Revisiting Our Favorite Places

Trillium in Woburn Bay, Grenada

With everything finally shipshape and in good working order, it was time to head north to Carriacou, which is part of Grenada in terms of customs and immigration. Grenada has been a good "home" but very hot so I am glad to leave. The Clark's Court Marina in Woburn Bay at the southern end of the island is a good hurricane location. Unfortunately, it is in the boondocks so it was not easy to get to places without "Shade Man" and his red van.

Interesting sign at the entrance to the Ladies' Shower and

Bathroom at the marina. No signs next door at the Men's!

Before we left, we celebrated Thanksgiving with a wonderful roasted chicken dinner at the Whisper Cove Marina. The owner/chef is from France and the food is outstanding. He also runs a little meat market with local meats and homemade sausages, etc. It was a great place to stock the freezer for the trip north.

Carriacou is only 25 miles north, but with the lack of wind or wind from the northeast, it took most of the day to sail and motor-sail there. We were both exhausted from the heat and humidity, not to mention all of the work we did and the climbing up and down that ladder many times a day!

By late afternoon, the dark sky was leaving and the sun was

trying to shine through. It was an interesting day of weather.

Just as we were raising anchor in Woburn Bay, Grenada, a huge rainstorm approached the entrance to the bay. Time to wait for it to pass! Once it passed, we headed out under a gray sky with a rainbow off to the west. While we never got rained on during the passage, we were “followed” by a black wall of rain. It stayed with us all day as if we were dragging it behind us. Eerie!

We have always enjoyed Tyrell Bay in Carriacou, so we hung on the hook for several days, just relaxing in a cool breeze to recover from the work and heat in the marina. In fact, I think we stayed on the boat for two days before ever going ashore for Internet access at Slipway Restaurant.

The Slipway has great food and I love their hamburgers. She is the only one I know who can cook two-inch thick burger well done and keep it juicy and not charred on the outside. Delicious! Worth a trip back there! And they offer a tasty local dark beer. I am not a beer drinker, but this one is good.

One of the local men came out to sell us limes. I didn't really

need any as I had a lot from Grenada, but I bought to help him.

Now  I have limes from Simon and the other guy and Grenada!

Simon came along side to sell limes, we ordered two two-pound lobsters for the next day. When he returned the next day, he had two four-pound lobsters! I guess you can‘t pick and choose when diving for them. Or maybe he is just really good at up-selling! We took both of them, but froze one and shared the other for dinner.

Once we had rested until we were bored, it was time to go ashore again and clear out. Another lunch with Internet at Slipway was in order before we raised the anchor. Since most of the sails in the Caribbean are day sails, we left early the next morning Petit Martinique which is part of Grenada, too, and you can stop there after clearing out in Carriacou. 

I was hoping Simon would come by to sell lobsters again.

He did not disappoint me. He gets great ones.

The sail up the leeward side of the island was delightful. Once we reached to top of the island, a strong east-northeast wind meant that we would have to motor head on into stiff wind and high seas to make it around the top and down to Petit Martinique. We agreed to abandon that plan and so straight to Union Island.

HUGE!

Our thought was to go to Clifton to clear in and spend a night anchored in the harbor, so we could look around the town. However, the harbor is open to the northeast so the conditions were not going to be pleasant there. And there was rain in the forecast. Plan B evolved and we sailed directly to Chatham Bay on the leeward side of Union Island.

This decision led us to one of the most unique four-wheel rides of the past four years! We called Seakie on the phone and asked for a ride to Clifton to clear in. He offers this service and you can go by boat or by vehicle. Since we had just experienced the wind and rain on the water, we opted for the vehicle.

Sharing Carriacou's Chatham Bay with some tall ships.

Well! What we didn’t realize is that there really isn’t a road from the beach to the top of the hill where the paved road ended. What we traverse was a construction road that was put in to build a small hotel further down the beach. It has been left, but it is not maintained by anyone.

Vanessa and her son showing us our future dinner!

The ruts are nearly two feet deep in places, the trail hugs the edge of the cliff above the bay and there are huge boulders that toss the vehicle from one side to the other! And it takes about 30 minutes of bouncing along while dodging things that might harm the vehicle to get up to the main road. Needless to say, it was a white-knuckle ride for me! Thankfully, Seckie is a very good driver. He said on some days he makes the trip to town and back three or four times!

