A Cruisers Life in Grenada

When we're not fixing everything on our boats, even us yachties can fall into a familiar lifestyle when we spend more than a couple weeks at one location.  We decided to move from all the conveniences of Prickly Bay (good Internet, two great restaurants, and a well stocked Budget Marine store) and motor about 5 miles northeast to Hog Island where our friends Field Trip, Sea Shell and Escape Velocity were anchored. Since this area is bounded by very shallow reefs, it required some precise route planning using our MaxSea Time Zero navigational software.

Hog Island and Rogers Bar.

Hog Island (romantic name, eh?) is always crowded so we didn't have a lot of options on where to anchor, but it was definitely more protected from the Easterly swells that can plague Prickly Bay. Hog is a favorite with "kid boats" such as Field Trip since it's very well protected and has a good beach where the kids can play on the white sand beaches.

Cruisers BBQ sponsored by Melinda and Harry on Sea Shell.

The first night we went in for a BBQ that Sea Shell was sponsoring and got to meet a zillion kids and their parents. Was a fun night with some delicious food a la "cruisers pot luck style." Hog Island is a great central location since you can get to four of the major marinas, Secret Cove, Clarks Court Bay, Whisper Cove, and La Phare Blue by dingy and the fifth, Prickly Bay, by a short walk across the peninsula.

The nautical equivalent of a quilting circle.

The yachtie daily routine varies from boat to boat, but certainly will start with one of these three activities: "noodling classes," a kind of water aerobics that involves placing a floating foam noodle between your legs, arms, and anywhere else it might fit (as they say, you can get mighty lonely out cruising). All you see are these bobbing heads floating by in the water. I think the real appeal is the opportunity to get off the boat, cool down in the water, and just gab with other women.

Morning yoga classes at Secret Cove Marina.

Another favorite activity is yoga classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Secret Cove Marina. Since my body has a zero tolerance policy to flexibility, this is something Meryl does with some other women and a couple of very flexible guys.

The warriors of Prickly Bay practice the fine art of Tai Chi.

On Tuesday and Friday they offer Tai Chi, which I tried for the first time and fell in love with. It's a Chinese martial art that mixes ballet moves, some yoga positions, and defensive/offensive fighting positions. It's taught by a French Canadian man named Pierre-Yves who is an absolutely wonderful instructor, very supportive to complete dolts such as myself. If you ever want a great belly laugh, come watch me try to move through the 108 positions of Tai Chi without killing myself.

Meryl's favorite: the vegetable lady at Le Phare Blue.

Other popular activities include Mexican Train dominoes, a weekly pool tournament at Clarks Court, and volleyball at Secret Cove. A couple times a week the mini van drivers offer shopping buses that take people directly to the staples of the cruising lifestyle:  Ace Hardware, Budget Marine CK Wholesale Foods, IGA supermarket, and ATM machines. If you are a cruiser you are either fixing something or eating something. Meryl's favorite is the "vegetable lady" that comes to La Phare Blue twice a week with an exotic variety of local fruits and vegetables.

Cooking classes with Omega and Ester.

One of our favorite activities (also talked about in a separate post) is cooking lessons at True Blue Bay with Ester and Omega. The comedy shtick between the two is worth the trip alone and the food is outstanding. Plus the mile long walk back to the dock helps burn off those calories.

"Can I add just two more tools without sinking the boat?"

About once a month there is a Jumble Sale at Secret Cove where everyone rummages through their boats gathering up expensive but mostly worthless stuff that they try to sell to other cruisers. "Who needs a 150 amp Class T Blue Sea fuse?" It becomes mostly a social get together with people wandering from table to table trying to figure out what everything is.

The perfect burger at The Merry Baker at Port Louis Marina.

Fridays includes a short trip on the number one bus down to Port Louis Marina to the Merry Baker bakery where they host "Build Your Own Burger" at 11:30 am. She lays out a center table with all the fixings:  lettuce, tomato, cheddar cheese, lettuce, grilled onions and the best hamburger buns on earth. You then go outside and her husband is manning the BBQ with stacks of hamburgers cooking. All for about $4.50, a deal for something that tastes that good. Also hidden away in a non-descript freezer case is small plastic cups of incredible homemade ice cream made with real cream and exotic flavors such as mango, passion fruit, etc.

Helping local children to improve their reading skills at Mt. Aires.

On Saturdays a bus picks up cruisers at the various marinas for the trip up to Mt. Aires for the children's reading program. We'll talk about that in a later post but it's a great opportunity to give back to the local community.

Jamming with de Boyz.

Sunday's at 3:00 pm is the weekly jam session at Whisper Cove Marina where various cruisers bring their guitars, ukuleles, mandolins, saxophones and whatever and put on an excellent show for the cruisers. Since you get free beers if you sing three songs it does promote some less than Broadway quality singing, but what the heck.  As the songs are strummed and sung, everyone once in awhile you stop talking and put down your beer and just intently listen. This was the case when a cruiser, who used to play professionally with Steely Dan, played beautiful riff of Santo and Johnny's Sleepwalk.

Early on in the America's Cup, another Kiwi win.

The all time best attended event on the island has been the last two weeks showing of the American's Cup.  We've watched it at two venues, Clarks Court and Prickly Bay. Both rig up a computer showing the live broadcast via YouTube and run that into their wide screen TVs at the bar.  By far the most raucous crowd has been at Clarks Court Marina, with scores of Kiwi supporters and a large black New Zealand flag waved during each of the early victories by Team New Zealand. The Americans had all relegated their hopes of winning to zero and watched as a bit of a masochism exercise. Then the tide turned. The Kiwis got real quiet and the Americans were high five'ing as each day the impossible dream got one more race closer. During the final sudden death race you could cut the air with a knife, then Team USA slowly started pulling away. As they used to say in Seattle, "the fat lady just sang." What an incredible event to share with a group of sailors from all over the world in a bar in Grenada. Absolutely incredible!  Even the Brits and Aussies got to root for all their countrymen who were on the crew of Team USA and responsible for the win.

One of the most difficult things for Meryl and I has been exercise. Yes we walk everywhere, but in 90+ heat you're not to inclined to take up jogging again.  We have begun swimming from the boat towards a nearby beach (we haven't made it yet) and try to not think about the sharks.

The reason you need to get serious about exercise here is the multitude of good restaurants who advertise their "cruiser specials" on the morning radio net. Happy Hour at de Big Fish, Two for One Pizza Night at Prickly Bay Marina, Caribbean Mexican Night at True Blue Bay Marina, Thai Night at Le Phare Blue, and of course the outstanding baguettes at Whisper Cover and the Vegetable Lady at Le Phare Blue twice a week.

Again, all this happens only when we have spare time from fixing just about everything on the boat that decides to break on any given day. The definition of cruising:  Fixing your boat in exotic locations.