Grenada - Hurricane Dean

Hurricane Dean

[Kevin's Post]Well, we survived our first hurricane. After 2 days of preparations, Dean passed 140 miles north of us as a category 2 hurricane, and it was a big nothing for us here in Grenada. We had no wind, no rain, and no waves. We had worse weather at our wedding (which was outdoors). We had light and variable winds all night long, and this morning we have west winds 10-15 knots with partly cloudy skies. We used 19 lines to secure our boat to the dock, so we definitely erred on the side of caution. On the one hand we are glad we didn't experience any severe weather, but on the other hand we feel slightly cheated after all our efforts. Nonetheless, it was a good exercise for us to prepare the boat. Hopefully we won't get too many more close calls this season.

Grenada -- Waiting For Dean

So far this week has been filled with vacillation and indecision. We've been keeping an eye on Tropical Storm (soon-to-be-hurricane) Dean, which earlier this week was out in the Atlantic on a westerly path headed straight for us. At the time, weather forecast models were all over the place, no one knew where it was going to hit, and our "weather guy" Chris Parker kept repeating the word "Venezuela" like a mantra when boats asked him where they would be safe. Knowing that we would have great weather through Thursday, we listened to Tuesday's afternoon and evening forecasts with bated breath. In the afternoon we were nearly sure we would just run to Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela, which is about 210 miles southwest of here and well out of any potential storm path. But we are really reluctant to go to Venezuela. Not that we have anything against Venezuela (can't say they feel the same way about us) but we just really like it here in Grenada and don't want to have to bash through the tradewinds for 210 miles on the way back here. So even though we weren't sure what we were going to do we started preparing for departure: we had the props scrubbed free of oysters and sea critters, and Kevin checked the engines. All was going along smoothly until -- crack! -- the dipstick for the saildrive oil broke off while Kevin was twisting it back on. You have to feel for the guy. After it broke, he paced around the boat muttering "I just want to be able to touch ONE THING on this boat and not have it break...". Poor kid.

Still undecided, but prepared to run at noon on Wednesday if there was no change, we both got a good night's sleep on Tuesday and woke up to a somewhat happier scenario. Finally the forecast models have reached a consensus, that Hurricane Dean is moving more to the northwest and will strike somewhere near St. Lucia or Martinique (150 miles north of us) sometime on Friday. So given the distance and the wind forecast for Grenada we think we'll stay put. We've already started preparing the boat for the possible worst case scenario -- stowing stuff down below, lashing stuff down if it can't be removed, and cocooning the boat in a spiderweb-like cradle of dock lines. (Kevin has worked out a diagram where we use 17 dock lines and 15 dock cleats. We'll take a photo when we're done.) We are prepared for worse conditions than they are predicting for this area, so the upside is that even if nothing much happens we will have got some practice prepping for severe weather. Plus Kevin was able to fix the broken dipstick with super glue! So things are looking up.

Grenada -- Panorama

Panorama 2007

So this week is Carnival week in Grenada. All kinds of events have been going on, starting with Children's Carnival, the Soca Monarch competition, and ending with two days of parades and events (Mon 13 & Tues 14). Earlier in the week I headed into town on a quest to find tickets to the big steel pan competition, the aptly titled Panorama. I stopped at a tourism booth and they weren't able to give me much information, the girl knew it was on Saturday at the National Stadium but had no idea what time it started or where exactly to buy tickets. I went to two tourist stores and finally found the tickets being sold in a shoe boutique of all places. I now had a ticket which claimed that the show started at 7pm, and a paper schedule that said it started at 8pm. Hmmm. I asked around -- other cruisers, locals on the bus, the people I work with at the GSPCA -- and no one could tell me for sure what time to be there. So when Saturday rolled around, I called the cab to pick us up around 6pm just in case the thing started "on time". (Grenadians reading this should be laughing uproariously at that.) So sure enough we arrive at the stadium at 6:37 and even as we are coming through the gate, I ask the security lady what time it'll start and the answer was a shrug and a nonchalant "Not too sure...". So as it ends up we are pretty much the only people there, other than the bands. We are even there earlier than the vendors who have yet to set up their beer booths (GASP!). Okay, I exaggerate, there were other people there. Of course they were other white tourists, sitting patiently in their seats in an empty stadium, waiting for the show to start.

Corinthian Steel Orchestra

But the nice thing about being there so early was that we got to walk around and get up close to the bands as they practiced. I should explain that this is not simply a steel band competition, it is a steel orchestra competition. There were 8 bands ranging in size from 30 to 75 kids, with sometimes 150 instruments. Back in July these kids (grade school age to high school age) competed with other orchestras to win a spot at Panorama, so they are the best the island has to offer, and they are truly amazing. They play an original piece, and if you look closely at the videos (which we'll post) you'll see no sheet music whatsoever, and no conductor in front of the band. The competition finally started (at 9:30pm -- needless to say, the local Grenadians somehow knew not to bother showing up before nine!). Kevin and I got right up close to the stage so we could get the full sound experience (there was no amplification so back at the stadium seats you couldn't really hear very well) and I've never seen anything like it. It was intense -- there was so much energy and the kids were all jumping around to the rhythm as they played each piece, really something to see. Hopefully the video will do it justice. Unfortunately we couldn't stay to hear all 8 bands, by midnight they were only through band number five, but it was still a great experience.

Grenada - That Sinking Feeling

[Kevin's Post] Ever since we moved aboard the boat (with everything we own) the boat rides a little bit lower in the water than it ought to. The bottom paint was painted based on a fairly lightly loaded boat and now that the boat is heavier, the bottom paint doesn't even extend above the waterline at the bows. This is bad because stuff grows really fast on the bare fiberglass if it is underwater. I've watched the bows get lower and lower and at this point I would estimate the bows are about 5 inches lower than when we bought the boat while the stern is about 1 inch lower. A while back somebody mentioned to me that I should check for water trapped under the floors of the forward lockers. The front 8' of each hull is a huge locker with a fiberglass floor about a foot above the waterline. Under the floor is a big dead space and one of few places on our boat that you can't stick your head in and look around. I asked them how it would be possible to check for water and they said to use the inspection port. Hmmmm. Our boat doesn't have an inspection port. Apparently newer Mantas have an inspection port because the older boats (like ours) had a tendency to accumulate water under the floor. So I contacted Manta and they said that on our boat that whole dead space was filled with foam for floatation, and that yes it is possible for water to get in there. I figured that with the foam there was no way for enough water to get in there to effect the waterline and decided not to worry about it. That was about 9 months ago.

Now we are trying to plan our next haulout and one of the things we are considering doing is raising the painted waterline. Before we resort to that, I thought it would be prudent to finally check for water under the forward locker floors. So yesterday I got out a hole saw and cut a 2" hole in the floor of the locker exposing the foam. Sure enough the foam was damp. Eureka! I scraped out as much of the foam as I could with a screw driver and the foam was getting wetter the deeper I went. I had about 3 feet of foam below me and a screwdriver wasn't going to get the job done. So I attached the hole saw bit to the end of a pole and started working my way down through the foam (do you see where this is going yet?). Now I wasn't using a drill or anything (I'm not completely crazy) I was just twisting the pole with the hole saw bit and pulling up a little chunk of foam at a time. After about 2 hours of this I knew I was getting close to the bottom when all of a sudden, whoosh! The hole floods with water. Uh-Oh. (Not my exact words). I went inside and told Amanda that I had just cut a hole through the bottom of the boat. She thought I was joking, but then she freaked out when she realized I was serious. Let me just stop for a minute and explain that the forward locker has a watertight bulkhead between it and the rest of the boat, so I could cut holes in the bottom of the bow all day long, there would be no danger of sinking. I put on my mask and snorkel and jumped in the murky water to inspect the damage. I searched the whole bow for a hole but couldn't find one given the limited visibility. Back out of the water, we grabbed a hand pump and start pumping the water out to see how fast water was coming in. After pumping 20-30 gallons out, the water level in the hole was dropping. We watched the hole expectantly waiting for the water level to come back up. It didn't. I looked over the side at the waterline, "Uh, I think the bow is higher". Living on the boat for 2 years I have learned a few things about seamanship: 1) The water is supposed to be on the outside of the boat, and 2) sinking boats go down not up. Amanda took over pumping and pumped until it was dry. We excitedly jumped to the dock so we could see the bows from a better vantage. Sure enough, the port bow was at least 3 inches higher with all the water pumped out. Apparently for 2 years we have been carrying around several hundred pounds of water in our port bow. I am sure there is an equivalent amount in the starboard bow, so my next project is going to be performing the same surgery there. Verrry carefully.