Since it was raining hard, we didn't look around town. Dennis was concerned about how well the anchor was holding. We usually stay on board several hours to make sure it is set before going ashore. This was a different situation as we needed to get to the immigration office before it closed or pay a hefty fine. Once we were on the main road, which was only wide enough for two cars to pass and not shoulders, Seckie took us along the windward side for the view.

It is easy to forget that all these islands erupted as volcanos long ago. This makes the terrain rugged and steep. It amazes me that the islands have as many paved roads as they do because it took a lot of manpower to clear the bush and cut into the rock. 

We left behind one of our World ARC flags to be hung.

The Chef and  Grill Master with the Captain!

It is a rugged existence outside of the villages. Most islanders depend on collecting and storing rainwater for their water supply. And solar panels now help light areas where electricity doesn’t reach.

A busy night at Sun, Beach and Eats. Good for all!

The best part of Chatham Bay is the peaceful anchorage. We hung out here for over a week just because we could! The walk on the beach is nice. There are several bars and restaurants and even a small new boutique hotel, The Chatham Bay Hotel. We enjoyed Sundowners and the Internet at the hotel and at Bollhead.

Delicious side dishes prepared by Vanessa.

And lobster with Seckie's special sauce. We will keep a secret!

But for dinners, it is Seckie and Vanessa’s Sun Beach & Eats for the best home cooking! Seakie is the grill master with his special sauce for the beautiful big lobsters. You can also have fish or chicken.

One boat had caught a huge tuna and brought it ashore for Seckie to cook for them while they enjoyed Vanessa’s side dishes of potatoes, plantains, rice and salad. Sometimes there is dessert, and she bakes and sell wonderful fresh bread. We had two lobster dinners while we were there this time. And Dennis negotiated a deal with Seckie: tools in trade for the special sauce recipe! It was a win/win.

Life in a Boat Yard

One of the main events in Grenada is a trip on the shopping buses! Shade Man (aka. Patrick) drives a very old red minivan that tightly seats 12, but often carries up to 18! Don’t even consider looking for a seatbelt – unless you are in the front seat and in the city areas. There you must buckle it so he doesn’t get a ticket. Of course, I couldn’t get the buckle to work so I just held it to look like I was buckled up!

Going shopping with Shade Man at least once a week for five weeks was a fun experience. Aside from the fact that he had to shut the doors to make sure they would stay shut, he used a screw-driver to pull the windows up from the outside and on the driver’s side he used a vice-grip tool as a door handle, the trips were a highlight of each week. And the ride was wild at times! But all part of the island experience.

I found it interested how easy it was to discuss skin color issues with Patrick. He made us laugh when he told how funny white people are when they drink to much! He imitated their slurred speech and described how their faces turned red – especially the nose. It was quite fun and there was absolutely nothing racially discriminating about it. In fact, in all the countries where we have been the minority as whites, there has not been any discrimination issues or tensions like in the USA. It is so matter of fact: our skin is lighter and theirs is darker; we are all people! It is so sad that we are so touchy about it in our country!

A Big Exhale!

While in Grenada, we met up with several other WARC boats who were also being launched. It was fun to have a sundowner or dinner with old friends. We found Stella and John (Exocet Strike, UK) in the marina and a few days later, Lauri and Bob (Barbara Jean, Michigan, USA) arrived, too. On a shopping trip, I found Vicki and Peter (Carrango, UK) having a beer while waiting to splash their boat in another marina. We had dinner with them later that night.

Dinner with Vicky and Peter of S/Y Carrango (UK)

A night at the Brewery with Tim and Magda (S/Y Belafonte)

and John and Stella (S/Y Exocet Strike)

There is a very strong cruising community in Grenada and I could tell by the conversations on the VHF radio that many of them have spent the winters down here. As a result, they are very close knit and have organized all kinds of activities. We realized how much we were going to miss our WARC family this season!

Happy Hour at Adrift with Lori and Bob from S/V Barbara

Jean. They are from Sturgis, Michigan and we completed the 

2016-17 World ARC with them.

Most of the days here were spent on the boat early in the morning and later in the afternoon due to the heat. When we had the apartment, it was very pleasant to go in and cool down. However, we were here for five weeks total and only had the apartment for 10 days. Some days were overwhelming with the heat and humidity - and, of course, the at-least-once-daily rain shower!

