Closed For The Season

While hurricane season here in the Caribbean is officially from June 1st to November 30th, the height of it (if one comes at all in Grenada) are the months of August, September, and October. Up to now we have had some rain storms that disrupted our beach plans but made the island turn green again. And we are thankful for good weather forecasting when the few larger storms come by so we can get home to close the windows.

But, visits by tourists take a dramatic plunge during the whole season partly due to media making a big deal out of hurricane readiness. To ensure survival, many businesses close for several weeks / perhaps months to avoid overhead costs while there is little income. Grenada has a university for medical students and most businesses in the south of the island thrive when the schools are full. When they close for their term breaks – ranging from 2 to 5 weeks - everything grinds to a halt.

Our Caribbean island neighbours further to the north of us have also found that cruise ship business, and sailing charter business, stops during this time. They have learned that it's not viable nor beneficial to invite tourists in high heels onto a strange boat in the middle of a violent storm, and they tend to discourage those three-hour-tour excursions with "the skipper" aboard the SS Minnow during the summer months.

We are more fortunate here in Grenada though. Even though cruise ships take a break, many of the charter boats arrive in Grenada and anchor for the hurricane season. This is a photo of Prickly Bay in the True Blue area at the south end of Grenada. It is a rare occasion to have a noteworthy storm arrive in Grenada. The average time span for a direct hit is every 25 years or so, and yet tourists remain at large. Weather records at the National Hurricane Center show they are typically light tropical storms when they get here, and then they might sometimes develop into hurricane status after passing over us on their way further west into the Caribbean.

When people ask what it’s like living here this time of year, quiet, peaceful, and restful comes to mind, while reading at the beach. That's always enjoyable.

But there are times in these summer months when Mother Nature shows herself when no one is paying attention. There are days when the breeze seems to pause, like the doldrums that enslaved early mariners, and gives you the impression of being locked inside a clear plastic bubble. Let the sweating begin. Trees stand still as though they had been painted on a large canvass and the heat intensifies to a placid swelter. And due to recent rains the humidity feels somewhat heavy. Cracks and crevices on your body start to produce a continuous stream of sweat that flows steadily to your feet. You look down and are amazed at how that stream of sweat has left a nice clean line caressing across one of your feet. Note to self: wash feet. You also notice that the tops of your shoulders, arms and the backs of your hands have collected large sweat beads on them... strange... so that's when we head to the beach.

With fewer people around to feast on, and no wind to impede their flight, the mosquitoes arrive in large armies and swarm toward your sweaty body - the only one in sight. Apparently they love sweaty body heat and they are attracted to that with their sophisticated heat sensors. You start to notice and feel that they actually crash into your body in their hurry to get to you. Having felt this, you become ultra sensitive to touch, flinching at everything, and fearing the slightest brush by these monsters. You feel a trickle of sweat run down your side, or you feel a body hair flutter under the overhead fan, and each time you slap as hard as you can thinking it's one of those nasty fire breathing dragons - yes, your mind is in full swing now. You become alarmed when you notice all the hand slap marks in the mirror and hope they don't show up to your friends. You coat yourself in bug spray and then keep insecticide spray by your side at all times with the trigger lined up for fast execution. To ward off the incoming, you’re forced to dress in attire better suited for the north. While the ever-present flow of sweat bathes you, you start to convince yourself this is good for getting rid of all those nasty toxins that seem to creep out of the empty wine and rum bottles collecting on your counters. Maybe all of this is payback and karma for not washing the smell out the hockey bag often enough, or perhaps enjoying too many of your neighbour's beers and not replacing them. Who knows, but,... God... Why mosquitoes?... aaargh... OK let's move along shall we?

Your relative appearance and personal hygiene seems to wain the deeper you get into the summer months. Forget trying to comb your hair - the combination of wind, bug spray and humidity have let that ship sail. You discover early on that the best solution / diversion for a woman's bad hair day is to wear a low cut blouse. None of the men are complaining. You notice that applying sunscreen closes your pores and makes you sweat more. You immediately have a soaking wet face right after leaving the apartment. Hugging someone leaves their arms and hands all greasy from coming near you and you find yourself apologizing several times a day. You forgo putting on make-up as it just seems to melt mid-application. Besides, your dripping face must be wiped down every 5 minutes with the sweat rag you have taken to keeping close at hand in the waist of your swim suit or bikini bottoms.

