2 Mar: Grenada, our Home from Home
The capital of Grenada:
St George's
The sound was unfamiliar and at first difficult to trace. It was merely audible and sounded like sobbing. Indeed, it was Jonathan lying in the saloon, crying! But why?

Karolina came closer, embraced him and asked what was wrong with him. “Nothing”, he declared quietly. “Nothing”, he repeated after a while. And then he added silently: “How old is Otti, Mummi?”.

“Well, Otti is eleven, like Jessica”, Karolina answered, and then Jonathan burst out in tears. “Why couldn’t you have given birth to me just 20 days earlier?!”, he asked desperately. Karolina smiled and explained that Jonathan already came some 10 days earlier than expected, to arrive punctually on Jessica’s birthday, instead. This coincidental fact was, however, not received very positively by Jonathan, at this moment. Jonathan had gladly traded the fact to have the same birthday as his bigger sister with being ten years already now.

Karolina started to understand. Otti from Sarah Grace had registered to a diving course to become a Junior Open Water Diver, something Jonathan was dreaming about ever since he got his snorkel and fins. PADI had decreased the minimum age from 12 year to 10 years, and so Otti could participate on the diving course, but Jonathan was still too young. 20 days too young to be precise.

We both felt sorry for Jonathan. On the other hand, we found it quite early to be able to dive in open waters with just 10 years. Looking at the theoretical matter that had to be studied, it looked very challenging indeed, even for English speaking Otti. But all these arguments did not help much at this time, Jonathan was desperate that we could not go diving, while other kids around him would.

We went to the local dive shop, to find out more about the PADI courses for children. To our surprise, there was both something for Jessica, who didn’t want to take the entire course but just try-out diving, the PADI Discover Scuba Diving, as well as something for Jonathan, namely the “Bubblemaker”, which was for children from 8 years of age. The difference was that the “Bubblemaker” was not allowed to dive any deeper than 6 feet / 2 meters, while the PADI Discover Scuba Diver could go down to 40 feet /12 meters. Otherwise the course was very similar and actually part of day one of the PADI Open Water Diver, which Otti was taking. We declared this as a pre-birthday present for both of our children, so in the end Otti from Sarah Grace, Emma from Koshlong and Jessica and Jonathan from Regina went for a day’s introduction to Scuba Diving. Otti and Emma thereafter continued and both successfully took the entire Open Water Diver’s Certificate, something we all plan to do together in our family sometime in the the future.
Trying on the Scuba gear in the pool of True Blue Bay Resort. From left: Paul, the teacher, Emma, Jonathan, Otti and Jessica.
First trials in the pool.
Everything clear! Ready to go diving at the reef. From left: Emma, Jessica, Otti and Jonathan in the background. Photo by Ethan Gordon, ethan(a)fathomsmagazine.com
Jonathan is ready for the first dive. Photo by Chris on Sarah Grace.
The kids experienced the diving as the “coolest thing” they had done for a long time. Not to mention Jonathan, who turned just as happy as he had been unhappy some days earlier.

After a class room lesson in the morning, they all went into the pool, being able to try on the scuba diving gear practicing safety measures like rinsing their masks under water and sharing air with your pal diver. After a very detailed morning, they all met again after lunch: It was time to go out to the reef for real diving! A big powerboat took them out to the diving spot, where there was said to be sea horses. All kids were too excited, however, to look for some, so we don’t know if they do exist there or not. Otti, Emma and Jessica all went down to some 20 ft / 7 m, while Jonathan was happily diving in shallow waters. He knew now what he was dreaming about and would put a lot of effort in learning English well enough so he eventually could take the full Open Water Diver’s certificate.

When he came back, he shone like a sun, declaring that this was even much better than he ever could have imagined. Also Jessica was excited, but did not express it in the same impulsive way as his very go-ahead little brother.

