On Thursday the 22nd (I think) we took a 'bus' over the peninsula to Prickly Bay, another major yachting centre but on the Island's south east coast.
"'Bus'" because Grenadian buses are actually mini buses. They appear to operate on the same basis as Barbados' private bus network. The routes are formally designated but the 'buses' seem to be privately operated and most play loud garage type music at full blast. Being minibuses there's no way that anyone can stand up, but they don't start a journey until every seat is occupied. The seating includes flip up seats on every row so that every square inch of space can be used by a fare paying passenger. Remarkably, despite starting off every journey packed with passengers, we rarely witnessed an occasion when the bus couldn't squeeze another passenger on board.
On arrival at Prickly Bay we first visited the Chanderlry in the hope of finding some replacement burner covers for the cooker. One of our existing burners has become so corroded that its increasingly difficult to use it except on full power. The second is now also becoming temperamental. We had no luck however.
We then decided to explore the area on foot and walked around the large boatyard and then a very extensive industrial area, which, whilst not the slightest bit photogenic, did underline the the feeling that the local economy was on good health.
Soon after we stumbled across one of the economy's jewels, the West Indies Brewing Company - a clearly very successful local craft brewing enterprise..
They were into re-purposing too...
Whilst sampling one of their numerous brews, a message came through from Gary on the OCC's Carribbean WhatsApp Group. He'd just arrived in Prickly Bay and discovered his outboard engine was kaput - did anyone know of anyone locally who could fix it? He would have a lot of rowing to do in the meantime!
No we didn't but we were local - did that count? Any excuse for (another) drink and so off we dashed to Prickly Bay Marina Restaurant to help Gary drown his sorrows.
The last time Mick and Gary had met was when we were all in Madeira in August, but Gary and I had met more recently in Pasito Blanco at Agustin's OCC party in November. We had a lot to catch up on and a drink morphed into lunch. Amazingly, they had bangers and mash on the menu and it wasn't at all bad - except that is for the total lack of mustard! Then more drinks and then it was getting dark.
"Would you mind giving me a tow back to the boat?" Gary asked. "Not in the slightest." I replied. "The trouble is our dinghy's in Saint George's!"
Gary therefore had to row back to his boat in the dark and we had a long walk and bus ride back to Saint George's. He's also planning on heading for the USA, so we may well see him again.
No comments:
Post a Comment