On one of trips to St. George's, we shopped at the fish market. I have to admit my most favorite fish market is in Noumea, New Caledonia, but this one was fine. The women seemed to be the ones handling the fish and wielding their sharp knives. I don't know how they keep from losing their fingers!

She is cutting our piece of shark!

My first attempt at cooking shark. Neither of us have had it.

We had to bring in the patio table for our meals in the 

apartment, but it worked well. Just a little crowded, but

too hot to eat outside when you have air conditioning!

Back in Grenada Again

Cottage 21 is named Trillium

We had a wonderful summer in Michigan at our summer house (since it is the only one we have!). It is located on Lake Huron at the Tip of the Thumb. For our global friends, Michigan is the state that looks like a left-handed mitten and is surrounded on three sides by the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan is on the west (left) side and Lake Huron is on the right or east side of the state.

Henry spent hours digging sand and pouring water!

There is a wonderful place literally at the Tip of the Thumb called Pointe aux Barques just three miles from the closest town, Port Austin. Pointe aux Barques is a private township owned by sixty-five cottage owners. In its rapid growth over time, it has moved from some 60 cottages in the early 1900’s to a total of 68 in 2017. Golf carts are the major mode of transportation once you enter the gate.

And with a golf course, three miles of fresh water beach, tennis courts, clubhouse, playground and 800 acres to explore, it is a wonderful place to be in the summer. Not so much in the winter, though, when everything is closed, and the water and electricity are turned off. A few of the houses are winterized, but not too many people go there in the bitter cold of winter.

The Famous Turnip Rock on a blustery day.

Grand D and Alex 

The highlight of the summer was the wedding of our youngest son which brought the other four siblings and their families to Michigan from California and London, UK. It was fun seeing the grandchildren who had never met bond and have so much fun together! It was a very busy two weeks. Getting all five of them home at the same time is a miracle! We loved it.

Nick and Daphne

It was so special having them all home.The beach and golf course were a big hit with the boys. Golf was a new game for all of them and we saw some potential. Hopefully, they will be back next summer to work on their games. Sailing and tubing were also fun for them. Unfortunately, our only granddaughter could not be with us as she was in her club swim finals that same week.

Tanner, Addison, Max and Alex. Henry was napping.

The wedding was a lovely event at an outdoor venue on a beautiful July day. With paella cooking over an open fire the night before, everyone had a chance to kick back and catch up with one another.

The grandchildren each had a role in the wedding, which was very thoughtful of the bridal couple. Uncle Nick tops the Favorite Uncle List! It was nice to see how well everyone cleaned up after a week on the beach!

It is a long climb up in the heat!

After everyone left us to return home, we did a little road trip to visit our siblings as we had not had time to chat at the wedding. Three of them are in the "little finger" area of Michigan so we were able to spend a couple of nights with each. In October, we went to the Annapolis Boat Show in Maryland and visited one of Dennis' cousins and saw a friend as well as reconnecting with sailing friends at the show.

As summer started winding down, it was time for us to pack up the cottage for the winter and head south to Grenada where S/V Trillium was waiting to be launched for our final sail north.

On the way, we stopped in Miami to spend a little time with the London crew as they were there on fall holiday. Then we flew to St. George's, Grenada, West Indies to begin the work of commissioning the boat. It is always a big job!

The summer heat and humidity were harsh on Trillium. And the October heat and humidity were more than I could handle!  We spent a couple of weeks working on projects, cleaning the boatyard dust, finalizing some improvements that were worked on over the summer. 

The apartment "galley" was smaller than our boat galley!

And the only way to cook was in a microwave, but there were

no pots and pans so I brought mine and my 220v hot plate!

It had been so hot that the rubber bands

melted and stuck together! Messy!

The bottom  was antifoul painted and the hull cleaned, waxed and the stainless steel polished. By the time Trillium was ready to splash, she looked sharp with her topside and stainless-steel sparkling in the sunshine. She was ready for our final sail home to the USA.

On her way to the Splash Pad! 

Fortunately, we had an air-conditioned apartment at the marina for the first 10 days. It helped to get out of the heat in the middle of the afternoon. Our bodies needed time to adjust to the temperature and humidity. Actually, it had been a cool summer at the summer house and I had worn fleece many mornings until the sun warmed up the house. And we had fires in the fireplace mornings and evenings. I wonder is my body will ever adjust to whatever climate I am in again.