American Spirit II - Day 435; Shopping Day; Lunch in a Restaurant Locals Go To; Welcome Americans!; & a St. Patrick's Day Party; Tuesday, March 17, 2015

One year ago today:

"Day 73; Fixed Head, Spinnaker Sailing & Dog Star; Monday, March 17, 2014. Happy St. Patrick's Day. Today starts the beginning of the last week on this leg. We hope to be in Hiva Hoa by this Saturday or Sunday, day 20 or 21."

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Up at 7:00 AM. Heidi is next at 8:00 AM followed by Joel around 8:30 AM.

Breakfast is at 8:30 AM and consists of 5 scrambled eggs; 6 bacon; and potatoes.

After breakfast I filled out the Rally sheet that lists the engine hours and miles under engine during the last leg; our start and finish time and dates for the leg; and any equipment failures that we had (we had none). For the 1,700 mile leg that took us 10 days, 11 hours and 11 minutes, we used our engine for 24.3 hours; and averaged 6.77 knots for the entire distance. Next I restocked the refrigerator with soda and beer.

At 11:15 AM Joel, Heidi, Jeanine and I took a taxi to do some shopping. Our first stop was at a small shopping mall where an ATM gave us local currency; then to a phone store to buy SIM cards and get some time loaded on our phones; a liquor store to buy some red wine and port wine;and a grocery store to buy some potatoes. A few small book stores in the mall had a plethora of religious books for sale in them. The country is very religious, with the predominant religion being Catholic due to the French occupation for 100 years prior to the British gaining control of the island.

Next we went to Budget Marine to buy some parts for the boat; then off to lunch, stopping at Andy's Soup Bar. The local menu included 'local juices,' such as lime, ginger beer, orange, golden apple, mauby, cherry and guava. 'Soups and Waters' included pumpkin soup; split pea (pig foot) soup; lambi waters; fish broth; and my favorite, cow head waters. The 'lunch' selections were: roti (mutton/chicken); curry chicken; stew chicken; Creole fish; provision & smoke herring; grilled fish; stew pork; and curry fish. Joel and Jeanine had grilled Mahi Mahi and Heidi and I had grilled barracuda. Both of these were 'specials' notated on a chalk board. All the meals came with a small salad and garlic bread. Plus Jeanine and Heidi had pumpkin soup; and I had a sea moss drink. The sea moss was made from seaweed and looked like a vanilla milk shake. The taste was...interesting. We sat at a table outside on a sloping hill.

Our next stop was at Fort Frederick, built by the French, maybe in 1799. I'm not sure of the date. It's on a hill overlooking St. George's, the capital; and the lagoon where our marina is located. The highest spot around. We had a guide named 'Alice in Wonderland.' I'm not kidding about the name. And the first thing she said to us when she realized we were Americans was 'Thank God for America giving us back our freedom on October 25, 1983.' She went on to say that the United States restored freedom to the island from the Communists when they invaded in 1983; and that October 25 is looked upon as their 'Thanksgiving Day.' She was the second person we've met who thanked us for freeing them. The first was our cab driver, George. The US military operation was called 'Urgent Fury.' Before leaving the fort I bought a spice basket from a nun there. In the basket were the following spices: Cinnamon; Chili Pepper; Pepper Corn; Saffron; Bay Leaf; Mace; Cocoa Balls; and Nutmeg. Grenada is called 'the spice island,' and produces 1/3 of the world's nutmeg.

Some of the things we learned from Alice was that the unemployment rate on the island is 40%; that 80% of the island is devoted to tourism; that cruise ships stop at the island almost daily between November and April; but that after April they stop coming so the island suffers until the following November. The island's population is 108,000 with 35,000 people living in the capital of St. George's.

After leaving the fort, we stopped at one more marine chandlery; then back to the marina, arriving at 4:15 PM. Our five hour cab ride, shopping stops and tour, cost us $150; $30 an hour. Somewhat expensive. We'll be renting a car on Thursday.

We then got in our swim suits and headed for the marina pool. A small pool, and a little cool; but refreshing.

Vlado stopped by and brought Joel and I some chicken he had cooked, deep fried actually; then invited us to his boat for a second helping. We couldn't refuse! Like on American Spirit II, Vlado, the Captain/Owner, is also the cook.

Avocet was hosting a St. Patrick's Day party at the marina bar/restaurant starting at 6:30 PM, and all of the Rally boats participated. It was quite a blowout; with Derry and Margaret from Avocet providing some Irish singing and dancing; drinks and food. We all wore some sort of green clothing item; and Sheila from Polaris painted a shamrock on your face is you requested it. Heidi and I each were 'clovered.' I had a 1/3 clover leaf painted on my face; and a clover leaf painted on my left forearm; and Heidi had a large clover leaf painted on one of her legs.

Joel was the first to leave the party; followed by me; and Heidi was last. I'm not sure what time I left the party as I burned a few too many brain cells during the party.

Brian Fox