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We fly from Barbados to Grenada to meet Blackpearl. Not without incident. At the airport an officious lady won't issue our boarding passes as we have no flight out of Grenada as we are leaving by boat. We explain to her we are meeting the boat but she won't accept this. After an hour waiting a the check in counter and supplying details of the boat and where it is docked, her supervisor allows us to go. We have booked into a trendy resort ' True Blue' where we relax and have dinner.
Sunday. We go to mass at the local cathedral in 'Grand Anse'. The singing is wonderful but the priest gives such a marathon sermon that we are forced to leave early.
We then head off to join BP. It is great to be back on board with captain Paul, our chef Christie, and two new crew hostess Sam and first mate Scott.
The boat is in great shape but is still having a major problem or two. The new crane when turned on is stripping out the generators and turning off many circuits when it happens. That has effected the rear doors and AV equipment. We have no stove and minus one freezer. We intended to travel south immediately but with these problems we are stuck until at least the crane and generated issues are sorted out.
The weather is great, very warm. There is a small beach at the marina in Port Louis and Paul has learned serious yoga practice sine his time off in Margaret River, which he shares with us.
The next day we have a yoga session with Paul which was fantastic. Later, we take a tour of the Island with our guide 'Mandu'. He talks non stop but is very knowledgeable of the island and its history. We drive the west coast visiting a nutmeg factory then onto lunch at the chocolate factory, where they make delicious chocolate our favourite being dark and salty 70 % cocoa.
We then visit the Rivers Rum Factory for a taste of the handmade 71% white rum.
Tuesday. We have chartered a fishing boat with Garry. He explains that the fishing is a bit slow this month and suggests to do four hours instead of a full day. We explain we want eating fish rather than catch and release marlin etc. we are happy as we catch four Blackfin Tuna, one Dorado ( Mahi Mahi).
The next day we launch the tender to do some exploring and snorkelling. We follow a local dive boat and visit a few sites. One has an array of interesting concrete statues on the bottom, quiet a few nice fish, but the coral here seems to have been largely destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004. Grenada has had several bad hurricanes in the past including Hurricane Ivan, and Janet. These two have been very disc recursive to agriculture and coral as well as for housing and people. Luckily for us, although we are in hurricane season still, there has not been a major one in the Carribean this year.
While we await BP being fixed we are running out of activities to entertain ourselves. We decide to play golf at the Grenada golf club. This is only nine holes and very inexpensive. As we find out it is a real cow paddock but a lot of fun with the Leeming's beating the Buxton's on the last hole.
Back on the boat, we have been doing yoga sessions on the wharf in the evening. This has been great. Our practice is improving with Paul showing is some new poses and techniques.
After flying the crane guy Jim out from Florida, it finally looks like the crane and most electrical issues are fixed. So, we are leaving early on Friday. We could go to Tobago in 10 hours, or Los Roques in 40 hours. There is a hurricane forming in the Atlantic forming near Cape Verde Island so we decide to head to Tobago which rarely gets badly affected by Hurricanes and we hear there is good surfing, fishing and diving.
Before we leave we visit the local museum, Fort George and the spice market.
We have found the people of Grenada very friendly. The local food is very good, fish fruit and vegetables. Everything else is imported. Unemployment is about 50%, and they rely mostly on tourism for their income. We are there in low season and they are suffering from a lack of tourists. The country is hilly, green and beautiful.
JB and Mick
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