Posted by The southern Caribbean Island of Grenada was to be our hurricane season destination. It lies in the southern most track of potential hurricanes that come into the Caribbean. Because of this relative safety from hurricanes many cruisers head to Grenada for the hurricane season. The island of Grenada makes it an easy choice with its many bays and inlets that offer good to excellent protection from wind and waves of the ocean. Most of these are bays are concentrated in the south of the island and as you can imagine there is a large marine industry there to support the hundreds of cruising boats seeking refuge for the summer. We have never stayed with our boat during a hurricane (summer) season. We have also never stayed in one place for more than a month or so. Now that we are in the Caribbean during hurricane season we planned to stay put and not move the boat and actually stay with the boat until November when hurricanes are much less likely to form. We were able to secure a spot at a marina resort called Secret Harbor. Staying at a marina as opposed to staying at anchor was much more appealing to all four of us for many reasons. The ease of coming and going from the boat that is at a dock as opposed to needing another boat or paddleboard or the pudgy to get to shore or to go hang out with friends was the number one reason. The resort also had some nice amenities such as a nice pool, tennis courts, nice showers and a fantastic gym. We utilized all of these amenities to the fullest as the summer’s heat and humidity set in! We also were able to secure a rental car for the entire summer. Having a car made such a difference for us. We were really able to get out and see the country and participate in the community much more because of our car. The $625/ month payment for a tiny and beat up little car was a little tough to swallow but as we look back on the summer, if we did not have the car we really would have missed out on a lot of getting to know Grenada.
Grenada is not the only option for cruisers to hide from hurricanes. We were considering the ABC islands, Grenada, Martinique, Trinidad and Tabago and even Colombia. While we were researching which place to go we learned of a very popular event in Grenada, called the Hash. The hash is a weekly (every Saturday afternoon) trail run in Grenada. Every week it is in a different place throughout the country. The courses are always different but they try to be primarily off pavement and try to give the participants a different part of Grenada to explore each week. The courses usually start in a neighborhood, run through the neighborhood for a bit and then off into the bush. They make a large loop and finish where they started. There is usually a runners trail and a walkers trail. After the run/event, there is a big bbq and everyone gets together and has a party that can last late into the night. The neighborhood that the event is held in comes out to participate in the run and after party. There are usually about 100-150 participants on the run and the after party can have another 200 people. The Hash is a great way to get out into the community and get to know the people of Grenada. The hash happens every Saturday year round rain or shine and has been going strong for the last 6 years. More on the hash in our next post.
The island of Grenada attracts hundreds of cruising boats each hurricane season and this season was no different. And with hundreds of cruising boats come lots of cruising kids. Victoria and Alexander had no shortage of kids and kid events to play and participate in. Victoria and Alexander were in a book club, a writing club, a debate club and a chess club. Victoria renewed her appreciation of Chess and Alexander really improved his game from all the Chess games over the summer. Some days we would have 30+ kids at Chess club! The book club’s attendance varied but at times was as large as 15 kids. They pushed each other to read outside of their normal genres. Victoria loved having kids to discuss books and to learn of new authors and new series to devour! Both Alexander and Victoria dominated each of the debates that they participated in. There were also many hours spent at the pools and playing in the grassy area at the resort. There is a small uninhabited island within easy dinghy distance from all the bays that cruisers would be and have get-togethers. The kids would have this small island to run and jump and climb until their hearts were content. One of the days Alexander, Victoria, and a few cruising parents helped me lay out an obstacle course on this little island. I set out an invitation on the radio expecting 15 maybe 20 kids to show up for a little race. 56 kids and their parents showed up and ran the races. It was a great day and all the kids and adults had a blast. Alexander won the 3 mile distance race by a large margin and Victoria was second for a Murphy kid sweep!
Our lives quickly settled into a routine. Monday-Wednesday and Friday were school days on Samadhi. (That’s right there is NO summer breaks for the Murphy kids!) Each morning we would wake up at 6am and go workout. (Alex gets to pass on 2 days of working out and Victoria gets 1 pass) On Monday’s, Wednesday’s, and Friday’s we would run and Tuesday’s and Thursday’s we would be in our gym. (Which we had to ourselves). We would work out for about an hour and then to the showers or pool to cool down because by 7:30am it was already hot and humid. After our runs I would just go jump in the pool with all my clothes and shoes and socks. It didn’t matter because by 11am everything would be dry because it was soooo hot! Next we get back to the boat for breakfast and school starts at 9am. Lunch at 1pm and finish school by 2:30. On Tuesday Chess club began at 3:00 and Thursday was a day off school because the kids had reading and writing club in the mornings and Chess club in the afternoon. Friday was an easy school day and a break from all the running around. The kids would usually just hang out with the kids in our marina or just relax on the boat. Saturday mornings we would go teach people how to swim at local beaches with a group called Swim Grenada. All four of us would teach swim lessons for about 2 hours in the morning. We would then rush back to Samadhi for lunch and then pack for the Hash. Sometimes the Hashes were close to our marina but most of the times they were on the other side of the country. This would mean an hour or so drive on less then great roads over the mountain in our little car. We would run the Hash and hang out with our crew sometimes well into the evening and then drive home. Sunday was a rest day from the busy week with a lot of sleeping in and taking it easy. And then Monday morning we were at it again!
Occasionally we would take a day off school and explore the island of Grenada. The island of Grenada is geologically very young due to recent volcanic activity. This makes for dramatic scenery. Add to that, lots of rain and great soil and you get beautiful, lush jungle, large mountain lakes and breathtaking waterfalls. And we explored them all! The kids and I also got to visit a beach were leatherback turtles come to lay their eggs at night. We were there when a huge leatherback turtle came ashore. We were able to watch her dig the deep hole and then lay her 80+ eggs, cover the hole and then make her way back to sea! It was an unbelievable experience! The 2 hour drive at 2am back across the mountains to our boat was a little brutal for me but the kids did not seem to be bothered. Well, probably because they slept through that part. I don’t think I have mentioned the roads here in Grenada are less than easy to drive on.
Sailing Samadhi 