For the past nine months, our family has been cruising south, through the Caribbean including to and through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Spanish Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, St. Martin/St. Maarten, St. Bart, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts & Nevis, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Alas we have arrived in our summer home, Port Louis Marina, St. George’s Harbor in Grenada!
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
Charleston Bay, Canouan, Grenadines
After departing the serene Piton anchorage in St. Lucia we set a course towards St. Vincent & The Grenadines. Upon arrival, we opted to pick up a mooring ball in Charleston Bay in Canouan, the Grenadines. The bay, formerly home to a Moorings base that has apparently been closed down, was virtually empty the day we arrived. With only one other cruising boat in the harbor we moored within 30 yards of the beach just off the Tamarind Resort Hotel and enjoyed a pleasant evening ashore. During our brief period ashore, we found the locals to all be pleasant and helpful. We discovered a charming beachfront restaurant with tables set in the sand from which we enjoyed our dinner while watching the sunset over Charleston Bay (the name of the restaurant was the Coconut Bar and Grill and the owner’s name was Ezera. Ezera and his beach dog “beachboy” made sure that everyone including our Cocker Spaniel, Patton were well taken care of). From St. Vincent southward to Grenada there are literally dozens of small to medium sized islands, each with it’s own distinct personality and allure. Unfortunately, we have arrived too late in the season and must press on to Grenada but to be sure, we will be exploring as many of them as we can when we make our return trip northward.
GRENADA
Cruising into Grenada
With the “hurricane season” upon us, our boat insurance requires us to position the boat south of 12o30” north of the equator. As such, we departed Canouan and continued our journey south towards our summer home marina in Grenada. Since our course took us in close proximity to “Kick ’em Jenny,” an active under water volcano, prior to departing Canouan we obtained an Eastern Caribbean volcanic activity update at: http://www.uwiseismic.com/. Kick ’em Jenny has a reputation of kicking up nasty seas and she did not disappoint on the day we cruised by. Despite staying well clear of the 1.5 km safety exclusion zone, there was a noticeable shift in seas, which continued until we got into the lee of Grenada. The island of Grenada has all along been our end of the Caribbean chain destination and so we had yet another surreal moment as we cruised into the sheltered lagoon at Port Louis Marina, Grenada in our own boat.
Port Louis, St. Georges, Grenada
Once settled into the marina, we set out to explore new our new summer home base. Since we will be here for several months, we will have ample time to explore Grenada at a leisurely pace.
Already we have discovered a local hiking/running club which organizes weekly hikes in different locations around the island.
The boys have completed their homeschooling for the year and we are looking forward to exploring all that Grenada and the surrounding islands have to offer this summer.
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