We had decided to take a taxi to Grand Anse beach and veg out for the day. Walking through the port we found a water taxi for $4 per person each way, for a 10 minute boat ride. Or that's what the sign said. Sounded like a good deal so we were ushered to the dock where the boat was. Being one of the first to board we figured this was pretty cool ... Until they kept telling us to squeeze in together. Like sardines. For real. We started looking around and found some comfort in the fact that we saw life jackets. Sinking before we even left the dock was seeming like more and more of a possibility. One legged Oscar Was our captain. He was a hoot. It was pretty funny when he was messing with the family next to us and they didn't even recognize it. I was dying. He thought it was funny that I got it and they didn't. About half way through this 10 minute ride Oscar slowed the boat way down to explain how this worked and collect the money. Actually, the ride over to the beach was free ... It was $8 for the return trip. I kid you not. Before he informed us about that we were considering finding a car taxi back to the ship ... I guess not. LOL Needless to say we made it safely and we were thankful to be on solid ground again. We thought we worst was behind us, right? I mean how much worse could the return trip be? Just wait ...
This beach was, by far, the best one of the trip. Oscar told us to ignore the "welcome committee" waiting for us. Which meant all the locals peddling their wares. Good grief. It's like you get attacked as soon as you hit the sand. Believe it or not, being rude doesn't come easily to me. But you really have to be rude for them to leave you alone. Tuck that away. It will come back to haunt me before the day is out. There is competition for everything, from renting beach chairs to buying beer to buying spices and wraps to tubing and hair braiding. I'm sure I've missed something. Bob will probably remind me when he reads this.
Fast forward to beach chairs and umbrellas rented and settling in. Let's see, then Patrina came by wanting to braid our hair - we told her later. Jason came by wanting us to go tubing - we told him later. Another lady wanted to sell us spices - we said not right now. Kellon (pronounced like Kellogg except for the "n" instead of "gg") came by wanting to know if we wanted to order some refreshments - we told him SURE!!!! Like the troopers we are a bucket of Carib was ordered - 6 beers for $15, or $20 with tip. The boy was walking a really long way to bring them to us. Then with beer in hand came a dip in the beautiful turquoise water. It was niiiiiice. Really niiiiiice. The wind finally died down and the water was almost as calm as a pool. Even Gigi joined us to "ice her booboo" LOL. Patrina walked by a couple more times and I continued to put her off (instead of being rude). This went on until we went up to the cafe for lunch.
Rush slowly. Island time. We had to keep reminding ourselves of that. No one moves fast in these places. Including our waitress. We ordered a seafood wrap and I swear I think they had to go catch the seafood. But all is good. If we hadn't been on a timeline toget back to the ship I don't think any of us would've cared. We made the best of it and the food was good (albeit a bit spicy) so no complaints. Gigi and I went to the "shops" after lunch to see if we could get some local spices. Grenada is known for its spices. We should've known. This shopping area where you could by spices was nothing more than a local flea market with the same stuff you could get at the real stores in port. Which we ended up doing on the way back to the ship, for the same prices. We did get some cool stuff but that comes later ...
While at this "shopping area" (and I use that term lightly) the spices from my seafood wrap kick in and I had to go to the bathroom. Thankfully, there was one right there. As I walked in, a woman was perched right in front of the doorway and informed me it's $1 to use the bathroom. Ricky had told us that but we thought he was kidding ... He wasn't. Whatever. Everyone has to make a living somehow, right? I had a $5 bill. She had change. LOL We left and walked back Tom our chairs without contributing to the local economy. Just saying.
Like a bloody vulture Patrina descended upon me as soon as my feet were in front of my chair. Sigh. Since I couldn't put her off anymore I said sure. I had never had my hair braided before, why not? LOLOLOLOLOL Well now I know. $20. I contributed to the local economy ok? Gigi laughed and asked if I was going to wear my hair like that for formal night to Blu tomorrow night ... Patrina says it will last 1-2 weeks. Uh huh. In all fairness, she did have a little 2-1/2" round mirror she used to let me have a glimpse. Let's just say things look a little clearer in a regular sized mirror. But we aren't there yet.
Jason is back for our tube ride. He had a 4 seater tube. Jacques went with us. Gigi held down the fort. It was a friggin blast. You know I hooted and hollered. The guys laughed their asses off. It was great. Short but great. No pics. Had to hold on or I would've gone flying.
Time for one more dip in this incredible water before packing up and heading back to the ship. We get back to thedock and line up to board the boat. As we were sitting there waiting for the boat to fill up, Gigi notices the mechanical improvised engineering going on under the dash. Wires hanging out everywhere. There was even a water bottle involved. We didn't see any life jackets on this boat either. The jokes were flying. But wait!! There's more!!! The boat finally fills up. Our driver (can't call this dude a captain, I just can't do it) went to start the boat, he plugs these wires together like you would a Christmas tree ... And it starts!!! The best part? LOLOL Two of the three crew start dancing around like they're so surprised they're celebrating!! Well doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy? NOT! Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!! Yet another boat ride ending with prayers of thanksgiving we didn't drown.
Meanwhile, I have been wearing my ball cap since Patrina finished. Just sayin. We went through the shopping area in port and found our spices and went back to the ship. This is my spice loot!!
This is raw unprocessed cocoa. They make tea with it. Will have to let you know how that turns out but it smells heavenly!
This is cinnamon sticks and nutmeg. So cool.
And my spice basket with all kinds of local goodies.
As we're walking down the dock, Jacques says, "Y'all want to get any ice cream?" LOL The man does love his ice cream. I haven't mentioned this before because it wasn't really applicable to anything else ... But when boarding the ship, the scan your card and look at the photo they took of you on the first day to make sure there are no imposters attempting to come aboard. I can't lie. I had not seen my head yet but I was hoping they didn't toss me off when they looked at my photo and back at my new head. I'm still here to write about this so obviously they didn't. Thankfully. He did smile a little funny at me though.
It gets interesting about now. Ice cream is on Deck 10. Our cabins are on Deck 9. We decided to drop off our bags in our cabins before going for our afternoon ice cream. This is when I get my first real look at my new head. Oh dear Lord. No way in hell am I going anywhere with this head. Anywhere! That hat went back on my head faster than Richard Petty crossing the finish line, Derrick Jeeter's fast ball or an RG III fumble. As we were eating our ice cream I told Gigi i had a job for her. We were having an unbraiding party. Immediately. Let's just say it took a while. I washed my hair three times and conditioned it extra long. It still hasn't recovered. But I can check that box off my bucket list. Been there done that! I could go on but I'll just stop there. And THANK GOD there are no pictures!!! It was fugly.
We chilled on our balcony, finished the bottle of wine we opened last night and watched an incredible sunset.
Then we went to Blu and had some amazing halibut for dinner. What a surprise to be greeted by Gabriel who had come by from the main dining room just to say hi to us and share a magic trick. He is so cute. Not much else going on that we were interested after dinner so we all had an early night. Except me. It's almost 11pm and here I sit journaling. That's ok. It's quiet and I'm enjoying hearing the water lap against the ship. This is the first night we've been able to keep the balcony door open because the winds have been whipping until today. It's very soothing.
Tomorrow is a sailing day. We sail from Grenada all the way back up north to St. Thomas where we'll dock Friday morning.
With that said, G'night!
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