Sunriser

We sailed (together with our friends on Tiki Mas) to Grenada. On the way Tiki Mas caught a beautiful yellow fin tuna, which we cleaned on our boat on arrival.

The checking in Grenada on a Sunday was an adventure in itself. We wondered why the customs employee was not too interested in us, until we found out she was attending an online church while checkin us in. Then we needed to pay her overtime on Sunday in cash, which we were not able to do ut as we did not have the local currency yet and cash machines were far away. So we got in her car, she drove to a bank, and another one, to get the much needed cash. All this while she was still attending the online church.

Grenada is known as the ‘spice island’ which is exactly what it is. The food here is so tasty because they know how to use the fresh spices without making it too hot.

The tourist places hop along the spice theme, so we visited a (now not used anymore) nutmeg factory, and a cacao factory. But the best was the beer brewery, which used the local spices for beer specials.

Everywhere we go we try to find some hikes. This time we climbed together with the crew of Tiki Mas a slippery mountain trail and were rewarded with some beautiful views (and a rainshower).

In the capital St George’s many buildings were devestated 20 years ago during hurricane Ivan. But around the harbour there was still some charm.

We left earlier than planned, as the anchorage was a bit rolly and Tiki Mas had to leave, but we might be back later in Grenada in a few months on our way back south out of hurricane zone.

In the Caribbean the hurricane season is a ‘thing’. The season lasts roughly from June till the end of November. Apart from the risks involved, in this time all damage caused by a ‘named hurricane’ in a certain quadrant is not insured. Sailors carefully check the different insurers to compare the different start and end dates of the season, the exact quadrant and the exact definition of a hurricane. Named hurricanes are determined by The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The scale is assigned five categories with Category 1 assigned to a minimal hurricane and Category 5 to a worst case scenario. Hurricane Ivan was scale 3 in Granada and later turned into a 5 further north.

We plan our route as safe as possible by going south early. The plan is to sail from Martinique and slowly sail south visiting St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and then Grenada again (which is outside the hurricane quadrant of our insurer), while keeping a sharp eye on any emerging hurricane to be able to sail away from it.