Grenada -- Fish Friday

Gouyave Fish Fry

Last night about 15 of us took a 1.5 hour bus ride up to Gouyave (rhymes with "suave") for the Friday Night Fish Fry. Gouyave is on the northwest coast and is known as "the Fishing Capital of Grenada". By the time we arrived around 7:30 pm, the party was already in full swing. It was like a huge street fair, with lots of booths set up offering different fish or shrimp snacks at great prices. The most expensive items were the shrimp stir fry and yellowfin tuna kebobs at 10 EC apiece ($3.70) and the cheapest was the fried fish burgers for 2 EC (about 75 cents), so we were able to fill up without spending too much. There were throngs of people wandering up and down the streets and we ran into another big group of cruisers as well as a group of some of the veterinarians who work at the Animal Shelter. The town of Gouyave puts on this party every Friday, rain or shine. We had brought our umbrella (hoping if we came prepared, it would stay dry!) but of course it started pouring halfway through the evening. That didn't stop the party though, all the people just crammed into the booths with the cooks until the rain let up. We were a little disappointed that there wasn't any live music, but the music they were playing (giant stacks of speakers are a must at any Grenadian get-together) was pretty fun and the local kids tried in vain to teach some of us to dance. It was a friendly and welcoming scene and we enjoyed people watching as well as sampling the food (and drinks!).

Grenada -- Drop Shipment

Happy Cat

Poor Boris. Yesterday afternoon I noticed him obsessively cleaning the area around his tail. On closer inspection I could see some blood and signs of infection, classic signs of an abscess. Lucky for us we had our Grenada cell phone and we were able to call around to get an appointment to see a veterinarian. The GSPCA didn't have one on duty yesterday but there is a teaching hospital at St. George's University and they had an appointment open so we brought him in. Sure enough, he did have an abscess and the doctor on duty was able to clean it and give us the proper medications, all the while explaining every step to the veterinary student who was also in the room with us. We also bought him an Elizabethan Collar which will prevent him from licking the wound until it heals properly so now he is stumbling around the boat like a cat with a lampshade on his head. I feel sad for him but sometimes can't help laughing when he walks straight into the wall. Like I said, poor Boris.

So we are still having power woes; the voltage is too low for Kevin's liking so a week ago he ordered a high-tech transformer from the US to help regulate the power to the correct voltage. He's been eagerly awaiting its arrival and spent all afternoon today getting the paperwork in order: he had to pick up forms at Fedex, then make two trips to the customs agent before finally going back to Fedex to pick up the box. Only to discover a huge tear down the side of the box -- not a good sign on a shipment containing a piece of highly sensitive and expensive electrical equipment. After noting the damage, and making the Fedex guy document it with photos, he took the box back to the boat and plugged it in. Nothing. Not a whirr, not a click, not a hum. After taking the housing off, he noted that the thing was broken in half-a-dozen different ways, it basically looked like the thing had been dropped (or thrown). So we are foiled once again in our attempt to get the power working correctly. We're still using the air conditioning even with the low voltage, but we'd prefer to run it with the correct voltage specified in the owner's manual. He's not ready to give up yet; maybe he can tinker with the thing to get it working MacGyver fashion.

Grenada -- On! On!

We are continuing to settle into life here in Grenada. Last week I began volunteering at the GSPCA (like the ASPCA, only G for "Grenada"). It's the island's animal shelter and they take in strays as well as do vaccines, spays and neutering. It's been a long time since I've been in an animal clinic atmosphere but on Thursday they were so busy that they had me draw blood and monitor anaesthesia during surgery, so it was a lot of fun and I started to remember all the things I've forgotten how to do over the years.

After we got back from the last Hash House Harriers event, we told the other cruisers here at the marina all about it and this week everyone was eager to join us. So Saturday evening twelve of us took a taxi into Grand Mal for the "moonlit hash". It started off at dusk, with everyone following the trail and charging through local folks' backyards shouting "On! On!". By the end it was dark enough that you needed a flashlight to see where you were going. Everyone had a great time and had lots of beers afterwards so the taxi ride home was a bit rowdy, with everybody singing "We Are The Champions" at the top of their lungs. Which was perfect, because everyone stuck around for karaoke once we got back to the marina. Our friends on Adventure Bound had just flown in from their visit home to the States/Canada, so it was a nice reunion and everyone partied til midnight.

Grenada - Cellphone search

[Kevin's Post]Sorry for the lack of posts, there's just not much going on here. We are gradually integrating ourselves into Grenada society. We've got the public transportation system mastered. We know where all the grocery stores are and even what days they restock. We know where to buy the cheap beer. And today we have obtained the grand prize: a Grenada cell phone.

Yesterday I figured we would just run into town to the main Digicel store and buy a prepaid cell phone. We found the store easily enough, right on the waterfront in St. George. There were about 20 people waiting in line (more of a mob actually) and 2 employees working. I stood in one part of the mob and Amanda stood in another part and after about an hour waiting Amanda finally made it to the front of the mob. We told the guy we wanted to buy a prepaid cellphone (the same thing we had watched several people in front of us buy - some of them buying more than one). "Are you a student?", the guy asked me. I said no. "Do you have a work permit?". I said no. He then told us that they could not sell a prepaid cell phone to anyone without a Grenadian ID. He suggested we find a Grenadian to buy us one. I'm not sure what the point of the policy is, if all I have to do is get some guy walking by the store (with an hour to kill) who is willing to buy it for us. So we shook our heads in disbelief and left. We walked over to the bus terminal to catch a bus back to the marina and ducked into the Esplanade mall to check it out. The mall is at the cruise ship terminal and filled with tacky little tourist shops. One of them we noticed had a small sign "Cell phones $125". Thats in Eastern Caribbean dollars which is about $46 US. So we go in to see what the deal is, and find that the store is run by a small Indian woman that has a box of loose cellphones in the back. Cool. She says that they are unlocked and you need to get a sim card and it will work. Hmmmm. I was a little skeptical, figuring if Digicel wouldn't sell me a phone, they probably wouldn't sell me a sim card either. There was a different Digicel store across the street so I figured I would try again to buy a prepaid phone. They weren't as busy as the other store and I went straight to the counter and asked for a prepaid phone. "Are you a student?". "Uh. . .Yeah". "Do you have ID?". "Sure", and I proudly display my Arizona driver's license. She was too smart to fall for that and said I would need a St. George University ID. So day 1 of the cell phone search ended with defeat.

Back at the marina we met up with Chuck and Barb (Tusen Takk II) who I knew had a local cell phone. We asked them how they managed to get one and they said they bought the phone in St. Maarten and the sim card from bMobile (Digicel's competition) in Carriacou. So apparently you can buy a sim card without a Grenadian ID, at least from bMobile in Carriacou. So, this morning I went back to the Indian lady and bought one of her loose cell phones. No manual, no box, just the phone and the charger. She said I could bring it back if I couldn't get a sim card to work in it. Fair enough. I walked around the corner to the bMobile store and showed them the phone and said I wanted to buy a sim card. Them: "They are $40" Me: "ok" Wahoo!! Them: "Do you have ID" Me:crap. I sheepishly pull out my US passport and hand it to them. She reaches under the counter and pulls out a form and starts filling it out. Wahoo!! I left the store with an apparently working GSM cell phone. On the bus ride back to the marina I watched the signal meter on the phone constantly to see how the coverage was. I figured it would probably drop down to zero as soon as I got back to the marina. Luckily it didn't, and so far so good. We have a working local cell phone. Don't call us, we'll call you.

Grenada - I Get Older

Birthday Blues

For my birthday, Kevin made a lovely pancake breakfast and announced that we'd be spending the night at True Blue Bay, one of the island's nicest resorts. So we packed an overnight bag and headed over. We arrived just in time for lunch and we had a delicious meal at the Dodgy Dock restaurant, overlooking the bay. We splurged and ordered the specialty cocktails - a True Blue Bay Lemonade for me and a True Blue Margarita for Kevin. In the spirit of the resort theme, both drinks were electric blue and very tasty. Our room overlooked the bay and one of the pools; it was nice to swim in freshwater for once. For dinner we got dressed up (well, as dressed up as cruisers ever get) and headed over to La Luna, one of the top restaurants in Grenada. The restaurant overlooked the Morne Rouge beach and the dinner was fabulous - yummy tempura shrimp, tenderloin with porcini cream sauce, and profiteroles because it's not a birthday dinner until you've had a sinful dessert.

Surprise!

