right in time for yearly Carnival. And we managed actually participate in this madness! We asked the locals in the market to help us to find a place in one of the 12 Carnival's teams, and after couple hours we found still available places in Andre Agave Associates Carnival team. The costumes were pricey, but totally worth for this unique opportunity. Kevin got a place in Hip-Hop team and I was a Show girl. Costumes were very pretty, and I had to wear that beautiful feathery head peace which I was very proud of!
Amazing experience at Carnival - August 12-14 - dancing non-stop for two days! Luckily we were adviced to wear tennis shoes to prolong our ability to dance for hours without break. Each team had a huge track with huge stereo amplifiers, running very-very loud Soca music by the band of particular team and periodically you were given some alcohol and beer to wind you up for more dancing! Seems that very easy job - just dance and drink, but we were absolutely exhausted by the night of the second day. And our team won the "Best Band" contest! I got a friend from Trinidad, Cloudette, who taught me crazy dancing moves (twerking?) under sounds of loud Soca. Kevin was popular among local older female population and once I had to protect him from some aggressive lady from audience. We had so much crazy fun and just Carnival itself made it worth to travel from far Texas to Grenada.
The opening of the Carnival was on Monday night at 2am - which is called "J'Overt" - the night when people get soacked in the used machine oil and then marching on Carnage under loud sounds of Soca. The hard core participants are walking almost naked and periodically pouring the machine oil all over themselves, holding the row fish and dead rats in their mouths while blood is dripping all over. Most of the locals get very drank and sexual, the site is definitely not for the children, and in the morning all Carnage streets are black and slippery from oil (hard to walk!). By 10am that madness is done and somehow streets got cleaned for the Carnival teams competitions.
We spent couple days just relaxing after such party, and in couple days moved to Spice Island Marina - where we got hulled out and put on the hard for next 6 weeks.
At this marina we met a sailboat with two Ukrainian guys from Mikolaev - the city near my hometown! I was so happy to meat my co-patriots and speak my native language! Right away we became good friends and helped each other for next couple weeks working on our boats. That was fun, I felt like I was back into a close family. While staying in the Marina we rented a very nice apartment at "Kiki's Apartments", which was very decent price ($200 per week) with free laundry, huge living room, huge kitchen, cleaning service every week, free water, AC in each room and free wifi. We loved to stay at this apartment. It was very nice after hard work on the boat on the boatyard where is very humid and crazy hot to come back "home" and turn on AC, take very long showers, watch TV and wash dirty cloths for free!
The best part of the apartment was a bed - wide and long, and not moving (I guess, it's a standard for any land living conditions - but we have not been in such bed for 9 months).
We were almost done with our work on the boat when Kevin broke a finger on his right hand while trying to start a generator. Then our new adventures started. We had unique opportunity to learn Grenada's life from the healthcare prospective.
Day 1: first we went to the main hospital. Emergency room was full of people and they were there for already 6 hours, there is no receptionist to take your name and nobody knows when the doctor will show up. In couple hours we lost our hope to be seen by doctor and visited a private physician (just $40 per visit) who sent us for X-ray ($75), the results we got right away in our hands, which is very convenient.
Day 2: brought results of X-ray to our physician, who send Kevin to orthopedic specialist. Doctor Douglas Noel starts his work day at 10am but at 9am there were 9 people in line waiting already. We spent very lovely day in his office and Kevin got apointement for the surgery on his finger the next day, Saturday.
Day 3: back to the public hospital, this time to another building - surgery rooms. It's Saturday and the hospital is empty (toilet is outside the building, no paper). We got lucky that there is no any emergency at that time and doctor was free to perform a surgery on Kevin (there are only 2 orthopedic doctors on the island, so, they are very busy). Kevin showed up with the huge cast covering hand and forearm. And it's crazy hot outside. But we are happy, he got a wire in his finger and it will heal in 6 weeks.
Next day we got a flight to Dominican Republic, where we spent couple days enjoying Santo Domingo's coffee and pastries. Then a flight home - to Austin! We have not seen our daughters for 8 months and were so happy to meet with our friends again (ha, we were surprised they did not forget about us!!!).
We had a very short stay at home, just 6 days, but at the end we were already missing our boat life. I guess, somehow somewhere we lost our ability to live in a big city where everything is so efficient and life is crazy fast.
Back in Grenada, back to work on the boat - and we had very interesting project: insulate our refrigerator with the new NASA space something.. state of the art insulation, which we carried all the way from Austin. This project took us about 4 days from start to finish, thanks to our friends from Del Max who helped Kevin (setup with his cast would not allow much) to operate saws while disassembling our fridge, and for the moral support too, because I was shocked to see my kitchen being totally destroyed.
But, as Oren says: "Do not fear!" and, in couple days we put everything in order.
The bottom of the boat was painted, fridge fixed, water tanks welded and second was sealed, rudder is fixed, wind vane got missing parts, bimini is extended, sail cover is patched - and we are ready to splash back in the water.
The rest of the time in Grenada we spent in Prickley Bay with Del Max and Bendecida, and dozen of other boats. This is where you start feeling that you are a part of a big cruising community-family, make close and good friends, participate in different activities which are organized by your fellows cruisers, and just having fun while sitting at Tiki bar at the wi-fi tables like a student in the library.
We call it "Camp Grenada" which reminds us a summer camp in the youth, and it was very sad to leave behind all that fun and many friends we made there.
The day of the "Camp Grenada" starts with the net at 7:30am every day, except of Sunday. The weather, arrivals and departures are announced, reminders of every day activities and specialities of the local businesses, the "bildge treasures" and the "shopping buses", "Umi Do" (PierIve) and volunteering in local schools, "Secret smile" calling "Endorphin II" and "High Heels" calling "Boots". We had yoga twice a week and Thi Chi led by PierIve, domino and chess competitions twice a week, Trivia game on Tuesday, Spanish conversation class with Sandra on Thursday and then latino dance, Bingo on Wednesday (you can win a cow, two goats, a rabbit, but we did not win anything), walked Hash (runners with drinking problem) on Saturdays, and by Sunday you are so exhausted that just wanted to stay on the boat and do some chores.
"Camp Grenada" is the best place to practice any major language and learn culture from different countries: cruisers here are from USA, Canada, Israel, Brazil, England, New Zeland, Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Sweden, Holland, Italy, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Columbia, Argentina, any other I missed? Bunch of us cruisers were taking evening Spanish classes at the Cultural center of Venezuelian Consulate - twice or more times a week, and they were FREE. Then we would practice a bit Spanish with Sandra on Thursdays, and I would practice my forgotten German and Ukrainian, and native Russian with Nataly, the girl from Ukraine while excercising Thi Chi.
But the hurricane season is over, and it's time to move on to other destinations and see other places. So far Grenada island is our most favorite from all Caribbean islands and we will keep our memories from "Camp Grenada" for long time.
