Prep for Spicemas

Grenada Carnival, or Spicemas, is upon us so we have taken up a front row seat in Port Louis Marina where we moved Mowzer on Friday.  This means that we are sitting almost in the heart of St. George's where all the frenzied activity takes place.

Mowzer and friends on the dock - all ready for the party!

How are we prepping for the party?

Well, now that we've gathered in the marina with at least a dozen other boats that we know, we have enjoyed a few happy hours at the marina bar...

Is this another form of Grenadian Train?

We went off to St. George's downtown for a little excursion with Andy and Judy from Jacob's Ladder and enjoyed a few refreshments along the way.  Did I mention it is super hot and it rains every night and morning now so the humidity feels like about 150% at times.  Beer is now considered an essential!

Cold Stags on the sidewalk ;-)

Saturday night we gathered up three bus-loads of cruisers to take in Panorama - the national steel pan carnival competition.  Unfortunately, the huge venue of the National Cricket Stadium and some pretty poor logistics meant that we were sitting way too far away to enjoy any acoustics and it took about 40 minutes for each band to change their equipment on stage for a 10 minute performance.  In typical Caribbean style we arrived for the advertised event at 8pm, were told it would start 'promptly' at 9pm, got underway at 9:30pm and when we finally left just before midnight only three of the nine bands competing had completed their sets.  So glad we got to see the Comancheros perform the other night so we had a real feel for these incredible musicians.

The cruising crowd - made up most of the small audience.

One of the bands getting ready to wheel their drums onto stage across plywood laid on the muddy soft cricket pitch.

Much too far away to get engaged and only a few hardy souls braved the muddy infield and rain to get close.

Nothing daunted, the ladies of Port Louis Marina all got together this morning to spice things up all ready for the parades tomorrow.  We gathered all our Grenadian colours (red, yellow, green) and many others for a great way to while away a super rainy morning.

Base coats of yellow followed by red and green decoration to match the Grenadian flag.

Too bad we might need to wear our sneakers for the parade tomorrow but we'll know we're decked out right down to our toes.

... and there'll be no boat work this afternoon to be done by these ladies!

Monday and Tuesday are national holidays here with the real party starting Sunday night, carrying right on into Jouvet in the wee early hours of Monday morning, followed by Pretty Mas and the Parade of Lights later in the day.  Tuesday will be the official judged parade but by then we might all just be sitting by the pool in recovery.