When we got back to the boat the next day, I discovered to my surprise that my birthday wasn't over. Our friends Linda, Ginette, and Barb had borrowed the key from Kevin and decorated the boat with balloons and streamers! They had also put some champagne in the fridge along with some delicious poached pears. It was such an unexpected surprise, I was really touched. So my birthday this year was full of wonderful surprises. Almost makes me forget that I'm getting older!

Grenada - Busy Saturday

BB Cooks

"Bam!". On Saturday I went to a Caribbean cooking demonstration with some of the other ladies from the marina. Brian Benjamin is the chef and owner of BB's Crab Back restaurant in St. George (I think he also has one in Ealing, UK). He was born here but lived most of his life in London where he earned rave reviews and awards at the Renaissance Hotel Heathrow. He moved back here and is the Emeril of the Caribbean, specializing in West Indian cooking using local produce and meats. He showed us how to make curry paste, callalloo soup, and a whole host of other dishes. The nicest thing was that he showed us how to pick out ripe produce and I finally learned how to properly slice up a mango (they can be very messy if you don't know what you're doing!) Anyway he had a large staff working for him and a flair for the dramatic, so whenever he finished with a demonstration or needed another ingredient he would shout "Cinderella!" and one of his helpers would come and clean up after him or bring him what he asked for. I'm sure the rest of the staff didn't appreciate it very much -- they gave him some surly looks when his back was turned. But it was very entertaining to watch. After the demonstration we all sat down to a lunch of curried goat, barracuda with red wine sauce, breadfruit french fries, rice and "provisions" (cooked plantains and dasheen). It was all very good and hopefully I will be able to reproduce some of it (well, maybe not the curried goat -- they are too cute to eat).

Grenada Hashers

"Drinkers with a running problem" is the slogan of the Hash House Harriers. On Saturday afternoon, Kevin and I participated in the 560th Grenada Hash. "Hashing" got it's start back in the 1930's by three Brit ex-pats living in Malaysia who belonged to a club whose dining area was called the "Hash House". They wanted to get some exercise to justify all the beer drinking that they did and the Hash House Harriers were born. Here in Grenada, they hash every other Saturday. Each hash begins and ends at a different local rum shop. Someone has already laid a trail (marked by shredded paper) that you are supposed to follow, and you can either run or walk. Sometimes they put in false trails and so you have to go back and find the real trail. Today's hash had easily 200 people, and it was a lot of fun. Most of us were just walking, since we had to cross a river several times (very wet!) and part of the trail was extremely steep so we had to scramble up using our hands. It's non-competitive so everyone goes at their own pace and the trail leads back to the rum shop where you started. The party afterwards is the main reason people go to these things -- everyone had a beer or two (or three or four!), and they had a special ritual for hash "virgins". I am not supposed to say what it was, but I will say that at the end Kevin and I were soaked and reeked of beer. We will definitely be back again. (For those of you in Phoenix who are interested, there are several "kennels" there, see link: http://www.phoenixhhh.org/ Try it -- it's a lot of fun!)

We got back to Clarkes Court just in time for the Saturday night karaoke, so I played DJ despite the fact that I was dirty, sweaty, and stank of beer (no one wanted to do any duets with me!). Earlier in the week, Kevin and I had downloaded and burned nearly 400 karaoke tracks so there was a good list to choose from and we had three times as many people singing as there were on Tuesday. I had a blast helping people pick out songs that would "unleash their inner diva", so this could turn into a permanent gig.

Grenada - We Are Finally Cool

Karaoke Ladies

So yesterday we got a new transformer. No, it was neither an Autobot nor a Decepticon. (For those of you who, circa 1984, did not race home from school in order to glue your eyes to the TV set: the Transformers were toy robots that could be turned into cars, trucks, planes, etc. Or were they toy cars, trucks, and planes that could be turned into robots? Anyway, it became a TV show with an epic theme song that has been running through my head all week. Apparently it is also a huge blockbuster movie that's out right now but I prefer the 1980's version.) Where was I? Oh yeah. The transformer we got yesterday was of the electrical variety. You see, we've been without air conditioning all week because the electricity here has a voltage of 220 (like in Europe) whereas our boat runs on 110 (like in the US). So the marina has to give each US boat a transformer to decrease the voltage to 110. When we first got here all they had left was an undersized transformer that wasn't powerful enough to kick on our air conditioner. It's been a sweaty week for us because when it rains we have to close all the hatches. There's been a lot of rain this week so it's been stuffy and humid on board the boat. But last night Bob came by and swapped the small transformer for a larger one and -- Voila! Our air conditioning now works. Needless to say the grumpiness level on our boat went down along with the air temperature.

Kevin Loves Karaoke

After getting our A/C working we headed over to Oasis, the marina bar, for drinks and karaoke. The owners, Bob and Leslie, have their hands full running this place and are basically here from dawn til whenever us cruisers go home so the bar can close. But Leslie is leaving this week for Canada (she and Bob have a home there as well as a dock-building business.) Leslie or Bob usually tends bar but this week Ginette on Sol Magique volunteered to take some shifts so they could have a break and she's been doing a great job. So when I heard them announce that they wanted to do karaoke tonight I figured I could help too: by running the karaoke machine. It was so fun! Everyone in the bar sang -- even Kevin! (Not voluntarily of course. Someone had to hold the microphone in front of his face and shout "Sing!", but he still sang!) There were lots of surprisingly good singers, and people were dancing and shooting pool and everybody had a good time. No one sang "Last Dance" or any Janis Joplin (where's Jamie when you need her?) but we did observe the cardinal rule of karaoke: the night's not over until someone sings "I Will Survive".

Grenada - Leatherbacks

Leatherback Nesting

Last night Inga (a former cruiser who now lives in Grenada and coordinates tours for cruisers) organized a group to go up to Levera Beach to see the Leatherback turtles lay their eggs. Once again Cutty was our driver, and eight of us wound our way up the twisty roads to Levera Beach which is the northernmost beach on the island. The turtles nest at night, so it was dark during the drive and it gave us an interesting perspective on local nightlife, since we are usually back on board the boat by sunset and rarely go out late at night. Driving through Grenville (where we were on Friday's tour) it looked like a street fair or something -- everyone was out in the streets, people were roasting corn and chicken in barrel ovens and of course the calypso music was blaring from massive speakers. Cutty said they weren't celebrating anything special; this is just a typical Saturday night.

We arrived at Levera Beach around 9 pm and met Karl, a researcher from Ocean Spirits which is a non-profit research group that monitors the turtles during their nesting season from April to July. We were lucky; a female turtle was already up on the beach and beginning to dig her nest. Leatherbacks are the largest species of sea turtle; this one was a little over four feet long but they've been recorded at up to nine feet long. She was digging in the sand with her back flippers and as we watched she began to lay her eggs. Throughout the nesting season the same female will come up to the beach on several different occasions, laying up to 150 eggs each time. The eggs incubate for more than two months before hatching. The hatchlings are tiny -- only about 3 inches long -- and as they make their way to the ocean, many are gobbled up by sea birds and crabs. By patrolling Levera Beach during nesting season, volunteers from Ocean Spirit keep the predators at a distance allowing more hatchlings to make it to the open ocean. We saw several of the little ones making their way to the water. They are very sensitive to light and would get confused occasionally, doing donuts in the sand while trying to figure out which way to go. We had to be really careful where we stepped -- the moon hadn't risen yet and the beach was pitch black so we had to use flashlights with red filters to find our way around.

Due to illegal hunting and egg poaching worldwide, leatherback turtles are critically endangered. But this season Ocean Spirits recorded more nests (900 in all) than the previous two years combined, so that is encouraging. Tonight we saw three females nesting even though it is pretty late in the season. The whole experience was really cool. Due to the turtles' sensitivity to light, we weren't able to take any flash photos but Kevin brought along the videocamera which has "night vision" mode. It looks a little creepy like the Blair Witch Project but you are able to see the turtles pretty clearly. We'll try to edit and convert the videos and get them posted soon.

