A Home Base at Sea

A Home Base at Sea

Thursday 23rd - Friday 24th May, 2024

According to the reports embedded in our Navionics charts, anchoring is no longer permitted in the bay outside Port Louis / St George’s. However, there are plenty of moorings available at $15 USD per night. There is hardly any swell and it is a 5 minute dinghy ride to the Port Louis Marina. All in all it makes a comfortable and convenient base from which to explore the Island of Grenada. 

We spent Thursday morning wandering around St George’s, the capital of Grenada, and the adjacent Port Louis. The whole area has a Mediterranean feel to it, and was fun to visit. Unfortunately, the large fort at the top of the hill overlooking the town is closed for renovation, however, we still had to walk up around it to take in the views. It was hot, thirsty work, so we retired to a restaurant bar on the water called “Sails”. Somehow they manage to have a really good breeze blowing over their deck and it was fascinating to sit right by the harbor and watch a large container ship come in and dock. The food was also excellent - grilled kingfish for Gloria and grilled shrimp for me, with potatoes and a shared salad. After lunch we walked back along the harbor front, picked up a few groceries and headed back to Cotinga for a siesta. We were still feeling pretty lethargic by late afternoon, but a quick swim off the boat and a cool shower in the cockpit revived us. 

At 9 am this morning we were back on shore in the Marina car park to meet Alan from Dreemz who was bringing the rental car to us. We now have a terrific little Suzuki for three days. We headed out and up into the central mountains and visited a lake called Grand Etang. We hiked a 1.5 mile trail all around the lake, which was somewhat lacking in views, but gave a great sense of being in the rain forest. We heard quite a few birds but didn’t see too many, the highlight being a couple of brief views of a Rufous-Breasted Hermit, which is a type of hummingbird that we have never seen before. There was literally no one else on the trail, but as we reached the carpark at the end we came across a large group of people on a guided taxi-tour, and the guides had used bananas to entice a monkey to come down out of the trees. Although wild, he was very tame and evidently quite familiar with the routine. Our second stop was the Seven Sisters Falls. The approach involved a mile hike along a dirt road then down a steep but well maintained path to the river. Despite the ongoing drought, there was plenty of water and the double falls were beautiful. We swam in the pools below both falls and it was marvelous. 

To finish up the day, we took a drive over to a small town on the west side of the island and then followed the coast road back to Port Louis. From what we have see so far, Grenada is beautiful, somewhat reminiscent of Dominica but more affluent. 

Mike

12 02.501 N, 61 45.351 W

The fishing port in St George's

Gloria in Sails restaurant - Grilled kingfish, potatoes and salad - with an unobstructed view across the harbor

From our table we watched this container ship, along with a pilot vessel, come in and dock

A green heron on the shore of Port Louis

The square rigger "Picton Castle" is anchored (?) behind us. It looked so beautiful that I took to the dinghy so that I could position the sunset directly behind

I think so much of photography is about what you don't include. At this point I think the monkey was seated on a tourists shoulder, but you would have no idea ...! 

The monkey retreated up a tree.

A young couple in the upper pool of Seven Sisters Falls. The pool and waterfall are bigger than they look in this photo

A cute little lizard down near the falls

The view from our "back-door" at 6.17 pm this evening