Exploring St. George’s and Becoming Conch-Savvy!

7/28/2023

This week we had the opportunity to explore a bit more of Grenada and finally made it up to the city of St. George’s for their very busy Saturday farmer’s market and to check out the Grenada Fish Market. It is about a 2 hour walk from our anchorage to the city so, understandably, we took one of the “shopping taxis” for 15 EC (Eastern Caribbean dollars) or $7 CAD. A 25 minute taxi ride beats a 2 hour walk in any temperature, let alone 31 degrees Celsius heat (humidex of 39 degrees!). The taxi, really a mini van, packs in about 12 people so it is tight but comfortable. Plus, it is a great way to meet our fellow boaters from various anchorages.

St. Georges city centre looks like a small city with lots of low-rise businesses and services but every street and alleyway were packed with sidewalk vendors. And this is in addition to the vendors with stalls within the actual farmer’s market itself. There was lots to see and buy!

Andrea from Caretta sizes up the veggies in the Farmer's Market

A look at the vendors along the streets of St. George's

The Grenada Fish Market

The dinghy after a full day of shopping

But our big focus was making it to the Fish Market, which is just off the Fisherman’s Wharf in St. George’s. Every Friday, the fishermen unload their catches here and, this being Saturday morning, we were hoping to still find some good buys. I was able to get some lovely tuna but our friends on Wahoo (Roy and Dale), were looking for Conch (pronounced “konk”) and there was none to be had anywhere in the market. No worries though, we were told that there might be some for sale across the street. Off we went and, yes! A few ladies sitting on the sidewalk had a cooler full of cleaned and bagged conch! Dale picked up a bag but I hesitated. What in the world would I do with conch? I had no idea how to prepare it or how to cook it. Dale to the rescue! She has lots of experience with conch and offered to host a “clean, prepare and cook” session on her boat. Awesome!

What the heck is conch? It is a large sea snail native to the Caribbean. The Creole word for conch shell is Lambi (pronounced lahm-bee), which is what everyone calls it here in Grenada.

Pretty conch shell

Not so pretty conch snail!

The raw conch, ready to be prepared

Roy from Wahoo shows us how to clean the conch

Dale from Wahoo did a demo of hammering the conch and how to cook it

Yummy cracked conch!

The whole gang enjoying the conch (Caretta, Kemana, Wahoo and Wild Horses)

Earlier this week, we also got to check out the campus of St. George’s University, which is home to the St. George’s University School of Medicine and the St. George’s University School of Veterinary Medicine, both highly accredited and world-renowned. In addition to wanting to see the schools, we needed to take Ocean to the Small Animal Clinic at the university to get her annual vaccinations and to have a vet look at her right eye, which had developed a bit of an infection.

Arriving at the office, we were happy that it was air-conditioned and, more importantly, it was empty. They don’t take appointments in the summer so it is “first come, first served” but with no one else in the office, they saw Ocean right away. Two veterinary technicians took Ocean’s vitals and history. It certainly felt like VIP service. Afterwards, they took Ocean to the Veterinarian on duty, in the back exam rooms, while we waited patiently in the main lobby area.

And there we waited. And waited. And, well, we waited some more. After an hour and a half, I was really feeling the cold from the air-conditioner. The level of the air-conditioning was appropriate for the uniformed staff and their furry clients but was a bit much for two sailors in shorts and who are now acclimatized to the Grenadian heat. I actually had to step outside to warm up!

The Vet appeared with Ocean just after the 2 hour mark and gave us the low down on her bad eye. She definitely had an inflamed third eyelid (yes – dogs have three eyelids!) but the cause was not as definitive. Being part of the veterinary school, they had done every test and analysis known to man, likely with on-looking students. Nothing was overlooked or not considered. They had measured eye pressure, looked for scratches, ulcers, unusual dryness – the whole gambit! Nothing unusual was found so it was determined that sand or some other irritant was the culprit and prescribed her a heavy-duty eye medication. The total cost for the examination, tests, medications, her annual vaccinations plus some extra dog treats that we couldn’t resist? A mere $130 CAD. Wow! This is great news as we will need to return later in the year to get her exit health certificate before we leave Grenada and head to St. Vincent and the Grenadines.