My Happy Place (Whisper Cove, Grenada)

 

June 1st...Happy start of Hurricane season!

Arrived at Prickly Bay, Grenada, a wide well populated anchorage, which hasn’t quite got the charm of the jungly North of the island - don’t get me wrong, it’s a far from ugly bay, but we’ll try elsewhere before the forecast blow comes up. Whilst there, we head off on a fairly long hike to the supermarket, this sweaty activity coincided with the local elections getting into full swing. We saw two groups of excited supporters - the red Tshirts and the green Tshirts. There’s lots of shouting, loud hailers and music and we passed one of the candidates - a confident looking Mr. Cox, doing a meet and greet.

Back to the boat laden with shopping, upped anchor and headed the short 1hr ish journey around to another of the protected bays on the South of the island. After a wiggle through very visible reefs with their own little surf waves, we find a spot behind ‘Hog Island’ and drop.

In the afternoon I take the tender for a Hog island explore - I’d spotted a small secluded beach on the little island on the way in, so rowed there first. It’s a nice little strip of sand, large dark volcanic rocks at each end, and a large forgotten pile of discarded empty conch shells on one side.

The anchorage we’d selected behind Hog island turned out to be a little rolly overnight, so we opted to make another little jump around to the next bay - which is visible but blocked by a bridge, we take the long route around. This bay turns out to be a prettier, quieter, less rolly spot altogether. It’s Woburn Bay, home to a large cruising community who have a lively radio net each morning at 7:30am to go over the numerous activities laid on for the day. It’s also home to ‘Whisper Cove Marina’ - marina is a bit of a stretch, as there’s a jetty with maybe 8 berths, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for in charm, and knowing their target clientele’s needs:

Triple filtered water from a hose on the jetty, extensive book exchange, bar, coffees, cheap excellent menu, smiling helpful staff, free wifi and some sofas to lounge in. All this on a palm shaded wooden deck overlooking the bay below - all in all, it’s one of the loveliest places we’ve been for a while. ...and we’ve been to some lovely places. I met the owner on our second visit; Steve, a friendly English guy who’d taken over 18months ago with zero experience. I read him my above diary description of his premises, which - other than telling me he has 12 not 8 berths - he wasn’t too disappointed with.

Just round the corner from where we’ve anchored is an old converted lighthouse boat, now permanently anchored off another small ‘marina’ - this one with perhaps 20 berths. We took the tender over there for a look-see, it’s a nice little resort style complex, with a pool full of smiling splashing kids surrounded by loungers, a spacious tall ceilinged bar and palm trees dotted throughout.

Provisions were getting a little low, so we combined a trip to St. George (the Capital) with a shopping trip. This involves taking the tender over to Whisper Cove Marina’s dingy dock, then heading up the hill to the main road - I should mention that Chez hasn’t been feeling too well lately, and is struggling with the current 24hr oppressive heat - 30 degrees as soon as its light, dipping to a mere 27 at night. So, both awash with sweat (...or glow in the ladies case..) we get lucky at the top of the hill and flag a passing minibus as we reach the brow. The buses here are numerous and cheap (2.50EC$ for any journey). This one soon fills up as we stop start along the winding roads through the verdant hills and valleys on the way to St. George.

As you may know, Grenada was once a key destination in the spice trade, vessels were sent from England to pick up the goods (nutmeg, ginger, mace, rum, fruits etc).. a byproduct of this was that the ships arrived into the port at St. George laden with ballast - specifically bricks. These bricks now make up the buildings along the foreshore, and a large part of the town. This gives the town a slightly more robust and permanent feel than the usual corrugated iron shanty towns that we’re more used to seeing. We’re dropped off at the bustling bus station, we wander towards the castle that overlooks the town and bay. We tour the outer wall and from there take a meandering stroll down into town, via a cafe / shop / museum called the ‘house of chocolate’ along the way. From there, we skirt the quayside, the unloading fishermen attracting inquisitive seagulls and vicious Frigate birds who terrorise the gulls for any scraps. After a long hot walk we eventually get to the supermarket (mediocremarket would be more accurate). From there, two buses and a dingy ride and we’re back on Serenity Now.

