A Hike.... Grand Etang To Concord Falls.

A little over a month ago I went on an intrepid hike through Grenada's lush rainforest with my friends Silke and Andy. Silke had mapped out the route found on Wikilocs - An informative wiki site that shows you hikes and cycle rides logged from all over the world for others to follow. This one has all the info on this particular hike. I did not know all this info at the time and blindly followed my friends in my very unfit and under exercised state. Had I read the info that said it was 'extremely challenging' and rated as 'very difficult' I might have thought otherwise about going. But I hadn't. Which I'm grateful for as although it nearly killed me - I loved every minute of it...in a torturous kind of way!

We took the number 6 bus out of St Georges up the west  coast and then inland into the bowels of Grenada's cool interior. We jumped off the bus at Grand Etang tourist centre and headed to the start of the trail.

The start of our hike that goes up and around the peak of Mount Qua Qua (2370ft) and a long descent down to Concord Falls.

We hiked up a fairly well marked path and around the west side of the Grand Etang Lake. The air was fresh and cool and the views, stunning. We could see for miles and miles.

Andy on top of the ridge to the west of the Grand Etand Crater Lake.

We had been climbing for about 45mins.  There were a LOT of up hills and I was starting to flag.  Andy and I traipsed behind as Silke lead the way.  It was around this time I asked how far we had gone....really meaning how far did we still have to go. I was in for a shock when Silke told me we were only 1/10th of the way to our destination! And once we reached there, it was a 2 mile walk back down to a bus to take us back to St Georges!

All along the ridge we marvelled at the awesome views and all the different ferns and plants.

You can take an hours detour to the peak of Mount Qua Qua to the right on continue the journey to Concord Falls. Needless to say I wasn't up for making any detours.

We finally started our descent. The rainforest canopy thickened over us and it wasn't long before the obvious path disappeared and we started to follow the yellow tags periodically tied to trees to lead the way.

I honestly don't know how Silke found the way without us back tracking once. We climbed over rocks and boulders, waded knee deep through rivers. We clung to the sides of slippery slopes and our feet were often ankle deep in mud. We had to descend the side of a steep rock face - not a place for anyone suffering from vertigo and I admit I spent a fair amount of time sliding on my bum. 

Silke taking the big leap.

I was exhausted by the time we reached Concord Falls four hours later. My legs felt like jelly and walking was painful. We were lucky that it was still cloudy and cool.  We ordered water and beers and hobbled (OK, only I hobbled) down to the pool below the falls for a welcome swim.

The long walk home

By now it was getting late.  We still had a two mile walk to the bus stop to take us back to St Georges and then another bus to take us back to Woburn. I thought we would be back in time for me to pick up Sim from work but we were hours late.  At 6.30pm we rolled into Nimrods the local rumshack where Sim was waiting, tired but exhilarated by our days wonderful hiking adventure.

View froms the bus on the way home.

Walking The Wife...

We are anchored off one of my favourite Islands – Stocking Island in Great Exuma. I know that many have a love/hate relationship with George Town in the Exumas. It is, as many say - a summer camp for grown-ups. With nearly 400 boats in the harbour it is not a place you come to escape the masses. The VHF radio spews out chatter all day long.  There are numerous activities should you wish to join in.  Sim and I aren’t really bothered about participating in a lot of these. But I do like Stocking Island, with all its paths and trails  - and walking is about the only exercise i get these days; especially now that I don’t swim as much as I used to. My fear of sharks has taken over – and don’t even mention the incident with the remora – aka shark sucker! Suffice to say if I’m going to get any exercise it’s going to be on terra firma – I’m such a wimp!

Stocking Island is the barrier island protecting George Town from the Atlantic Ocean

Anyway, Stocking Island is gorgeous. It’s maybe only a third of mile wide at its widest and three and half miles long but it is crisscrossed with paths and trails that all lead to out spectacular beaches. Beautiful Blue Ocean on soft sandy beaches are littered with shells and rocky outcrops. Not to mention the rare living stromatolites – oxygen producing organisms billions of years old that helped complex life develop billions of years ago. I love it.  I honestly don’t think I will ever tire of all the little wonders this island has to offer.

