First stop, Grenada

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The first person we came into contact with after arriving in Grenada was a lovely Gentleman called Jools, he rowed up to Bob in a small wooden boat and commented on our courtesy flag, which was about 4 times the size that it should be. He makes courtesy flags for a living and after some discussion he agreed to make us a Dominica flag, as the company I bought the gigantic flags from gave me a Dominican Republic flag rather than a Dominica one. So now we at least have one flag that is the right size.

We explored the area and found a market place selling all sorts of tropical fruit and local spices, each stall was playing reggae and soca music at full blast on their stereos which gave a rather lively atmosphere. I was absolutely terrible at bartering for items at first and spent a lot more than I should have done on random things; luckily I’ve got a little better now.

It was a great pleasure to meet Ed on the 4th January who had brought with him various sources of entertainment, including a ukulele, a kite and the Settlers of Catan board game. I’ve had a chance to get to know him since then and he seems like an excellent chap who has a lot of experience in sailing and travelling. Unfortunately, there are now 3 Canadians among us and they all have a different taste in music from me and Alex, and I often find that our cheesy songs have been turned off for some Canadian singer wailing over the sound of a guitar.

We also met a lovely American fellow in an internet cafe in the main town. He’s about our age and very friendly but seemed to have a disliking towards old people, so he decided to hang round with us for a few days rather than with the 65 year old man he was sailing round Grenada with. We all went on a hike to the Seven Sisters falls, which is a bamboo rainforest with a river with seven waterfalls. We were there for most of the day, hiking through the dense clay mud and up rocky rivers to find a couple of small waterfalls and one large one. We went swimming in pools of fresh water and jumped off waterfalls, it was an absolutely brilliant day.

We attempted to go to the beach for 3 days in a row, but never got round to it for one reason or another. Eventually, on about the fourth day, we made it to one of Grenada’s beautiful beaches for swimming and sunbathing. We also played catch with a coconut, which might not have been the smartest idea considering how hard they are, but there were no serious injuries. At one point we came across a boy about 8 years old who had been buried up to his head in the sand by his friends, they had shaped the sand to give him both male and female genitalia. The child was very amusing and a small crowd had congregated around him by the time we arrived. He said he had been in there for about an hour and it was time for him to get out, so his friend started to dig him out, but as they did the boy shrieked really loudly “HANDS OFF THE TESTICLES”, which caused everyone in the crowd to burst into fits of laughter.

Overall, Grenada seems to be a very lively and bustling place with some unusual buildings and colourful boats. We got to see the friendly and hospitable side of the locals as well as the pushy personalities of the salesmen. We spent just over a week in Grenada before sailing north to Petit St Vincent and Petit Martinique.

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Comments

[Jamie]

Excellent!
Hey Sarah, excellent reports. I have heard a lot about Grenada as I have an ex-girlfriend at uni there. It sounds like a great place. I wish to visit there sometime. Great to hear you went to t he 7 sisters falls, i hear its beautiful and from you report also, its still true! Hope you having a great time!