Over the course of this last 10 days we have enjoyed reuniting with many of our Grenada and Trinidad friends. There have been a number of dinners and cocktail hours aboard each of our boats. I have enjoyed being able to jump off the boat into clean water again. Mike’s foot is healing well. I hiked out to the Seven Sisters Falls again with Carl and Carrie of s/v Sanctuary to celebrate Carrie’s Birthday. I had brought a few bananas with me and we stopped again at Monkey Point where we had a couple of greenback monkey come right up to us for their treats. One even grabbed at Carries dress looking for more. We were joined by John and Patty from s/v Anhinga who I had not seen since Boqueron, Puerto Rico. We had a nice walk but only the girls braved the cool mountain water at the falls. When we returned I baked Carrie some of my famous BBQ Brownies for her special day! Mike, who was still not up to hiking, spent the day with Dave from s/v DaniellStorey and our newest friends Ronnie and Babbie on s/v Campechano. Ronnie, an avid fisherman, loves to take people out fishing on their beautiful 47 ft Catana Catamaran. He has a vast wealth of knowledge and can read the sea and the birds to know where to fish. They came home with some tuna and rainbow runner. Ronnie’s love is fishing and Babbie’s is her horses back in Puerto Rico where they live. We have enjoyed a number of wonderful meals together and look forward to meeting up with them as we travel north. They have also invited us to visit them in PR where I will have the opportunity to go horseback riding. We are not the only ones moving north. Ken and Katy of s/v Diana who we had met briefly in Grenada and got to know better in Trinidad also returned from there and anchored next to us in Hog Island. We have spent a number of fun evenings with them and they introduced us to some other St. Johnians, Josh and Lou on s/v Survivan. Josh and Lou operate a great day charter out of St. John and we were treated to a wonderful evening of laughter, singing and impromptu songwriting. I’m not sure the songs we came up with will hit the top 40 anytime soon though with titles such as “Falling Off my Nachos” and of course, that all time favorite “Giardia, the Beaver Disease”. OK, so there was a little rum involved that night! I know from the highlights I have shared that you might think our lives are just one big party but in reality there is always chores to do, laundry, grocery shopping, repairs, and etc. that make up the bulk of our days. We took the bus into St. George and finally met with Herve, our RayMarine Representative, to pick up the new motor for our Auto Helm. Michael has it installed and it appears to working well but on the same note we noticed that our back up compass needs to be repaired……It’s always something!
Tag: Grenada
Heading North Again
We met up for a goodbye pizza dinner with Carmen and Tom of s/v Ellida who have been on the hard here in Trini since June. They plan on heading north by Mid November. We met them through our friends Carl and Carrie, DD’s rescuers, from s/v Sanctuary. Carmen is a chiropractor and has been helping Mike and I with our various aches and pains. She also is an amazing photographer and has been giving Michael pointers on using his new Camera. You can check out some of her work at www.meanderingmoments.com. She has a zeal for Travel and Photography that is matched only by Tom’s enthusiasm for sailing and of course their passion for each other. We will miss them and look forward to meeting up again later this season. We have also enjoyed the company of our new friends Ken and Katy aboard s/v Diana. They are from St. John USVI and Ken and Mike know many of the same people. We have been busy trading books and movies with them. I can’t really say we will miss the Island of Trinidad all that much. It has given us the opportunity to upgrade, make repairs and reprovision but we will not miss the stifling windless heat(that is except when squalls would hit the anchorage), the filthy water, or the sleepless nights waking up to every small sound to check and make sure Mighty Mouse is still locked to the Davits. Due to the theft and security issues Trinidad Yachting Business are down by 50%. We hope that they will be able to do something about it but we will probably not be returning anytime soon. We had a smooth experience checking out with customs and immigration and purchased some Duty Free Wine and Spirits prior to leaving. We fortunately had an uneventful overnight passage back to Grenada. We traveled alone, always a little stressful as we are close to Venezuela a know piracy zone. It was the night of a new moon and so very dark. Hand steering for the first part of the evening wasn’t bad as we had the brightly lit Oil Dereks for reference but once we were beyond them it became more difficult as there were no reference points on the horizon. You can steer by instruments but staring at a lighted screen quickly tires the eyes. We steered a course by the stars and kept a sharp eye out for other vessels and pirates. We took 2 hour watches to keep alert as we still do not have a functioning auto helm. We compared notes the next morning and agreed that we both felt such a sense of relief to see a light turn on below during the last ½ hour of our watch and knowing that we could soon have a break. We arrived in Grenada at about 8:00am and were greeted by our friends Dave and Michelle aboard s/v DaniellStorey. We anchored DD in our same spot off the beach on the west side of Hog Island. Mike got to take one dip off the boat before he slipped while tying up the sun shade and cut his foot on the ladder. We were able to stop the bleeding fairly quickly and so we cleaned it well and I used butterfly bandages to close it up. No swimming for Mike again for a few days. How convenient for this to happen just when we needed to clean the bottom of the boat. I think he did it on purpose, the lengths some people will go to avoid scraping barnacles. We enjoyed a great reunion of sorts when we took advantage of 2 for 1 pizza night at La Phar Bleu Marina and had a great evening with Dave & Michelle from s/v Daniellstorey, Carl & Carrie from s/v Sanctuary, David and Trudie from s/v Persephone and met some new friends Ronnie and Babbie from s/v Campechano.
