November 22, 2011 Tuesday Petit Martinique
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| Sign over Immigration Office |
After a short cruise from Carricacou yesterday, Finally Fun is at anchor, nestled among many colorful fishing boats off Petit Martinique, a lovely small island that is part of the country of Grenada. About 300 people live on this island that has one primary school, one church, two grocery stores, two restaurants.
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| Coming into Petite Martinique...looks like I think a Greek Isle would look like. |
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| Colorful buildings abound |
The wooden shutters speak to the history of this island - from the days of cotton and slavery - to the hopes of tomorrow.
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| Finally Fun at anchor off the beach in Petit Martinique |
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| The local village dog led us down the beach, dragging his broken lease. |
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| So colorful everywhere! |
Our group of six (Dance Aweigh & Blue Moment still traveling with us) after ‘exploring’ the island - 15 minutes of wandering -- dropped in at 4 PM to the Palm Restaurant, on the beach, among lots of palm trees and shade. Eager for a cold drink and early dinner, we were told “Dinner at 6:00; No staff here til then.” Would you believe, the lady in charge decided she’d call her staff in right then and fix our dinner....and she did. Next time I looked, there were about 8-9 people in the tiny kitchen, getting to work! We figured that serving 6 people at one time on this island just might be the difference in making it financially or NOT.
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| At The Palm Restaurant - Sharon, David, Rich, Margaret, Andy, Diane |
I’m so enjoying sitting on the aft deck with my coffee in the early morning and this computer, watching Petite Martinique come alive. The fishing boats are pulling out, smaller boats are being launched from the beaches and a small ferry just went past, loaded -- OVER loaded is a better word - with school kids, obviously on their way to the main island of Carricacou. Such contrast from our sanitized, eliminate all risk mentality in the USA. This boat had kids in their school uniforms packed all over the deck and bow, no life jackets in sight, as the boat zoomed past us. A bit scary when one thinks...‘what IF?’
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| Coming into Clifton, just a few miles away, but another country in the Caribbean |
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Off the three boats (Dance Aweigh, Blue Moment & Finally Fun) went, dragging our dinks behind us for the few miles over to Union Island - another country - for clearance through Customs & Immigration.
We had trouble setting our anchor -several tries later - we finally ‘stuck’ and off we went. The boat boys like flies, kept saying “Mooring Ball, mon, come with me”. No. We’d read too many stories and the guidebooks say the ‘mooring balls are risky and poorly maintained, with often disasterous results’.
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| Boat boys trying to get us to take their mooring ball for $$$ |
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| Colorful fruit stands abound |
Clifton is a cute little town and the Customs & Immigration folks some of the nicest we’ve encountered thus far...No ‘minimum wage with a badge’ attitude here. Friendly, joking and delightful!
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| This boat looking thing is an ice cream store & bakery |
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| The food here for lunch was so very good!!! |
Bumping into Don from the S/V Song from Port Louis Marina, we grabbed lunch at a restaurant he recommended and caught up with the ‘news’.
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| Where to go, Mon? Lots of choices! |
Both bellies and shopping bags full of produce and fruit, we pulled out for Saline Bay, on the island of Mayreau, another few mile hop, dragging the dingys again.
Oops, Blue Moment had a sudden mechanical issues (throttle broke) and they re-anchored, looking for a mechanic. Hopefully, they will catch us in a day or so.
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| Watching the sun set in Saline Bay, Mayreau off the aft deck of Finally Fun |
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