Refreshment

Since it was raining we decided to spend a day exploring the island. The mud is amazing and after you slide down a hill with 5 lbs of it on each foot a waterfall is a refreshing pit stop.



We arrived at Mt. Carmel Waterfall on the East coast of Grenada a few miles south of the town of Grenville. Who can resist standing under a waterfall and being pounded by thousands of gallons of cool water.



After a refreshing shower and some time cleaning our shoes we headed off to Grenville and toured the fish market. The Japanese have built a number of these on the islands in the Caribbean and they are very well done. The fish are kept in proper cold rooms and ice is readily available to keep them fresh in the hot weather.




Next we headed north the Rivers Rum Distillery. Rivers has been in business since 1785 and they claim that they have never stopped production.



Not much has changed in the last 200 odd years. They still raise their own cane and everything is done by hand.


The only machine is the Juicer which consists of an old steel water wheel connected to a crushing machine.



All the juice (I suspect that the gear lube also would be considered a juice in this heat) from the cane is drained under the machine and is transferred by a pipe to the cooking room.



In the cooking room the cane juice is reduced by boiling from one kettle to the next until it is concentrated enough to cook in its own juices and start fermentation.



The fermentation takes place in these large concrete walled tanks. I was expecting stainless or copper but I guess it would spoil the end product.



The Rivers Rum Distillery is proud of its history and the fact that it hasn't modernized it's process. When asked if they aged any of the rum in barrels they said that the demand was much too great to be bothered with aging it. They simply distill it in these grand old kettles and condensers and transfer it to underground tanks where it is ladled out and bottled by hand using funnels.



The next part of the tour was the moment we had all been waiting for, tasting. They had three versions of their rum to choose from. A spice rum made with allspice, a regular 70 proof white and the best of all; the over proof, 150 proof rum. The spice rum was actually kind of good and Sunny decided to purchase one.



I tried the over proof and to be honest I think I would have rather drunk brake fluid. Like the oak barrels that Jack Daniels is aged in you can really taste the subtle hints of aggregate and fly ash in the concrete of the tanks. Something grabbed my larynx on the way down and tied it in a knot.



If you ever find yourself in Grenada and want to try something a bit different, this is the place to go. Despite the harsh taste of the rum it is interesting to watch people make rum as it was made hundreds of years ago and to see a real water wheel in action.



There is something so special about the place that despite the fact your throat may stop working your smile won't.

Oil Down

We were invited to an Oil Down Saturday. I had no idea what that was so we decided it was a must to attend. Basically, you have to think of a bunch of guys cooking in the back yard on a weekend. It's that sort of event. The Oil Down itself is a type of dish which is made of local ingredients and cooked in a pot over open fire till done.


The guys in charge of this event were Cuddy and Justin. Two local taxi operators who showed us how to prepare the food. Here Cuddy explains how to clean and prepare breadfruit. It is similar in taste and texture to potato when cooked.



The Breadfruit is layered on the bottom then topped with a layer of meat.




This was mostly chicken, turkey and salted pig tails. They were marinated in cooking peppers, salt, shadow benny and onion.




Another layer of Bread fruit and assorted pieces of pumpkin, yam, and green papaya followed by yet another layer of marinated meat.



This was topped with more breadfruit plus green banana, carrots, a layer of callaloo which is the leafy top of dasheen.


Dasheen is another starchy root. With a 50:1 starch to protein ratio here I guess it wasn't required. The seasoning was a sprig of fresh allspice, ketchup, mustard, and several bottles of both red and green cooking sauce.




While all of this is going on, everyone gets a turn grating coconut and turmeric in a large bowl. This plus the inevitable blood flowing from everyone's fingers makes up the cooking liquid.



Water is added then the gratings are squeezed dry. The liquid is then poured into the pot until it is visible.




Once the liquid boils dumplings are added and then it is time to sit back and have something cold to drink as we wait for the oil down to occur.



Oil down is when the liquid is no longer visible hence the oil has gone down.



Once oil down happens the pot is cooked and it is time to serve it up to 50 hungry people. Along with the myriad of desserts and appetizers the cruisers brought to share there is certainly nobody going to bed hungry.

