St George's Grenada (Part 2)

The Carenage   

We made several trips into St George’s to visit the shops and markets (although I’m now banned from haggling in markets after making a deal for nutmeg thinking I was dealing in Eastern Caribbean dollars when the vendor was working in US dollars; they were expensive nutmegs but I guess it all helps the island’s economy!) In general we left the dinghy at the Grenada Yacht Club and walked around the Carenage but the chandlery, supermarket and garage in the Lagoon all had small quays that we used as well. It was jolly convenient to be able to just walk across the road and back to the dinghy when loaded up with shopping [Ed: rather like taking a car to the supermarket but wetter!]. Each morning a VHF radio network runs on Ch66 which provides information on weather, what is going on in the area, local suppliers and any requests for help or support. It’s a great service for visiting and long-stay yachtsmen and via it we met John who runs Fast Manicou, a yacht supplies business and wholesaler. Through him we stocked up on wine and beer and also had a gas bottle filled, meeting up with him at the yacht club. Had we been in some of the bays on the south coast, John would have brought our purchases direct to BV.

It’s a lime – honest!   

We found the fresh fruit and veg shopping to be much better in Grenada than in Barbados but a bit ‘interesting’ in places. We had already clocked that plantains look like bananas but actually need to be cooked. And we’d also got used to oranges in the Canaries, CVIs and the Caribbean frequently being green because the climate affects the colour of the ripe fruit. However, in Grenada we came across our first limes which are green on the outside but orange in the middle. That seems to be the norm in the Caribbean and so from now on buying oranges and limes is all going to be a bit confusing!

In all we stayed at anchor off St George’s for 4 days whilst we enjoyed the town and the surrounding area. But we wanted to make progress up the Grenadines whilst the wind was not too northerly and we also wanted to snorkel over Grenada’s underwater sculpture park. So, late in the afternoon of Wednesday 24 January, we left St George’s and motored a couple of miles north to picked up a mooring in the marine park, close to the underwater sculptures. Here we were well positioned for an early swim over the sculptures and then a prompt get-away to continue north to Carriacou.

St George’s, Grenada