Written by Mia:

This is a disappointing post to write. We have heard a lot about “Camp Grenada” where there are tons of kids boats and many returning seasoned cruisers all unite  while hiding from the storms. We decided to join them and spend the hurricane season in Grenada. It seems to be a strange year with a shortage of kids boats on the island, and those who are here are spread out between the anchorages. We’re not sure why it is quieter than normal, maybe the early south tracking tropical storms scared people away, who knows. But, ‘Camp Grenada’ doesn’t seem to have really happened that we can see.

It hasn’t been a washout by any stretch. Luckily we have been in the company of friends we collected along the way, as well as making some new ones. There have been some lively evenings including an open air cinema experience on Una Vida and drinks and snacks in the nick of time on Trismic, and  Flip Flops had a lovely birthday celebration for their daughter.  The Tiki bar has pizza specials and movie nights for the kids and yoga in the morning, unfortunately the bar area is swarming in mosquitoes so it’s not ideal. Also, we have made two trips to the actual movies, in a cinema, which has been a little exotic for this cruising family. And we had lovely company when we were in a marina hiding from Tropical Storm Don. We spent a day exploring the underwater sculpture park and all went to Carneval together and the kids get along really well. So a nice time has been had. The main downside of Prickly Bay (the most populated anchorage for kids boats) is that the swimming is far from inviting, something you NEED with 30C heat, 90% humidity and no air conditioning.

Our to do list for Itchy Foot was long when we arrived in Grenada and we had a week where something broke every day so the list expanded. As others headed up to nicer islands, we stayed in Prickly Bay to try to sort a few things out. It has a well stocked chandlery and haul out facilities. More on that in a later post. Not our most fun week, as Jon spent three solid days lying upside down in the engine room trying to get the generator working again.

Teo has been hanging out with the lovely kids from Pierina, Drakkar, Nahanni, Blue Zulu and Trismic on the beach often in the afternoons and one day we went to the True Blue resort and watched a cooking demonstrations and the kids made up games and later used the pool. Una Vida came and picked us up when we were stranded and needed a break so we went around the corner for a holiday. And we joined them at the pool when they moved into the marina for a few days. St George’s is a vibrant town that feels authentic and we enjoyed wandering through the steep streets and catching glimpses of the people who live there.

For all the moaning, we haven’t really given Grenada a fair chance as we have failed to travel further into the interior to explore. There are waterfalls and it is called the Spice Island so we are probably missing an opportunity. We never made it to Sandy Island which is a snorkelling paradise and we heard about a really cool distillery and the chocolate factory is supposed to be amazing but we have decided to move on sooner than originally planned.

We’ve found a buddy boat to join us for the next leg of the adventure westward to Bonaire and crystal clear waters await. Hopefully a more timely post when we get there!