Category Archives: Grenada

MountCinnamon BeachClub, Grenada

Our Neighborhood is Disbanding – by Theresa

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Bus Load of Cruisers from Port Louis Marina

Bus Load of Cruisers from Port Louis Marina

As we have reported to you before, our entire family has enjoyed this amazing trip of a lifetime in ways that we could have never imagined prior to our departure. The friends we have made and the sense of community that we have experienced with our fellow cruisers is something that I do not think any of us fully anticipated. As this is being written during the third week of November, 2015, we are still tied to the dock at the Port Louis Marina in St. Georges, Grenada. The Pilot’s Discretion is ready for departure and once we have addressed a few minor issues, that required a last minute trip back to Florida, it will be time for us to cast off.

It appears that we will be some of the last members of our floating neighborhood to get underway. Each day for the past two weeks or so has been a new opportunity to say farewell to another fellow cruising family as our Grenadian flotilla has gradually begun to scatter to the four points of the compass.

S/V Slo Down Departing Port Louis Marina, Grenada

S/V Slow Down Departing Port Louis Marina, Grenada

Some of our friends are headed west, through the Panama Canal, others are headed south towards South America, while still others are headed north to continue exploring the islands of the Caribbean.

Regardless of the next destination, all of our new cruising friends agree that leaving Grenada has felt a bit like it did when we all left our respective homes at the beginning of our individual adventures. We have been in Grenada for 5 months and as a result have had the opportunity to get to know Grenada as our home away from home.

Our Favorite Beach

We have our favorite beach – Grand Anse, where we spent many a Sunday afternoon at Coconut Beach Restaurant. Toes in the sand, listening to live music, watching the cruise ships come in and out of port, all while enjoying local cuisine and fabulous sunsets … what’s not to love!

Grand Anse Beach, Grenada

Grand Anse Beach, Grenada

Theresa & Randy at Coconuts, Grand Anse Beach
Patti & Chuck dancing at Coconuts, Grand Anse Beach
Cruise Ship, St. Georges, Grenada
Sunset, Grand Anse Beach, Grenada

Our Favorite Resort

We have our favorite resort, Mount Cinnamon Resort and Beach Club (at the south end of Grand Anse Beach in St. Georges), where guests of ours visiting us in Grenada were pampered with turquoise Caribbean waters, lush tropical gardens, exquisite cuisine and magnificent scenery. Cruisers can enjoy fine dining in the resort restaurants and obtain day passes to enjoy all of the resort amenities. It is truly a hidden Caribbean gem!

Mount Cinnamon Beach Club, Grenada
Balcony Room
Beach and Villas
Restaurant Overlooking Carenage
Garden Trail
Balcony Suite

Balcony Suite

Our Favorite Taxi Driver

We even have our favorite taxi driver, Martin “Cat Eyes” Lawrence (a.k.a. ‘Yellow Man’). Cat Eyes is well known throughout the island and easy to spot given his signature yellow highlighted A/C taxi and matching attire. He is available for island tours, airport delivery & pickup, shopping and running all around the island. He is often stationed at the taxi stand at Port Louis Marina, however, he can also be reached at (473) 440-8032 or (473) 414-7742.

Martin “Cat Eyes” Lawrence (a.k.a. Yellow Man)
Martin “Cat Eyes” Lawrence (a.k.a. Yellow Man) A/C Taxi
Martin “Cat Eyes” Lawrence (a.k.a. Yellow Man)

What ever expectations each of us had for Grenada before we arrived here, they have all been surpassed. We will always have fond memories of our time on this Caribbean jewel but as Tennessee Williams wrote “There is a time for departure even when there is no certain place to go.” It is now time for us to move on.

Technical Services Available in Grenada – by Randy

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For cruisers working their way south through the Caribbean chain, Grenada is a logical place to stop to address whatever maintenance issues that may have presented themselves to you along the way. First and foremost, Grenada is physically located south of the hurricane belt at a latitude most insurance companies consider “safe” during the Atlantic hurricane season (safe is a relative term and although hurricanes tend to turn north prior to reaching Grenada, there have been exceptions with devastating consequences). A prudent mariner must maintain a weather eye and always have a contingency plan just in case mother-nature decides to operate outside of the statistical norms. Our insurance company mandated that we would remain south of 12 degrees, 30 minutes latitude from June 1, through Nov 1, making our decision to seek out yacht maintenance in Grenada a simple one. There are multiple boat yards capable of hauling everything from small mono hull sailboats, wide beam multi hull cats to mega yachts. In addition we found  skilled technicians, well versed in modern marine systems, including sailmakers, upholsterers, marine electronics experts and expert woodworking craftsmen that are capable of handling anything from a minor nick in the woodwork of a salon to complete yacht refurbishment. We did have some unfortunate experiences with some of the tradesmen and since it is not our desire to make it more difficult for motivated workers to earn a living we will not call them out publically. Suffice it to say, if we had a less than satisfactory experience with a vendor you will not see them listed here. We hope that the folks that let us down have learned from the experience and will raise their game. If we have listed someone on this blog, you can rest assured that they met or exceeded our expectations.

