July 23 Grenada

We spent the last week exploring anchorages and checking out marinas (for storage when we travel home) along the southwestern coast of Grenada. From St Georges, we went to Prickly Bay, Hartmans Bay and Clarke's Court Bay. These are all within an hour or so of each other and are popular spots with cruisers. Many are still required to be further south (Trinidad) for insurance purposes so will be traveling onward. Our boat insurance does not have a latitude requirement. We have much more freedom of movement in that regard although with the policy we are financially incented to avoid names storms. It is rainy season and has been quite stormy here with tropical waves and associated thunderstorms. I will have to start consulting weather services prior to laundry! Many of our friends that we met in Luperon, Dominican Republic are now on the scene in Grenada, so it is fun to catch up with them and their travels.

We returned to St Georges July 20 to make arrangements with our selected marina and some other tasks. The lagoon is crowded so we have anchored right in the bay with several other boats. Fine by us as it is much prettier out here. As we were approaching the harbour, we saw a boat on the horizon and sure enough, it was our friends from Texas, Donn and Kitty on S/V Falcon. They were on their way to Clarke's Court but diverted to St Georges after we talked to them. They reported catching a 25# tuna. This report was verified upon anchors being set. We enjoyed fresh tuna sashimi and tuna seared in sesame oil.

Long story short, we bought a new engine for our dinghy today. Ours had gotten sick. Duty-free and the entire process with customs ws surprisingly easy. Hopefully we will not need any for quite some time, but Yamaha parts and service are readily available throughout the islands. For the record and future cruisers out there, not so with Nissan. My friends Donn and Kitty are still in the anchorage and are in their own world of hurt as their main engine has died. This is how it is out here no matter how well you prepare or take care of your systems. Ran fine all day the other day, the next morning it would not turn over. Hopefully the local Perkins man can breathe it back to life. We wait anxiously for news. Down now for 3 days. If it is not resolved today they will have to be towed into a marina.

I have to admit that over these last several days that I have not taken very many pictures. My apologies!!

Prickly Bay and Hartman Bay. Also a long-term dry storage facility, jam-packed with boats up on the hard:

Interesting sites in Grenada: A house being framed with bamboo poles. The local Yamaha outboard dealer...also sells dog food, cat food and litter. ???