27- 31 Jan 2016 – Pumba Does Grenada
After spending all day getting the boat in ship shape, for the next arrival, Pumba. His flight typically came in early and we ended up making a right mess of the taxi’s but he finally arrived at the Prickly Bay Marina at around 7pm with a warm beer waiting for him …..!!!
He’d brought us lots of lovely goodies from England, including mammoth bottles of Sriracha Sauce, dog food, chocolate, Haribo and a fab new handheld Dyson vaccum …. No more sandy carpets!
We had a good catch up over beers, whilst observing the weirdest game of bingo we’d ever seen. You had to twerk on stage for your prize and if you were lucky that prize could well be a live goat or pig. Apparently this weekly bingo session was the talk of Grenada!
Full to brim with pizza and beer (pizza is the staple diet of any sailor apparently us mariners rate ports on the quality of the pizza …so let that be a lesson for you) we all headed back the boat hoping that Pumba was going to be able to make the gymnastic jump from the pontoon to the swim platform but he made it like a pro and enjoyed his first night of dreadful sleep aboard the Tudor Rose. This pirate had much to learn for the next 2 weeks!
We spent the next few days showing Pumba what Grenada had to offer, we took him on the death bus roller coaster, we dragged him around boring chandlery’s, we showed him the joys of sleeping in uncomfortable anchorages, we took him snorkeling to the underwater sculpture park and we taught him the importance of not dropping things overboard.
Simon in particularly gave a very good example of this, our wireless solar powered Gucci wind sensor had stopped working during the Atlantic Crossing and Simon had ordered some new rechargeable batteries in the hope that he could fix it. Pumba kindly brought these batteries all the way from England, as we couldn’t find any in the Caribbean. It had been kept safe and sound for 6 whole weeks awaiting their arrival and when Simon fitted them, hallelujah it worked. So the day came when we had to hoist Simon up to the top of the mast to refit the sensor. He was half way up and I heard him shout a number of obscenities as I saw something float its way down to the water. I was hoping it was Simons favorite ‘Diresta’ baseball cap but no it was the £800 wind sensor and we were in 30 metres of dark, barracuda infested water with a strong current and a sea bed of rocks. Needless to say despite diving down in his scuba gear and trying to recover it, it was never to be seen again!
Simon took it surprisingly well, he must have taken a leaf from the Budha’s handbook and let go of any materialistic attachment accepting that we have to say goodbye to all things tangible in our lives at some point or another.
Next we thought we’d show Pumba how the other half live so we spent a few days in the luxurious Port Louis Marina, where we enjoyed real showers with hot water, took advantage of the marina swimming pool and enjoyed an indulgent dinner and horrendously slow ‘island time’ service in the Marina restaurant.
On Sunday our 7th day of rest… one of the perks of being unemployed! We spent the day at Grand Anse beach with every other human being on the island and enjoyed the live music, steel pan & BBQ that Coconuts Beach Bar had to offer ….. Oh and I forgot to add the awful ‘island time’ ‘what the fuck do you want, do I look like I want to do any work’ service that the bar maid had to offer. Nope sorry bar maid sounds too nice, she more like a scary old voodoo witch.
On the up side we got an exceptional ride home on what can only be described as a rave on four wheels. This bus was something else, the bass was so loud I could feel my uterus vibrating and the drivers 2IC (2nd in command) was absolutely off his tits, singing, shouting and turning up the music even louder. He even kept trying to dance with poor Scrumpy who was petrified of the noise. After a short detour in the wrong direction we were finally back at the tranquility of the marina, but it was an entertaining experience. Funnily enough we happened to get the same bus the following day at 7:30 am and it was more like the Monday morning hungover come down kill me now bus, this time the 2IC was awfully quiet and looking rather disheveled, but he still remembered us lol.
I didn’t find Grenada the most breath taking of the Caribbean Islands, most of the anchorages were murky and uncomfortable. The snorkeling was mediocre and apart from Grand Anse the coastline was ok. However it was rich with green covered mountains and inland much more beautiful, but most of all the people were lovely and friendly and unlike most of the Caribbean you were treated like a local and not a fat wallet holding tourist.
Despite a lot of people being relatively poor in this part of the world I think they live a much more richer and fulfilling life out here. No one rushes around, getting stressed out…..no pressure no problem. They seem like they don’t have a care in the world, always smiling and laughing. Kids aren’t stuck in front of computer games for hours they are out playing in the sea and on the beach. They are confident and polite and appreciate what they have. Its such a nice place to bring up a child. The Carib’s could sure teach the Western World a thing or two.
Boat Hobos 