Grenada - Rum Punch

I know you've all been debating amongst yourselves: "Is it pronounced Gre-NAY-duh or Gre-NAH-duh?". I've heard cruisers pronounce it both ways but the locals say Gre-NAY-duh so I'll take my cue from them since, you know, they live here. Long day today. We went with several other cruisers on an island tour guided by local taxi driver Cutty. Ten of us, "Seamans Elixir" (Steve & Linda), "Tusen Takk II" (Chuck & Barb), "Sol Magique" (Paul & Ginette), and "Minx" (Cynthia & Mike), all piled into Cutty's minibus for our first stop at Fort Frederick overlooking the city of St. George. Yeah, I know, another old fort but while we were there Cutty gave us the skinny on the events surrounding the US invasion in 1983. Back in 1979 Maurice Bishop, a moderate Marxist, seized power from the democratically elected leader in a bloodless coup. Over the next four years Bishop strengthened ties with Cuba (Fidel was a close friend), much to the consternation of the US. But the situation got ugly in 1983 when Bishop's right-hand-man, Bernard Coard, stabbed him in the back and seized power. Bishop was executed and in the ensuing upheaval the US saw the opportunity to help the Grenadian people while sticking it to ol' Fidel and the pinko Commies. Because there were American students at the medical school, the US (in conjunction with Jamaica and the other Eastern Caribbean countries) sent in a "rescue mission" of 1200 troops and after several months of scattered fighting (including a few mishaps such as planes bombing the nearby mental hospital instead of the communist headquarters. Ummm...oops, my bad!) peace and democracy were restored. Cutty did say that the invasion was welcomed by the Grenadian people and as we were driving around we saw graffiti that said "Thank you USA for liberating us". So that's one US invasion that worked out well for all involved. Even for the leaders of the coup: the Grenadian people magnanimously commuted their death sentences to life imprisonment. Amid much controversy, some were even released recently. So everyone wins.

We also hit one of several nutmeg cooperatives where the local farmers bring their nutmeg to be dried and processed. Hurricane Ivan decimated the nutmeg trees and the industry is not expected to fully recover for another 15 years. Processing the nutmeg and mace from the plant is a labor-intensive process so the economy has suffered with people having to look for other work. In fact, most of the island apart from the prosperous southeast coast (where we are) is still reeling from the effects of the 2004 storm. Houses and businesses are still showing lots of damage. Cutty lost the roof on his house and everything in it. At the time some of the local cruisers gathered donations and one of them sailed to Trinidad for supplies to help rebuild the roof and repair the windows. Everywhere we went today we could hear the sounds of hammering, so bit by bit the Grenadian people are recovering but it's a slow process.

We stopped for a swim at Annadale Falls -- a pretty waterfall where, for a "small donation", some local guys will jump off a cliff into the pool beneath the waterfall. These guys have their act together, wearing uniforms emblazoned with "Annadale Jumpers Association". We were wondering how they could afford them, because really...how much is it worth to watch someone else jump into a pool? (We donated 5 EC, about $1.85). But when cruise ships come through town they must make out like bandits, so the jumping business must be pretty profitable.

We also took an eye-opening and stomach-churning tour of the River Antoine Rum Distillery. The rum here is made using the same processes (and tools!) that were used in 1785. "Oh how quaint and unique!" you might say. It's definitely unique, but I can't say it's very sanitary. Huge open pools of fermenting rum amid flies galore. The vats and equipment look like perhaps they had their last cleaning around the year 1872 so it was with great trepidation that we sampled the product at the end of the tour. The fact that it's alcohol probably kills all the germs, right? Needless to say the day-old rum was as smooth as sandpaper and several hours later my throat was still burning. What's the old saying? What doesn't kill you (or blind you) makes you stronger. Let's hope so.

Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada

We knew we wanted to move the boat to the marina today but we were waiting on an estimate for some canvas work so we got a late start. By the time we pulled anchor and headed off on our quick four-mile trip to the marina, the wind was blowing a steady 22 knots and the seas were really ugly with the waves close together. How ironic that our last "passage", which should have been so short and simple, turned out to be one of the worst we've had on the whole trip south. But once we got into the protection of the the bay we were alright and got tied up right near our friends on Seaman's Elixir (there's a funny story to go with that name) and Sol Magique.

The marina is pretty nice. Hurricane Ivan in 2004 completely wiped out the docks so Bob (the owner) rebuilt them with a few hurricane-resistant adjustments. They look brand new and he is in the process of building a really nice marina complex with apartments/condos, but for now there is just a bar and a shower and a laundry. It's a quiet neighborhood compared to the other anchorages we've seen; there's not much out here in the way of bars or restaurants or shopping and it's a good hike to get into town but if we dinghy across the bay we can pick up the minibus so we should be able to get around just fine. Of course the first thing we did was hit the marina bar for a couple Caribs, just to check things out. It's a rustic place -- they don't serve food or anything, only beverages. But a big plus is that they have draft beer -- usually the bars on other islands only have bottled. Ironically the Carib draft is more expensive than the bottles whereas back home it's usually the other way around.

Where we are:
Location=Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada
Lat=12 00.628
Lon=61 44.349

Prickly Bay, Grenada -- Mall Rats

Today we took the local minibus to the shopping centers in Grand Anse. Riding the bus in the Caribbean is always interesting. It's not really a bus, it's more of a van into which they cram as many people as possible. Then, once the bus is good and full, everyone gets to sit and sweat (no AC) while the driver slows down to honk and say "hi" to all his friends on the street. Sometimes they even stop the bus and chat and the passengers either sit and wait patiently or join in the conversation. No one seems to mind or be in a hurry; everyone here is on island time. But the drivers are pretty friendly and they will usually let you off and pick you up anywhere along the route even if it's not a bus stop. Plus it only costs 2.00 EC (1 Eastern Caribbean Dollar = about $2.70) so it's a good deal.

Spiceland Mall is tiny compared with malls back in America, but it's incredibly nice -- they have flat screen TV's throughout advertising their shops and, of course, showing soccer and cricket matches. (Cricket is a huge deal here -- they just completed an enormous new stadium). We hit the IGA grocery store (this is the mall's "anchor store" instead of Dillards or Macy's) and also the food court for roti, which is like an East Indian-style burrito wrap filled with curried chicken, potatoes and other yummy vegetables. About halfway through our shopping the power went out in the entire mall, which served as a reminder that we were in Grenada and not the US.

Prickly Bay, Grenada -- 4th of July

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Not much is going on here for the Fourth; the Canadians had a big to-do for Canada Day (on the 1st) but it seems like the Americans are keeping it low-key. We plan on having our friends on Blue Wilderness over for dinner (Mark & Nancy and their 3 kids: Summer, Solomon, & Sam). Yesterday we moved the boat to Prickly Bay on the south side of the island. We're in a beautiful area (called Lance Aux Epines), with lots of stately homes. When walking through some of the neighborhoods in this area it sometimes feels like we are walking through a community in Paradise Valley, except none of the houses here has the same floor plan, and all of them are painted different colors. It was nice to get off the boat and get some good exercise, walking around the bay and scoping out all the restaurants and shops. We had a drink at the True Blue Bay resort (beautiful views of the bay) and ate pizza at the Prickly Bay Marina (which probably negated any calories burned on our walk!)

Nude Calisthenics

Speaking of exercise, one of our neighbors in the harbor seems to be a fitness nut. This morning as I was hanging out the laundry I could see him doing push ups and sit ups on the deck of his catamaran about 100 feet behind us. Of course it was impossible not to notice him, as he was completely nude at the time. Kevin took a few discreet photos (we couldn't resist!), so when we have internet access in a few days we'll be sure to post them. I guess we should be happy he wasn't doing jumping jacks or -- heaven forbid -- toe touches!

Where we are:
Location=Prickly Bay, Grenada
Lat=11 59.838
Lon=61 45.750

St. George's - We Invade Grenada

Well we are finally here, in the capital city of Grenada. On Thursday we made the 32 mile trip here and we had to make a slight detour around Kick 'Em Jenny, an active underwater volcano that lies directly on the route between Carriacou and the mainland. It erupted in both 1988 and 1989, so they've got a maritime exclusion zone around it. We like the name -- it sure sets it apart from the multitude of volcanoes out there named "Soufriere".

Grenada has the distinction of being one of the few nations that actually welcomed a US invasion (back in 1983 we helped put down a communist regime at the Grenadian people's request. According to a local guy we met today, Ronald Reagan is considered a great man here and no one says anything bad about him. I didn't ask him if the same rule applies to George W.) Our personal invasion of the country began with a reconnaissance of the local restaurants and a full assault on the grocery store (fantastic -- just like a US grocery store!). Sorry if I am always rambling about finding groceries, but you have to see what passes for a grocery store on some of the smaller islands to fully appreciate the convenience of the superstores we have back home and being able to buy what you want when you want it.

