A lil' more big Grenada and a LOT More lil' Grenada - Carriacou!

So we stopped for a week or so and checked out the scenery and a few anchorages around the big island of Grenada.

Fan Palm

At this point we were pretty sure the boat was still in one piece. No structural concerns, no electrical concerns, no electronic concerns…. Whew!

Found a nice quiet anchorage. 

Quite a few beautiful homes with spectacular views.

We hit the local Fish and Meat Markets in St Georges Bay...

Huge freshly caught slabs of AHI Tuna!

 On to the Meat Market

 Now this is HARDCORE!

On the way back to the boat we bought a huge bag of sorrel flowers and made a tea. The Sorrel flower is the MUST HAVE Christmas drink in the Carribean.

We added water, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and boiled up this concoction for 20 minutes, then let it steep for several hours.

Anyway this drink looked and tasted great

 but did not work well for me gastrointestinally (which is rare for me). OH well, hope Jeff is thirsty!!!!

Speaking of Christmas...it is a BIG DEAL here in the Caribbean. We arrived November 2 and already the islanders were in full Christmas mode.

Mowing the lawn with a weed eater garbed in a Santa hat.

Shuttle van all decked out in Christmas regalia.

Don't forget, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving. 

Next we absolutely had to go back to Carriacou for the diving.

The pristine coral quality and plenitude of fish in Carriacou is unfortunately not as common elsewhere as it used to be

The evening we arrived we walked over from Tyrell Bay harbor

to a local barbecue / music performance sponsored by the local music school. Check out the CHOPS on the kid on the right.

The next day we did laundry (very important logistical consideration) and made arrangements to dive with LUMBADIVE dive shop.

When we were here last spring we were really impressed with the underwater video quality taken by Richard, co-owner of LUMBADIVE, using his GoPro camera.

We have since acquired a GoPro and Jeff  has put a lot of effort into capturing this amazing footage. 

The Trunkfish is my most FAVORITE FISH EVER!!!! It is SO ADORABLE that I just can't stay away. Jeff knows that whenever I'm hovering there's probably a trunkfish in the very near vicinity...

Here we have a Spotted Eel feeding on a Lionfish that the dive master caught. Oh no! Why is the dive master killing fish?!!!! Well the Lionfish is an invasive species that infested the Atlantic including the Caribbean a few years ago. They are gobbling up the smaller fish that protect the reef. We've noticed when scuba diving for the past five years or so, that the dive masters carry a spear to harpoon the Lionfish every chance they get. On the positive side they make for good eatin' both for humans and eels!

We did a wreck dive. The Stingrays have made this wreck their home. Jeff was somehow able to keep up with this very graceful guy... 

OHHHHHH Barracuda!!!!!

And here we have Juvenile French Angelfish guiding us through some beautiful coral. 

A special thanks to both Diane and Richard of LUMBADIVE, who went above and beyond both in and out of the water,

A wondrous journey to all and Happy Holidays!!!!

Pam and Jeff