Rainy St George

The rain didn’t dampen spirits. Rowan had all the Crickmore’s out in the pool practicing snorkelling in the marina pool, ignoring the soaking rain. For you who don’t know, the Crickmore’s own the local raw milk dairy farm, Fen Farm, and produce the most delicious Brie, Truffle Brie and butter. We are huge fans. The kids are very cute and so excited about learning to snorkel. No point in setting off anywhere in the rain, so we got into the dinghy and headed to town to do some shopping at the market. We were all kitted out in our rain gear as we sploshed through parts of the old town and had a brief dry walk in the tunnel built in 1894 saving ourselves a steep walk. The market looks like it is being refurbished, but enough stalls were open to catch our attention. Loads of spices being sold, and some locally made jewellery from seed pods that the kids purchased. The seed pods were as hard as stone, the old Rasta guy selling them had a marketing trick, rubbing the seeds hard on the ground and then touching our skin, nearly burning us it was so hot!

The tunnel saving us getting too wet

Market purchases

Nutmeg seed pod, the inner hard bit covered by pink mace, Cacao pod at the back

We visited the lovely batik shop, that had been closed during lockdown, I had managed to buy a lovely dress from there at the marina shop last year. I think the artist has a South African connection as their homemade tea is called Inswultini (sounds like a zulu word). The chocolate shop was a winner with the kids. Still pouring with rain we had a very lengthy lunch at Sails Restaurant, we had left the dinghy at their dock so we felt obliged to spend time there. At least being right on the water it had good airflow and was a cool (temp) place to while away a few hours. They managed to forget Rowan’s goat curry, which took a while to catch up. The food was surprisingly good, I had delicious shrimps cooked in coconut flakes with a tasty salad.

Ottilie having chocolate pudding!

We finally departed mid afternoon and headed up the coast. We hoped to get a mooring ball at the Marine park with its coral sculptures, but sadly the balls were all taken. With the thick cloud it wasn’t going to be good snorkelling so we continued north up the island. We finally anchored in a gorgeous little bay and had the whole place to ourselves. We could see a few houses perched up high near the road and every now and again had thumping reggae music blasting as a car went by. We saw one house at an incredibly perilous angle, it had obviously slipped its foundations. They really love their loud music, it manages to vibrate right through one. During lockdown and curfew they banned amplified music, to prevent socialising!

The colourful houses along the coastal road

Our little bay all to ourselves

We had a gentle evening with delicious rum cocktails and truffle popcorn for all of us. The kids obviously had no rum, the local recipe of ginger and grated nutmeg on the top was really delicious. Everyone was tired, the kids are getting up around 5am, they don’t seem to bat an eye lid, just us oldies can’t cope! Arthur (10) with his thick mop of hair and dark long eye lashes has such an enquiring mind, Ottilie (8) keeps up wonderfully.