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