Monday Night Mas
Monday evening the DJ Trucks cranked up the music and energy to extreme levels and again took to the the streets of St. George around the Lagoon and Carenage for the Monday Night Mas . We could hear these Trucks all day even on our boat anchored outside the harbor so by the middle of the day we too could sing along with most of tunes. This Mas is comprised of different bands of revelers who have purchase packages to participate in this unique nighttime parade. Packages can be purchased from local business sponsors, by anyone for about $75 EC. Packages include, a commemorative cup or drink container, all you can drink beer and rum from the bands bar truck that drives along with each group, a glowing wand or saber as well as a Band T-Shirt and an Illuminated Hat and other glowing accessories. The DJ’s riding atop the trucks keep the energy of the slow moving throng up by singing along and shouting directions to syncronize the mass of light saber waving revelers. It was a spectacle that was difficult to capture on film. A number of cruisers purchased packages to participate in this glowing high energy Night Mas. There was a bit of a damper put on the evening for some of these participating cruisers when they discovered they had become victims of a ring of professional pickpockets. One of the cruisers even had the side of his pocket that he had his hand over, cut with a razorblade to gain access. They were lucky to have come away with only the loss of a small camera, a phone, and a little cash. The police and the participating business that sponsored the MNM were very professional and went out of their way to see that the lost items were reported and some were even replaced at a substantial discount. The police later that night busted what turned out to be a number of the pickpockets and found them to be affiliated with a professional ring out of Guyana that follows the Carnival circuit around the Caribbean. Everyone who heard about the thefts was appalled,saddened, and primarily concerned that the incident not reflect badly on warm and caring reputation of the Grenadian People. After a day that started at 3:30am, the evening ended for us around 11:00pm as we drifted off to sleep with the memory of the vivid colors of everything from body paint, to feathers, to light sabers, the sounds of the Songs Mo Mas and Tornado ringing in our ears, and a little buzz from spectacle of the day topped with a few beers and rum.
Pageant Mas
After a nap we returned to town around 1:00pm to watch the next Mas. The Pageant Mas reminded me a bit more of a high energy home town parade. It again involved the massive sound systems of the DJ Trucks playing a mix of the same 4 songs, followed by extravagantly costumed groups singing and dancing and representing different themes. This parade is also open to anyone who would like to purchase a costume and join in with one of the bands. A number of cruisers, who were staying at the Port Louis Marina, did just that. We walked the parade route and took quite a few pictures before settling down at a spot near one of the judges’ stations along the route. We were dazzled by the creativity and vibrant colors of the costumes some of which are quite elaborate. Everyone including small children walks the entire parade route in the same rhythmic small steps stopping to shake, shimmy, and gyrate along the way. Some of the women did this all in high heels, Yikes! The atmosphere was festive, the people beautiful, and the entire performance was repeated again the following day for the final judging, in even higher heat, with many of the previous days’ high heeled beauties now sporting tennis shoes. I wondered how long they could hold out!
