True Blue Christmas Bazaar

Chris building up energy to shop the bazaar

Looking at jewelry made by Vee and Cynthia

Sunday was fun, attending a Christmas Bazaar at the True Blue Resort. This is a pretty resort, small and intimate, just west of Prickly Bay, Grenada. Since we’re anchored farther east in Clarkes Court Bay, we took a van over with a bunch of other cruisers. Lots of local artists exhibit their wares at the bazaar, including many artistic and crafty cruisers that we know: Vee on Blues Breaker, Cynthia on Minx, Sue on Luludu, and Helen on Iguana. When we attended two years ago, I bought a couple of pretty shell ornaments decorated with crystals, and it turns out that I bought them from Sue, though I didn’t know her then. The resort just opened their new Blue Haven Spa, and Lori on Reality Check and I received their very first massages – they were providing free mini-massages to honor the occasion. Very nice. We browsed and bought a couple of little things – killer guava preserves and hot pepper jam made from all local ingredients, and a small woven tray made by a local folks with disabilities –  then had a cool libation and chatted with friends until our ride returned to pick us up. The wind was howling, so the dinghy ride back to the boat was pretty wet, and we jumped in the water for a swim before rinsing off.

The lovely ladies of the Blue Haven Spa

Bazaar on the deck overlooking the blue Caribbean

Oooh, rum punch with fresh-grated nutmeg on top!

Yacht Spotting: Atmosphere

Before Atmosphere arrived, the motor yachts on the dock seemed big!

Pretty motor-sailor that was docked at the privately owned Calvigny Island here in Woburn Bay, Grenada. Delivered in 2000, she’s 173 feet long and nearly 38 feet wide. A crew of ten takes care of twelve passengers. Of course, she’s got all the toys: various tenders and dinghies, inflatable water slide, dive gear, water skis and knee boards, wind surfer, and kayaks. And if you’re tired after all that fun, you can relax in the Jacuzzi on the aft deck. She moves at a max of 15 knots, and it seemed like she was doing that coming in the channel, considering the bow wake she was throwing. All this, for only $205,000 per week!

Pretty Sunrise at Woburn Bay, Grenada

How to Know When It’s Time to Turn Around On a Hike

So, we’re hiking along this little trail in the vicinity of Clarkes Court Bay (Woburn Bay), Grenada. Birds are singing, the breeze is blowing, every once in a while we catch a whiff of flowers. Lovely. Wait a minute, that’s no flower we smell now. Is there a dump nearby? We come out of the forest to a beautiful little meadow, and discover where the smell is coming from. Yes, that’s a dead cow there, hind legs sticking straight up in the air…and we’re downwind. An abrupt about-face, and back the way we came.

I didn't think the picture needed to be any closer than this

Muddy and Bloody

Anne hiking up the trail, Crater Lake in the background, and the white house beyond is the Grand Etang visitor center

Beautiful fern

That about sums up our hike up Mount Qua Qua the other day. Grand Etang is a large national park in Grenada. Easy to get to—just a #1 or 2 bus (from Prickly Bay or Clarkes Court Bay, respectively) to St. Georges, then a #6 bus that drops you right at the park’s visitor center—the park has some great hiking trails. From the visitor center, the trailhead we sought was just down the road. It wandered through the forest, with occasional views down to aptly named Crater Lake, a lake within an ancient volcano crater. The muddy part started immediately, as we squished through some pretty large churned-up areas. This is a rain forest, so we expected some mud. The problem is that there are these nice rocky spots that just cry out for you to settle your foot for good holding, except they’re not actually rock, but slick clay. So, that’s how my right leg became mud-coated from ankle to hip. Not to worry about the asymmetry; I coated the left leg on the way down. The bloody part came in the form of trees that leaned low across the path. The combination of hat brim and looking down to secure your footing in the mud led to several instances of head bashing. No trees were injured on this hike; it was our blood that was shed. The trail followed the ridgeline and was quite narrow (less than 2 feet wide) in some parts, with steep drop-offs to both sides, which made for great views of the rainforest below. Though it was quite warm and sunny at lower elevations, higher up, veils of mist swept across the ridge, cooling us off nicely. We ate our cheese sandwiches and apples at the peak in a light rain shower. About three hours after we started, we arrived back at the visitor center, where we hosed off our filthy shoes and clothes, then sat in the sun to dry while we enjoyed a couple of beers. It was a great, inexpensive way to get out and about for a day. Total bus fares were $20EC (less than $8US), and entrance fee to the visitor center was $5.34 ($2US) each. Beers were the most expensive part of the venture ($12/2 beers x 2 rounds = $24EC about $9US), but a nice treat for our efforts. Oh, and did I mention the gorgeous views down the island to St. Georges? They made the mud and blood worth it.

View south toward St. Georges

Pretty trailside flowers (not sure why pic is upside-down)

Enjoying a well-earned cool libation

 

Culebra: One of the “Spanish Virgin Islands”

Mr Mac on mooring at Culebrita (Culebra in background)

From our trip to Culebra in May: Several friends recommended Culebra to us as a great place to cruise. We had visited Vieques, Culebra’s neighbor, a couple of years ago when we were first travelling from Puerto Rico to the USVIs, but didn’t get to Culebra. We finally made up for our omission. The island is only about 20 miles from St. Thomas, and downwind, which made for a nice, easy trip over. One great thing about cruising here is that the natural resources department has installed moorings for cruisers and weekend visitors from mainland Puerto Rico to use for free! Very nice. We moored in at least six spots, and anchored in a couple more (no moorings in those places). In most cases we could snorkel right off the boat, though we did head out to more remote sites in the dinghy. We were amazed at the extensive stands of staghorn coral that we saw, more in one spot than we’ve ever seen elsewhere. For wifi, we’d go to the plaza in Dewey, the only town.

Elkhorn coral

Typical street view in Dewey, Culebra

Old lighthouse on Culebrita