We are anchored in Prickly Bay because a) Budget Marine is here and we need the part to repair the cooler and b) hothothotspot has a wifi spot here (which we need). It's a nice big bay, a bit rolling at times but fine for our purposes. We took an island tour with Cuddy which went from 9 am until 6 pm - good tour, stopping to pick the fruits and point out scenic/historic spots, we took a tour of a rum distillery after a wonderful lunch, saw the crater lake, rain forests, waterfalls etc., and while we like it a lot, it doesn't really compare to Dominica - but then where else does? Dominica is just a gem! people are nice here, MUCH nicer than in Union, there are great markets and supermarkets in St. George's, the infrastructure here is a lot better than Dominica (better roads etc.), and if Phillip didn't have to go back into US waters for green card purposes, we would stay here during the hurricane season because it really is lovely. Some wonderful anchorages nearby, great beaches, plenty to do - but we have to get back so that's a moot point.
My birthday was on Monday 6th, thanks to everyone who called and emailed me - we had drinks with John Cooper (see notes below) and then dinner with Paul and Joyce on their boat, so it was a lovely day. We found kit kats in CK's (about 3 miles from here) at a very reasonable price, so I bought out the entire stock (only 2 small boxes) - wish they had more.
For some reason, the beach scene below really reminded me of the Ramsgate lagoon (in South Africa), near the Blue Lagoon teahouse.
This was one of the many bays in Grenada - lined with fishing boats.
The house below is called a Janet house - they are all over the island and were gifts from Venezuela after Hurricane Janet tore through here (1978 I think) doing terrible things to the island.
For those of you wanting to get a good deal on a light aircraft - this is the place to come - a couple of "fixer uppers" right here, just need a lick of paint and new tyres and you're ready to go.
This is a papaya tree - can't remember if it's male or female.
This is the other papaya tree - the opposite gender of the one above.
These are cotton silk trees - the cotton used to be used for stuffing pillows, but now no longer used actively by Grenada.
Incredible flowers - such bright colors - hard to describe how vivid they are and the photos don't do them justice.
Nutmeg trees. The natural shape of a nutmeg tree is like a Christmas tree - but most of the trees on the island were damaged by Hurricane Ivan last year, so there are very few Christmas tree shaped nutmeg trees here - thankfully the trees have grown back so nutmeg abounds.
There were so many fruits and veggies - hard to remember them all (but I'll try). Guava, sapodilla, breadfruit, lemongrass, lemons, limes, mandarin oranges, sour oranges, pineapples, bananas, cocoa beans (you can suck them if you like - they are covered with a thick goo that tastes nothing like chocolate and is not really to my taste), papayas, nutmeg trees, sugar cane, mahogany trees, silk cotton trees, grapefruits, starfuits, tomatoes, noni fruit, cashew nuts, cinnamon, bay leaves, mint, aloe, turmeric, callabash, coconuts, dasheen, tania, coffee beans, and many more I'm sure I've forgotten.Some crazy hairpin bends!
The crater lake in the Grand Etang rain forest. Phillip and I went for a wander in the actual rainforest - we could have spent hours there, it was lovely, cool, dark, with some wonderful trails laid out.
These are mona monkeys (see below for description thanks to Wikipedia). The Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona) is an Old World monkey that lives throughout western Africa. The Mona Monkey can also be found on the island of Grenada as it was transported to the island aboard slave ships headed to the New World during the 18th century. This guenon lives in groups of up to 35 in arboreal regions. It mainly feeds on fruit but sometimes eats insects and leaves.
The Mona Monkey has brown agouti fur with a white rump. Its tail and legs are black and the face is blue-grey with a dark stripe across the face. The Mona Monkey carries food in cheek pouches.
By the waterfalls, this little girl was hamming it up for her parents (who were taking photos) - she was a doll!
Annandale waterfall. As usual, Joyce is right there in the water - a real water baby! Phillip watches (and is probably making fun of her) - if you look closely, behind Joyce under the waterfall, a local is taking a shower - not just a rinse off, but a full scale shower with soap and shampoo.
Andreas and Phillip in the back of the mini van.
Andreas and his wife Cathy are from Germany on board SV Aphrodite - they've done a lot of sailing around the Middle East and Europe and are good fun. We're going to the Dodgy Dock tonight with them for happy hour and dinner.We met up again with John Cooper - we first met him in St. Thomas when he helped Phillip fix our wind generator - on board the catamaran Durban Dancer - he's a Brit from Staffordshire and we just loved him - full of fun, great personality, has you in fits of laughter all the time with some great stories - he was here getting his cat in dry dock for the hurricane season and we managed to have a quick drink with him before he returned to the UK. Hopefully we'll catch up with him again next year, he is a real trip and someone we'd both love to spend more time with.
View of St. George's.
