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Log #42A Back in Grenada
Written at: Rodney Bay Lagoon, St Lucia
Nov. 28, 2006
Back in Prickly Bay, we had our 10 horsepower Mariner outboard repaired. It is
six years old, in constant use 12 months a year, and a few things are going
wrong with it. However it is still reliable and moves Wavedancer along on a
plane with two or three people aboard. Enza Marine sent the motor to Anro, a
local Mercury/Mariner repair shop just around the corner from Spice Island
Marina and the Budget chandlery. We had dealt with Anro before and have
confidence in their work.
Meanwhile at Hog Island we got back into the swing of things with the daily VHF
net, Roger's beach barbecue, Friday night potluck suppers at Clark's Court Bay
Marina, Monday Night at the Movies at Whisper Cove Marina, local minibus trips
into St. George's for supplies, and several purchases of lambi (conch) from the
local dive shop in Woburn. We motored back and forth the 3 miles between Hog
Island and Prickly Bay several times; Hog for the best, most tranquil anchorage
in the Caribbean, and Prickly Bay to get work done at Enza Marine, and have
easier access to Budget Marine and places in town, as well as to visit with our
friends Dwight and Stephanie on Stephanie Lynne. Our favourite spot to anchor in
Prickly Bay is the far side from Enza, on the Budget Marine side where there is
less roll.
We were at Hog Island when our friends Peter and Anne Harris from Northern
Ontario arrived in Grenada in the evening, and we met them at the airport with a
taxi from Whisper Cove Marina and dinghied them the mile over to Veleda in the
dark under a glorious starlit sky. It was enjoyable to share our cruising life
with old friends. Peter and Anne sailed with us when we had Ruah Shanti in
charter service in the Florida Keys in the early 80's, met us (aboard Veleda) on
the island of Harris in the Hebrides in 2000, and were going to join us for part
of our Black Sea circumnavigation (which had to be cancelled as we had to fly
home for a family emergency) in 2003. Peter regards our lifestyle as an ultimate
fulfillment and ideal way to spend retirement. We agree.
Shopping at the market in St. George's, enjoying curried lambi and cracked
conch, snorkeling the reefs around Hog Island, barbecues at Roger's beach bar,
movies at Whisper Cove, and the comfortable cruising life at anchor in Hog and
Prickly Bay, all were enjoyed by them. We had a chance to take them for a couple
of sails. We went over to Calivigny Harbour to show them a hurricane hole. While
we were dinghying around Anne was a bit concerned when we saw a snake curled up
on a mangrove branch as we skirted the shoreline. We spent a couple of days up
in Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou, another Grenadian island. We enjoyed the local
mangrove oysters, snorkeled on Sandy Island, and the second night were hoping
for a lobster meal from a local fisherman who never showed up, so I made a quick
"Streetwalker's" (Puttanesca) spaghetti sauce and pasta that Peter raved about.
(Try the recipe below, from The Joy of Cooking.)
They had a chance to experience a bit of a gale, as when we were crossing the
channel between Grenada and Carriacou we were hit by a thunderstorm, complete
with driving rain and 30 plus knots of wind, for an hour or so. They also shared
an emergency as, when we were leaving Sandy Island, a sand spit reef off
Hillsborough (on Carriacou), Peter noticed our bilge pump coming on frequently.
We had a major leak! The bilge pump was handling it OK, but I gave Anne the
handle for our manual bilge pump and quick instruction as to how to use it if
necessary. The packing gland fitting had come off the stern tube. The stern tube
is the fitting where the shaft exits the engine compartment into the water, and
water was streaming in. We were already under way. And so we motored over to
drop anchor off Hillsborough, just in case we needed emergency help to avoid
sinking, and to look at the problem and deal with it if possible.
Judy, the ship's mechanic, identified the leak and replaced the fitting and
tightened the hose clamps to stem the flow, and we set off back to Tyrrel Bay a
couple of miles away. It slipped off again! At anchor in Tyrrel Bay Judy redid
the repair, with greater force on the screwdriver on the clamps; that stopped
the flow while at anchor. Next day we went for an enjoyable dive with Arawak
Divers at the 60 foot depth along the reef off Mabouya Island to enjoy seeing a
lobster, a moray eel, a nurse shark and living coral complete with fantastic
schools of tropical fish. Our trip back to Prickly Bay next day was of great
concern. If those hose clamps did not hold, would the bilge pump last for the 36
mile trip back to Hog Island or Prickly Bay?
