Ahoy!
On Saturday March 24 the first Fair Transport of chocolate - ever - has left from the Caribbean to Europe!
To wave the ship off, we left early in the morning for the harbor in St George, the last descent for us as well, sad to leave Belmont Estate and their people behind, I hope to be back very soon since it has become my home away from home in the three weeks I stayed there.
It was a beautiful sunny day and we arrived just in time to see Mott and Charlie do their first climb in the mast. With ease they got in there and will be doing this again when the ship is on the sea (!) it takes...
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Today we had our last full day on the boat to prepare it for sailing of tomorrow! Early in the morning we (Mott, Charlie, Claire and myself) went to the warehouse where the chocolate is stored to load the truck that will take us to the harbor in St . George. Quiet morning and they quickly loaded all the boxes, very nice view indeed and exactly before the rain started (tropical rain so only short).
In about an hour drive we got to the boat where the crew had already prepared the cargo space to load the boxes of chocolate - 2,5 tons...
The airco was turned on (running on wind and sun energy)...
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The team of the Grenada Chocolate Company has been preparing and wrapping 4 tons of chocolate to go on the boat (yes: that’s 24.000 bars…). Everything is ready to go on board and for the first time they will have to miss Mott for a period as long as 2 months that he will be on board with the chocolates. Enough reasons to come and inspect the boat themselves!
The staff of the factory and several cocoa farmers came down from Hermitage to St George (about an hour drive in beautiful curvy roads with tropical forest). The boat is lying in a secured area of the harbor so we all passed security...
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Just a short post to show you how happy chocolate can make people! the crew obviously is a bit deprived of a few things on the ship while sailing, and chocolate is one of the most important things they mention... Usually they take a piece when they leave a harbor but that finishes quickly and than it can be weeks without.
Four of the crew members were the first to taste the Grenada Chocolate and I think the look on their face says it all :)
For them its a dream come true sailing on a ' chocolate boat' and several times have asked if the storage room will be locked during sailing. But Mott...
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Today the ship has arrived: what an exciting day indeed! we got up and heard someone had spotted the ship already - it's a remarkable ship so that was not surprisingly. The email from the ship confirmed their arrival so we drove down to St George to meet the captain and crew.
First stop at customs, the office in Port St Louis where captain Jorne and crew members Anne and Teo were already clearing-in. 15 passports, 4 crew members leaving the ship in Grenada and 2 getting on; Mott and Charlie. We meet shortly with Jeroen, who will organize the tugboat to bring the Tres Hombres to her final destination...
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Known as the Spice Island of the Caribbean, the scents of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger waft on balmy air, over the idyllic island of Grenada.
The State of Grenada lies at the sothernmost tip of the Winward Islands. An ideal destination for those seeking a relaxing, tropical holiday. Grenada has 40 picturesque white sand beaches with the turquoise waters, exciting aquatic sports, bountiful natural preserve, and cultural and historical sites and a pleasant year round average climate of 23C.
Spicy facts about Grenada
The State of Grenada is comprised of three main islands (Grenada,...
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An old fashioned story about getting on a sailing ship, arriving weeks before and having to wait weeks before you can start sailing… Charlie, a British friend of Mott, came to Grenada to sail across the world on the Tres Hombres to be part of the first Fair Transport of chocolate.
But Charlie is fortunate, being able to wait in the Chocolate factory and we’ve asked him about his upcoming experience and the thrill to wait for this ship and to be on board as they will sail the world. And of course about the Grenada chocolate…
‘Its not until you’re here that you actually...
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Today I am writing you from the chocolate factory. The sound of the conching machines may distract me but not half as much as the delicious smell that enters my nose, in between the fresh air breeze of the tropical forest, after all this is the Caribe and I am sitting near an open window looking at a mango tree...
I will write more in detail on the production process later on, but I already want to give a preview on how this amazing tree-to-bar chocolate is being made.
From planting the tree, harvesting the cocoa pods, fermenting, drying, selecting, roasting, winnowing, grinding, refining,...
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Getting away from 'it all' and spend some time sailing the seas. Just like in the old days, on a ship with no engine so playing with the wind to get to your destination. Teamwork on deck to keep everything going, visiting exotic harbors and endless horizons in between. In this video several trainees tell about their experiences and the time on board, fascinating indeed...
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Mott and Charlie have gone out to sea! Well, in the hobie cat, at first fighting the waves as the wind was in the wrong direction but later they set out towards Carriacou which you can see in the far back.
Mott has actually been doing quite some local Fair Transport like this for a long time. He would sail to further islands in about 2 to 5 hours to deliver his chocolate. He would tie those waterproof cases where the chocolate was kept dry and even pretty cooled.
It was during these sailing trips he thought about how nice it would be to deliver the chocolate on wind energy over the whole...
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