Jouvert Mas
On Sunday morning we stocked up on a few groceries as stores all shut down for the last 2 days of Carnival. Ester, the clerk at Foodland, asked us if we would be attending Mas……now to me I did not think Carnival was affiliated with the Catholic Faith so I asked her what it was. Mas as it turns out are parades and street parties that take place during Carnival, Grenada’s summer festival. Flatbed trucks are outfitted with enormous sound systems, followed by roving bands of people singing and gyrating to thunderous rhythms. Each band is sponsored by different local businesses. We were informed that the first of the Mas Parades began at 5:00am on Monday morning. We set the alarm for 3:30am and put on some old clothes. We joined others in the streets some of who it was obvious had been up all night. We grabbed a couple of beers and downed a shot of rum. This has to go on record as the earliest in the day I have ever started drinking! The DJ trucks were keying up the music followed by pickups carrying large vats of different color body paint. Each band of Jab Jabs was represented by a different color. The Jab Jabs (or devils) main goal is to catch unsuspecting persons and smear them with paint, hence the old clothes, or in some cases used motor oil…..we tried to avoid those guys, we were only partially successful. The crowds were an amazing, sometimes hilarious mix of party goers all enjoying themselves and happily mugging for the camera. After the first couple of smears of paint, I took the old point and shoot into the crowd and tried to capture some of the spirit of this high energy event. After enjoying this Halloween Rave on Steroids the sun peaked over the island and the end of the parade passed us by. We made our way back to DD for a swim and a scrub with the loofa to erase from our bodies but not our memories the experience of this unique introduction to Carnival Mas.
Back for Carnival
We reluctantly left our new friends Ellen and Jim from s/v Boldly Go….sitting on the hard at the Carriacou boat yard to do repaint the bottom of their boat and do all those out of the water maintenance issues. We feel for them Yuck! But we had to return to Grenada after all….Carnival was happening. We made our way down the leeward coast of Grenada and anchored just outside of St. George where we will stay for the duration of Carnival. We contacted the Al Bernadine and dropped off our Alternator for repair, yet again, and then called and checked on the status of our Auto Helm. Herve the Service Tech here on Grenada says he is expecting the parts by the end of the month at the latest but is hoping they will arrive by next week. There are a number of events that take place over the days leading up to Carninval, a beauty contest, as well as Soca, Calypso, and Pan competions. We attended Pantastic, the Steel Pan Competion on Saturday Night and enjoyed a number of talented bands comprised of both young and old as well as Vocals by The Black Wizard a local popular musician.
Off to an Oil Down!
July 17, 2010
Oil Down? What’s an Oil Down? Well it is a local gathering that operates on the same principal as the story of Stone Soup. Friends and Neighbors all get together everyone bringing something and layer a large pot with locally grown Vegetables and Meat cooked in spiced coconut milk. Everyone works together to prepare the ingredients and it is all assembled and cooked over an open fire. Margie from S/V Encantada organized the cruisers and got enough interest to hire Cutty from Cutty’s Taxi and Tours to put one on. He gets his friends and neighbors together who do most of the preparation of the meat and veggies. Although they toned it down for the cruisers and left out the chicken feet and beaks, and the pigs tails. For the cruisers part we all bring either an appetizer or a dessert and then help with grating coconut, cutting the last of the veggies, and make dumplings. I have been in baking mode this week and have gotten much better at using my BBQ ( I do not have an oven). For my contribution, I made spicy Caribbean Curry Patties which looked much like miniature empanadas. They were a big hit while we were waiting for the Oil Down to Cook. Cutty also takes the guests up to his home where he picks fresh fruits out of his yard for everyone to take home. We were graced with Pineapple, Mango, French Cashew Fruit, and Avocados. His neighbors also get an opportunity to sell beer and other drinks to generate income as well as the cruisers each paying for their meal and taxi ride. Everyone had a wonderful time and the locals really enjoyed the unusual variety of delicacies and treats brought by the cruisers. A great time was had by all.