Today (Saturday) we hit the Grenada National Museum, which was kind of a hodgepodge of natural and political history. The exhibits were not in any specific order so it was a little random. They had the marble bathtub of the Empress Josephine (Napoleon's wife who was born on the French island of Martinique -- not sure why they have that artifact in Grenada and there was no explanation on the plaque to help us figure it out). After the museum we hit the Saturday Market, which is like a farmer's market on steroids. Along with the required fruits & veggies there were locally grown spices (Grenada is known as the "Spice Island". We saw lots of Ginger, but no Sporty or Scary). There were so many stalls we got confused and kept passing the same aisle, where a lady named Theresa kept saying, "You guys back again? Jus' tell me what you lookin' for and I find it for you". So we let her "find" us some tomatoes and bought some other vegetables as well. She then offered to braid my hair and also complimented the pigment of my skin but said if I wanted to get darker I should let her fix me up with some black pepper (she sold it by the bag). If I eat enough of it, it will "blacken" me up. I took a pass on the braids and the pepper -- for now...

Where we are:
Location=St. Georges, Grenada
Lat=12 02.539
Lon=61 45.297

Tyrrel Bay - Out of Africa

For the past week, Kevin and I have been standing on African soil...and rinsing it off our decks, and wiping it off the window screens. No, we didn't take a wrong turn navigating, it's actually dust from the Sahara that makes it's way across the Atlantic to the Windward Islands just so it can land on our boat and make a mess. Other cruisers had been telling us about this phenomenon and we thought they were pulling our leg, but in our weather report yesterday the forecaster mentioned that "Visibility may be reduced by haze due to atmospheric African dust" so it appears to be true.

Today was our last day in Carriacou, tomorrow we head for mainland Grenada. We went ashore for lunch hoping to score some more pizza from the Lazy Turtle (when we were there the other night, the calzones looked pretty good too). When we walked up the place was deserted except for one lady in an apron sitting upright at a table, fast asleep. I gently woke her and asked if the kitchen was open. "Not for pizza," she said. Disappointed, I asked her what they were serving, if anything. "Burgers and salads" was the reply. We decided to pass on the burgers and instead eat sandwiches on the boat. You could see relief fill the lady's eyes when she realized she could go back to sleep!

Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

[Kevin's Post]Well, we're still hanging out in Carriacou trying to kill time until our dockage in Grenada starts July 15. We've got about 3 weeks left and only 30 miles to go, so we can afford to just be lazy. The anchorage here has free wifi so that is an added draw. We've been having a great time catching up with all the friends we made in Luperon and elsewhere along the trip. Last night Chuck and Barb on Tusen Takk II threw a big party on their gorgeous Kadey-Krogen 48. There aren't too many cruising boats out there that can accomodate 20+ guests. But theirs can. Comfortably. Very comfortably. Everyone brought delicious hors d'œuvres, and there was quite a spread. Amanda improvised some bean burrito bites using some tortillas we picked up and they turned out quite good. The rum flowed freely last night, a little too freely, and we were both feeling it this morning.

Since we've had a bit of time on our hands, and not a whole lot to do I've been making a few improvements to the blog which you have probably noticed. The filmstrip on the right shows thumbnails of the 50 most recently uploaded photos. Some of these never appeared in the blog, so keep an eye on those. I'm in the process of converting all our videos to YouTube, and eventually they will all appear in the widget on the left. Probably the coolest thing though is the yellow track which now appears on the Google Maps inlay. This shows our route through the islands since January. The track is a pretty accurate representation of the boat's path, it is not just straight lines between the anchorages. So zoom way in and check it out.

Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

Yesterday we arrived in Tyrrel Bay to be greeted by a whole group of other boats that we met way back in Luperon. Although we all chose different paths/speeds through the Caribbean islands, we all met up here at the same time. Funny. We got together for pizza and beers at the Lazy Turtle and had a good time catching up.

Touring Carriacou

Barb and Chuck ("Tusen Takk II") arranged an island tour today, so we piled into a van along with Nick and Deanna ("Caribbean Soul"), Paul and Ginette ("Sol Magique"), and Jim and Amanda ("Adventure Bound"). Our driver Thomas took us around the island for the next three hours. By now we are used to hearing all the medicinal uses for various plants on these taxi tours, and today was no exception. Sometimes we feel like we've heard it all before already. But today we learned a new one: apparently if you suffer from asthma, you should pour coconut milk into a tall glass and then toss a small lizard in there. Leave him in there to thrash around for 10 minutes (no less!) and then rescue him. Afterwards you can drink the milk when you start having an attack -- supposedly the milk is infused with adrenaline from the lizard's struggling (it's probably got a little lizard pee in there too, for good measure). I'm not sure if you could call it a "cure" but if I had asthma I would probably will my body to stop having attacks just to avoid having to drink the nasty lizard milk concoction. Eww.

Where we are:
Location=Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
Lat=12 27.443
Lon=61 29.121

Hillsborough, Carriacou

Kevin in Grenada

As of today we are cleared into Grenada, our home for the next five months. We haven't actually reached the island of Grenada yet; it's still about 30 miles away. But Carriacou (CARRY-a-koo) is part of Grenadian territory. According to our guide books, the name Carriacou is a Carib word meaning "island surrounded by reefs", but I'm pretty sure they must just be making that up because we've already been to lots of islands surrounded by reefs so why aren't they all called Carriacou?

After clearing in with customs & immigration we looked around for the supermarket. We did our last major provisioning in Puerto Rico and we're pretty much out of everything. Our guidebook says that the grocery store here is pretty well-stocked, but we must have hit them on a bad day because there wasn't much out on the shelves. I was hoping to buy some eggs but wasn't able to. Oh the store had plenty of eggs, its just that they are displayed in big flat crates with no lid and I didn't bring a container to put them in! Silly me. One thing we have always been able to find -- no matter how remote or tiny the island -- is Pringles. We rarely see any other American name brand chips, but somehow there is always at least one variety of Pringles available. Although this store didn't have any unsalted butter, cream cheese, or even sandwich bread, they still had four flavors of Pringles: Original, Sour Cream & Onion, Cheddar, and the tastier-than-it-sounds Pizzalicious.

It's pretty quiet here in Hillsborough. When clearing in at Carriacou you are required to anchor here. Most yachts check in here and then immediately head to Tyrrel Bay a few miles south of here. But we're lazy and not in much of a hurry so we'll just stay here tonight and maybe head down that way tomorrow.

Where we are:
Location=Hillsborough, Carriacou
Lat=12 29.182
Lon=61 27.470

Petit St. Vincent - Finders Keepers

New Sunglasses

The last few days were rainy and squally so we just stayed put in Union Island and barely left the boat, actually. Kevin had downloaded a bunch of old arcade games from the internet so we wasted a lot of time playing those. I keep seeing the blocks of "Tetris" falling down in front of my eyes as I try to fall asleep at night. I think that might be a sign to lay off the video games for a while.

We checked out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines this morning and for once the customs officials were not surly! It took us by surprise but the customs agents on Union Island were by far the friendliest we've encountered. The guy made a few jokes and asked us how we were enjoying our Caribbean trip. Then he gave us our clearance and didn't even charge us anything. If only all customs agents could be that nice.

We motored the five or so miles to Petit Martinique (which is actually a part of Grenada) and hit their fuel dock for some diesel, and then we motored half a mile over to Petit St. Vincent (which is still part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines) to anchor, since the holding is better here in soft sand. In fact it's so sandy that there's not much to see while snorkeling, which is why I noticed a pair of sunglasses resting on the bottom in about 8 feet of water. I dove down and when I'd rinsed them off I found out they were Ray Bans without a scratch on them. Cool -- new sunglasses!

Happy Summer Solstice!

Where we are:
Location=Petit St. Vincent, SVG
Lat=12 32.058
Lon=61 23.084

Union Island - A Quiet Week

Windy Day

We've been waiting all week here for two packages to be delivered -- one with two months' worth of mail, and the other with the brushes for the wind generator. As luck would have it, most boats have been stuck where they are due to gusty winds this week, so we probably would've been here a while anyway. But we paid for a week of internet access so it's been nice -- Kevin has been fussing around with the blog and we were also able to check out the news and see what's been going on in the world. By "news" I really just mean "fake news" since Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's "Daily Show" is our go-to source for the top stories. I find the news to be a lot less depressing when they make it look ridiculous. Can't wait for the 2008 election to get into full swing!

Produce Stand

We went into town today for lunch and to hit the produce stand and found both our packages were waiting for us. Of course winds were holding steady at 24 knots as we dinghied back to the boat (a wet ride) so its wasn't ideal conditions for trying out the new brushes on the wind generator. Also we got back just in time to prevent an escape attempt -- the laundry that I'd hung out to dry this morning was struggling to break free of the clothespin shackles. Anyway the wind has calmed down now and Kevin is happily reassembling the wind generator. It looks like the winds might let up a little at the beginning of next week so we'll check out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and head for Grenada.

