After proving that using the winch power cables for my solar panel supply was effective, doing the job properly took a bit of extra effort. It was important to me to be able to put the wires back to their original use so cutting them or changing the ends was not on. Nor were the lugs on the ends of the wires the right size for connecting to my charge controller so I had to find the right pieces to make it all work. Nearby Budget Marine had some but not all the parts I needed. A longer walk to an electrical store found some of the other parts I needed plus they let me use their hydraulic crimper to place the lugs on the end on my leads which I’d brought to the store.
Another possible piece of luck is I got talking to the store manager and he learned I may have some spare batteries. We may have a deal on where I can borrow some of his top end tools in exchange for a battery or two. Given that I’m unlikely to sell them all this would be really good if we can pull this off. Having the best connections possible has no substitute so getting hold of good tools will make my future rewiring work the best I can do.
After clearing everything up we had just enough time to clean up, shower and go ashore to meet Inge. Inge is someone we’ve been trying to meet for two months. She is good friends of Des and Sue from Desue (who we got to know well in St Martin). She also runs the local radio net a couple of times per week. We’ve had a number of near calls for meeting up but for one reason or another it never happened until yesterday evening.
We met Inge who showed up with her significant friend Hal at Prickly Bay Marina where we enjoyed a couple of drinks at their Tiki bar during Happy Hour. We then went back to the boat for more conversation and, whatever. We ended up back ashore for pizza. The whole evening was very enjoyable. Hal gave me some great tips for the passage to Trinidad and what to do when we’re there so we’re very thankful for that.
Today we were tourists and took Cutty’s round Grenada tour. Cutty is the same fellow we took to go and see the turtles back in May I think. His tours have a very good reputation and he has a good gig going with the cruiser community.
The day started at 9am with a pickup at De Big Fish. You may have gathered De Big Fish is a focal point and it is. For the reason that they have a pretty good dinghy dock close to the road, Budget Marin and public transportation to shops and the capital. With four others, we were soon heading off to St Georges to collect the remainder of the ride.
Our first stop was at the prison overlooking town. The prisoners get a great view – something seems wrong here. We learned the prison was housing 3 times the prisoners it was originally built for which seems just like the rest of the world.
We then took the winding roads into Grand Etang, the rain forest in the center of Grenada. Our next stop was at a spice kiosk where Cutty showed us some naturally growing spices followed by the opportunity to purchase some at very low prices.
The third stop was at the Annandale Waterfalls. These were set in small but beautifully laid out gardens. The waterfalls could have been magical but were a bit too concreted around and too touristy (hark who complains). They were worth the effort of stopping for though. We had the option to go swimming which only one of our party took up. A couple of locals ran their little enterprise there which involved jumping into the pool below the falls from a high height and collecting tips for their efforts. I noticed their eyes were a bit bloodshot which could be due to their frequent forceful dunkings.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oORkki_DgaA[/youtube]
After that we followed the road up into the hills to 2,000 feet above sea level and 
arrived at the place where one can see the local (from Africa) monkeys. We weren’t disappointed and got to see many of them including having the chance to scratch one of the old timers.
Onward from there we made our way over to the Rivers Rum Distillery. Along the way we stopped for some local interest including some colourful caterpillars which you can see in the slide show below.
Lunch was at the distillery in a nice raised restaurant. We were told lunch was EC$30 each which included a tour of the distillery. Helen and I both ordered rotis and were incredibly disappointed by the size in comparison to others’ meals.
They passed around a book for feedback and we (I) wrote down our disappointment only to discover our rotis only cost EC$10 which is next to nothing. Oh well – had we known we might have ordered two each and been more than satisfied.
Next came the tour which was fascinating. The rum making process was still dependent on the use of a water wheel to drive the machinery that crushed the sugar cane and squeeze all the juice out of it. Most of the rest of the work was intensely manual.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUPeCtRgtxI[/youtube]
The tour ended with a tasting session which included some of the 75%+ by volume strength rum. I felt all tingly after.
I fell asleep on the bus after my double whammy of lunch and rum. I was soon woken at the nutmeg factory. It’s a sorry tale really. Grenada used to be the number 2 in the world for nutmeg exports. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 destroyed 90% of production which has yet to recover. The facility we saw used to employ 140 people. Now it employs 8. There’s a lot of replanting being done so over the coming years the industry will hopefully recover.
Our final stop was at a wonderful little beach on the south side of the island.
This was one of those picture postcard spots. We were able to splash around a little in our bare feet and explore a little before heading back to our various stops.
This was definitely a very good tour and would recommend it to anyone. For a full day out and informative guide the cost was extremely good too.
Back on the boat I was eager to check the effectiveness of the solar charging. The day had been a little overcast but I was pleased to note that the panels had fully charged our batteries despite this. I’m still feeling pleased about this one.
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