Hello Muddah!  Hello Fahddah!

We have no complaints from “Camp Grenada”!  We’ve been in the country since January 11, but we’ve only been at anchor in Mt. Hartman Bay since January 23.  Camp Grenada is what cruisers (that’s us) affectionately call the various anchorages along the south coast of Grenada and the community that exists among the cruisers anchored here and between cruisers and the locals that make their living providing amenities for them, all the planned activities, the daily interactive radio show over the VHF radio (net) run by a different volunteer controller that keeps everyone in-the-know, and just the overall experience of enjoying a long term stay on the hook at Latitude 12 degrees North!

Nancy Lu is enjoying our “Camp Grenada” experience!  We plan to spend about 3 weeks here.  It has been a treat to have reunited here with Lequesteau, a fellow “Chat-N-Chill-Rat-Packer” (that’s what we called the twenty-some-odd boats that sailed together from Georgetown, Bahamas to the Eastern Caribbean back in 2015).

The following is a mostly pictorial diary of our time here in this truly beautiful, interesting, and comfortable country (my custom is to put text under the pictures that it describes):

I liked the dark-skinned-Santa garland made with natural materials that decorated the ceiling over the customs line at the airport the night we arrived.

After spending one night at La Heliconia, Holiday Apartments, close to the airport, we moved onto Nancy Lu after breakfast.

We soon junked up the cockpit and aft deck as we got Nancy Lu ready to leave the marina.

#1 on the list of things to accomplish at the marina before we headed out was to replace the window unit air-conditioner that we left in the companionway while we were away from Nancy Lu with a more powerful one that we had shipped here from Amazon.  This was to insure a comfortable stay at the marina until we got everything else done—MISSION ACCOMPLISHED—SO COOL AND COMFY!  Other things to accomplish included:  take the dinghy off the deck and get it in the water,

clean decks (Notice the difference between the coach roof where I’m scrubbing and the port bow.),

put everything in its place, replace the exhaust elbow on the generator,

grocery provision for a month—I’m ready to catch the bus with my shopping bags for round one of grocery shopping.

We mixed pleasure with work by having lunch at Umbrella’s on Grand Anse Beach across the street from the grocery store.

Don’t judge-this BBQ pulled pork/french fries in a burrito was DELICIOUS!

Back to the Nancy Lu to do list:

test ALL the various systems, replace a radiator hose on the engine, put the jib up, take down and stow the big shade covering that we kept over Nancy Lu while we were gone, put up the bimini cover for the cockpit that we use while sailing, and various other things.

Everything, including Captain Mark, was ready to head to Mt. Hartman Bay after lunch on Monday, January 23.

Goodbye marina life in the city!

This season, everything we do reminds us of our beloved, late, crew member, Timmy.  We miss him.  He died before Christmas.  He was a well loved member of our family for sixteen years and a huge part of our sailing life.  It’s not the same without him—easier, but not better.

I keep this little reminder of Timmy by my bed, but I took it up to join us on our first sail of the season.

We sailed by the airport on the way to Mt. Hartman Bay.

Ahhhh, we’re anchored in beautiful Mt. Hartman Bay and ready for dinner–

an old stand by, Tuna salad Polynesian.  I’ll get the dinner pictures I’ve taken so far out of the way now.  I don’t understand why I get more satisfaction and enjoyment from cooking on Nancy Lu than I do at home, but I do.

This is Turkey Stuffed Peppers in progress.  The green is an herb that I’ve only seen in the Caribbean called Chadon Beni (pronounced: Shadow Benny by locals). It’s a long leaf with serrated edges and tastes like cilantro-really good!

Here’s the finished product with Bodie Beans (a new discovery for me).  Bodie Beans are yummy stir fried!

Some of the fixin’s for Mexican Quinoa including Chadon Beni.  The fruit that looks like a small orange is actually a local lime-no kidding!  BTW, the yellow cutting sheet is sitting on top of my dive-in refrigerator, just FYI.  Yeah, I don’t know why I like to cook better on the boat.

Mexican Quinoa with star fruit on the side.  That’s it for the food that I’ve photographed.  Don’t worry, we’ve eaten more than that!  I just haven’t photographed every meal I’ve made!

Our first evening at Mt. Hartman Bay, Caroline and Greig from s/v Lequesteau dinghied by to say hello and invite us to our first “Camp Grenada” activity the next night:  Tuesday Night Jam Session up at the Secret Harbour Marina restaurant enjoyed with the dinner special,  “Jam Burgers”.

The first morning at our anchorage, I enjoyed my breakfast, coffee, and my morning bible reading in the cockpit for the first time this season as I have every morning since.  The cockpit was too messy at the marina.  This is my favorite time on Nancy Lu.