The rare stromatolites found on the windward side of Stocking Island

If I can find a walking buddy, it's the perfect way to have a walk and often, a much needed natter  - another ear to bend other than Sims in our sometimes very insular world. Sim is not always up for going on a walk, he would happily spend days and days and days on the boat without it bothering him at all.  I, on the other hand would go crazy if I am stuck on board for more than a day. So I really appreciate it when he offers (is bribed, manipulated!) to come with me.  I know, he knows that I’d like him to come with me. I know too that his knees sometimes hurt walking on the soft sand. And that he doesn’t quite get as excited about beaches as I do. But he knows that I need to get off the boat and walk, to escape the capsule that is our home.  He calls it 'walking the wife'.  And realizes it’s a good investment to the sanity on board. And I love him for that.

We have had a few walks on Stocking Island this season; on our own or with friends, sometimes taking the kayaks, sometimes not, sometimes having a swim as well. And when asked, I think Sim will tell you that he enjoys 'walking the wife' too!

For a map of the trails on Stocking Island click here

Walking with Sim, Gideon, Brett and Dorothy

Happy as a kid in a candy store.

The area known as 'the baths' where the pools fill and drain - gorgeous on a calm day.

One of the most stunning beaches I have seen....and Ive seen a few!

Another view of the Stromatolites

Sim walking with Brett ang Gideon

Looking south on the windward side

You can almost see that as a water colour.

Sim following shoe tree trail at the north end of Stocking Island

Salt Rock at the top of Monument Hill. It was to let ships know that salt was 

produced here. nb the photo is straight the monument is wonky!

The PLAN Isn't Working & Powell Cay

Put our 'bigger' headsail up for the up coming trip

The Plan is not going to plan. The weather window we had hoped would take us up to North Carolina is plagued with a huge area of no wind and while we don’t object to motoring for a while, the idea of motoring the majority of the trip is not something that appeals. As always plans are made in sand at low tide and ours have been washed away.  But that is ok; we have come up with a new one. While we could wait it out in the Bahamas for the wind to fill in long enough to take us as far as we want to go, we are ready to leave now and feel we might get more sailing options once we get Stateside to keep travelling northwards.  So we will take this wind that picks up tomorrow and lower our latitude so that it will take us into North Florida instead of North Carolina before it dies all together. Then when we do get periods of wind we can do one or two night hops up the coast on the outside (oceanside) rather than motoring the entire way up the ICW like we did last year. But as always we are at the mercy of the weather and will have to see how this plan unfolds.

Our new dinghy cover and Sims work of art! 

In the mean time Sim has been working on his dinghy cover – it’s almost complete, just a little tweaking to get it to fit snugly. It’s been a work in progress but he has slowly chipped away at it. I am hugely impressed and a little shame faced to say I have had nothing to do with it! In readiness for our up coming sail we have changed the headsail over from the smaller higher cut one that’s good for windward trips and put up the big ‘Mofo' – the polite word for the big genoa which is better for downwind passages. Since Sim and I have changed sails very rarely over the last 11 years it must mean we mean business! We have checked off items on our pre-departure list to make sure whatever trip we end up doing we have prepared for it the best we can.

Sim enjoying a swim at Powell Cay

Meanwhile Sim and I have thoroughly enjoyed our last few days at Powell Cay in the Bahamas; an uninhabited island in the northern Abacos with not much going on except long sandy beaches and a couple of trails across the overgrown island to yet more sandy beaches .Its peaceful and quiet. We have kayaked and swam and walked on the sandy shores....the last we will see the likes of for a while.  And while we love hanging out in company we have really enjoyed this time on our own. But knowing our friends were in the area we arranged to get together one last time for a blow out BBQ on the beach.  We managed to dodge the rain squalls and the water spouts to start a fire and enjoyed good food and good company one last time together. 

An old wreck in the middle of Powell Bay

One of the trails takes you to a lookout above a rocky outcrop

The water is so clear

We kayaked around the north side of the island to our own private beach

although we almost had every beach to ourselves it was so quiet.

Wandering Star in Powell Cay waiting for the wind to fill in.

The trails were a little overgrown from lack of use.

But the beaches on the other side of the island were gorgeous

Its hard work walking in the soft sand.

We followed the flotsam and jetsam marking the trails back to the otherside

Sim finds a friend

A ray lurking on the bottom while we are out in our kayaks

Happy days - me and my pink kayak

Another windless day

Dorothy, Shirley and myself at our beach BBQ

John, Duncan and Sim and two very toasted cheese sarnies!

Good friends

You can't have a BBQ without toasted marshmallows

Moving from the beach into the sea....talking heads!

Its the season for waterspouts ;-(