Seven Sisters Falls
July 14th, 2010
Mike and I joined Dave and Michelle from S/V DaniellStorey on a walk to the Seven Sisters falls. We caught the bus from Woburn into the Main Terminal and then on up into the mountains squealing around corners to Grand Etang. The bus let us out at a place called Monkey Point in Grand Etang but we were not lucky enough to see any. Mona Monkeys were introduced to Grenada from Africa. We walked down the road about ½ mile to the trailhead to the Falls. We paid our fee to cross private land and then picked up a walking stick and headed down the trail. We crossed a working farm where a wide variety of fruits and veggies were being grown including Nutmeg, Mango, starfruit, Avocado, Pumpkin, Melons, Long Beans, and many others crops we did not recognize. The trail was a little slick from the recent rains but not too bad. The walking sticks were very helpful. Michelle had brought some samples of some seeds she was hoping to collect and asked the local who was collecting the fees if any of them were found along this trail. The seeds , shells and sea glass she has found in her travels she incorporates with beads to make some beautiful jewelry. http://web.me.com/daniellstorey/Seed_and_Sea_Caribbean_Jewelry/Welcome.html As we were walking along she spotted an oblong pod on the ground and suddenly the treasure hunt was on. We had found what are referred to as Donkey Eye Seeds. I helped her collect a nice bag full before continuing on our hike. After taking some photos, Dave and Mike meandered further down the trail where we met up with them when we finally exhausted our search efforts. We made our way to the Lower falls of the Seven Sisters and changed into our swimsuits to take a cooling plunge after our hike. We enjoyed the lunch we had brought with us and were soon joined by a few others and their guide Cliffon Castle. Cliffon is certified to be able to dive from the top of the falls and gave us a great show by doing a back flip from the top of the falls into the pool below. It was amazing to watch. After relaxing at the falls for a while we made our way back, stopping under a Nutmeg tree as we waited for a small rain shower to pass. We met a local Rasta Farmer walking the road carrying a bunch of bananas on his head. I found and photographed a Torch Lily also called a Porcelain Rose. Our hike concluded back at the trailhead where we sat and talked with Cliffon and a couple of other locals about the area and showed them the footage we had taken at the falls. I will try to post it to You Tube when I have the bandwidth. It was a wonderful day in the hills of Grenada and we look forward to many more hikes and adventures with the Crew of DaniellStorey.
A walk with the Girls
July 11, 2010
Michelle (S/V Daniellstorey), Terry (S/V Sea Otter) , Wendy (S/V Julianna II), and I took a walk around the Woburn Loop. We wouldn’t normally walk the road during the week but being early on a Sunday morning we figured we were safe enough. As much as I enjoy the (little) walks with Michael it is fun to be able to walk and talk with women. Every woman and every story is so different. We made our way up into the hills and stopped at a local fruit and vegetable stand where Francis sold us bananas. I was impressed by the Low Tech but extremely effective soccer field maintenance crew who were busy trimming the grass and fertilizing to keep the field in tip top ready to play condition. We had a wonderful time and before we knew it we were back where we started. When we rode the same route on the local bus and pointed out, to our husbands, where we had walked…..we were amazed at how far we had gone. The way never seems far when walking beside new friends. Although Dave (S/V Daniellstorey) credits our gabbing for the time passing so quickly.
A Day with the Kids
July 10th
Today was the last day that the Mt. Airy Reading Program of was meeting before the local school children go on summer break. A number of cruisers volunteer their time on Saturday mornings to help some of these kids improve their reading, spelling and math. We did not arrive in Grenada in time to help last week but were able to volunteer this week. Many come from single parent, struggling families. The woman who directs the tutoring program is a caring, no nonsense person who you can see really wants these kids to succeed and make a better life for themselves via a healthy lifestyle and a good education. It turned out that because it was the last meeting of this school year, it was just a little bit of group reading and spelling, the kids watched a video of a recent field trip and then lots of games, foot races, football (soccer), and fun for everyone! We enjoyed spending time with these amazing young people. I turned a couple of girls loose with my point and shoot camera. Many of the pictures are theirs. I taught 9 year old Leona how to play checkers. I was told she was very bright and true to form, she soon had me backed into a corner, 3 kings to my 1 and won the game. I also joined in when it was time for the girl’s foot races. I don’t think the kids have had any of the visiting adults join them in their races as they were all laughing and yelling and encouraging me all the way to the finish line. I even got a big laugh and a hug from the Program Director herself. That or maybe I just looked the fool running around with the kids, either way we had a terrific time playing and getting to know the children. We look forward to seeing them all again in September!
Living the Dream 