The day was a full success and a first step to a new world under the surface!
Jonathan diving. Photo by Chris on Sarah Grace.
The deep water divers: Otti following Paul down to 20ft/7m. Photo by Chris, Sarah Gace
Another quite different swim was when we hiked to one of the many waterfalls in Grenada. A taxi driver took us up into the mountains, turned into a very narrow road and then stopped. “You goes dat way. ‘De is de waterfalls. I meet you here again at five. You understand?!”.

The sliding door of the mini-bus opened, we crawled out, the door slammed behind us, and the taxi disappeared with its earsplitting reggae music fading away. We were left in the quietness with just the rain forest around us.
There was not much more to do than to go in the direction where the taxi-driver had pointed to us. “Dat way”, he had said, and so we went in that direction, the crews of Sarah Grace, Koshlong and Regina. The path became steeper and steeper, at places quite muddy. The temperature was significantly cooler up here in the mountains and the humidity high. At places, the path fell off steeply on one side and we had to hang onto one of the many bamboo trees that were growing here not to fall down.
Karolina following "Dat Way" into the rain forest
After half an hour’s hike in the rain forest, the Seven Sisters waterfall suddenly opened up in front of us, more beautiful than seen in any fairy tale, with a romantic lake on its lower side. We all threw off our clothes and went for a swim in the cool refreshing water.

So different from Scuba diving, and still almost as thrilling. The kids found a tree trunk that was stuck in a lower waterfall and used it as a springboard to jump into the water. You think these are the days that make up to all the troubles when cruising, keeping up with your boat and schooling. What an adventure!
After half an hour's hike we found the Seven Sisters Waterfalls. From left: Sophy (in the background), Emma, Otti, Jonathan, Chloe, Rachael and Jessica (finding it a bit chilly)
Chris watching the kids jumping from the log. From left: Jessica, Jonathan, Otti, Emma
These are the moments we would remember when we are back to our normal nine-to-five lives. Sometimes we kept forgetting what an adventure we actually were doing. Too often we were stuck in deep thoughts about batteries, engines, charging, oil-changes, gas hunting, laundry or home schooling.
View from Regina at beautiful Hog Island
The other day, when we were anchored totally becalmed behind Hog Island on the southern tip of Grenada, I stood on deck and just looked out over the anchored boats, the mangroves and the breaking reefs in the background. I was full of gratitude that we could be right in that place at that time. For once, I forgot all the daily issues we all have on a cruising boat, and just took delight in our present situation.

While I was holding onto the forestay overlooking the beautiful bay of Hog Island, all my concern regarding our dying batteries was flying away, possibly also thanks to the fact that I had finally understood why they had given up and also found a solution how to solve this. (see here for technical details)

It was great being back to engineering, where I really belonged. For a long time, I had been into marketing in my profession and it was time to get back to understand and solve technical problems for a change. On a boat, you find plenty of challenges for an engineer! Sometimes too many, actually. And if you don’t have any problem, you can always make up some by improving an already working system. Sometimes, this has the unlucky side-effect of giving you a real headache, instead, if you, in your eagerness, destroy more than you improve. It does happen!

Understanding a boat’s system, maintaining, repairing and improving it, is one of the many tasks, if not joys, for a cruiser. And there are plenty of other yachties to discuss them with! So, forget your guitar and your ambition to learn to play it while cruising. If you decide to bring it nevertheless, like I did, learn to play it first while still at home, where you have plenty of spare time. I did not.
Leon and Karolina having borrowed Koshlong's Kayaks exploring the vicinity of Hog Island. Photo by Jessica.
The life of an engineer on a yacht was nothing I was pondering about where I stood watching the sunset over Hog Island. Instead, I was planning ahead what we would do when Karolina’s brother Mike and his wife Kit with Jessica’s and Jonathan’s cousins Anders and Kaila would come and visit us for a week.

There was so much to experience on Grenada and after almost three weeks, we really felt at home here, appreciating the country and its friendly people.

