2024-11-10 Touring Grenada, Underwater sculpture park, and off to Rhonde and Carriacou

Monday we took a half day tour.  We have toured around Grenada in the past, but never seen the Grand Etang rain forest - so that was on our list.  Tour was part drive and part stopping at some spot.  Our driver Dexter did a great job, and since it was only the two of us, we enjoyed talking about lots of local issues with him.

The Grand Etang rain forest is very pretty, and is a protected National park.  We went for a small hike on a very muddy trail and got to see a Mono monkey - which Kris bravely even got out the van to look at.  (Kris doesn't like monkeys -  had traumatic encounter when young).

Nice view of the harbor of St. Georges from atop the hill.  

Grand Etang park sign

The Mono monkey is not native to Grenada, but is now part of the "native" animals in the rain forest.  Only a couple of them will come close to humans - this one is 10 years old.

Hiking along a very muddy slippery trail.  

Our original plan was a longer hike, but with the condition of the trails, glad we did not, as they are still not completely cleaned up following hurricane Beryl, and with the rainy season, they are very muddy and slippery.  It was difficult to not end up on our bums in the mud - but we did it - couple of close calls though.

Dean talking with Dexter our driver at the Grand Etang lake

This is the lake from a stock photo, so you can see we were up at the top of the mountain.  We were lucky did not get rained on while on the trail.

We stopped at the Nutmeg museum, and learned about nutmeg processing - will never take that for granted again, and also at the Diamond Chocolate Factory - and yes, we bought some.

Ripe Nutmeg, ready to pick when it splits open.

The entire nutmeg is used.  The outer husk, the red covering (mace) and the seed (nutmeg)

Tour was interesting, except for our guide, which actually read every sign to us for a while.

After nutmeg, it was on to chocolate.

Green Cocoa pod

Pretty gardens at the Diamond chocolate factory

We sampled a few, but Kris settled on the 75% dark, and 60% with nutmeg.

After chocolate we headed to Concord falls.  Very pretty falls.

There are a couple of very deep pools at the bottom of the falls.

We could have gone for a swim, as we brought our clothes for that, but it began to rain, and rain, and downpour, and rain, so luckily we took shelter at a restaurant/shop near the falls and waited it out.

The downpour only lasted about 1/2 hour.

After the falls, it was back to the boat.  We spent a couple more days in St. George's.  Went out for a nice lunch, and took a bus for groceries and stocked up, as we know the next few islands won't have much since they were all hit hard by Hurricane Beryl.

After a full week in St. Georges we headed out, after a stop at the Underwater Sculpture Park.  Had a good time snorkeling, and saw almost all of the sculptures before the clouds came in and made the visibility poor, and the tour boats came in and crowded the area.

You had to dive down a bit to get a good view

One of the sculptures in the "Coral Carnival" group

Belair Dancer sculpture

Vicissitudes sculpture

Bench and selfie sculpture

After the snorkel, we headed north to Rhonde Island.  We have been there before, but Kris had wanted to hike to the north shore.  After a very rolly night, we looked for a place to take the dingy to land, but the rollers were so big, you would need to anchor out and swim ashore, that looked risky to our health as well, so we moved on up to Carriacou.  

Carriacou was hit hard by Hurricane Beryl, so interesting to see some of the recovery going on.  All the boats had been removed from the mangroves, but there was still a lot of debris in the mangrove branches.  More than half the boats in the boatyard were still in a state of brokenness.   About 50% of the homes looked to have a functioning roof and walls, but the rest still open to the environment in some fashion.  Two small groceries stores open in Tyrell bay which was great to see.  Not much else, think one restaurant is open here, but that is all.   

View off the main road, still a lot of trash and downed brush to clean up

Something completely destroyed still just sitting, with no clean up done

Tyrell Bay

Dump site

Inside one of the small stores that has had a good refurbishment after hurricane

Runoff creek, still clogged with downed vegetation

We were surprised to see our friends boat Melelana upright and floating.   Last time we saw it, it was upside down partially submerged in the mangroves.

Easy to see what was underwater, and what was not.

Our friends were insured, so the insurance company agreed the boat was a total loss,  the salvage company must have found a buyer for the hull.  Unfortunately, there are 3 boats like this in the harbor, plus several more with damage that had not been partially sunk all anchored or moored, but no one on them, no lights, and taking up a lot of the harbor.  Makes the harbor somewhat unappealing, and afraid that these boats will end up sinking in the harbor, or breaking loose at some point and ending up floating away, or on the shore somewhere.  Sad to see.    

We will move today to another anchorage, and hopefully do a little snorkeling before moving further north.

2024-11-02 Last days in Trinidad and sailing back to Grenada

We did some more exploring at Chacachacare.  Hiked up to the abandoned buildings and walked around.  Think the buildings were a church, living quarters and the hospital for the leper colony.

Buildings were nice at one time, with covered verandas

Nice view of the anchorage

Kitchen areas were outside the main buildings

Don't know what the odd shaped cutouts in the walls in the hospital were

Showering and toilet facility

Dean being goofy

Lots of black vultures on the roof and in the building added a bit of creepiness

Next day we headed to a different anchorage, as Chacachacare had gotten to be a bit choppy and rolly in the afternoons.  We needed to put up our sails, and mark reefing points on our halyards, and figured doing it in the daylight would be best, as when we left Trinidad, we would be leaving in the dark.   Had a nice sail, with lots of tacking but got all the reef points marked.  We anchored in Scotland Bay, which  was quite nice and calm.   We could hear the howler monkeys in the forest.

