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| Volleyball |
Okay, I’m going to be honest, before coming to Grenada,
the thought of sitting in one place for three months with about 100 other boats
at anchor in a crowded anchorage was not my idea of a good time. I was actually dreading it. However, after being here for over two months
now, I’m having a great time.
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| Happy Hour After Volleyball |
Most of that has to do with what I call Adult Day Care. Now, before going on this adventure, I had
worked in investment banking and we specialized in assisted living facilities
(“ALFs”) and long-term care facilities for the elderly. One of the great aspects of ALFs is that
they have organized activities at the facilities and scheduled transportation
(to doctors’ appts, shopping centers, etc), so the residents remain active,
engaged with other people, and somewhat independent. I have found that life here in Grenada during
hurricane season is not much different.
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| Bocce Ball |
Like ALFs, the Grenada cruisers have a weekly
calendar of events. It can be accessed
via a dedicated Facebook page, and there are also announcements everyday except
Sunday over the scheduled Cruisers Net on VHF channel 68 at 7:30am. There is a special segment of the Net called
“Social Announcements”. The activities
range from cooking classes to sporting events to Spanish classes to games to
bar-b-ques.
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| Cricket |
In addition to activities, just like at ALFs, there are
scheduled bus trips into town on certain days.
However, instead of doctor’s offices and pharmacies, we go to ship
chandleries, hardware stores, grocery stores and the local brewery! The bus makes basically the same stops every
trip and shadows the cruisers, so that they can leave their goods on the bus
and not have to drag everything around.
I must say, for the equivalent of ($3.75 US round trip), it is a great
deal.
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| Maria at bat during Cricket game |
So, I am sure you are curious just what activities we
participate in. Well, a typical week
looks something like this:
Mon – NOTHING
Tues – Volleyball followed by happy hour (3 beers for $10EC
or about $3.75 US)
Wed – Burger Night and happy hour
Thurs – Volleyball followed by happy hour followed by a
bar-b-que at Island View Restaurant where you get a piece of chicken and 3-4
sides for $15EC ( $5.55 US) and 3 beers for $10EC
Friday – Shopping Bus to hardware stores, ship chandlery and
grocery stores
Sat – Bocce Ball tournament or Cricket game (they are on
alternating Saturdays). Both Maria and I
have won the Bocce Ball tournament and the prize is a bottle of rum! It gets serious!!
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| Cricket (notice beer in foreground!) |
Sun – Either bar-b-que at Roger’s beach bar (think
ramshackle bar on deserted island serving cold beers) or Mexican train dominoes
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| Cricket Spectators |
So that, in a nutshell, is Grenada Adult Day Care. As one of my friends said, “it sounds
magical”!
