Exactly one year ago two boats left LaSalle Park Marina and headed East on Lake Ontario. One boat (Galadriel) had to return to keep the economy going, and the other boat (Vagus) made a right turn. It is hard to believe that we have been on the boat for one year and that we have made it as far south as Grenada. It has been a good year, a challenging year, and a year in which we have grown and learned more about ourselves. We are still together, Karen is still talking to me, and we are still enjoying the experience. Actually, it does keep getting better as we become more comfortable with exploring new places. Our goal was to travel to someplace warm, with palm trees and steel bands, and Grenada fills the bill. The people are friendly and the services here are great. We plan to leave our boat in Grenada and fly back to Ontario for the summer, returning in November. So this will be our last update to the web page until we return for round 2 of the Caribbean. Our plan for next season is to "Chill out down South". Our goal will be to explore the Windward Islands as slowly as we can. We skipped many of these islands on the way down and each island has its own unique flavour that takes time to get to know. We hope that you have enjoyed reading about our travels. We have enjoyed sharing them with you and look forward to seeing many of you this summer. So bye for now and have a great summer.

Jim & Karen
Vagus V

Okay, here is what happened during the last week. On Monday, we rented a taxi with two other couples for an all day island tour. While the island is only 25 miles long, there is a lot to see and we only covered a few spots during our one-day trip. Our first stop was Annadale Falls, situated in a rain forest. There are several beautiful falls on the island. The park warden walked with us to the falls and pointed out all the different plant life along the path. There are numerous paths in the park and one could easily spend all day at the park. There were "falls jumpers", who put on a show plunging 50 feet into the pool at the bottom of the falls, and a wandering troubadour who composed a song for us as we left the park. It was great fun and the people were not pushy but welcoming. We motored through the central part of the island, past lakes and more rain forests and stopped for lunch at the Belmont Estate - a restored plantation. Off again to the Chocolate Factory, a very small factory that makes rich chocolate bars for the island - mmm. Of course, we also had to stop at a rum distillery. There are several on the island (of course) and each one appears to specialize in a different type of rum. This particular factory made strong rum. By strong I mean that it is at least 75% alcohol when it is bottled. The only quality control is a device to measure specific gravity, and anything measuring less than 75% is recycled. (More than 75% is a bonus). The product is consumed locally and they usually sell out a week's production (300 gallons) easily. The rum is taken in shot glasses with a water chaser - talk about a throat-on-fire experience. It is a bit breathtaking. The factory was built in 1785 with equipment from England that is still in use, including a water wheel to power the cane grinding machinery. The layout and process is also the same as was put together in 1785. It was a good tour and the guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the place. We then visited a Nutmeg Factory. Grenada is known as the Spice Island and the nutmeg fruit is on its flag. The Nutmeg Factory was fascinating. Farmers separate the mace from the nut before bringing it all in for processing. The mace is graded and the farmer paid by quality, and the nut is taken to be dried, crushed, sorted, dried again and sorted before shipping to all parts of the world. There were huge drying racks throughout the building. It is amazing how much nutmeg is consumed. The actual nutmeg in the shell lasts 20 years. Out of the shell (ungrated), it lasts three years. The best nuts actually sink in water while the lower quality float - quality control was truly a sink/float test. The lower quality is used for cosmetics while the sinkers are ground into powder that you buy at the market. We also saw a cashew tree. I now know why cashews are expensive. The cashew nut that we eat is just a small appendage growing off the bottom of a seedpod. It is a big tree and difficult to harvest and there are not a lot of cashews on a tree.

The next few days, we did odd jobs and wandered about on the local buses. The local transportation system is great as long as you do not watch the road too closely as the driver hurtles down the windy roads. On Friday, we moved to Clarks Court Bay Marina where we will leave Vagus for the season. We had a good reception from the people at the marina and were made to feel very comfortable. There are laundry machines here (though no dryer) so Karen was in her element. I did not know we had so many dirty clothes. From here we are a short dinghy ride to Lower Woburn where we can catch the local bus into town or visit some of the local excellent restaurants. And on Sunday afternoons, there is a beach barbecue on Hog Island (again a short dinghy ride) put on by a local restaurant. Last Sunday, about 50 cruisers showed up for the barbecued chicken or fish. A great way to meet people and the food was also great.