For a reliable maritime day laborer, there are many to choose from around the Port Louis Marina but we cannot recommend any of them more highly than Patrick King. Patrick has always been  professional, hard working, courteous and trustworthy. Everyone in our family has come to consider Patrick not just an employee but also a friend. Should you need to get in touch with Patrick he can be reached at (473) 416-9622 or (473) 538-6536. If you have a requirement for a diesel mechanic or electrician, or have any refrigeration issues, the guys that work for Palm Tree Marine are top notch. Palm Tree Marine’s number is (473) 407- 2783. Steffan Meyerer and his crew at Driftwood Fine Yacht Woodworking (473) 459-9859 did an outstanding job installing custom cabinetry in the main salon of the Pilot’s Discretion as well as redesigning our galley to provide room for our new Fisher Paykel dishwasher. While it is not inexpensive to properly maintain a 50′ motor yacht each of the people we mentioned above came in at or below their initial estimates for the work we requested of them, often times after circumstances required us to modify the initial plan of attack with a more complicated work around. All in all, we have found Grenada to be one of the best places in the Caribbean to address the myriad issues that come up while actively cruising aboard our floating home.

Cruisers Coming Together for a Good Cause – by Ryan

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Recently the cruising community came together to raise money for a local orphanage, Queen Elizabeth Home for Children (QEHFC). All the adults were raising money so the kids could have school supplies and shoes because it’s back to school for the kids on Grenada. I said adults, but Ronan and I also donated money and toys to the orphanage. We also made brownies for the kids, and picked up Chelsea Buns at the Merry Baker for someone else going to the fundraiser. It was about a ten minute drive through St. Georges from Port Louis Marina until we reached the orphanage. Other boat kids were in the bus with us also going to the orphanage. When we got to the orphanage we put the brownies under the pavilion where a couple of boaters were setting up to play music for the lunch. Next, we all had lunch and played with the kids. We got to check out the inside of the building where the kids slept and also where they did their homework. We played games like soccer and tag with the kids. They had good music and some of the kids sang. After everyone ate lunch they gave each of the kids their own note book that was bought with the money that was donated. Eventually we had to stop having fun and head back to the marina. The day after the lunch some of the cruisers went with the kids from the orphanage to go buy new shoes. To protect the privacy of the minor children at the home no photographs were permitted to be taken of the event.

S/V Savvy

S/V Savvy

Today the cruisers once again came together and organized a day of fun for the kids from QEHFC. The owner of Port Louis Marina was kind enough to let the kids go out on his sail boat for a sail. Since there were so many kids and not enough lifejackets, the cruisers, including Ronan and I, lent children’s life jackets for the sail. I hope they have a great sail and that we impacted their lives in a positive way.

S/V Savvy
S/V Savvy
Children’s Life Jackets
S/V Savvy

 

Belmont Estate 17th Century Historic Working Plantation, Grenada – by Ronan

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Two weeks ago our boat neighbors on “M/V Seamantha” invited us to go to the Belmont Estate. The Belmont Estate is a 17th century historic working plantation. We took a taxi to Belmont Estate. When we got there our tour guide showed us a table full of local fruits. He told us which ones you could eat and which ones were poisonous.

Local Fruits
Local Fruit With Poisonous Seeds
Ronan with Cocoa Pod

Ronan with Cocoa Pod

After he was done talking about the fruits, we went out into the cocoa fields. My brother Ryan got to pick a cocoa pod right off the tree and I got to smash it on a rock to open it. The tour guide told us we could suck on a cocoa bean but we couldn’t swallow it. Our guide also told us it taste like Skittles or Starburst. I don’t like Skittles or Starburst but I tried it anyway. I didn’t like it at all.

After the fields we went to the place where they used to dry the cocoa beans in the sun. Now they dry the beans inside shelter because then they dry better and don’t get wet in the rain. We got to try nibs which are small bits of dried cocoa beans that have no sugar added, just 100 percent cocoa. It might sound good but in my opinion it was bad and bitter.

