Tag: Hiking

Cindy & Kerry’s Visit

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Crystal’s sister Cynthia and her wonderful boyfriend Kerry joined us at the end of February.    With their adventurous and outgoing personalities they explored the beautiful beaches of St. John & soon knew their way around the hotspots of Love City.  They  were on a first name basis with many of the locals within a few days.   Mike and I were able to get a couple of extra days off on a weekend so we all sailed over to the BVI’s, Jost Van Dyke to experience the local flavor of the infamous Foxy’s & the Soggy Dollar Bar.   We soaked up a little too much flavor that day and Cindy’s camara took the brunt of it when it, along with Cindy went for an unexpected salt water swim.     Back on St. John while Mike and I worked, Cindy and Kerry decided they would hitchhike out to Coral Bay and hike out to the battery where a cluster of old Dane cannon are lying on the ground amidst the stone walled ruins.   They were picked up by a wonderful long time local, Georgia Wells.   When she heard they were planning on hiking out to the battery,  she took them on a personal tour of the battery and the ruins of the soldiers quarters as well.    Mike and I planned on meeting them at Skinny Legs after work.  When we arrived we found Cindy , Kerry, Georgia and a number of our other friends all gathered around a large picnic table, enjoying a few drinks and swapping stories.    It was a wonderful visit.   Kerry was rarely seen without a huge smile.

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Passing Time with good friends!

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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!

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Island Time Trini Style

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We have spent the last couple of weeks enjoying the company of many friends new and old.  We spent one day out on foray find a new galley faucet as ours was leaking.  It took us most of the day and a couple of bus transfers but we were finally able to locate one that would work.   Many of our days are spent doing minor maintenance or cleaning on the boat before the heat of the day becomes unbearable.   We then pack up our computers and escape to the TTSA gazebo to check our e-mail and take a dip in the pool as the heat of the afternoon climbs.  We do not swim off of the boat here, as the anchorage is teeming with garbage and pollution being so close to the industrial port.   This does not seem to deter the locals as families are out in force every weekend fishing and swimming and picnicking along the shore of the anchorage.   One day as we were walking by we were invited to stop for a drink and some wonderful Indian Curried Duck by a local family celebrating a birthday.   Most local people we have met have been wonderful however their does exist a criminal element and we are forced to haul Mighty Mouse high up on the davits and lock it to the boat as thefts of dingies and motors, even locked,  is prolific and the criminals seem to operate with impunity even though we are within a stones throw from the Coast Guard Base.   Hauling Mighty Mouse  is not always an easy task as we have both been battling with a couple of minor muscle aches and pains, but by sharing the lifting and moving and with the help and advice from our friends we are on the mend.      We visited the dentist so our teeth are now clean and our smiles bright, no new dental surprises which was good to hear.    We have taken a couple of beautiful local walks and saw some amazing creatures.  We spotted Capuchin Monkeys leaping between the uppermost branches of the trees, dozens of different kinds of butterflies including the large Blue Morphos(which always remind me of the movie Pappion) ,   bats large and small, some hanging in abandoned Quonset huts and some who appeared to be hunting during the middle of the day under the shade of the canopy.    We also found a huge centipede, It was at least 12 inches long and brightly colored, the picture does not do it justice.   During the day we are serenaded by the sounds of birds, cicadas, and frogs and in the evenings by the sounds of the water and occasionally music from one of the local yacht clubs.   On weekends the musical competition really gets cranked up.  The cacophony of competing stereos on shore playing a mix of everything from, Indian Pop music, to Reggae, to Hip Hop, to Rap, all competing for the loudest music award.   Winner determined by who’s got the biggest sound system and where they have their car parked.   We have picked up a few new DVD’s to add to our collection of tradable Movies.  We have attended a number of potlucks and domino games, there are some really hard core domino players here.    Crystal’s Mom would find some serious competition in this group.   We had wrapped up most of what we wanted to do for the boat here in Trinidad and were thinking about heading back up to Grenada along with s/v Sanctuary.     I really wanted to see the Asa Wright Nature Center which is listed in the book “1000 places to see before you die”.    It is known for its array of brightly colored birds and photo ops but unfortunately it had been closed for the entire month of September for renovations.   Everyone we spoke with who had visited it said it was not to be missed.     I had brought up my desire to visit this place on numerous occasions but with our eminent departure scheduled and only 4 days before Asa Wright was due to reopen,  I finally put my flip flop down and asked one last time if we could possibly stay a few more days and visit the Centre.   Michael was very understanding and even though it is a bit of an undertaking to rent a car and find the place he told me that this was my trip too and we could delay our departure for a few more days so we could go.    DD’s rescuers, Carl and Carrie were very understanding as well and told us how much they enjoyed it.   They made their departure over to Grenada safely without us and we look forward to seeing them again in a week or so.

