Hi Everyone!
We are still enjoying Port Louis Marina, in St. Georges, Grenada. We have settled into life here very nicely! There are a lot of Canadians here, and we feel right at home seeing all the Canadian flags flying in the breeze. We had to get a new flag for our boat, our old flag had disintegrated to the point of embarrassment, so we had Island Waterworld order one in for us. We have made many new friends here. Doug and Wendy from Nahanni River (their boat name), are from Ottawa, we hang out with them quite a bit. There is a wonderful pool here, so everyday a bunch get together mid to late afternoon for a swim and sundowner drinks. Our friends on OPUS moved over to Prickly Bay, just down the island. They came over for a visit on Friday, it was good to catch up with them.
Last weekend, a group of 10 of us hired a taxi and went to a bay in the southeast end of the island called St. David's. There we had lunch at a restaurant called Water's Edge, on the Belair Plantation. There was a live band playing, two fellows in our age group, who played Eric Clapton and lots of great songs from the 70's. It was a wonderfully relaxing afternoon. The grounds are beautiful, and the boys even had a dip in their pool. I have attached a few pictures for you. The walk up to the pool was neat, the walkway was made of crushed nutmeg shells, which crunched when you walked on them, and the aroma was amazing.
Here at the marina we also had the pleasure of meeting the crew of Serenity Now, a 96 foot mega yacht docked close to Dutch Dreamer. Captain Ben, First Mate Tom, Chef Jenna (from Vancouver), and Steward Becka were a really nice bunch of young people making their living travelling around the world crewing on yachts. They were here having dropped off charter guests, and were waiting on a weather window to head back to St. Croix, to take on the owners of the boat. They are all divers, and Greg filled their tanks for them in between dives with our air compressor. They were delighted, and offered to take us on a dive with them on their tender. Their "dinghy" or tender, is 32 feet long, has three 250 HP outboards, a GPS, stereo, and a head. We flew along at 30 MPH to the dive site. We couldn't remember the last time we had travelled so fast in a boat, it felt like warp speed. We dove in a bay near here where there were different statues beneath the water. It was really neat, and because it was a shallow dive, we were able to dive for 70 minutes. We saw three juicy lobster, but had to leave them as lobster season doesn't begin until October 1. The statues were kind of creepy, with the barnacles and coral growing on them, and the fish nibbling on them. Jenna had an underwater camera, and she took some photos of us, I have attached those as well.
The boys are still playing their instruments. Brett is getting better on guitar all the time. Dylan still loves playing Kenny G on his sax. They have brought their instruments out to the pool during our sunset get togethers a few times. The other cruisers love to hear them play. We found out Jenna from Serenity Now plays the violin, so one night we all got together in the bar by the pool, as it too dark to play at the pool. Jenna blew us away with her talent. She has been playing the violin since she was little, and played in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra before she left. She was incredible, and enjoyed playing with the boys.
Greg and the boys are working on the boat, fixing up the sides, touching up the paint, and scraping the paint off the rails of the bowsprit, so we can repaint it. There is always something to do. The weather is hot and humid. Most days, around 90. We are getting used to constantly sweating but the pool and shower help keep us cool. We are all enjoying it though, especially thinking of the fall and coming winter weather in Canada...
We have our dinghy in the water, and there are dinghy docks all around the bay. It is so handy to just scoot over to the Foodland dinghy, tie up, walk across the street, get your groceries and back to the dinghy and boat. There is an IGA here, only a bus ride away, and the selection there is similar to any IGA in Canada. We are getting really, really spoiled! We still buy most of our veggies and all of our fruit in the local market downtown in the caranage. The prices are incredible; $2.00 EC for six mangoes, that's under a dollar U.S. As this is the spice island of the Caribbean, there are fresh spices everywhere, which is a real treat.
The bus system here is awesome, so between that and the dinghy docks everywhere, it is very easy to get around. for $2.50 EC per person, you can take a bus pretty much anywhere. The city busses are like large vans, are independently owned and always immaculate. There is generally loud local music playing, so when you get on and are surrounded by locals, it's easy to get into the rhythm of "island time". They can seat on average about 15 people. There are bus stops everywhere, but all you have to do is stand by the side of the road and one will come along, toot their horn and ask if you need a ride. Besides the driver there is a door guy, who keeps a look out for people needing a ride, helps passengers on and off, and collects the fare. The people here are friendly and helpful, and speak English. It is an "island" version of any modern small city, as far as conveniences go, and most everyone carries a cell phone. The locals are clean and well dressed, and downtown men and women in business attire go to and from their jobs as in any other city. We often wonder if they realize they are living in paradise...
I have purchased some neat looking material, and with Wendy's help, and the use of Becky's (another cruiser) sewing machine, am sewing new curtains for the boat. The ones currently on the boat are getting tired, and I wanted something funky looking. I've attached a photo, and will send you one of the new curtains in the salon when they are finished. It's been a long, long time since I have done any sewing on a machine, so wish me luck!
The boys will be starting their new school year shortly. I am ordering Math and Language Arts textbooks on line, with answer keys. As for Geography and Social Studies, the boys will follow a course outline developed by Greg and myself. For each country we have visited, they will have to write about each country's culture, their people, language, economics, etc. What better way to learn than by first hand experience? How many kids their age get to do that? They are getting such an incredible education just doing what we are doing. They meet so many interesting people, from all different countries and backgrounds.
We hope you enjoy the photos, we will email again in a couple of weeks. By the way, we have a new phone number, we got a new sim card in our phone. The new number is: 473-406-4663.
Love and miss you all!
The Dutch Dreamers
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