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| Celtic Rover |
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| and Alibi cruising the coast of Grenada |
We had a WONDERFUL beam reach sail to Grenada on Friday along with
Celtic Rover and
Alibi. As Darrel said, "This is the ride we paid for."
That evening we celebrated at the local marina and watched some of the Olympics opening ceremony. Dave and I had grilled mahi mahi (unfortunately we haven't been catching a thing lately) while we enjoyed an amazing steel drum band perform.
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| Steep hill rivaling those of San Francisco |
Yesterday Dave and I took a local bus into St. George's, the capital of Grenada. We hoofed it up a steep hill upon which a church was perched, then climbed higher.
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| Green lawn mower |
Interestingly, a huge cemetery was near the top with an outstanding view of the bay. The "green lawn mowers" were white goats trimming the grounds. We heard loud reggae music coming from a tiny shop where a man was weaving a belt from colorful yarn. His cute little boy beamed, "HI!" As we sat on the brick wall and cooled off with "Bottled in Grenada" Fanta cream sodas, we heard a familiar song, "You got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. Know when to walk away. Know when to run" The difference was that it was reggae-ized! We sang along with a couple of local guys also sitting on the wall.
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| There was a crooked house... |
Walking down the hill, we passed a melange of small shops and homes -- some, very modest dwellings. We found our way into the local Saturday market, which was starting to close up for the day. One vendor asked me what I'm looking for. I said, "I don't know?" She said, "Well, I'll sell you some 'I don't know' then." She ended up selling me a decoration of nutmeg, mace, turmeric root, ginger root, bay leaf, and cloves strung together in a loop. The fragrance is spicy. Grenada is known as the Spice Island.
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| Saturday market |
Now the work begins. We are scouting out the best boat yard for us to have work done and to stay for awhile. We hope to explore Grenada -- its waterfalls and parks, rum and nutmeg factories, and, of course, the people and their culture.
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| St. George's Bay |
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St. George's Harbour
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I looked up the invasion of Grenada by the U.S. and after reading the story, it seems like we did the right thing because we were asked to do it by Jamaica,Barbados, the RSS, and the OECS.They also celebrate Thanksgiving Day, which was the day we invaded.And, it's my birthday that day!Of course, England and Canada were against the invasion. That was their territory til the 1970's. They had just lost it a few years before this happened. And of course Russia and China were against it.(After what China said it did against the U.S., I would like to speak to them about Tibet--ahem)The U.N. was against it, but the more I see how the U.N. operates (does nothing, offers nothing),I'm glad it happened. There were bad communications within the military though, and a new act came to be to correct that from happening again ,called the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986.Following the U.S. victory, Grenada's Governor-General Paul Scoon formed a government in December 1983 by appointing Nicholas Brathwaite as acting head of government. Democratic elections held in December 1984 were won by the Grenada National Party and a government was formed led by Prime Minister Herbert Blaize.
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