Christmas '22 (Grenada)

 

Well that was a funny old Christmas!

Woke on the boat bobbing around once again in Woburn Bay, Grenada.

One of our pre-arranged festive activities for the day is to head over to Whisper Cove and get a load of washing in the machine!

The bar/restaurant is closed for the day, but Landlord Steve had OK’d us to come over, do the washing and use the wifi in his absence. Nice to catch up with the socials, and be able to wish people a Happy Christmas from all these miles away.

What could have been a rather lovely morning sitting over there on the shady veranda, was a little spoiled by the loud compressor used by the guy power washing the bar floors. He was probably equally upset by our presence, as well as having to work on Xmas day, every time the washing machine pumped he lost all his water pressure.

Having caught up with our far flung friends and families, we headed back to the boat for a light lunch…

A couple of glasses of bubbly, some prawn vol au vents, mini scotch eggs, and lots of other fancy little delights would have been appropriate… this being the Caribbean however, I made do with opening a tin of corned beef! We’ll be glad to get to Cartagena, Columbia in the coming weeks to hopefully get some decent supermarkets and food.

This afternoon we’re catching up with Troy (our Aussie mate from Greece) and his family up at La Phar Blue marina where a Christmas buffet and some music is being laid on.

After a windy dinghy ride to the venue which had us both dripping on arrival, We join the Cooper clan for some post lunch drinkies. Heading to the bar I see Jerry, my South African poker buddy - he’s someone I really respect and like, we exchanged warm hugs. To his question; “Will you be at poker next week”, I had to regretfully inform him that we’re Panama bound - to which he rolled out his signature response from the card games:

“Bah! What are you talking bruuh???” Great to see him, I’ll miss our weekly jousting sessions.

We spent a lovely afternoon with the Coopers; spotting turtles popping their heads up in the bay, games on the beach, joking around, quizzes, cocktails and fun.

One of their guests, Trevor, Sue’s brother, was an interesting guy: twice Australian Scrabble champ - we spent a fascinating half hour talking through some of his tactics. Much the same as when I’d played backgammon with Chris (the guy we bought the outboard motor from) there were aspects of his gameplay which I’d never even considered, but will now… Good luck mum - I’m coming for you in ‘23!!

The Christmas entertainment at La Phar Blue was provided by a band made up of husband and wife and two young smiling kids. The youngest son, a 7 year old, playing the drums was only just visible behind his drum kit.

As the sun set we made our farewells and headed back to Serenity Now and to settle down for the night.

Homemade lentil burgers with cranberry sauce were our unconventional, but surprisingly tasty Christmas supper.

The evening treat was allowing ourselves to have the ‘big’ telly on (something our boat’s batteries can’t take on a regular basis). We then watched the season finale of a reality tv show called ‘The Traitors’ - a new firm favourite, right up our alley.

I popped back over to Whisper Cove for one last time this morning (to send a message to the canvas repair people). It’s sad to think this may be the last time I stroll up the ramp from the jetty - this has become one of my favourite places in the world. Not just the location, but the eclectic mix of characters who call this little spot home: Captain ‘Black’ Sparrow, Cy, Jerry, Trevor, ShadeMan, Fast Manicou, Paula, Theo and so so many more. As I say, sad to be leaving, but we’ve been here for near on 6 months on and off, and it’s most definitely time to continue West.