Grenada Island Tour - Monkey On Your Back

June 16, 2014

Sorry for the blur

*Okay you need to get Peter Gabriel's "Shock the Monkey" song going in your head for this blog posting.  Got it?  Good.  Proceed.  dumbdumb dum da da dum

Ric and Lann - human jungle gym for monkeys 

Lann giggles while the monkey enjoys his mango

Grenada is home to Mona monkeys.  We stopped to hike down to a volcano crater lake but we had only gone a short distance when Cutty called us back.  "The monkeys have come out."  We all rushed back up to the road where two monkeys had arrived in response to his calls.  "grhoo, grhoo" - that is monkey speak for come out and visit.

Mangoes are my favorite too

The fur felt like....dog fur.  The head was very soft

This one took his coco pod up into a tree - "No, I am not sharing with tourist."

Cutty does not support the vendors that have these monkeys on leashes.  He thinks that is wrong and we agree.  For the record, we only saw one vendor like that on Grenada.  These monkeys are free to come and go, visit tourist and get treats only if they want.  Previously Cutty had picked up a couple of mangoes and a coco bean pod during our travels.  Mona monkeys are fruit eaters.  They seem to really like fruit.

"Hey mister, do you have anything good in your pocket?"

Candy?

Apparently they also like peppermint candy too.  One tried to pick-pocket Tom for a piece of candy in his front pocket.

Human jungle gym Tom

Tom's got a monkey on his back - shoulder really

   

Grenada Island Tour - Our Day with Cutty

June 16, 2014

Cutty showing us a coco bean pod

We wanted to do an island tour to get a good overview and see as many sights as we could since our time here is limited.  Other seasoned cruisers advised us that Cuthbert aka Cutty has the best at island tours.  His Leatherback turtle watching tour was nothing short of spectacular so we booked a tour.  Actually Diane on s/v Endorfin II booked it.  We had a fun group with Ric and Diane off s/v Endorfin II, Lann and Stan off s/v Barefoot Life, the crew of s/v Honey Ryder and Cutty.  He showed up at exactly 9am in his brand new, air conditioned touring van.  It was obvious we would be touring style!

Lann, Diane, Sabrina

Tom, Ric, Stan

Grenada is called The Spice Island.  It was soon easy to see why as Cutty stopped by the roadside many times to gather various herbs and spices growing, teaching us all about them.

Cutty teaching us

We saw/smelled/learned about ylang-ylang, coco, cinnamon, papaya, coffee, saffron (island turmeric), noni fruit, bay leaves, lemon grass, avocados, calaloo/dasheen, mangoes, bread fruit, hardwood trees, flowers, and so many more and of course.....nutmeg!

Saffron aka Island Turmeric - root and new shoot

Bananas

Female Papaya tree

Trunk of a Eucalyptus tree - pretty and unusual

Noni Fruit - it supposedly cures cancer but stinks like a gym bag. 

Breadfruit -usually served boiled, tastes similar to potatoes

Port Louie on the left, St Georges (Capital) on the right, leeward side of island

Annandale Falls

Tom cooling his heels

Cruisers Wifi Station Paradise

As you may have gathered, we have struggled a bit with our internet connections this season.  Finding free, reliable, fast internet has been tough.

These are the booths at Prickly Bay Marina restaurant.  They are set up for cruisers who need free wifi and space and they are nothing short of paradise!!!

You can fit 5 crew on each side if needed with space for charts.  However, in this day and age....check out the plugin station.  Whoa!!