Our first big sail was across to Grenada. El Gecco got to stretch her legs and she moves fast. We departed at dusk with a reefed mainsail, sailing into a bit of a seaway. The wind was about 20 knots and the appropriate seas. We had one long tack close onto the wind. I was not sure if we had a head wind, or due to the speed, the apparent wind had gone forward. I was surprised by how comfortable the ride was. We hardly pounded into the seas. It was about 80 miles to Grenada and we got across in about 9 hours which for our first passage was impressive.
Ken driving El Gecco
Grenada is an interesting island, and we took a day tour into the interior and saw a waterfall, then to a small fishing village for fish and chips, then wound our way through banana plantations up and down small mountains till eventually we got to a crater lake in the center of a dormant volcano. We saw the trees that bore breadfruit, cocoa beans for making chocolate and nutmeg. Vast forests of bamboo were evident, but most interesting was the vines that took over major areas of the country side. The last major hurricane, Ivan, that hit the island in 2005, had destroyed a lot of the flora. This had allowed light to get to the soil and the vines began to grow, taking over farmers fields and forests. It is an issue, but nature has a way of healing herself and I would like to think of this as a protective skin till the new one can form.
Ken at Concord Falls, Grenada
Bamboo and the vines
Darlene and at a crater lake in the middle of the island
We ended up spending a few days in Hog Island, an anchorage in which a fascinating group of hard core sailors had holed up. One vessel built in the very early 1900s with a family aboard had been sailing for over 30 years. Mike and Alison had raised 4 children in numerous oceans. Two sons were in the twenties, and had left the boat for various jobs as delivery boat skippers and yacht brokers, and two children remained, one a girl of 13 years and the other a 7 year old boy named Jim. Alison laughed that there were oceans between their kids. They spent prolonged periods of time in locations. The two youngster went to local schools and it was interesting watching the daughter in her school uniform and book bag getting into the dingy and being driven off to school, while her brother was in regular clothing for his school. Young Jim had the entire world as his classroom in addition to his formal studies. We watched him in a rowing dingy playing around the anchorage, visiting various friends on their vessels. He had to stand up in order to pull on the oars, sit, when he dipped them, then stand to pull again. He was as comfortable playing in the anchorage as any boy would be in his backyard. The family earned a living salvaging hurricane damaged boats, fixing them up and selling them.
7 year old Jim
Ashore was Roger’s Bar, a shack on the beach with one light bulb run of a battery charged by a solar panel. Roger was a rebel in the coupe when America invaded Grenada. In his bar are pieces of a crashed helicopter that fell just behind his bar. Beer and soft drinks are available at his bar. In the morning he goes to the town by boat to get ice and restock. His bar has no locks. Ken and I arrived in the early afternoon to find another couple at the bar. We were waiting for Roger to return to serve us, when the husband went behind the bar to get a beer. We learned that the honor system was in existence here. Over the next several evenings I got to observe this in play. Roger was some of the time behind the bar, but most of the time it was the patrons. Each person was responsible for keeping track of their consumption and at the end of the evening made sure Roger was paid. He knew what he had to have based on the case sales, and obviously it was working as he had been operational for several years. But the future of Roger’s Bar is in question. The Four Seasons Resort purchased Hog Island and brought earth moving equipment onto the island and has bulldozed a substantial part of the island to develop their resort. The land shows major scares of where there was vegetation, now it is an open wound waiting to be washed away into the ocean with each tropical rain squall. When this resort is complete, there is concern that the five star cliental will not want to have yachties anchored in their view drinking in a third world bar. The talk is of a mooring field and a causeway connecting the island to the mainland, with no longer having dingy access from one bay to the next. I hope Bill Gates who now owns The Four Season Hotel group will give consideration to a way of life that is becoming extinct.
Rogers Bar