After a month being out at anchor (apart from one night by mistake in a marina 10 days ago - see Follyfin's progress south part 3 post), it has been quite a luxury to be berthed on a pontoon for the past 5 days in the Grenada Yacht Club marina. Getting quite used to having The Spout (yacht club bar) very handy, not to mention showers etc. and shops a few minutes walk away instead of having to get in the dinghy.
We climbed the steps up to Fort George, built in 1706 by the French, it is now the police HQ. It has a battery of cannons pointing out to sea
and towers above its surroundings providing an excellent view of the harbour and city.
Looking North over the main city
Some may remember that this is where the then Prime Minister, Maurice Bishop, and many of his cabinet members were executed by the army in 1983; the infamous bombing and military intervention by American troops that followed made headline news around the world. Though some of the buildings are still used by the police, others have fallen into complete disrepair and would give the UK Health and Safety Executive nightmares.
An impressive British legacy still in daily use is the 103 metre Sendall tunnel, built in 1894, which links the inner harbour, known as the Carenage, to the main town and the cruise terminal.
So, apart from having a little taste of civilisation, our main purpose for spending a few days here in St.George’s is to re-provision the boat, fill up with water, generally clean up the boat and - desperately needed - catch up on the washing. However, Tuesday the 5th April marked the official end of The Ruby Cruise as it was our 41st wedding anniversary.
Rum punches to round off The Ruby Cruise.
A day for celebration called for an outing: a long lunch in the heat of the day at a delightful restaurant with a balcony right out over the water, and where you can arrive by dinghy if you wish. Main courses were goat curry (sorry neighbour Peter!) and seared tuna steak (nice and rare in the middle) in red wine sauce.
Afterwards we generally took in the scene whilst wending our way back to the boat, a little shopping on the way.
Today is our final day in St George's. We are off on another cruise with friends (Able Seamen R and R Herbert) on board for a few days before making the 90-mile crossing to Trinidad with them. So the next post will probably be from there.
View of St George's lagoon from our harbour-side restaurant, which houses the Yacht Club Marina on the left (north) side.
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