After a nice stay on Martinique and a fair bit of necessary maintenance on the ship, we set sail to Grenada.

In passing first behind St Lucia, we ended up behind Saint Vincent without any wind, and the starboard watch spent six hours bracing non stop in the scorching heat looking for even the slightest breeze, to no avail. after another couple of hours, we finally caught some wind again and continued to Saint George, Grenada, where we were tugged in with the help of local fishermen.

I think its safe to say none of us knew much about Grenada before arriving there. At just over 112.000 inhabitants, its’s the 10th smallest country in the world. Famous for its valuable spices, its unsurprising that Grenada was heavily colonized from the 16th century onwards by the Spanish, the French, and finally the British until its independence in 1979.
The island has everything from beautiful beaches lined with palm trees, to tropical forest inland, and the way to get around is by the little minivan buses that drive at breakneck speed down the winding narrow roads. The Grenadians are friendly and easygoing people. Music is always coming from all directions, the smell of spices is in the air, the sun is blistering hot every day so we decided to start work at 6 am and finish earlier so we can go to the beach or out for some ice cream or a local Carib beer.

The new trainees that came on board in Martinique are getting their first sail training and climbing instructions. We visit the Grenada Chocolate Company, that makes delicious organic chocolate, and after a guided tour of through factory, the staff treats us to a huge cookout of the national dish ’the oil down’ a sort of giant stew.
For me, Grenada is an unsung Caribbean paradise, a land of spice, hidden treasures and smiling faces. I have many fond memories of it as we set sail to our next destination, Colombia.

Amber Grootjans, Trainee.