Last night, we traveled by bus with two other couples back into St. George’s to watch a performance at the museum. Due to a miscommunication on the bus, we were tossed out near the top of the hill in the middle of the oldest part of town, pretty much at rush hour. As such, we had to walk back down these narrow streets to the Carenage. The buildings and streets date back to the Napoleonic Wars and the age of pirates and privateers, and are densely packed up the steep hills that surround the Carenage.
For those that may not know it, a carenage is a location suitable for tilting a seagoing vessel over on its side to scrape and repair the bottom. This Carenage is a tight U shaped pond, 1/8th of a mile wide and 1/4th of a mile deep, protected from the sea even at the opening. It has a road all along it, with the original building all around that used to serve the port. The Fort stands at the top of the hill at the opening to the sea, along the southeast corner of the Carenage.
When we weren’t jumping to avoid being run over or to avoid a dangerous concrete ditch, we were marveling at the old masonry structures prevalent in the old City. Besides the massive fort, there are the remains of three old churches along the ridge. One has finally gotten back the roof that Hurricane Ivan removed in 2004. A second, an Anglican church, has the spire, entrance, walls, beautiful coloured glass windows; but no roof nor interior. Its difficult to say what happened besides the passage of time. In front stands a billboard, almost as decrepit as the church, announcing the restoration project, and where to send donations. The third is simply the massive spire with castle-like walls and a glorious entrance. The rest of that church is non-existent. It is an enticing city to explore, especially as the light begins to fade. Linda of “July Indian” said it reminds one of the French Quarter in New Orleans, and she’s right. Some buildings, the museum included, even have overhanging balconies of steel and cast iron.
This is a photo of Garry and Linda from "July Indian". They are from Port Stanley in Ontario.
Laurie and Garry waiting for the rest of us to catch up. Interesting wall don't you think?
As for the entertainment at the old museum, the headliner didn’t show, and instead the staff did their best to entertain us and to make us entertain ourselves. Drums and other instruments were passed out, and we attempted our own version of a “Parang”. A parang is an event typically involving a make-up band with any and many types of instruments for accompanying Christmas music. They often travel around at night to serenade people who would rather stay in bed, apparently. We stayed put, and frankly, the music wasn’t to my liking. The rest didn’t mind it. I stayed primarily because a museum that serves cold beer can’t be all bad. We bussed back to our own bay, and ate supper at a local restaurant (De Big Fish), with good food and reasonably priced refreshments.
Hi, Dawn here...when I arrived home this afternoon, Ihad these pictures of the Christmas party to share:
This is Susea from "Moody Blues". Susea is a photographer and after taking a group photo, printed off a copy for each child and gave them to each one personally inside a Christmas card. The kids were very appreciative and hung onto those for the whole 3 hours we were there! It was a crazy morning, but all in all, very rewarding. It was a good kind of noise with very happy children eating, playing games opening presents and eating icecream!
Last but not least, here is a photo of our lime find the other day. Many were fallen from the tree, however, some were asking to be picked!
We are intending to move the boat tomorrow around to the mouth of St. George’s Harbour. We’ll finish provisioning, do some fishing, hike around the city a little more, then catch a reasonable weather window for a daysail to Carriacou on Wednesday or Thursday. We’ll likely not get great Internet there, so this may be the end of the photos for awhile!
