A Halloween Homecoming in Grenada

Time for some Halloween fun!

By Kathy

We are back in Grenada and we have many posts coming your way about our land adventure over the past two months. It is taking a bit of time to sort through and upload the pictures but I can tell you the posts will be LONG with a ton of pictures for you to enjoy.

We have enjoyed many holidays and birthdays since we left St. Pete almost a year ago and they have all been celebrated a bit differently than we would have on land and have turned out to be really fun but the approach of Halloween was making me a little nervous. We arrived back in Grenada on October 29^th just a few days before Halloween. The kids still like to dress up and they had been talking about their costumes for a long time. But I knew we wouldn’t have access to all of the costumes and candy that we do in the states. SandStar was still in the boat yard so we were kind of stuck on the opposite side of the island without a car and away from all of the stores and all of the places other people were anchored. When we went through NYC for a day before returning to Grenada I thought I might be able to pick up some treats from CVS but the store didn’t have any Halloween candy! I couldn’t believe it. It was a tiny CVS so they didn’t have a holiday display. I should back up and say that cruisers do not shy away from a good celebration and a cruiser holiday party is hard to beat. It is usually on the beach with lots of food and a lot of fun. The Grenada cruisers had a BIG potluck with dinghy trick or treating for the kids but we had missed the party by two days. So the question when we landed in Grenada was how could we make this fun for the kids??

What to Wear??

As the day approached the kids were trying to figure out their costumes. Sam wanted to be Harry Potter and Jack decided to be Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy. Both characters wear some pretty heavy clothing so we told them to pretend their characters were vacationing on an island so they could wear shorts and probably lose the robe and jacket (plus we didn’t have a robe or jacket). Emma pulled together a very cool pirate costume made with clothes she had on the boat, a borrowed pirate necklace, some gold tattoos, and she cut up one of Dan’s old work shirts and colored it for her sash.

Harry casting a spell!

Star Lord protecting the galaxy!

Our very own Pirate of the Caribbean!

Who has the treats?

We were in a boat yard that was not close to any of the grocery stores so on Tuesday I trekked into town to see what I could find. This was not a short trek down the road. The overall trip took about 4 hours with lots of bus rides. It is always a fun experience to ride a bus in Grenada and it makes you feel at home in Grenada.  Once I was in town a good assortment of candy was hard to find so I returned with some candy and also some pretty non-Halloween treat items for the kids such as chez-its, Cracker Jacks, a can of Dr. Pepper, cheese balls and pretzels.

A bus ride in Grenada is always fun! I was treated to some Christmas tunes on the way home. 

To Trick or to Treat??

Hmmm….now what to do about Trick or Treating. There were no houses to go to and only a few other people in the boat yard so we needed a new plan. We ended up making a scavenger hunt around a very muddy boat yard after a huge down pour that afternoon. The kids loved it and said it was even better than regular trick or treating. In the end, their favorite treats were the random odd treats like the can of Dr. Pepper and the cheese balls.

Clue #1 - Let the games begin!

Just a little muddy!

First treat has been found!

Our pirate reading the treasure map clue!

Hmm...where could it be?

The restaurant staff helped with a clue!

Back to the boat for more clues and treats!

When somebody puts a random AC unit behind your boat it becomes a great hiding spot!

My brilliant idea for the last clue...only problem was I forgot to add a string at the bottom to pull it down! 

Luckily Dan could reach it with our mooring pole! Just a foot higher and it would have been some yummy treats for the birds!

A Sweet Ending - 

We made some new friends on SV Moose on the Loose when we arrived at the boat yard earlier in the week and they came over for cupcake decorating with the kids and some Halloween rum punch with the adults.

Moana and a little pirate join us for a cupcake party! 

After all of the worry, the night ended up being a huge hit with great homemade costumes, scavenger hunts, cupcakes and new friends.