Saint David's Harbor, Grenada

Anchored Saint Davids Harbor
Grenada
Caribbean Sea
12'01.1N/61'40.6W
300 miles from S/V Christa
(Click Photo To Enlarge)

It has been a few days since our last posting which has a lot to do with us not knowing what day it actually is. We finally recovered from all the initial excitement in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou and made it into the big city of Hillsborough. We thought it would be a nice walk to town, and it was. But we also thought we would be following the coast. The island is just too wet for a coastal road. So the road goes up and over the island. After two hours we made it to town, checked in with all the proper authorities, enjoyed a great chicken roti lunch, and checked out a few of the small markets.

Carriacou (carry-a-cou) is a quiet and laid-back island where not much is ever going on. Tom was gung-ho about finding this ‘real’ Jack-Iron Rum so we jumped aboard several buses to the town of Windward. I’m still not sure why he thought we would find it there, but I was excited to add on a walk while out there. The bus dropped us off at the trail head which was clearly marked on either side with conch shells all the way to the beach. I was a bit hesitant walking next to what the sign read was ‘black swamp’ but the end reward was a beach full of shells. Yippee!

The next morning our plan was to relax on Paradise Beach. As we started to write a new blog posting I looked at the GPS and asked Tom "What!?! Today is the 18th? We have to go. We are supposed to be in Grenada tomorrow!’ So we quickly sprung into action and had a wonderful 40 mile sail down the windward side of the island to our current location of St. David’s Bay, Grenada.

We were invited by our friends from S/V Buxom 2 to help crew their boat in the Classic Yacht Regatta which started on the 19th. Buxom is a 1938 Tahiti gaff rigged ketch, complete with black haul and red sails. The race itself didn’t start until the 20th so we were able to relax for a day and meet some of the other boat owners. The winner of last year’s race is over 150 years old. For once, Sandpiper, at 33, is one of the youngest boats in the harbor.

The first day of the race the winds were too strong and they couldn’t get any of the markers set and nobody wanted to do any damage to their boats. So happy hour started early. I should also say that the night before the first race we had several large squalls come through bringing high winds. I did not have a good feeling about getting on a boat for fun.

Once morning came I still wasn’t feeling it but went over to Buxom anyways. After taking one last look out the channel I did the walk of shame and paddled myself back to Sandpiper. Yes, I have been living on a boat for 4 years. But the sailing part is still not one of my favorite things, especially when I don’t HAVE to put myself out there in 30 knots and 12 foot seas.

The winds have really caused the seas to build. So for the last two days the race courses have been modified. Tom crewed on Buxom yesterday and Apollonian, a 1955 sloop that almost sank, today.

I have been making myself comfortable on the boat. Thanks to free wifi I have found us a home for hurricane season. Our new home starting July 1 will be at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina in Charleston, South Carolina. Once there we will look for work and figure out what is next for Team Sandpiper.

For the time being we plan on exploring Grenada for the next couple of weeks until we shoot back up north to St. Lucia where we look forward to a visit from my Mom and Dr. Bob.

Love to all,
Amy and Tom

Update: The races have finished and I’m proud to report our friends Colin and Lindsay from S/V Buxom 2 swept the awards ceremony, taking home three awards. They won third overall for the racing, the perseverance award, and Lindsay won the spirit award. A good time was had by all.

A huge thanks to Sue and Fred from Bel Air Plantation Resort for all their hospitality this week!

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Note from Ron: Nice photo gallery of Carriacou.

Carriacou Rum Report

This is the second installation of the Rum Report. Updates will be given from islands in the Caribbean that Sandpiper stops at that have distilleries. The last island we were at that distilled rum was Barbados.

The Grenadine Islands, which we just visited, receive most their rum from St Vincent, where we had not stopped. In Edward Hamilton’s Book ‘Rums of the Eastern Caribbean’ he wrote about his experiences with ‘Jack Iron Rum’ in Carriacou. Carriacou is a small island of 9000 people that is part of Grenada just 6 miles to the south from here. Ed gives a great write up about Jack Iron in his book. But as hard as we looked around the island we never found one bottle! Although Jack Iron is distilled in Trinidad, I have read it is not sold there. Instead it is shipped to Carriacou/Grenada in barrels where the islanders bottle the rum in their own shops and add whatever spices they have laying around.

Jack Iron Rum out of the barrel is 99% strong and even has warning labels to keep it away from open flames.

The only Jack Iron we could find in the town of Hillsborough that was labeled was not the original made in Trinidad, but a knockoff made in Grenada or at least bottled there. The bottles that we did see when we asked around in the local grocery stores were old Mt Gay Rum bottles that had been used before and now filled with what they told us was Jack Iron Rum. We declined on a purchase as when buying rum in a bottle where the bottles seal had been broken sounded a bit sketchy. And we had been told by one of the locals that the stores water it down to make a profit. So our search for the king of strong rums (Jack Iron) in Carriacou was a bit of a failure.

But as in the other islands, when in a bar, we just order an 8th of rum, ice, and water, just like the locals do and your bar tab ends up being quite cheap. On our first night in town on Amy’s birthday at the Lambi Queen Bar, it was full of cruisers who were ordering up expensive beers, gin & tonics, and rum & cokes. We ordered up what the locals at the bar were having... just the small bottle of Grenada rum, ice, and water for only 3 U.S. bucks! We were told by the waitress in a quite voice not to let the other ‘white folk’ know we were ordering this as it was for locals only. More so they can make their money off the white folk who are willing to pay. I have no idea how they can make a profit off the locals at this low of a price. Just the cost of Coke is more then the rum here. So if one hangs with the locals drinking only the rum and ice, it is cheaper then drinking just a Coke alone.