There we are at the Tuesday night jam session.

I went to one of the Yoga classes, led by a fellow cruiser at the Secret Harbour Marina Resort veranda near the pool.  The walk through the grounds and view of the bay from there is beautiful.  The stretching and exercise that the yoga class provided was excellent, but I think I will try to find an alternative that isn’t part of a religion to fill that need for me from now on.

Swimming off the back of the boat is a form of exercise that I enjoy almost daily!  This was my first time at Camp Grenada.

Just a dinghy ride around the eastern point of Mt. Hartman Bay, being extra careful to stay away from reefs and heading straight to a stick and then through a certain point under the bridge marked with white paint all in order to avoid hitting rocks is Hog Island and Woburn Bay.  Many other Camp Grenada cruisers anchor here.  On Fridays, Whisper Cove Marina in that bay has a fish and chips special for lunch so we ate there last Friday with Caroline and Greig.

After lunch, we caught the affordable, 2.50EC per person (Eastern Caribbean Currency)bus. That’s about a dollar US currency.   The bus picks up at Nimrod’s Bar and Store.  We were headed to go shopping at the open air market and more affordable grocery store downtown.

The busses are really more like 12 seater minivans in which they seat more than 12 people at times.  There’s a driver and a money collector for each bus.  The best place to sit is on the far right seat on any bench; otherwise, you are getting  off and back on the bus in order to let people get off at their stops. Of course, you sit wherever is available!  A knock on the side of the bus lets the bus driver know when you want to get out.   I’ve found the people on the busses to be a friendly, and riding one is a neighborly experience.  We appreciate the affordable and reliable transportation!

You can catch these busses just about anywhere.  This was near downtown St. George, the capitol of Grenada.

Here we are getting off at the actual bus station in downtown St. George.  Mark’s paying the money taker.  The driver is on the right.  Grenada is a British Commonwealth—wrong side of the road for Americans.

The market is especially busy on Fridays.  This is where I got lots of fresh, island grown produce.

The police is directing traffic in front of the market.  The ladies have all of their produce on tables under umbrellas.

Downtown hustles and bustles!

After our downtown shopping, Caroline and Greig went on back to their boat, but we caught another bus to the more posh grocery store for a few more items we wanted.  This store is the one where we did our big provision shopping close to the marina where we were.  That evening we got back to the bus stop at Nimrod’s after dark due to some bad newbie bus catching decisions on our part.  Thankfully, we made it down to the dinghy dock which wasn’t a straight shot by any means, and this was our first time to come to it from land ever with no flashlight.  We were even more grateful to make it back to our anchorage from Woburn Bay for the first time with absolutely no lights on our dinghy and no flashlight to light our way—not our finest cruiser moment!

The annual Workboat Regatta was during our time at “Camp Grenada”!  Native Grenadians race their traditional fishing sailboats at Grand Anse Beach over two days (Saturday and Sunday) all for fun!

So  it was back to Nimrod’s to catch a #2 bus to the downtown bus station and a #1 bus to Grand Anse Beach for the day!  I don’t know what was so funny at the bus station while we waited for a #1 bus.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch of Mexican Caviar and….

ALL THE SIGHTS and SOUNDS!!

and a dessert drink!

This time we made it back to Nimrod’s, the dinghy dock (you can see this was not a great place to be traversing in the dark with a new moon), and our anchorage well before dark!  I think we’ve got it figured out!

We’ve checked out another Bay where cruisers anchor and enjoy “Camp Grenada”, Prickly Bay.

To get there, we can simply take about a 10 minute walk on the street up from Secret Harbour Marina through a super nice neighborhood with beautiful homes and condos (much different than going the other way towards Nimrod’s and Woburn Bay).

There are so many different colored bougainvillea bushes on that walk.  If anyone ever asks you what color the flower is on any bougainvillea, the answer is white as you can see from the pictures above.  The color part is called the bract (just a little tropical plant trivia for ya)!

Back at our own Secret Harbour, we ran into some new friends on s/v Hello Texas from Gainsville, TX. and visited long enough to be joined by Greig and Caroline.

Then came along a couple from Brazil that I had never met, but they were generous in letting us hold their 14 year old pet parrot…

Nicki on s/v Hello Texas takes a turn.

I have a turn, and

Mark gets his turn!

We’re looking forward to what the coming weeks bring here at “Camp Grenada”!  It’s been especially nice for me to settle into one place for a little while.  We plan for this sailing season to be much slower paced than last season.  Just hanging out on Nancy Lu has been nice,

and taking advantage of little things like the lady, Jenny, who brings her fresh produce to the Secret Harbour Restaurant to sell on Monday mornings is great.

We do have some other exciting things to explore before we leave “Camp Grenada” that I’ll share in my next blog!