Sue joins SV Wyuna

Boy, it's a long way! I had a one-night stopover in Miami which was great. I arrived at night but went out immediately to Dolphin Mall to buy the 3 pairs of crocs the Wyuna crew had ordered! That left me with a free morning the next day to have a fabulous tour of the city - fascinating place! Arrived in Grenada at 8.30pm and immediately stripped off the outer layer of clothes. Great to see Mal after six weeks and he looks so healthy and relaxed. Took a 20min taxi ride to Port Louis Marina to be greeted by Bruce and Gina with champers. What a yacht! After my limited experience on sailing vessels, this was a treat - sooooo spacious and has everything (and more) that you could ever need. We sat outside chatting, drinking and soaking up the warm evening air before retiring to our cabins. I always sleep well on boats and this was no exception. I was out like a light and slept like a baby all night.

The next morning Mal took me on a tour of the marina - unbelievable vessels in port! A couple were similar to what I imagine the Onassis "Christina" would be like - enormous and each had a crew of 8-9 people.

Lunch in Grenville

Kindly, B, G & M had waited until my arrival to do a tour of the island. Gina negotiated with Mike, a local taxi driver, and we headed off after a morning swim in the Marina pool. Mike was fantastic as he knew his island inside and out - he pointed out historical features but also every type of spice plant know to man! We saw the following growing wild: nutmeg, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, sorrel, soursop, callaloo, coconut, cocoa bean, pawpaw, lemongrass and more. We visited waterfalls and lakes and stopped for lunch at a small local restaurant in Grenville on the west coast, Good Food. Very traditional - chicken or fish or lamb with rice, coleslaw, yams and breadfruit. We then travelled further up the west coast to the River Rum Distillery which manufactures rum for the local community - it isn't exported as it's alcohol content is too high! We had a tasting and nearly choked. We then went to the organic Grenadine Chocolate Company which manufactures my sort of chocolate! Dark in 60, 70 or 80% cocoa. Beautiful. By this stage I was having real trouble keeping my eyes open as jetlag had well and truly set in. We crossed the island to the east side and came back down the coast to our Marina.

We decided to go to Patrick's restaurant across the road from the marina for dinner. It was sensational. It cost us per couple 150 EC (East Caribbean Dollars) which is about $50AU. We had 23 small courses of traditional foods - very like tapas servings. We ate lamb curry, green banana salad, plantain, green papaya in cheese sauce, pumpkin puree, eggplant with parmesan, green beans with sesame, fried breadfruit, fish in sweet and sour sauce, crawfish, prawns, pork and finished off with black cake (local spice cake with fruit). We had a great evening.

The next morning we went for our morning swim in the pool and then headed into town for a small shop (as against a big shop)! We hailed down a bus (small van) and I commented that we wouldn't fit. B, G & M  said this would be a doddle, no problemo! We piled in to what seemed a fairly full van and made our way to the shops. Our fellow passengers were really friendly and chatted the whole way to the shops. We made all our purchases and caught a taxi home. On arriving back at the boat our neigbours informed us that we had a drama as the bow line had worn through and snapped allowing the boat to move backwards into the concrete wall. We were very lucky that the boat is stong and had a rubber strip around the stern hulls (called ice cream scoops) that prevented any damage. Our neighbours alerted the maina staff who put out a new line and secured the boat. Both Bruce and myself had misgivings with the arrangement from the begining and have learnt valuable lessons from the experience (number one, do not trust the marina staff). After making our own adjustments to secure the boat as the wind was gusting to 20 knots we had a relaxing afternoon on the boat and prepared for our dinner guests - a couple who had known the previous owners very well and whom B, G & M have befriended. Bruce cooked a fabulous paella and much wine was consumed. We had our latest night on the boat with us retiring around midnight.

Since I arrived the weather has been warm and wet. I haven't needed anything long-sleeved and most of the time I have a soft "glow" - in other words I'm sweating! There have been continuous rain bursts followed by sunny periods. Tonight we're celebrating NY here at the marina restaurant and plan to head off on 2 January.  The wind has been gusty so we're not sure if we'll set sail for Caricaou or whether we just go around to Prickly Bay which is apparently very pretty and where B, G & M were before Port Louis.

Happy NY to all our family and friends, love Sue & Mal, Bruce & Gina.

Super yacht berths

View of St George's

Water falls during Island tour

Rivers Rum factory