Union Island - Genset fixed!

[Kevin's Post]The genset lives. I guess we were premature in saying that it was toast. I took a look at it this morning and discovered that the main belt between the diesel engine and the generator had sheared off all its treads and was slipping. It didn't squeal like a slipping belt usually does so I didn't suspect the belt until I saw the mess of shredded rubber under the engine. It made an ungodly noise, we thought the engine was in it's final death throes for sure. Fortunately we had a spare belt, and after an hour of knuckle scraping putting it on, the genset is working fine (for now). I'm not sure what caused the belt to shred, hopefully it was just because it was old. Aren't you glad you don't have to make your own electricity?

Union -- Happy Island

Happy Island

A couple days ago on a whim I gave both Kevin and myself a haircut. Kevin's looks good despite the fact that we could not find the comb and had to make do with a vent brush. No matter, it still ended up looking like a reasonably fashionable hairstyle. Given that Kevin's main accessory is a baseball cap, I think he'll be fine. I was not so kind to myself, since I didn't even bother using the brush and instead just grabbed a fistful of hair as I cut straight across to make some hideous bangs. Hello??!!! What on earth was I thinking? I haven't had bangs since 1989. In retrospect, apparently I was thinking that I wanted to look like the Spaniard in The Princess Bride --- "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya...". Uh-huh, those kind of bangs. Yeah. Cool.

This afternoon we met Mary and Jon from Tabascocat at a very unique bar for happy hour. About five years ago, Janti (a local from Union Island) decided to gather up the refuse of the sea (old conch shells, old tires, etc) and with it he built a conch shell island (held together with cement, of course) just on the edge of Newlands Reef. On top of the artificial island he built "Happy Island", a bar where the drink choices are as follows: rum & coke, rum punch, or beer (if you're lucky and it's cold). We had the misfortune to arrive about three minutes after Janti, so the beer was warm, but he did have ice and he served some pretty strong rum punches and even stronger rum & cokes. We enjoyed our sundowner drinks and had a nice evening watching the sun set.

Union Island, SVG

Petit Tabac, Tobago Cays

Amanda with a starfish

[Kevin's Post]We left the beautiful Tobago Cays this morning after 3 nights and headed a few miles south to Union Island. The Tobago Cays are supposed to the be most popular anchorage in the Caribbean because of the beautiful water and the great snorkeling. Ironically, it looks just like the Bahamas which we left 1000 miles ago. One of the islands here was featured (pictured) in the first Pirates of the Caribbean film where Jack Sparrow was stranded after walking the plank. The whole Tobago Cays ares is a marine park and they charge $10 EC per person per day in order to keep people from staying forever.

Hurricane season officially started about 2 weeks ago, and we are just barely south of the line where our insurance requires us to be -- 12 degrees 40 minutes. We are seeing tropical waves every few days and it rains pretty much every day on us, but only for 5 minutes at a time. So every few hours we have to run around closing all the hatches and ports only to have the sun come out a few minutes later. We have ordered some parts for the wind generator that are being shipped here to Union Island as is our mail. So we'll probably be in the area for at least a week.

Where we are:
Location=Union Island, SVG
Lat=12 35.780
Lon=61 24.831

Tobago Cays

Solstice in the Tobago Cays

Tobago Cays -- Turtles

The wind picked up last night and even though the reefs kind of protect the anchorage from the waves it still was a little bit choppy. A lot of the other boats left, so now there are only 10 boats in the anchorage here. As the afternoon wore on the wind died down a little and the sea calmed down so we lowered the dinghy and went over to the beach. They have the area roped off so that boats don't anchor in the grass where the turtles feed. We snorkeled for an hour and were amazed at how close the turtles would let you get. They must be used to snorkelers by now because they basically ignored us while they munched on the grassy bottom.

We are still eating the mahi that Kevin caught off the coast of the Dominican Republic. We froze a bunch of filets and I think we are down to the last couple. Kevin is firing up the grill as I type. Yum.

Tobago Cays, SVG

You say to-bay-go, I say to-bah-go...seriously I have no idea which one is right; I've heard locals pronounce it both ways. The Tobago Cays are one of the most popular spots in the Caribbean for cruisers. They are a group of uninhabited islands that are surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped coral reef. We anchored in a sandy patch within a stone's throw of some big coral heads. Standing on the bow, we can see waves breaking on the reef just a few hundred feet away. We did a bit of snorkeling and saw a good variety of fish -- including a ray (not sure what type) that kind of followed us around for a bit, until Kevin tried to video it. As soon as the camera was rolling it swam away. The water here is really shallow, only about 8 feet deep so most of the time we swam around patches of coral that nearly skimmed the surface. Viewed from the boat, the brown patches of coral really stand out from the shallow turquoise waters.

In other news, our diesel generator has kicked the bucket. It is pushing up daisies. It has moved on to greener pastures. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-genset. Yesterday while we were running the air conditioning Kevin noticed the generator's voltage output dropping from 120 (normal) to around 100 (too low to run most appliances). So he turned the AC off and the voltage shot back up to normal. So he turned it on again and a god-awful noise started coming from the generator compartment. The diesel engine was shaking and rattling so much you could feel it throughout the boat. We are not sure what is wrong, just that the generator cannot handle any kind of load. So no more air conditioning or washing machine or even charging the batteries. Sigh. The AC and washer/dryer are luxuries, but not being able to charge up the batteries is the real problem since our wind generator isn't working either. So the batteries only get charged when the sun is out or we are motoring between islands. We've been having a few cloudy days here and there so I am crossing my fingers for more sun.

Where we are:
Location=Tobago Cays, SVG
Lat=12 37.741
Lon=61 21.345

New Photos

Hey guys, we have posted a few new photos. Some are in the blog, but if you click on the "Recent Photo Slideshow" link you can see them all.

Bequia - Dive Adventure

Kevin in Bequia

We've been quite the social butterflies the past week. Seems almost every night we have had people over to our boat for dinner or happy hour, or have met someone ashore for dinner and drinks, or have gone to someone else's boat. Last night our friend Mary made a fantastic lasagna and we joined up with Dave & Sue on Pirates Hideout to spend the evening on Mary & Jon's boat, Tabascocat. We had a fantastic time with those two couples and since we're all stuck here until the weather lets up (it's been blowing hard and outside the harbor the waves are pretty rough) we'll probably all get together again sometime this week.

Bequia Coral

We did a two tank dive this morning. Most of the dive sites in Bequia are too far to get to by dinghy so we made the decision to go with a dive shop that had been recommended to us. Laury from Bequia Dive Adventures arrived right on time to pick us up at the boat. Judging from the waves crashing on the rocks along the shore as we pulled up to the dive site, we're glad we didn't attempt it in the dinghy -- conditions were too rough even for the Beast. The first dive, called the Boulders, was really cool. There was so much going on I didn't know where to look. It's the kind of dive you wish you could do three or four times in a row, so you can spend time hovering and watching the minute details of the sea life. The second dive was a drift dive which is where the boat drops you off in one place and then the current propels you forward and the boat picks you up downstream at the end of the dive. It was kind of cool to just be pushed along by Mother Nature (kind of like being on an undersea people mover) but it was a little hard to maintain control and I kept bumping into Kevin's fins and getting kicked in the head! So it took me the better part of the dive just to learn how to slow myself down. But once I did I was able to take some photos (I was carrying the camera for the first time ever) and I also managed to snap the rare photo of Kevin in his scuba gear.

Scuba Videos from Bequia

Bequia turtle sanctuary

Baby turtles at the Bequia turtle sanctuary

posted by SSB

Bequia - Turtle Sanctuary

Turtle Sanctuary

"Pirates Hideout" and "Tabascocat" had arranged an island taxi tour and were kind enough to invite us along. Bequia is not that big, only seven square miles, and our driver Gideon said that the tour would take no more than three hours. Our first stop was the Hamilton Battery. "Battery" is just a fancy way of saying "fort" and you know how we feel about forts. But there were great views of the harbor and we snapped some good photos of all the boats at anchor. Other stops included an old sugar mill that has been turned into a pottery studio/art gallery, a hip beach bar called Moskito (the seats at the bar are all wooden swing chairs hanging from the ceiling), and a walk along the beach near the tiny, tiny airport. The runway is so short that they had to put the landing lights out in the water on tall telephone poles.

