Saturday 11th June, Bus ride to Grand E’tang then we walk the Lake Trail. It’s a nice walk however quite muddy in places better for the dry season maybe. Native Mona Monkeys live here but we only see a couple at the end of the walk.
Sunday 12th, BBQ on the beach at Hoggs Island Chicken Callalooo and Potato salad plus cold Caribs.
Monday 13th June, there was a holiday (Whitsun ?)so that meant a VERY LOUD party on Sunday evening. We were still both awake 0100 when Malcolm did a boat check and found the Avon (Crescendo) missing! The wind was ashore so we thought ok we'll look downwind in the morning....We announced on the Yachties 'net' what had happened and if anyone saw it would they bring it back/ help us look for it /take us to get a new one/ etc etc. Ok so one guy answers our plea and has seen a lone dinghy on his way to us so he & Malcolm go investigate and YES it is Crescendo minus the fuel tank (but even that is good news) Our new friend Tony then finds a local fisherman who has an old Yamaha tank for sale and takes Malcolm to buy it, we have a spare line aboard so all we need is a squeegee thing and Tony says he has a spare! so we are mobile again before lunch ! We invited Tony round for sundowners but he said no come over to him which we did and had a jolly good session with him and his wife Sharon
Tuesday 14th, Round the Island tour with Clemant Baptiste. We took a picnic lunch and set off at 8.30 then walked down to the pick-up point at Nimrod (Juniors) Rum Shop. We were there for 0900, but Clemant apologised at 10.45 that he had been held up. No problem we travel to Port Louis where he gives us the history of the invasions to date. Port Louis Marina was named by Peter De Savery in honour of the old capital which was bombed during a bout of firing. There are 4 other Forts on the Island. We then proceeded around the coast road, such that we could see all the Bays along the way to Halifax. Our next stop was Concord Falls— a short climb down some steps to the pool below but I wasn’t tempted to take a swim in the cool mountain waters!
Back aboard the air-conditioned mini van we continued though Gouyave and Victoria right up to Duquesne Bay and Sauteurs. From this outlook we could just make out Petite Martinique and Carriacou. By now it’s almost lunch time but there is one more stop and that is the Rivers Rum Factory. Where out guide did an admirable job of explaining the process of squeezing the sugar cane to extract the juice. This is then piped to traditional bowls to be evaporated and fermented to about 16%. This then passes to the distiller a few times until 79% is reached which is then bottled, the remainder continues until the higher specific gravity is reached.
Lunch for the 10 other travellers was at the Chocolate Factory. We ate our picnic in the shade.
After lunch we continued homeward through the disused Pearls Airport and Grenville towards St David’s Harbour and then back to Lower Woburn and Whispher Bay.
Wednesday 15th, Malcolm went into town for more money and supplies while I terrified myself aboard in the worst squall of the trip. The sky was black and the winds heeled the boat as though we were sailing! And I could barely see the shore!
Thursday 16th sign out of Grenada and slip for Peakes Marina in Trinidad
