can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Cleone - CLEONE in Grenada



Grenada - a Caribbean jewel.
 
It's great to be properly back in the Caribbean.  And our stay in Grenada has turned out to be a celebration of just that.  The new marina is not yet finished, but there is enough of it to be comfortable. Sure there are not enough showers and lavatories, the electric plugs (if you can find one) are £75 each or so (can you believe it?) and not everything works.  But it is well sheltered (at least on the inside berths where we are lying), it is clean and neat, the water is drinkable, there is a lively bar and restaurant, with a swimming pool beside it, and the staff were brilliant.

And St George's is a pretty town, with the cruise-ship dock well out of sight of the marina and the old town.  The brain-child of Peter de Savaray, the new marina is in the deepest corner of the harbour, in what was a short while ago a maritime scrap yard.  Now run by Camper and Nicholson (remember them?  They used to build pretty decent yachts not so long ago), there is a bold development plan.  Ten rusting hulks, an old helicopter and all the other accumulated debris have gone, and a huge new marina is taking shape.  There are already 40 or 50 berths, with plans for up to 350 berths, a marina village and a hotel and so on.  It's a bold venture; Mr de S has sold it on.  But will those berths ever be filled?
 
The World ARC bus tour included winding through St George's narrow streets, a dive off the main road to a beautiful but crowded waterfall and a visit to a Nutmeg processing plant.  These are the spice islands, and more than just half the world's supply of nutmegs come from here; it is a wonderfully fertile country.  Not much has changed at the Nutmeg plant.  The nutmegs dry naturally, they are sorted by hand and the machine that cracks them dates back to the 1950s.  But mechanisation would mean that many of those earning what is here a decent wage would be thrown out of work. 

After this, we drove to our lunch spot, a cocoa farm.  The food in the large open air dining room was excellent, and afterwards we were able to see the remnants of the old machinery and taken on a tour of what is left, most of which is still in use.  How on earth they discovered the complex processing of drying and boiling and crushing that turns large seeds in a soft white pith into brown cocoa powder is anyone's guess.  But it works as well in the 21st century as it did in the 19th, so why change things.  Finally, it was off to the rum distillery, the oldest in the Caribbean.  Copper and wood a and decaying brickwork still support the old Derby-built water wheel that still drives the cane crusher, and the rum that emerges from this process is real firewater.  It is 75% proof, and virtually undrinkable by any but the most dedicated of Caribbean drinkers.  None of it is exported, and no wonder.
 
Besides swimming from the pristine silver sand of nearby Grand Anse Bay, there have been noisy parties every night in the yacht club.  Last night was St Patrick's Day, and duly celebrated under the skilled hands of Nick, our Irish Cultural Attaché.  Our party was nearly overwhelmed by a noisy contingent from the nearby American run medical school, but they soon moved on, leaving us to do our thing in the usual World ARC way.  Today we move on, probably to Carriacou.  Confusingly this is part of Grenada, which is itself not part of the Grenadines.  There we will clear out of Grenada before checking in to St Vincent and the Grenadines, and cruising via the Tobago Cays to Bequia and on to St Lucia and the finish of our circumnavigation.
 
And who knows what happens next - all suggestions welcome!
 
Meanwhile, all is well with us, and very best wishes to you all.

James, Paul and Volker

Yacht Cleone
St George's
Grenada



Previous | Next