As we didn't want to put the engine in gear in case the hose clamps slipped, we
weighed anchor and departed under sail only, an interesting evolution. We had a
glorious sail all the way down the east coast of Grenada, and did not use the
engine until our entrance into Hog Island nine hours later. When in gear, the
stuffing box did not leak! We were also in time for Roger's barbecue. However,
next day we motored over to Prickly Bay, and called Enza Marine. They sent
Dwight over to fix it, and to replace our Vetus Waterlock which was also
leaking.
The day before Peter and Anne were to leave, we rented a car to tour the island
and have available next morning to take them to the airport at 0400. We toured
the whole island, going to the Spice Gardens, then on an interesting hike up to
the falls at Mount Carmel, the highest in Grenada, where we enjoyed a swim in
the pool beneath the falls. On up island we went, to have a delicious lunch at
Almost Paradise, in a mountain top setting overlooking the channel between
Grenada and Carriacou where we went through the thunderstorm the previous week.
The view was dramatic, the meal exquisite!
However, the afternoon was marred by an incident where I went off the road a few
inches and over a concrete ditch. The front drive wheel was spinning in midair.
The roads are narrow and have no shoulders in many places, only concrete drop
off ditches. A few people, including Uwe from Almost Paradise, helped us out by
lifting the front left wheel back onto the road. Unfortunately Judy was helping
and when the car moved ahead once the wheel was on the pavement, she lost her
balance and had a heavy fall on the concrete edge of the ditch, badly scraping
her back and an elbow. We were both shaken up by the experience, but continued
on to the Chocolate Factory as a soothing source of interest and nutrition.
Driving back across the spine of Grenada we stopped at Grand Etang, the mountain
lake park, where we saw a local Mona monkey perched on a fence, chomping away on
what looked like chewing gum someone had given it. After a few pictures, we
headed back to Prickly Bay. However, nothing is ever simple, and we found
ourselves going into the setting sun, blinding me as I came around every uphill
bend. The inside of the front window had a film that reflected the sun, turning
it into an opaque screen and totally eliminating my vision of the winding
treacherous road. A few times I had to completely stop to look out the side
window or shield my eyes from the glare with my hand. It was a "white knuckle"
ride. When we got through the mountain pass, we then got partially lost as we
tried to find roads that did not take us through the narrow crowded streets of
downtown St. George's. The map we had was not the best. We made it back to
Prickly Bay with great relief.
We left Veleda at 0345 to get Peter and Anne to the airport two hours before
flight time at 0600. We rolled into a deserted airport at 0400, not even the
ticket wickets were open! Oh well, better too early than too late. It was
enjoyable having Peter and Anne share our cruising life with us for a while.
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Puttanesca Sauce (from The Joy Of Cooking)
This spicy, savoury and exciting sauce is also called "Streetwalkers Sauce" as
when made by the housewife who has been out all afternoon, it seems to her
husband she has been home all day, slaving over a hot stove to make such a
delicious sauce.
For sauce for one pound of pasta:
- Heat in a large skillet over medium heat:
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
- Add:
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 dried red chili pepper
- Cook, stirring and crushing the pepper (or a fresh hot pepper) with the back
of a spoon, just until the garlic is pale blond, about 30 seconds.
- Stir in:
1 cup of oil cured black olives, coarsely chopped
6 anchovy fillets (soaked in water for 5 minutes and drained)
½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Cook for another 30 seconds, then stir in:
1 ½ pound of ripe tomatoes chopped, or one 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes
chopped with a spatula in the pan
- Simmer uncovered until the sauce has thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in:
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (or dried parsley flakes)
2 tablespoons of drained capers
- Season with:
salt and ground black pepper to taste
I always cook my spaghetti Al Dente, {a little bit chewy}
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