On to Grenada!

After almost 3 weeks of boat preparation, we were ready to head off to our first port of call for the season, except Andrew came down with a severe sore throat and we had to spend the next few days getting him back into shape. One of Jesse James’ drivers took us to the local clinic at West Shore where, with great efficiency, the on call doctor declared it a virus and gave Andrew scripts for pain meds and antibiotics (just in case it wasn’t).

While Andrew was recuperating, I took the opportunity to get to know more about Trinidad and the community. I met Chickie, who sets up her tent outside of Powerboats every weekday and makes the best chicken and roast beef sandwiches ever, enhanced with her homemade cheese, pumpkin or spinach spread, salad and tamarind & other hot sauces. They are so popular, she sells out for lunch by 10:30-11am. It took me another few days to get that right once I learned to pick up my sandwiches at 9:30 in the morning!

On Nov. 12th, the Hindu community in Trinidad celebrated Diwali, a Festival of Lights honoring the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. Jesse James organized 3 bus loads of yachties to go to the village of Felicity, where local families gathered to light candles, create sand art in the streets, dress up in their finest and enjoy a meal together. We were greeted at the local school by 3 musicians beating out a persistent thud with their drums & cymbal, in order to welcome us. Then we walked around the corner and took off our shoes to enter the nearby Hindu temple, adorned with elaborately decorated elephants, monkeys and painted ladies, set up as tributes to the various gods.

After snacking on roti and drinks provided by Jesse, we walked around town in the rain, visiting with locals that were handing out treats, and singing & dancing in the streets while the children set off fire crackers. Even Jesse’s family joined us to participate in the celebration. 

Once Andrew was fully mended, we were watching the weather and looking for our next window to leave. It eventually came down to leaving on a Sunday, with a better weather window but requiring overtime payments at Customs and no opportunity to buy duty free rum vs. waiting till Monday, with slightly lighter breeze but avoiding fees and having more rum! What would you do? Well, once our dock neighbors (s/v Zola and s/v Felicity) confirmed that they were leaving Monday, we opted to make it a convoy!

On 11/20 at 11am, we left the dock at Power Boats and headed for Scotland Bay, on the northwestern end of Trinidad, where we anchored and went for a swim, had some lunch and lay down for a nap while we waited for our convoy to convene. Felicity arrived around 2:30 and eventually Zola motored by at our intended departure time of 4pm, enabling us to avoid overtime fees and make an overnight passage to Grenada that had us arriving at daylight. The passage was thankfully uneventful and a beautiful moonlit evening sail, cruising along at 7-7.5 knots in a steady 15 - 20 breeze. Except for being a little lumpy and stirring up my stomach, it was an easy crossing. We slowed ourselves down, picked up a mooring around 7am and took a nap. We were up around lunchtime to blow up and launch the dinghy, check in with Customs, do a little provisioning and go back to the boat for another nap.

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, we are grateful to be her, mooring off of St. George’s and Grande Anse beach in Grenada and planning some adventures before we fly home for Christmas. We’ll keep you posted…