In Grenada

We have decided to stay in Grenada for a bit longer. A number of things have led to that decision. The primary one is that neither of us wanted to go to any part of Venezuela where you have to go to check in with customs and immigration. We can check out of Grenada with Bonaire as our next port of call and still stop at the outer Venezuelan islands without officially checking into Venezuela. Friends were told by Venezuelan immigration that you could do that and stay a couple of days at each island. If we leave Grenada now we would get to Bonaire by the end of September and have to spend time there before I fly home for my mom's 80th birthday in November. Since the Perry's are here and we like Grenada we decided that spending the extra time here made more sense.

We are trading 'sleep-overs' with the Perry's. They have stayed here a couple of nights and we have stayed there a couple of nights. Last Sunday while they were here Griff asked Graham if he would help him change the mast nav lights to LED's. This needed to be done because LED's use much less power than regular bulbs, therefore they save on battery power while we are sailing. Graham hoisted Griff up the mast which I appreciated because it meant I didn't have to do the hoisting. I just manned the safety line. Of course both of the kids wanted to go up in the bosun's chair. Initially Julie said no, but eventually Millie wore her down and both kids got to go up the 'STICK'.

Graham and Alex hoisting Millie

Millie waving from the "stick"

Concerned mom!!!!!

Alex waving from the "stick"

We can't spend too much time with them because that upsets the routines of both households. It takes about 45 minutes by bus to get to their apartment and that makes it difficult too difficult to go to spend a short time with them. We can however meet at a halfway point which would be Grand Anse Beach. Actually we are a bit closer to there, but the kids like to go to that beach.

The buses on Grenada have not changed. The one we were on yesterday (going to the Perry's) was actually a mini-bus and not an adapted van. It must have seated about 30 people. It was full when we left St. George's and the driver stopped a couple of blocks from the bus station to pick up another passenger. One of the ladies in the back yelled at him that he was not supposed to stop in downtown St. Georges other than at the bus station and she would let the police know. He yelled back that yes they had talked about that rule, but they hadn't passed it yet. We continued on our way, not stopping again until after some people had gotten off. We came to the turn off for Phare Blue, another anchorage, and about 10 people got off. There was a church on the corner and a funeral was taking place. A crowd was standing on the church steps most of them dressed in black and white. We could hear singing, but could not tell if it was coming from inside the church or from the crowd on the steps. Cars were parked along the road for about 1 KM. This made driving challenging. The roads barely have room for two lanes of traffic and there are not any parking shoulders. That means when there are cars parked the vehicles travelling on the road have to 'duck' into intersections to let vehicles travelling in the opposite direction pass. We got to the turn off for the beach by the Perry's and got off.

We couldn't find the beach or the Perry's so we called Julie. Miscommunication ++++. She thought she had told us they were going to Grand Anse Beach; we thought she had just said the beach and assumed she meant the beach by the apartment. We headed to the apartment and sat outside waiting for them. Eventually their landlord walked by and let us into the apartment. The Perry's arrived shortly after that. Graham cooked a typical prairie supper - perogies, sausage, mashed potatoes, and beets. Everyone was tired and ready for bed by 8:30PM.

We left the Perry's this morning with Graham on his way to the boatyard and Julie working with the kids on their school work. On the way back to the boat we stopped at Island Water World for some new horseshoe life buoys and some fishing tackle, at the grocery store for fresh veggies and at the ATM for cash. This afternoon we did a couple of small maintenance jobs on the boat and just had a squall go through.