Australia
Day was spent on Taipan. Much beer and wine was consumed into the
the small hours of the morning.
 |
| Prickly Bay sunrise |
Not
a great deal happened in February. I languished in Prickly Bay,
Grenada enjoying the cooler temperatures and the wind. Some work was
done on the boat. Some socialising happened on the following boats:
Taipan
– David and Kris – Albany, Western Australian
Contrails
– Jim and Barbara – Florida, USA
Jig
Saw – Phil and Faye – Australia
Volo
– Max and Sandy – Sydney, Australia
Ngomo
- Robin and Sandra – Zimbabwe
Aurora
– Ted, Texas, USA
Lotus
– Jerry and Jonni – Oregon, USA
Grenada
Race Week culminated in Grenada's Independence Day. There were an
impressive number of yachts racing. I was almost pressed into crewing
on one of the yachts. My preference is to cruise not race. The
inevitable happened with one yacht returning to the anchorage without
its mast. The over zealous crew had over-bent the carbon fibre mast
on the cruising J125. The Tiki bar, part of the Prickly Bay Marina
provides beer, free WiFi and ongoing entertainment. At EC$6.50 for
275ml bottle of beer it is pricey (~AU$3.00)!
Piereve
and Mirhay on “Umido” from Canada offer free yoga and Tai Chi
classes four mornings a week near the Tiki Bar. This was an
opportunity for me to learn Tai Chi. The yoga and Tai Chi classes
are one of the reasons I have chosen to stay in Prickly Bay. Even
though it is only 80 miles south, Trinidad was just too bloody hot to
do any exercise. Well, that was my excuse anyway.
On
Friday February 21 I joined an island tour run by Cutti taxi and
island tours. The southern end of Grenada was pretty much flattened
by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. There were still a good number of houses
and churches with out roofs.
Nutmeg
processing factory. I had no idea where Nutmeg came from. Grenada is
known as the Spice Isle with it production of Nutmeg and Mace. We
visited a Nutmeg factory where the nuts are dried, sorted, mace
removed and cracked before being exported.
 |
| Cocoa bean heating and cracking |
 |
| Grenada Chocolate Company |
Chocolate
factory. There was an abundance of Cocoa trees around the island. The
Grenada Chocolate Factory processes the cocoa into very tasty
chocolate.
Rum
factory. Rivers is a privately owned sugar plantation and rum factory
producing sufficient high octane, between 75 and 90 % alcohol, rum
for local consumption. The guide stressed that the company was unable
to export their rum as the alcohol content was too high to be shipped
by air.
 |
| Sugar cane fields |
This
rum factory prides itself in being low tech and environmentally
friendly. An impressive feature of the factory was the water wheel
that turned the cane crushing machinery.
 |
| Water wheel |
 |
| Sugar cane crushing |
The squeezed cane juice is
piped to boiling house where it is manually ladled into each pot
getting progressively hotter and improving the sweetness.
 |
| Sugar juice boiling house |
After
cooling the juice, now called wash, is piped to the concrete
fermentation tanks.
 |
| Wash |
The juice, now called wash, ferments for eight days before being
distilled.
 |
| Distillation |
The condensed vapour from the distillation process is
clear rum. This is measured using a hydrometer to determine the
alcohol content.
 |
| Hydrometer |
The rum is bottled and labelled by hand before being
shipped. A taste of the 85% alcohol rum cleared my sinuses and gave
the synapses a jolt. I don't usually drink neat rum!
 |
| The end product |
It
was a very good tour and highly recommended. On returning the to the
Tikki Bar a steel pan band was playing.
 |
| Steel pan band |