We might be fortunate in that we never found the real Jack Iron rum on our stop here in Carriacou as the below letter printed in Ed’s book;

Dear May and George Willy,
We have known each other for some time now, but I want to apologize for yesterday and last Thursday. As you know when I am sober, I am a polite, kind, generous person. But when I am drunk, I turn into a horrible animal. For the sake of my family as well as yourselves, please do not serve me Jack Iron Rum or any other strong rum. I am witnessing this letter with the police to show my sincerity.

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Notes From Ron:

• There is a "Tourist Version" of Iron Jack bottled by Westerhall on Grenada that is watered down to 140 proof to comply with airline regulations.
  
• Iron Jack Rum is reputed to be the only booze in which ice will sink! Actually, ice will sink in anything over about 120 proof.
  
• Iron Jack is made in Trinidad by Trinidad Distilleries, Ltd (TDL), which is owned by Bacardi, and bottled on Carriacou and Grenada. It is distilled in oak barrels.
• Each rum shop and grocery store in Carriacou and Grenada may have it's own label, or none at all. Here are some sample labels (warning... the site has loud steel drum music). The cheaper stores simply use recycled bottles from from other spirits.

Carriacou

Anchored in Tyrrel Bay

Carriacou

Grenada

Grenada Islands

Caribbean Sea
12'27.3N/61'29.2W
397 miles from SV Christa

A Happy Birthday to Amy!!!

Check another country off the list. We left the anchorage in Clifton Harbor, Union Island last Thursday for a short one mile trip. We dropped the hook on the southern tip of Frigate Island, a very tiny island just a quarter mile off the southern tip of Union Island, where we had hoped to do some snorkeling.

Ever since arriving in the Caribbean the trade winds have been blowing very strong. On Thursday the winds had gone up to 30 knots, wrecking our snorkeling plans. Amy's birthday was on Friday and we awoke to one of the rarer days where the trade winds had dropped below 15 knots, making for one of the better sails we have had in years to the island of Carriacou. It is just a short 6 mile sail away and part of Grenada. The cool thing about sailing in these waters is that all the islands are so close and in sight of each other.

We dropped the hook amongst the 20 other boats by early afternoon. Then we jumped into the dingy to explore the mangroves and find the floating bar called 'Angels Rest' for a birthday beer. The floating pontoon bar was supposed to be moored in the middle of the bay and was owned by friends on S/V Buxom. After a bit of looking around not finding the floating bar we asked a local "Where is the floating bar?" He answered "I have some bad news for you. The bar floated away." I asked if it was full of people when it floated away, but was told that luckily it was empty when it blew out. It must be somewhere downwind, in Central America by now, where some lucky local must have found it.

We tied the dingy up in front of the Carriacou Yacht Club. It is not really a yacht club,  but a bar and hotel next to a boat yard. After a few rum punches we walked down the road along Tyrrel Bay and found the 'Lambi Queen' restaurant and bar where we had heard they were going to have a steel drum band that night. Turns out that the band is made up of all ladies led by a somewhat famous local gentlemen who use to actually make the drums and now has a steel drum band school on the island. The band consisted of all sizes of drums, with two lead drummers on smaller sized free standing steel drums. The rest of the band had larger barrel steel drums backing them up. Along with the teacher on a real drum set there is a cow bell and set of bongos at the back. [YouTube video - loud!]

These ladies really had it down. You could see in their faces and body movements that they were having a great time. Most the bar was filled with cruisers, and there were locals lined up out along the street drinking rum, dancing around, and really enjoying themselves. Later in the evening Amy even got her own personnel steel drum 'Happy Birthday' played for her by the teacher and one of the lady lead players. Too cool!!

After the band stopped playing around 9pm and all the cruisers headed off to their boats to go to bed. That left Amy and I with all the locals for the rest of the night. After the 'Lambi Queen' closed we headed farther down the road with one of our new island friend Jason. We heard loud music playing down a dirt road and found 'Joann's Swampy Jo's Bar' empty with one man asleep on a table. Finding no one else around we called out "Hello!" loudly and heard some shouting from the back. Our new friend Jason poked his head in one of the doors behind the bar and then told us that the owner was gettin' busy in the back with a lady. And he added that the bar owner told him he still had awhile to go before he was done and wouldn't be able to serve any beer.

So we left the man sleeping on the table and headed farther down the road to Hillsborough Bay. The closer we got, the louder the music became. Along our walk Jason explained to us that everyone is a bit restless with Carnival happening soon. Amy is sure there will be an increase in births 9 months from now.

We found a bar that is open all night that plays ear splitting music with locals dancing all over the place. One thing we have discovered in the Caribbean is that is seems like everyone goes out every night, all night long. I am not sure how the small amount of work that is accomplished around the islands ever gets done with everyone staying up every night.

We made it back to the 'Piper just as the sun was rising. We will stay in Carriacou for a few more days before heading off to Grenada.

More Later From The Land Of Jack Iron,
Tom and Amy