SOUTH TO THE WINDWARD "SPICE ISLANDS" OF GRENADA & THE GRENADINES

WELCOME TO PART ONE OF OUR FIVE PART SERIES

One thousand four hundred nautical miles south of Miami Florida lays the Caribbean Isle of Grenada. This is where we are to pick up the charter yacht for a seven day course with our American Sailing Association school.(http://www.nautilussailing.com) But first, we had to get there. Flying from Arizona took the better part of the day as we flew 85 miles south of Grenada to Trinidad & Tobago. A quick stop, as we had just 9 hours layover mostly filled with customs and immigration getting in and out of the airport. We had arranged a driver to show us a little of the country as we traveled to and from our hotel in Port of Spain. Had a glass of wine at the Hyatt Trinidad (trinidad.hyatt.com) before trying to get a few hours rest before we had to go back to the airport.

A quick 45 minute hop over to Grenada where we arrived and were shuttled to True Blue Bay Resort (http://www.truebluebay.com/) just in time for Breakfast. Maybe they took pity on us seeing how tired we were as they let us check into our room at 7:30 A.M. and we immediately took a nap.

We had been contacted before leaving by our friends Marco & Rahel Urech of the S/Y Habibi (http://habibisails.blogspot.com) who asked us to bring them a replacement VHF antenna from the U.S.

 So we met with them in the afternoon over drinks at the Dodgy Dock (http://www.facebook.com/dodgydock), and listened attentively as they told us of there last 8 months cruising to Grenada on there Island Packet 380 from the U.S. east coast.

Just before sunset we decided to check out the local area by foot and found Budget Marine Chandlers (http://www.budgetmarine.com/Store.aspx?id=grenada) where many cruisers were storing there yachts on the hard for hurricane season and stopped at De Big Fish Bar and Restaurant (http://debigfish.com/) on Prickly bay for dinner.

 This restaurant caters mostly to cruisers like the Portuguese sailors Tony and Margaret (http://joaleaadventures.com/) whom we met and who had just put there 2010 Hylas 54 on the hard and were preparing to return to Vancouver Canada for the season. They also spoke to us of there travels and we thought how lucky we were to get a day to speak to seasoned cruisers about these sailing grounds a day before we would prepare to set sail there.

 With one more day ahead of us before meeting our group at the boat late Saturday afternoon we decided to go into town. We had heard the the open market in St Georges on Saturday was the place to be, so we took a taxi there first. The market was quite a spectacle with vendors everywhere selling there wares of fresh fruit and spices. The streets were filled with people enjoying a day of shopping.

 While there we ran into Marco and Rahel again as the market was close to Port Louis Marina where the had docked there boat.

We decided to hike up to see the view from Fort George which was built in 1706 and overlooks the Carenage, Lagoon and outer harbor. and met a local named Paul who gave us a great walking tour of the Fort and told us about growing up there, island history and about the surrounding areas we were viewing.

Next we walked over the Sendall tunnel and stopped for waterside dining on The Carenage, a picturesque bay adjacent to the lagoon. We eat at the Ocean Grille (http://www.grenada-beaches.com/restaurants/ocean-grill-restaurant/) some great local fresh fish.

We mad it back to Tru Blue Bay just in time to meet Bob and Rob Anderson from up state, New York who were to join us for the week of sailing training that lay ahead.

Please stay tuned in for our next installment as we begin our training and head out into the Caribbean Sea and up the coast of Grenada on the Bavaria 42 S/V AMBROSIA. Coming soon.