Catching Up

Well, we are still at the same anchorage as the last time we blogged. A little bit of lazy and a lot of liking the anchorage, even though we did have to put out a stern anchor to counteract the roll one night. The anchorage is close to St George's, to Grand Anse (the really pretty beach) and to good grocery shopping plus we are not crowded so overall we are happy. Some people who moved around to Clarke's Court Bay and to Hog Island have been bugging us to move around but we are happy. As well, we are spending a fair amount of time with Sue and Maurice (Strider), a couple from Ontario - actually Caledon but registered in Toronto. She is actually from New Zealand but has been a Canadian for a long time, although she still has the accent. We have been on a couple of treks with them I will tell you about now.

The first was a visit to Fort Matthew and Fort Frederick. They sit on a hill overlooking St George's. One of them (Fort F) has been restored and is really well maintained but doesn't have much there except clean grounds and a great view. We did find out there that the 4 forts around St George's were all at one time connected by underground tunnels which is actually amazing as the fort that is actually in St George's is about 3 miles away and at sea level and Fts. Matthew and frederick are 800 feet above sea level. We walked up to the other forts by the way - about a 3-4 mile walk uphill and of course we always do these things in the middle of the day. With the humidex, the temperature that day was the equivalent of 39 degrees C.

Anyway, the other fort is the story.

It was originally built in 1851, with both the British and French contributing of course. As recently as 1984 it was used as an asylum (used to call them insane asylums) and during the American invasion/supporting action/student rescue depending on who you are talking to that occurred in the late 1970's when there was a political revolution (Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was assassinated) the Americans apparently bombed the fort "by mistake" after they arrived in 1983.

Anyway, the buildings and grounds are not well maintained and there are not signs or notices telling you what anything is or was - we found out about the history on the internet - but you can tell that construction took place at 2 distinct times, the first obviously the original as it is stones and old mortar and the more recent additions for the asylum that are of newer materials.

It was actually kind of neat to guess what each of the buildings and rooms were intended for. Maurice and I were close - we said it had been a fort and then a prison because of all the steel doors and bars on all the windows. As an aside - from up there you have a clear view of the present prison that houses about 300 male and 12 female prisoners. There are farm buildings and gardens and a big sports field. The prison apparently supplies food to the general hospital, old folks homes and a home for the blind. NOTE TO OUR GOVERNMENT - when they sentence a person to 20 years, they do 20 years!!!!!!! Actually the people responsible for killing Maurice Bishop are due to get out in 2 years after serving their full terms. Bishop was very popular so there is some talk they won't last long on the streets but who knows.

Regarding the fort, in spite of the fact that it was not maintained or looked after, we all agreed that it is probably the most fascinating fort/bunch of buildings that we have seen throughout all the islands.

Yesterday we (Strider and us) took a bus and went to St Margaret Falls, in the middle of the island out towards Grenville. After the usual hair-raising ride on an overloaded bus/van we got off on the top of the hill fairly close to the access to the falls. When I say fairly close I mean about a mile but it is all downhill. We first wanted to walk down to Grand Etang lake, which is a freshwater lake in the middle of the island that supplies all the water for South Grenada. It is actually quite small by our standards, about the size of 4 football fields, and is pretty murky although we were able to see some fish, including some goldfish that were probably 12-15" long. While we were there a tour bus came loaded with islanders (not sure which island but..) and it seemed kind of funny to hear them talking like tourists - you know, "oooh look at the fish" etc etc but I guess I was guilty of pre-judging.

So, off to the falls which of course is reached but walking about a mile down a very steep, sometimes overgrown and sometimes slippery trail. prior to that, however, on the path leading to the trail we passed a very neat vegetable/fruit farm nestled in a hollow. As we walked by, Maurice and I were "attacked" by a puppy about 8 inches long that wasn't long out of it's mother but was really attention-starved. As the same time Cheryl and Sue were "attacked" but a man who apparently worked or owned the farm. I would guess worked because he seemed a little slow but he attached himself to the ladies in a most helpful way. He got them fruit from the trees, explained about the plants that were around, warned them to be careful at the waterfall of both breaking a leg and of any strangers that were down there. He seemed almost as attention-starved as the puppy!! On the way out he actually washed Cheryl's and Sue's feet to get rid of the mud that they got off the trail.

After a steep downhill trek we got to the falls, actually two of them, one above the other. There were a suprising number of people down there, maybe 25, and we had met about 12-15 coming up the trail. It looked like there had been some kind of cookout or picnic, possibly a church do as I saw a couple of t-shirts with religious sayings on them. Maurice and I went into the upper pool while Sue and Cheryl sat down by the lower one. After all the others left it was quite peaceful and relaxing there. Well worth the walk down but of course if you had asked me after we got back up it might have been a different story. We were able to catch a relatively empty bus back to St George's where the dinghy was 'parked' and were back on the boat about 4:30, tired but happy. This time our Grenada time has been well spent and we have learned and seen lots. Not done yet though!!!!

Right now it is Sunday and we are sitting in the Spicland Mall food area waiting for the rain to stop so we can go back to the boat. It has been a very rainy day but hey - it is the rainy season!!