Seriously, who can be bothered to wear actual clothes anymore. Leaving the sweat rag hanging loosely from the waist of your swim suit / string bikini lets it dry a bit before you need it next, but the public fashion statement is not all that endearing.

The bright side of the summer season is the relaxing break from cruise ship passengers. You get to recharge your batteries. It's called "liming" here (the concept of liming encompasses any leisure activity entailing the sharing of food and drink, the exchange of tall stories, jokes and anecdotes etc., all the while provided that the activity has no explicit purpose beyond itself...), and we try to do that a lot. This seems to increase your stamina and ability to accept and answer constant small talk questions again...“So, how long are you here?"... "tell us, what’s your story?"... "we noticed your accent is different than ours - what part of America are you from?"... "are you on the cruise ship with us?”... "do you use American money here?"...

You also find that you can find a place to eat at your favourite beach bar without a reservation, and taking pictures of the beach are possible without the interference of a herd of walrus-like bodies lying on the never ending rows of lounge chairs.

There are times when you can go stretches of days without seeing another human on the beach, which can be freeing for those with nudist tendencies. The seagulls and black birds also make their exit, now that the constant supply of dropped french fries seems to have been exhausted. Because there is little work to be done, most people use this time of year for their extended vacations, leaving behind those of us who feel like we are already on vacation.

When other members of your evolutionary order desert you, you find that your familiar resources are depleted. With most of the restaurants and bars closed, you’re left with few options for dining out. The few and far between that do stay open, cut down their menus significantly, with even those items subject to change based on availability of ingredients. Ordering nachos could mean you are presented with a plate of broken chips topped with runny salsa and shriveled whole olives, or worse yet, cold canned cheese sauce on stale chips served on a plastic plate, along with the odd french fry or onion ring that happened to land there too (luckily, we have not had that experience here in Grenada, but Barbados was a different story). Yes, we miss some of our favourite Mexican food... The waitress just shrugs, by way of explanation that no one could find any real cheese, sour cream, onions, beans, salsa let alone guacamole. And you of course believe her, as you’ve been to the grocery store and witnessed the vacant produce trays with sorrow.

We really enjoy the cooling effect of rain showers when they arrive. They seem to sneak up on us at the beach without warning as the clouds move quickly across the island in the constant breeze. Some days we gather up our stuff and try to duck for cover, and other times we just put away our electronic and paper books and wait for the next patch of blue sky already on its way in the distance.

At times when the imminent heavy rain forecasts become actual storms, you huddle indoors while the very loud and heavy downpour whisks horizontally past your windows. What ever you do... don't open the door. It's sort of the same warning about opening the door on a 747 at 40,000 feet.... You decide to recline and drink rum punch and margaritas in excess. This is a common form of local entertainment in and of itself, while remembering to toast each other to yet another great day. Then you stop to realize it's not much of a variation from how you spend your days the rest of year.

For the past few months, due in large scale to evening boredom and a desire to remain lucid inside the screened-in world with the ceiling fan in full swing, we decided to take on all 8 seasons of Modern Family, 6 seasons of Game Of Thrones, 5 seasons of Orange Is The New Black, 3 seasons of You're The Worst, and 4 seasons of Vikings. We now anxiously await all next seasons.

TVMC has been a blessing for us for online viewing. Up to now, we are able to get our favourite shows that way but there are noises about changing it so you have to pay... The local internet is not a blessing for us as we spend more time buffering than watching.

However, all of this has been a valiant undertaking that provides us with very interesting nocturnal adventures while we dream, but seems to have had a negative effect on our postures... Note To Self... need to spend more time laying flat on the beach.

Either way, don’t worry about us during hurricane season as, if all else fails, we’ll just be right here, hunkered down in the shower under our mattress while painting Wilson faces on volleyballs...