Taste of Summer

Nothing says summer like fresh roasted corn. We found some corn being cooked over real charcoal and it smelled great!

Unfortunately, corn comes in lots of different varieties and feed corn is an acquired taste it seems.

Jouvert

This is an interesting way to start the day. At around 5am we were awoken a mile offshore at anchor by the sounds of Soca music blaring across St. Georges Grenada from a truck and trailer who's only purpose is to haul a generator large enough to power all the speakers they can load on. We quickly got up and put on our dingiest clothes as we were informed they might not make it back in one piece. ( Good advice)

Once we made it to town it wasn't long before we started seeing some strange characters.

We soon encountered an army of Devils or jab jabs.

They are covered in used motor oil. If you upset one, you will be covered as well.

Following them are more of the same sort of people but luckily they are covered in paint which is much easier to clean.


They dance down the street drinking rum and giving lot's of hugs.

Sunny wasn't too keen on the whole messy part of this festival.

As soon as the news crew showed up she was all smiles again.

Addiction

I hesitate to write about the following subject but have no other way to get this off my chest. Sunny just won't listen to me anymore and seems to be in the clutches of an addiction.

Sunny and I first purchased some in St Maartin on the street and little did I know she had gone back several times more without my knowledge to get more. As we travel through the islands people are always selling and we have even gotten some for giving a guy a ride across the cut in Rodney Bay. Sunny was doing one every other day or so and until recently I thought she was just relaxing and enjoying herself. Today however I realized she was really going over the edge when she rolled out the biggest one I had ever seen. I had some of it and to be honest I was never much of a fan before, but this was really good. I asked her where she got it and she said to take her to the beach. As we arrived at the beach next to the outdoor market, I began to wonder what I was going to do with her when we got home. Hopefully this was a phase.

As we entered the market through the back door a couple young Rastas were just getting baked. Sunny pointed to one of them and said, "This is Jimmy my supplier."

Jimmies eyes were completely dilated and he smelled of weed. "Respect", he said.

Sunny told him she wanted more and that she had money. Jimmy slowly got up, gave me a fist bump and said, "Ri oher ere mon". We followed him over to a table in the front of the store and it appeared he had just received a new shipment of some really good stuff. Sunny, knew immediately what she wanted and grabbed two hand fulls. She gave him a bit of cash, he thanked us and out we went.

Sunny was smiling from ear to ear as she proudly inspected her giant mangoes. They are the best we've seen so far and she can't get enough.

Oops!!

So we decided to get out of Rodney Bay finally and we made the long 4 mi journey south to the Capital city of Castries. The anchorage is at the head of the bay along the side of the main road leading into town and is quite a busy road. The anchorage itself is about 20-30 feet deep and except for us and a couple tugs rafted together it was quiet and deserted.

Sunny decided to drop the side shades down on the boat and since it was hot she was wearing her bikini. As she was tying the shade to the rail the boat swung close to shore say within 50 feet or so and she looked up to see a man driving along staring at her. He seemed completely oblivious to the fact he had just cut across the oncoming lane, over the sidewalk and was in midair above the water before he realized what he was doing. Sunny was screaming the whole time but it was too late.

Splash!!! Driver and all went for a swim. Another man dove in from shore to save the driver. Sunny screamed for me to get the camera but I elected to launch the dinghy instead to help. As I approached the truck was still floating in the water with both the driver and good Samaritan clinging to the outside of it. Suddenly, as the water crept over the top of the open door windows the truck went vertical and headed for the bottom. Luckily it missed our anchor.

The two men swam to shore and it appears there were no injuries. The rest of the day we had about a hundred people and a traffic jam in front of the boat as the Port Police kept locals from jumping in the water to "rescue" items from the truck. A dive crew eventually made it as did a tough old wrecker which probably looked old in the 60's. Eventually the truck was pulled up and the crowds moved on, but it was quite an evening at our "quiet" little anchorage.

We may have to observe the 3 mile limit in regards to the bikini as well. Way to go Sunny!