Turtle Video

Our favorite stop was the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. It's run by a retired fisherman whose life's mission is to rescue the endangered Hawksbill turtle from extinction. The hawksbills lay their eggs on a nearby beach and when they hatch he brings some of the babies to the sanctuary where they spend the first four years of their life safe from fisherman and predators. Once they are big enough to fend for themselves, he releases them. The sanctuary itself is kind of a big barn with several large pools of turtles grouped by age (there was even a bowl containing an itty-bitty baby that was only 3 weeks old. So cute!). There were about 200 turtles in all, including an eleven-year-old (they can live to more than 100 years old) that the owner keeps as a pet. She loves to have her back scratched and when I reached down to pet her she was so happy that she started splashing her flippers against the side of the pool. We really enjoyed the place. Considering that turtles are overfished and many are killed before they reach breeding age (25 years old) it is inspiring that one guy is doing what he can to make a difference. (Any animal lovers should stop reading here.)

On the other side of the spectrum is the whaling station. A handful of Caribbean islands still allow whaling in their waters and Bequia is one of them. However they are allowed to take only four per year during the months of February to April. This year they only got one, a humpback. The interesting thing is that they hunt the whales traditionally, in small open sailboats with harpoons thrown by hand. When they have the whale they tow it behind their boats back to the whaling station, where they process it for use by the islanders. We didn't tour the whaling station because it is located on a small cay only accessible by boat. Gideon's father used to go on the whaling trips so he was very informative about it.

Bequia - Mexican Standoff

Walk down the aisles of any grocery store in the States and you will find tortillas. Maybe they'll be by the bread or in the ethnic foods section; you might have to look hard but you'll find them. But the last 3 or 4 countries we've been through seem to never have heard of tortillas. I thought we had plenty in the freezer so on impulse I invited two other couples over to the boat for enchiladas without double-checking. Lesson 1: always check the inventory. Lesson 2: you can't make enchiladas without tortillas. But apparently you CAN make tortillas, according to my standby cookbook "How to Cook Everything". You don't even need a fancy machine like they have at Chevy's (although it helps). Of course the main ingredient is lard (didn't have any of that on board) and it is helpful to have a rolling pin to make them nice and thin (didn't have one of those either), and it's also time-consuming (you can only make them one at a time if you haven't got a big griddle) but they turned out somewhat resembling tortillas. Actually they were more like large round crackers. Ole!

The next step was to acquire some fresh veggies for the enchilada sauce. Bequia has a local farmer's market so we headed there to load up. We walked in and were immediately accosted by the absolute pushiest vendors we've ever seen anywhere. I started to buy things from the least pushy lady but while I was talking to her I was just surrounded by guys trying to get me to buy pineapples, mangoes, passionfruit and everything except the ingredients I needed for enchiladas. Not sure how it happened but somehow Kevin and I got separated (we were the ONLY customers in the marketplace with a dozen vendors working us both over). I look up and I see that Kevin is trying to make his way back to me but a really persistent man won't let him through. Kevin got pretty angry and I honestly thought it was going to come to blows as Kevin kept forcefully saying "I'm just trying to get back to my wife!". They were relentless, but we managed to get everything we needed. So all the ingredients came together and the meal turned out well. We spent a nice evening with the two couples from the other Mantas ("Pirates Hideout" and "Tabascocat").

Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG

Well we are now in St. Vincent & the Grenadines (mmmm...grenadine) which is one country made up of many islands. We skipped the main and largest island of St. Vincent and instead are anchored in the charming island of Bequia. Three guesses as to how it's pronounced. Nope. Wrong. Try again. Give up? Okay, it's BECK-way. From St. Lucia on out the primary language is English so I am at a loss to explain this bizarre pronunciation. Bequia is a haven for traveling yachts with lots of boat services and plenty of restaurants. It's kind of a velcro harbor -- easy for yachts to stick to it. We've already run into several boats we know here so we may stay awhile, too.

Where we are:
Location=Bequia, SVG
Lat=13 00.161
Lon=61 14.637

The Pitons, St. Lucia

posted by SSB

St. Lucia - The Pitons

We motorsailed a few miles south to Soufriere (I know, I know, ALL the islands have at least one town called Soufriere. When naming things, the French weren't very imaginative. There are tons of "soufrieres" meaning "sulfur" and even more "basse-terres" meaning "low ground".) Soufriere is one of St. Lucia's marine management areas where they are trying to protect and conserve the natural resources. We picked up a park mooring (no anchoring allowed, but the mooring was screwed into the bottom - yay!) and were able to find some fabulous snorkeling right off the boat -- a huge variety of coral and all kinds of fish activity. We actually saw a couple of eels slithering around foraging for food instead of hiding in their holes. All of this within the shadow of St. Lucia's most well-known landmark, the Pitons. These are twin 2500 foot peaks that rise up out of the water like pillars; very tall, very steep. As we were approaching by sea, we had a magnificent view of the mountains in all their glory. Not sure the photos do it justice though.

Where we are:
Location=Soufriere, St. Lucia
Lat=13 51.385
Lon=61 04.063

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We love the French attitude towards customs and the formalities. It never costs a penny to clear in or out, and most of the time they just barely glance at your passport, if at all. Yesterday the customs "officer" (a ponytailed older guy running the fuel dock at the marina in Anse Mitan) had us fill out a blank form that had already been signed. Once we filled it out, he put the date next to his signature and we were ready to go. He was a cool guy, though. When he was looking at our passports he noticed Illinois and Arizona and said that he'd been to both places while on a trip across the US on old route 66. He said it was one of his top trips ever but that next time he would do it on a 'arley (French pronunciation of Harley).

Today we arrived in St. Lucia (LOO-sha) in the afternoon and headed over to the marina to clear in. We saw a Manta at the dock and went over to say hello, their boat is a little older than ours but they've been living on it for 5 years now. After chatting a bit we headed over to the supermarket which is in a really great outdoor shopping mall. We had heard mixed reviews from other cruisers about St. Lucia so we weren't sure what to expect, but judging from the nice stores and fabulous homes (they look like they were transplanted from Palm Beach, FL) Rodney Bay seems like a decent spot. We won't be here long, though. Tomorrow morning we'll fuel up with diesel and move on to the south part of the island.

Where we are:
Location=Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Lat=14 04.620
Lon=60 57.462

Anse Mitan, Martinique

posted by SSB

Anse Mitan, Martinique

We haven't done a whole lot of sightseeing over the past couple of days. But while we were in St. Pierre we ran into Barb and Chuck on Tusen Takk. We had met them in Luperon, DR and saw them again in the BVI's. So we got together for drinks and walked around ashore a bit. Then on Tuesday we motorsailed down the coast to Anse Mitan, which is a great anchorage with a sandy beach. We look over and two boats away is Sol Magique, another couple we met in Luperon. So we had Paul and Ginette over for dinner and caught up on what they'd been up to since we last saw them in St. Martin.

We think we'll just hang out here and be lazy for a few days. Anse Mitan is a touristy resort area and the beach here is really nice. There are supposed to be a lot of nice restaurants and shops so we'll look around a bit.

Where we are:
Location=Anse Mitan, Martinique
Lat=14 33.686
Lon=61 03.195

Martinique -- The Next Jerry Lewis

On the way to Martinique this morning we got hit by the wave from hell. It wasn't a particularly big wave or anything, just a case of bad timing. We were sailing along great at 8 knots. As we approached the island of Martinique we were in a trough when the next wave broke over the side deck. A big wall of water came crashing through the cockpit, soaking everything including us. Usually we have waves coming over the bow but they rarely reach the cockpit, so this was a little scary (note to our parents: we weren't in any danger, don't worry). The only bad thing is that now our cockpit seat cushions are encrusted with salt, so we'll be washing down the boat tomorrow. Other than that it was a pretty great sail and we arrived in St. Pierre in the early afternoon. Customs was located in a bar (first time we've seen that!) so we ordered two Lorraines (local beer) while we filled out the clearance paperwork.

Seems like whenever we first arrive in a country it is either a holiday or a Sunday and everything is closed. Being Sunday today was no exception but we did manage to find a little pizza place on the beach that was open. Martinique is another Overseas Department of France and here almost everyone speaks French exclusively and it is hard to find someone who speaks English -- even more so than in Guadeloupe. But the pizzeria owner was a nice older gentleman and was tickled that I was making an attempt to speak his language. When we were in Puerto Rico, I had a sort of joke for when I told people we lived on a boat. I told them Kevin was the captain and since I didn't know the word for "crew" I said I was the "team". Not super funny but enough to get a polite chuckle. So I figured out a similar word for "team" in French when I was telling the owner about the boat. He laughed so much that on the way home I started to doubt that I was using the right word. I looked it up and sure enough I was telling people that Kevin was the boat's captain and I was the baggage. No wonder the guy was laughing so hard. Apparently in French I am hi-larious.

