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

Caribbean Rum and Beer Festival

Nice lady who poured my multiple servings of Kaiso Chocorange

$10 US for an afternoon of food, music, and rum sampling? Count us in! The festival, held at the Grenada Cultural Centre near Grand Anse, wasn’t huge, but it was a lot of fun. As part of a van-load of cruisers, we arrived as it opened (2 pm). It was pretty quiet, some of the booths still setting up, but the pace picked up nicely. Outside was a stage where several bands played throughout the afternoon and evening. There was also a cooking demonstration by local culinary students, with free samples of several dishes, including Flaming Beef Teriyaki Kabob, Flaming Chicken La Grenade, Beer-Batter Coconut Shrimp, Rum Cake, and Rum Balls. All of the dishes were, of course, made with rum or beer, and were absolutely delicious! There was also a vendor selling BBQ chicken legs and pork, which helped to set us up before our rum tasting. So, inside…  Booths were set up, each with a different distiller. Countries represented were Barbados, Guyana, and Surinam, not the usual representatives when you think of rum. But boy, do they make good rum! Of course, there was also the Grenadian distiller Clarkes Court, which is just down the road from our anchorage in Clarkes Court Bay. And one U.S. representative with a few small-distillery products. Some highlights? Blue Chair Bay is out of New York, rums devised mixed in Barbados for Kenny Chesney. Now, I’m not much for country music, but I’ve got to say that the Spicy Coconut Rum was fantastic! Clarkes Court Coconut Rum was also great – not too sweet, with an intense coconut flavor. The 12-year-old El Dorado rum was so smooth it just evaporated on my tongue when I took a sip. Katso Chocorange was a chocolate-orange rum liquor that tasted like melted ice cream with a kick. Now, I know this will sound weird, but I went crazy over the Nutz’ n Rum, a peanut – yes, you read that right, peanut – rum liquor. They made a great two-layer shot called the Beer Nut, with Nutz’ n Rum on the bottom, and 10 Saints Beer (from Barbados) on top. Chris did the El Dorado age progression – 5-year, 8-year, and  12-year rums – to experience the difference that aging makes. His also really liked the Lord Boar from from Barbados. To top it off, we bought a chocolate Tortuga rum cake, made in Grand Cayman. Fun time!

Chefs of the future serving their delicious food

Contestants with their signature drinks

Full Moon Dinghy Raft-Up

Last week was the dinghy concert, this week was the dinghy raft-up for the full moon in Mount Hartman Bay. It was a beautiful night, very calm. Add in new friends, guitar music, and a terrific cat from the boat Music who loves to ride in the dinghy. The cat came over to our dinghy to visit, but was scared back home when the dinghy shifted and a plastic plate with a couple of pieces of Mexican quiche fell on its head. No problem getting home to Clarkes Court Bay with the incredibly bright moon lighting the way.

 

What an Evening!

One thing Chris and I have found lately is that, with all the writing/editing to be done on our various projects, we just don't get out much. We're making up for it this week. Last night we dinghyed over to Roger's Beach Bar, on Hog Island (southern coast of Grenada) to meet up with friends and listen to a band composed of a French couple (he's on keyboards and she's on sax), and two guitarists (one American, one Brit). They played such good blues and jazz, you might have thought you were in New Orleans. This afternoon, we dinghyed one bay over to a dinhgy concert. This band, Crispy Fried Jacks, with members from Grenada and Switzerland, were fantastic. It rained just before the concert, no one really cared as all the dinghys rafted up and people sipped their beer and wine while gazing at the double rainbows, then the beautiful post-rain clouds. Coming home was a race, as storm clouds were coming in again. Did you ever see Jurassic Park II, when all the jeeps are chasing the dinosaurs? That's kind of what it felt like with all the dinghys racing for home (except, of course, that we were on the water and there were no dinosaurs. Details, details!). Tomorrow night, we head out for the rotisserie chicken dinner at Whisper Cove Marina. I feel so decadent!