As soon as we are hooked up to the internet we get an email from Marie & Jean that they are moored opposite at the yacht club.
27th May. A short walk into St Georges for some cash and we meet Marie & Jean on their way home, so we suggest sundowners later. The rest of the day is spent around the pool and shopping for vegetables.
28th May, We accompany Marie & Jean to the beach at Grand Anse for a picnic lunch. All goes well until after lunch and we see a black cloud so make a dash for home. Unfortunately for them Marie & Jean almost loose their outboard when the glue detaches the holding board from the dinghy! He managed to hold onto it AND nurse the inflatable home in one piece well done to him of course we have already got home and don’t know of the mishap until the next day.
29th May. A major shopping expedition to Grand Anse where there is an American Supermarket. In the foyer are some ladies selling home made cookies etc—just like the W.I. Producers at home! They turned out to be American ex pats and were doing quite a trade. Well we filled a trolley and managed to cram it all into the largest of our rucksacks each carrying bags too. Luckily we were spotted by a bus which pulled up and waited for us to board. We used a boat trolley back at the marina! Then chilled out by the pool for the remainder of the day. There was no rain until after bedtime and only then enough to fill the solar shower.
30th May. A Sunday, generally grey and drizzely so we decide to go to the Grand E’tang for a nature walk, except the buses are not as frequent as during the week so we give up and decide to do Fort George—a 10 minute walk up hill, when we arrive it too is closed (note to self chill out on a Sunday– or go shopping) so we return to ‘Piano’ and I make a cake and bread, while Malcolm cleans the water filter and the sink pipes. It all smells lovely now.
31st May. (Holiday in UK) Up early and took several buses through Grenville (where we had lunch Grenadan style) to the Belmont Estate which is a coffee and Chocolate grower and producer. We went with Marie and Jean who had been before and recommended it. The guided tour was superb given by Kelly, who preferred to do tours than work at the process to make the chocolate ready for manufacturing up to 80% cocoa solids. After picking the pods the beans are emptied into a trough to remove extraneous vegetable matter, stones leaves etc. They are then piled into a wooden compost box looking place and covered with banana leaves to insulate them while they ferment for 8 days. Then they are spread out to dry onto large trays and covered with hoods rather like they use at Wimbledon. The ladies shuffle through the beans, barefooted, to turn them over so that they dry evenly. If they are to be exported they are then polished otherwise they go straight for roasting and processing into chocolate. Yes we tasted the samples 60% and 80% yum yum. We also had a look around the museum and grounds.
1st, June—a short sail around to Prickley Bay