We checked out of Trinidad - took 1 hour, and we never waited in line, we were the only ones checking out.   Lots of paperwork, and lots of copies and stamping and initializing and signing.   Had a nice lunch out, and stopped by to see Bruce and Sandra on Namid.  They were hauled out, and flying out that same day that we were leaving as well.   

Chaguaramas Trinidad anchorage

We spent our last Trinidad cash at the store, and rested until 7:00 p.m, then set sail in the dark for Grenada.  Did spend some time getting our Grenada courtesy flag ready, as it was a bit torn and faded from use.

A good selection of sharpie markers is great for coloring flags

Nice sunset for our last night in Trinidad

Had a nice sail, left at 7pm and arrived around 9:00 a.m.  Showered, checked in, and walked to the grocery and hardware store before back on the boat for lunch and needed naps.

Next day we moved over to St. George's, which is the largest town and capital of Grenada.  We took a mooring for a week, as the area in front of St. Georges is a marine park.

Went to town, and got a Digicel sim card for internet, and just walked around a bit, and got a few groceries

Industrial area of main harbor

Lots of pleasure and fishing boats in inner harbor

Busy streets with lots of stores

Narrow streets as well

Today we head off on a tour of the rain forest and more.

2024-10-27 Back in the water - out to Chacachacare Island

We are back in the water – woo-hoo.

Hauled out on August 9th, spent 5 days working on the boat, then flew to Boise for 48 days, then back to the boat for 23 days.

What we accomplished:

• Sanded off old bottom paint, marked and raised the waterline.
• Buffed and waxed and polished the hull and deck.
• Replaced engine impellers
• Checked and replaced bolts on bow anchor roller
• Painted sail drives and props
• Fixed anchor swivel (Wasi ball)
• New bottom paint
• New striping at waterline and rub rail
• Took off sails and reinstalled, doing minor sail repair to jib and mainsail cover
• Removed and replaced 16 above water thru hulls
• Changed oil, filter, and gear oil for outboard
• New membrane in water maker
• Switched props intentionally after last haul out mistake, so switched them back and had to switch controls to match.
• Had new shelf bracket made
• Touch up paint on boom
• New seal on starboard engine rear crankcase
• Changed oil on both engines and sail drives
• Cleaned, cleaned and cleaned – boatyards are dirty.

Seems like a pathetic list, and we did have some off time having lunch with friends, bussing to the store and such. Most of the work was done by Dean, sanding, buffing, waxing and polishing.

Our time off was mostly spent with new and old friends.  We had a nice lunch out with our friends Peter and Iris on IP.  They were going to launch same day as us, but are delayed a week now.  We took a trip to the mall to get a phone sim card so we can have data after we leave the boatyard.  We have Starlink, but they have changed the rules, and technically only allow you out of home country for 2 months a year, so we don’t know what may happen when we turn it back on.  We want to be north of Grenada when we do, as Grenada is not an authorized area for Starlink.  So we went to the mall to the Digicel store to get a sim card.  Mall already decorated for Christmas.

Christmas decorations up in the mall

Palm trees and Christmas lights - not in Idaho anymore

Had a nice lunch out at the mall, got some groceries and took a honker back - the fellow who gave us a ride had a car that looked much nicer on the outside than inside - but oh well, we made it back just fine.


Most boatyards are dirty to some degree, but since the northern part of Trinidad also is commercial, with petroleum being a major industry we get a lot of dust and somewhat black dust at that. Hard to keep the hulls and deck clean when almost every day you get a fine coating of black dust. The yard is cheap, super friendly, and lots of resources, so you take the good with the bad.  But cleaning and polishing was done right before launching.

Black dirt embedded in window screens

Cleans up nice though

Kris doing the Strataglass cleaning and polishing on the dodger

Scrubbing the deck

Final polish of the hull

We spent a wonderful afternoon with Bruce and Sandra on Namid, at the pool, and then a delicious dinner on the boat.

Bruce and Sandra at the pool

Thursday morning, they lifted us onto the trailer, so we can paint the bottom of the keels.

Getting the trailer in position.

Our friends Peter and Iris from IP, watching the launch and seeing us off

Launching went smoothly, only one small hiccup, Kris forgot to tighten one of the hoses in the raw water system, so had a leak there, but it was quickly resolved, and we were on our way to Chacachacare Island.  The water here is much cleaner than in Chaguaramas bay.  We started up the water maker and put out shades, as no more air-conditioning, so we are sweaty and hot.

Charm looking good, back in the water again

Chacachacare used to be a leper colony, so some abandoned buildings to explore and a lighthouse to walk to.  History of Chacachacare here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacachacare

Saturday we took a long sweaty hike up to the lighthouse.  754' above sea level.  

Paved road from the dock to the lighthouse.  Fairly steep grade in places

Nice view, and near the top must have been close to 50 corbeaux, or black vultures.  They sound like jets when they glide overhead.

We disturbed the black vultures (Cobeaux)

Venezuela is the island in the background

Lighthouse at the top, Kris is in the doorway

Heading down was sooo much easier than the walk-up

Quite a bit of trash on the beach where we landed the dink

One of the abandoned leper colony buildings.  Will do more exploration later

Today is more exploration of some buildings, and trying to stay shaded and cool.  Not sure when we will head north, sometime this week depending on weather.