A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 7/23/2023 – 7/30/2023
Last Sunday, we lounged around Sabado. Our friends are still aboard, so we edited video footage and talked about our respective camera gear. Nick and Megan produce YouTube videos for a living, so they are much more knowledgeable about videography than I am! It was fun to hear about their creative process and the gadgets they use. That evening the four of us did some internet sleuthing regarding the for-sale catamaran they had flown down here to look at. Unfortunately, we developed some concerns. After some back and forth with the broker, they sent in their official rejection of the sale. Somehow, those two still put a positive spin on the situation: they dodged a bullet!
On Monday, we decided to head ashore. We walked around St. George’s and ended up at the House of Chocolate Museum.
Grenada is famous for its “bean to bar” chocolate, meaning the farmers are involved in every step of the process, from harvesting to roasting, grinding, and molding. I’m on a mission to taste and rank every Grenadian chocolate brand while we’re here, so we picked up a few new brands to add to the list! So far, Jouvay 60% with cocoa nibs has been my favorite, with The Grenada Chocolate Company’s “salty-licious” as a close second…
We went home, and Ray grilled up some ribeye steaks for dinner.
We watched a fantastic sunset while we ate around our cockpit table. Having friends aboard is always a treat!
We deemed Tuesday “do nothing day.” After the emotional rollercoaster Nick and Megan have endured on their boat-buying journey, everyone wanted a relaxing day of sweet, sweet, nothing. We tied the floaties off the stern, swam, read, edited videos, and chatted in the warm sun.
I embarked on yet another sourdough experiment that evening: tortillas. Here is the recipe I followed, but I used avocado oil instead of olive! They were phenomenal. I was able to roll them thin between two sheets of parchment paper with a glass bottle since I don’t own a tortilla press or a rolling pin. I cooked up some mahi mahi filets and made a spicy cabbage/carrot slaw. Served with some chips and homemade guacamole, we had quite the meal that Nick, the famous taco critic himself, approved of.
Wednesday morning Nick and Megan returned to scouring the internet for a boat. I cleaned the interior and did an online pilates class. That afternoon we all dinghied to Sails, a local waterfront restaurant, for an O’Kelly’s Patreon meetup. We watched as they greeted their patrons, and everyone shared stories about their sailing adventures over food and drinks!
Ray and I are a bit introverted, so we were excited to decompress when we returned to Sabado. The boys smoked a cigar on the sugar scoop, and the girls sipped tea and sampled chocolate in the saloon.
Thursday morning, we all got some computer work done on the boat. We decided to head to shore to try out a new restaurant for lunch. After sitting at a table for over an hour, one person’s food finally arrived. After a few bites, we knew something was off. We decided to leave and took a taxi back to the marina, where we all ordered pizza instead. We made it back to Sabado in time to watch another beautiful sunset, followed by popcorn and a movie night.
Friday was similar: computer time with intermittent swims and lots of laughter. We made an early dinner reservation at our favorite sushi restaurant and were driven there by a green man in his green van…
During the ride, Ray asked him where the best place was to buy fresh fruit on the island. The man laughed and said, “The trees I planted in my backyard!” We ate our dinner and didn’t think much of it.
The next day we walked by the same taxi stand and saw the green man again. He waved us down and gave us three bags overflowing with fruit!
He refused to let us pay him for it, so we asked if we could pay him to drive us to the grocery store, then out to our friend’s BBQ in Prickly Bay. He agreed and even gave us his discount card to use at the grocery store. Our interactions with Grenadians have been overwhelmingly positive, and we feel lucky to call this island home for hurricane season!
We sat around with friends at LTD Sailing all afternoon, celebrating the students that passed their tests that week. LTD offers “liveaboard cruise & learn classes” where students can spend the week living, learning, and sailing on one of the school’s boats. At the end of each week, they host a BBQ to celebrate. Antonio, a local chef, cooked up a taco feast for all of us, including lettuce and tomato (which have been impossible to find at the stores lately). The food was delicious, and nothing beats the excitement of a newly certified sailor!
We, of course, called the green man to pick us up and bring us back to our dinghy. We went for an afternoon swim, washed, and put away our fruit!
I counted it all: we have 27 mangos, 10 star fruits, 1 bunch of bananas, 1 papaya, 12 limes, 1 soursop, and 4 bundles of guaya. YUM!
We spent the evening lying on the trampolines. The reprieve from the heat once the sun sets is something we look forward to every day, and there’s no better spot on the boat to enjoy it than the bow! We discussed past and future sailing plans and only turned in for the night when the rain forced us to.
This morning is off to a rocky start. One of the vacuum-sealed bags of chicken we had in the fridge leaked raw chicken juice everywhere. So, I’ve been elbow deep in our fridge, sanitizing everything. We had also planned to go for a sail today, but there’s currently only 3kn of wind… So, we’ll see where the day goes from here! The good news is, it’s sunny, and the water is beautiful.
I hope you had a great week! ❤️
One response
From start to finish, this blog post had us hooked. The content was insightful, entertaining, and had us feeling grateful for all the amazing resources out there. Keep up the great work!