Having guests visiting you is twofold. First of all, it is, obviously, great to see them again. The second aspect is, I think, possibly even more exciting, namely to show them your new life-style as blue water cruisers and to share it with them for a short time. I try to capture it in my stories, try to pass on our feelings, our fears, our passion, our joys and adventures. I try to take pictures that illusrate our current way of living and what we experience while cruising. Nevertheless, there is nothing like actually doing it! And since many of our friends from back home are not cruising themselves, at least visiting us can give some flesh to my tales, even though they stay in a hotel during their stay.

We were all very much looking forward to welcoming Mike, Kit, Anders and Kaila to jointly explore Grenada together during one week.
Mike and Kit visiting us on Regina. Photo by Jessica.
With pride, we showed them “our” Grenada, introduced them to some of our good friends on other yachts who happened to be anchored in True Blue Bay at the time of their visit. We invited our them to “our” Happy-Hour Bar in True Blue Bay Resort, we showed them “our” capital city St George’s, sailed to “our” Hog Island, enjoyed tuna, lambi (conch) and lobster in local restaurants such as the Creol Shack in St George’s or The Little Dipper in Lower Woburn, a dinghy ride from Hog Island. We also took a second tour with Cateye, the friendly taxi-driver who takes you to the most spectacular places of Grenada. We saw wild monkeys coming out from the near-by rain forest to pinch some apples or bananas from us. We drove to a water-fall we hadn’t seen and went for a swim. We visited the Belmont Estate, learning about Grenadian spices and we went to the Chocolate Company once more. We saw the 160 ft high cliff where the Caribs preferred to jointly jump into the sea and eternity rather than being captured and killed by the Europeans who were chasing them. We wandered through the streets of St George’s, seeing the place where Maurice Bishop was executed in 1983 by the military against the people’s will, resulting in revolution and instability until the Eastern Caribbean Countries asked USA for help, finally establishing democracy which still is in force.
Emma and Jessica offering an apple to a monkey paying us a visit from the rain forest.
Cateye showing the fruits and spices to us. From left: Cateye, Kaila, Rachael, Emma, Mike, Jonathan.
Learning about spices and fruits at the Belmont Estate. From left: Anders, Kaila, Sue, Chloe, Rachael, Mike, Emma, Karolina, Jonathan.
The pride of Grenada: The Nutmeg, which even found its place on the Granda flag.
The Caribs' Leap, where the remaining Caribs chose to jump down 160 ft into death rather than being captured by the Europeans.
Leon, Karolina and Mike in the dinghy on our way from the Little Dipper restaurant at Lower Woburn. Photo by Jessica.
Swimming in our second waterfall, this time with Mike, Kit, Anders and Kaila
Inevitably, it became time to loosen our bands to Grenada, which wasn’t easy. After one month, it became time to move on, sailing north, exploring the Leeward Islands, starting with the French islands Ile des Saintes of Guadeloupe, which seemed to put us back to Europe and France, but with a very comfortable climate.

Before this would happen, we had our last drink at our “Happy-Hour-Bar”. Every day at 17.00 for almost a month we had taken a beer here, so you can understand that leaving this ritual transformed the parting into a major fare-well. The following day we would be to sea for a two night’s sail north.

We shared this last Happy-Hour beer with Cateye and his charming wife Alva. If you stay long enough in a place you begin to get to know some local people, which is wonderful. I believe we have made friends with Cateye and Alva, whom I also helped to produce a home-page using our pictures. Leaving friends in a country we had fallen in love with made us believe that we certainly would want to return again in the future.

For this time, however, it had become time for Baguettes, Café-au-lait and Euro’s for a change, before we continued to the stronghold of British sailing Mecca in the Caribbean, Antigua.

However, I already miss the Windward Island!
Our "base" during our Grenada Visit and its excursions by sea. True Blue Bay to the left. In the middle Prickly Bay, where we motored to haul out and to get new batteries installed. To the very right Hog Island. "The Little Dipper" restaurant is behind the navigation data northeast of Hog Island.