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Grenada

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July 3rd – July 9th

We have made it to Grenada.  This will be where we will spend much of the hurricane season.    We are anchored on the west side of Hog Island just off a little beach with a very rustic Tiki bar called Rogers’ Beach Bar.    We have been here now for a week and have met a wonderful community of cruisers from all over the world.   Grenada reminds me a little of Georgetown in the Bahamas.   There are lots of creative individuals who offer a variety of classes from Watercolor to jewelry making. There are also plenty of activities such as:  Potlucks, Movie Night,  Book & DVD Swaps, Shopping Trips, Wine Tasting, and Island Tours, that are organized by and for the cruisers on a regular basis.  There is a Cruisers Net that is broadcast on VHF Ch 68 M-Sat mornings at 7:30 am.  It’s provides general information, weather reports, businesses announcements,  addresses problems and questions, community events, and allows people to trade or sell their “Treasures of the Bilge”.   Clarks Court Marina, near Hog Island, has quite a few amenities available to cruisers and also offers a number of opportunities for the cruising community to get together, however their costs are a bit on the high side.   We attended a 4th of July BBQ there.   We have been busy orienting ourselves with the local back roads, i.e. getting lost.  We walked from Martins Marina in Hartman Bay over to Prickly Bay as the waves and currents were too rough to dingy over.  We attempted to follow the verbal instructions given to us by the security guard, which ended with his saying “You can’t miss it!”, but as always we confused our lefts and rights and our little walk turned into a major hike.   We covered a good 8 miles.  Half of which I carried a 20lb alternator in my backpack that we were taking to the repair shop.  But even getting lost has its advantages.  We meandered through numerous neighborhoods.    We met and talked with some delightful and kind people and as always made some new friends.  As we were wandering through one of the less affluent neighborhoods, we passed a small roadside stand and were engulfed in a delicious aroma.  It made us do a U turn as we were weak with hunger. (Dramatic Music Playing).   The sign outside the stand proclaimed “ORIGINAL Jamaican Jerk Chicken”.   We stepped up to the ramshackle counter and ordered up a portion to share.    It is pretty obvious that they don’t get a lot of tourist foot traffic in the area we were in.   The owner looked us over, paused… and said to us: “You know dis be Jerk Chicken?”  We said yes we knew Jerk Chicken and YES that IS what we wanted.   Our mouths and eyes watered as we enjoyed this wonderfully spicy, cooked to perfection delicacy.   He then was kind enough to put us back on the right, albeit not often traveled, trail back to the Marina where we started from.   The route he gave us took us through a Forest Preserve/ Dove Sanctuary.   We made our way along a dirt road that wound through the hills and down to the bay where our adventure had begun.    It was a lovely but brisk walk, Mike’s normal pace, as the mosquitoes are out in force right now, being the rainy season. (Note to self….always pack insect repellent for future short walks).   It was a welcome relief to climb back aboard Mighty Mouse and soak our dogs over the side of the boat as we made our way back to DD.

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