Cocoa Bean Drying Area in the Sun
R&R, Randy & Patton Cocoa beans drying

Next we went back to where we started the tour and got to sample chocolate that was 60 and 70 percent cocoa! That was a lot better than the nibs.

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After the chocolate tasting we went to the Belmont Estate restaurant for lunch. The food was great! After lunch we followed our guide and he showed us a talking parrot that sang happy birthday and asked for crackers.

Birds at Belmont
Belmont Bird
Belmont Bird

Then we went to the dairy farm and fed goats leaves. We also discovered that goats have horizontal pupils.

Ryan feeding the goats at the dairy farm
Horizontal Pupils Goat Dairy Farm

Ryan and I got to feed monkeys bananas after we fed the goats. The monkeys weren’t hungry and only took one banana.

Monkey Getting Water From the Tap
Mona Monkey
R&R Feeding the Monkeys

The monkeys made weird noises at Patton and they were not very fond of him Next we checked out a couple gift shops. We had a very great time at the Belmont Estate, I hope we can come back soon.

 

Family Concord Waterfalls

PILOT’S DISCRETION, ONE YEAR ABOARD – by Randy

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Bon Voyage! September 2014

Bon Voyage! September 2014

As summer turns to fall, we are rapidly approaching the one year anniversary of our departure from the Port Tarpon Marina (September 27, 2014). We have travelled 2604 nautical miles, visited 15 countries and dozens of islands. We have all learned much about ourselves, our family and life aboard a boat. At the one year point, as we have done periodically throughout our journey, we have had a family conversation about how goes it. Is everyone still having fun, are we all still learning and has anyone lost the appetite to continue our family adventure? Happily, our trip continues to exceed our most optimistic expectations. The boys are flourishing in our maritime environment. Patton has become a boat dog extraordinaire and Theresa and I continue to be amazed by how our family has adapted to life at sea.

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Caribbean mapLooking at the calendar as well as the map, we are at a logical point in our journey to make additional decisions about where we are headed next. When we set out, we had given some thought to heading southwest after Grenada to visit the ABC islands, Columbia and Panama, perhaps even transiting the Panama Canal. Although the Panama Canal transit  still holds an allure for us, we have made the decision that we will instead head back north via the Caribbean chain to return to Florida in time for the boys to be reintegrated into traditional bricks and mortar schools at the beginning of the next school year.

When our trip was in the initial planning phase, I would not have imagined that after one year of cruising the Caribbean any of us would have felt like we did not have sufficient time to see everything we wanted along the way to our summer home of Grenada. How wrong I was and as a result, we will take this additional cruising season to retrace our steps and spend some additional time exploring some islands we did not stop at on our way south as well as revisiting some of the spots that we particularly enjoyed.

Our stop in Grenada has also been an opportunity to evaluate the performance of our boat and equipment and make modifications and adjustments to optimize the suitability of the Pilot’s Discretion for her role as a full time home and cruising platform. In general, I would say that our Sea Ray 480 Motoryacht has performed better in it’s role as a full time home than I had initially thought it would. The electronics, refrigeration and watermaker have all performed reliably. The Cummins QSM11 engines have so far been bulletproof and the boat itself has proven to be reliable and safe in a variety of offshore conditions.

Sealift tender lift system

Sealift tender lift system

There have been some issues that have been problematic. The Sealift tender lift system has not been a suitable solution for carrying our tender in sea conditions that exceed 4 or 5 feet (a problem in an area of the world that commonly experiences those conditions or worse for days and sometimes weeks at a time). We have developed a suitable workaround by towing the dinghy rather than leaving it in the Sealift cradle when we operate in moderate or greater seas. Additionally, we would prefer to have greater reserve electrical capacity in the form of a larger battery bank but given the free space constraints of our engine room we have not been able to bring that additional capacity aboard. As a result, we need to recharge our battery bank each day when at anchor, not a deal breaker but again an issue that has required us to make adjustments to our daily life aboard.

Fisher and Paykel Dishwasher

Fisher and Paykel Dishwasher

While we have been in Grenada we did splurge and install a Fisher-Paykel drawer style dishwasher. Not something that we had to have but as anyone with two growing boys understands, we go through lots of dishes and silverware in the course of a day. It is much more enjoyable to listen to the quiet hum of the dishwasher than it was to hang off the back of the swim platform rinsing the dishes in the saltwater.

All in all, we have thoroughly enjoyed our trip to date and look forward to sharing our return voyage with all of you via additional posts on our blog. Thanks for sharing our journey with us thus far.