We spent Chez’s birthday at Woburn Bay. We headed over to Whisper Cove marina in the morning to pick up her messages and birthday greetings. From there, we went off to pick up her present.... air plants and conch shells from hog island. We spent the evening with new mates Steph and Luciano at Crusiers Galley - sampling their Mexican special: tacos and margaritas - nice night, good company.

Next morning, feeling energetic, I headed into the water to once again give the hull a clean. After I’d completed one side, I decided to take the hydrovane rudder off for a clean. It came of easily enough - covered in slippery weed, I gave it a good scraping on one side, spun it around - and dropped the blasted thing into the water off our stern. It’s heavy and sinks fast, so despite a frantic dive in and swim down after it, the depth and murky/cloudy water doesn’t allow me to catch it in time - so for now.. it’s lost to the deep.

The water below us is 7m deep, the visibility is about 1.5 to 2m depending on conditions.

We need the hydrovane for our crossing to Trinidad.

...and so begins a frustrating week trying to sort this situation out

Chez had dropped an anchored buoy almost immediately after I dropped the rudder, so we at least know roughly where it should be.

Next morning on the daily cruisers radio net I ask for suggestions about who could dive for it and receive a number of good leads.

My first attempt is to borrow another boats air compressor and mask and to try and retrieve it myself.

I couldn’t get the compressor to work without tripping the generator, so didn’t feel safe to try. I returned the compressor and a case of Spanish beer by way of thankyou.

I’d also been trying to get hold of a local diver - a guy called Hurley. After a few phone calls along the lines of:

Me: “ I need a diver, are you available?”

Hurley (rhymes with unintelligible and surly): “Nah ‘min da warta”

I gave up on that idea.

Thinking about what had gone wrong with the compressor, I decided to give it another go, but power it from a different source (Through the boat’s inverter with the engine on). This worked... but the wind has now swung from East to South and the marker buoy is too far away for the 25m of breathing hose I have..

Another day goes by, the next morning we’ve nearly swung back, so I drop a ketch anchor to keep us roughly in place and don my diving gear - a weight belt to make me less buoyant and a mask and snorkel.

With much trepidation I step off the stern and into the murk below.

I get to the bottom, the mask is fogging up, my ears are hurting from the pressure, I can barely see..and I’m close to terrified - within a minute, back up I go.

My next plan involves the local dive centre (Scubatech).

I collect two young guys from the dingy dock the next morning, fully laden with air tanks, massive flippers and bizarrely a spear gun..

“For barracudas” I’m told.

On the boat, I show them a photo of what we’re looking for, then like two blood hounds on a scent - down they go.

Within 5 mins or so: “Got it!”

So so relieved to get it back.

A few days later, still anchored in Woburn Bay - which we both love - I make an evening excursion over to Whisper Cove marina. This is to reacquaint myself with one of my favourite pastimes: a poker tournament. I haven’t played since we started sailing, so possibly a little rusty... but no excuses - I had fun losing out in two tournaments across the evening, drank too much rum punch (which was cocktail of the day at $10EC a go). The players were mainly American, with a couple of Canadians and a delightfully strong accented South African guy called Jerry who runs the game. The table talk was lighthearted and friendly, and if we come this way again, I’ll definitely stop by for another game.

Left after the second game and headed back to the boat to rediscover what a hangover feels like. It’s the afternoon of the day after now - I fully understand why it’s called ‘punch’, and will not be drinking that again any time soon.

We caught up with Linda and Keith (Itiki) for Sunday lunch at Whisper Cove - not quite up to the standard of Jo’s carvery back in Kos - but not bad if you haven’t had one for a while. Nice to catch up with them after we’d parted ways in Antigua, they’d headed North and us South.

I think we’re coming to the conclusion that staying here as an alternative to heading down to Trinidad to haul out is a real possibility - we love the island, the setup for cruisers and the local community makes it a ‘sticky’ place. This is a new term we’ve coined since getting happily stuck in Rodney Bay on St. Lucia for a month.

The above said... it’s now the day after I wrote that, the new current plan (for now) is to remain here for an extra few weeks, then head down to Trinidad as originally planned just a little later.