Where we are:
Location=St. Pierre, Martinique
Lat=14 44.453
Lon=61 10.668

Roseau - High Times

Sari Sari Falls

Yeah mon. So today we swam under two spectacular waterfalls, ate almost every fruit that grows on the island, and probably got a contact high hanging out with Rastafarians. Where to begin?

Our adventure began around 9 am when we started a tour with Sea Cat. His real name is Octavius and he's being doing guided tours for 17 years. We weren't able to find anyone else interested in a tour so it was just the three of us. Our plan was to hike Victoria Falls and Sari Sari Falls, both on the eastern side of the island. On the way Sea Cat kept pulling over to the side of the road, bringing samples of all the stuff growing by the roadside. We had some fresh coconut milk and a guava in the morning, and had papaya, mango, cherries, and passionfruit for our afternoon snack. He also brought bayleaves, lemongrass, and the bark of the cinnamon tree as well as showing us how cashews grow (a huge red fruit with a single tiny cashew growing out of one end). We also made a quick stop in a small village known for its moonshine. Sea Cat bought a round of shots for us and the several local alcoholics already hanging out at the bar. It was strong stuff for 10 am but the locals got a kick out of watching us tourists take a shot, make a face, and take a sip of water.

hanging roots

When we arrived at the Victoria Falls trailhead, we stopped to visit Sea Cat's friend Moses, a Rastafarian who is sort of like a high priest. Moses was hanging out in a kitchen-type outbuilding with several other Rastas just chilling and smoking the fattest joints I have ever seen (we are talking the size of cigars). The conversation was lively and animated, they were talking about how they want the government to stop the use of pesticides in the agriculture here. At least that's what I think they were talking about -- a lot of Dominicans speak superfast to each other using the local dialect so we don't always understand every word but usually we get the gist. Those of you with a good grasp of irony will appreciate this: when one of the other rasta men heard that Sea Cat had drunk a shot of moonshine with us, he warned him very sternly "Moonshine? Bad stuff...don't you be drinking and driving, mon!" as he handed him a freshly rolled spliff which Sea Cat proceeded to blaze up. We didn't partake but it was cool to see a part of Rastafarian culture. There's much more to it than Bob Marley music and pot, more about that later.

Rainforest Hike

The hike to Victoria Falls was a good workout; we crossed the river several times on the trail up and scrambled over huge boulders on our way to the pool. As we swam in the pool it was actually hard to see because the force of the waterfall made it feel like we were getting hit with a firehose. But with Sea Cat's help we managed to work our way behind the waterfall to see the water cascading all around us. Pretty cool. After the hike Moses made us an ital soup for lunch with leeks, dasheen, potatoes, cabbage and I don't know what all. (Although some Rastas eat fish, Moses is vegan.) It was surprisingly good, and he served it in bowls made of fired calabash gourd and the spoons as well were made from slices of calabash. The Rastafarians believe that the body is a temple, and ital means a natural and sane way of life. As part of ital the food rastans eat must be as natural and pure as possible with no preservatives or chemicals. Even the ganja is ital -- it is supposed to be purer, finer, and stronger than the Mexican marijuana you find at, say, your local college campus.

Sari Sari video

We got another great workout hiking up and down the steep steps to Sari Sari falls. It was like doing a stairmaster through the rainforest for an hour there and back. But the waterfall was worth it. We've done several waterfall hikes while we've been here, and the great thing about them is you get to cool off in the pool below. We'll take a waterfall hike over a fort any day.

Roseau, Dominica

We had originally planned to head down to the capital Roseau yesterday, but we felt a little lazy. So instead Kevin changed the oil in the engines and we took a walk around Fort Shirley in Cabrits National Park. (I know, I know we keep saying "no more forts" but another cruiser was adamant that we should check it out). Half of the fort is being beautifully restored while the other half has been left to the forest, with huge ficus trees growing out of the limestone fortifications and everything overgrown with vines. It was an interesting contrast and a nice walk through the forest followed by a relaxing evening before setting out this morning for the 20 mile trip to Roseau.

So tonight we are sitting once again on a mooring. I know some of you are thinking "Are they crazy, after what happened in Saba?" You would think that with our luck we would avoid moorings like the plague, and trust me we tried. When we first got to the anchorage, a boat boy named "Roots" came out to greet us and offered us his mooring. We asked him what was holding it and he said "A huge concrete block. Dis mooring ain't go nowhere, mon." At first we told him we'd think about it and we motored around the anchorage looking for a shallow spot to drop the hook. But the depths were ranging from 70 to 170 feet -- we don't have enough chain to anchor in water that deep! Roots' mooring was really close to shore, in only about 25 feet, so we radioed him back & told him we'd take it. Kevin dove on it and with him watching the mooring I backed down on our engines at 1600 rpm just as we would to set our own anchor. The mooring didn't drag, so we think we'll be okay here.

We took a quick look around town and took care of business with customs. (We have to clear in/out of every port. The bureaucracy in former British colonies is merciless. God only knows what they do with the multiple carbon copies of everything. Not a computer to be seen.) We also had a chance to hit the local farmers market and loaded ourselves up with mangoes, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes. Its kind of odd that we actually bought mangoes since they grow everywhere and had fallen all along the streets and sidewalks on our way to and from the market. But at less than twenty cents apiece (in US$) I probably can't complain. Quick price comparison: anyone know what they cost back in the states at Fry's?

Where we are:
Location=Roseau, Dominica
Lat=15 17.242
Lon=61 22.621

Portsmouth - Waterfalls and Sulfur Springs

Trafalgar Falls

We didn't do much on Tuesday. We had planned a tour of the north part of the island, but the other couple canceled and we didn't want to pay the full price of hiring a cab for the day. We were a bit disappointed but we went to drown our sorrows at Big Poppa's bar, hoping to meet up with some other cruisers and try to arrange a tour for Wednesday. Big Poppa himself was there, a large black guy who missed his calling as a standup comedian. He had a whole spiel of jokes and we didn't mind laughing since he gave us a round of rum punches on the house. For our entertainment he also rapped a few bars of Notorious B.I.G. "Big Poppa...I love it when you call me big poppa..." to my delight.

We found a big group going on a tour the next day and were invited to tag along. So Wednesday we left around 8am and headed to the southern part of the island with our cab driver Caesar (a nickname, his given name is Julius). Dominica has nine potentially active volcanoes and there is evidence of activity all over the island. We first stopped at some hot springs with two small pools steadily burping out the sulfur. The water was too hot to touch. It was stinky but cool to see. Our next stop was Trafalgar Falls, a double waterfall where two rivers meet and merge. The upper falls plunge 200 feet down the rock face and the lower fall is slightly smaller but more accessible. We had to scramble over boulders for a good 20 minutes to get to the base of the second fall but it was well worth it. We swam in the frigid water and some of our group were even able to climb a little ways up the waterfall itself. When we returned down the trail we found a small hot pool about the size of a hot tub so we all piled in and relaxed for a little while before heading out.

Video of Champagne

We stopped for a local lunch and along with rice and beans we had plantain, dasheen (taro root), and a choice of pork or curried goat. The meal was excellent and so was the price: 15 Eastern Caribbean dollars, or about $5.50 a person including your choice of Kubuli beer or fresh local passionfruit juice. After lunch we explored some more hot springs and then went for a snorkel at Soufriere Bay, a curvy bay that is the rim of a sunken volcanic crater. As we were snorkeling we could see more signs of volcanic activity as thousands of tiny bubble streams burbled up from the sand below us (which is how the site earned the name Champagne). We finally arrived back to Portsmouth around 5:30 and all ten of us got together for drinks and to share digital photos.

It was a late night, and we had originally intended to head back to Big Poppa's for reggae night since we thought there would be life music. But we were too tired so we headed back to the boat. As it turns out we didn't need to go to the bar, since the music was so loud you could hear it throughout the anchorage. And I was reassured that we weren't missing out on any live performances once they started playing Bob Marley tracks.

Editorial Note

Despite being a third-world country, Dominica has first-rate internet. We have posted some more photos, you'll see them if you click on the "Recent Photos Slideshow" link to the left.

Also, remember that really bizarre fish we saw back in Statia? I found out what it's called: a flying gurnard. Check out this link to see one for yourself, or look up "flying gurnard" on google images. Creepy, huh? Flying Gurnard