Photos of Christmas and a Large Walk in Bequia

Here is a shot of me visiting the sailboat 'Morgan', a 38 foot cat of the same make as ours. It's amazing what an extra 3 feet will give you. I got with Sharda to plan Christmas dinner while we were in Union Island. She had most taken care of, but I was able to add salad and veggies. She had turkey, dressing, gravey, mashed potatoes and even cranberry sauce! For dessert she pulled out a rum fruit cake made by her mother in Trinidad!




Below is Sharda and Dave. She is from Trinidad and he is from Oregon. They live year round onboard and have done extensive sailing in the Western Caribbean. She's a smart cookie and Laurie thinks that she looks great too...


On our way to Bequia, this beautiful boat followed us for part of the way. What form!


This is a common site here in Bequia. It's a busy place where many wish to be!!


Wendy and Doug from "Nahanni River" and Linda from "July Indian" joined us for a 2 hour hike up the mountain to the other side of Bequia. Apparently, the island has a contest for the best Christmas decorations. How do you like this one with the whale and boat and beautiful tree?


We stopped into a Whaling Museum (and I use the term museum lightly). This gentleman told us the history of whaling here and how it's still done today. His dialect was very strong, but we got much information from him.



Here is another one of these great chairs that our friend Ron can copy and produce!

Check out Doug and Laurie posing in front of this 'so called' cultural garden located on the edge of a cliff and spinkled heavily with broken beer bottles!


Another great example of signage around the island!


Towards the end of the walk, we ended up in a little fishing community. We didn't buy any fish because of the hot hour walk back to the boat.

People who live here work on the fish.




When we arrived back in Admiralty Bay where are boats are anchored, we stopped at our favourite Roti place and all had cold beers and conch rotis! Well deserved!!
This is Wendy and Doug. They bought their boat in St. Vincent in May and had never sailed a day in their lives before. They sold everything and are now adjusting to life in a boat. They own a beautiful 40 foot Leopard Catamaran.


Here is Linda from 'July Indian'. We met Linda and Garry in May in this same spot! Garry didn't walk with us as he was working on wifi troubles onboard.


For the hour I've been working on this blog, Laurie has been hard at work repairing our sliding door and cleaning out the track and greasing it up. We have been running the watermaker for the last hour and a half and are thinking it might be time for a swim before lunch. The reef just off the starbord side of the boat is pretty special and I have found 3 queen angelfish, 1 french angel fish, a big moray eel and lots of the common little fish.

We have New Year's Eve planned with "Nahanni River" and "July Indian". We'll be eating out at Mac's Pizzaria and then walking along the waterfront to enjoy music and a few bars. At midnight they do fireworks here in the bay which we'll watch from the boat.

Sweet Bequia

Laurie and I left Union Island yesterday and expected a 7 hour sail to Bequia. We made it in only 4 1/2 hours because the wind was in the exact right direction and just the right strength. We only shipped a little water and were anchored by 2:00 pm. You don't get many better sailing days than yesterday!

We will stay here in Bequia until Lorna and Brian arrive on January 12th. We'll sail the short hop to St. Vincent, get them on board and sail right back here the next day. Their vacation will be spent here in the Grenadines where we'll enjoy this place, the Tobago Cays, Union Island and Mayreau (Salt Whistle Bay). When they leave, we'll do the same spectacular islands with Walter and Dana coming from Boston. They own the boat "Madness" which is unfortunately on the hard up in Boston at the present time!

Laurie has decided that he does a better job than I do on washing sheets, so I have sadly given up this job and he is out in the cockpit right now with the sheets in a bucket, and a plunger in his hand agitating the load every few minutes. He has a book in the other hand for the time between agitations! I am enjoying watching it all happen!

The next time we blog, we'll get a few photos in for you! We are still subscribing to "Hot Hot Hot" internet service and are able to use the Internet without difficulty, so it's a good day!! On January 7th, I'll renew it for another month. It's only available in certain islands, so here and Union Island we'll be surfin' so to speak!

Cheers to all!

Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum

Away in a Manger, Caribbean style!!! Look closely and you'll see the dog. I think her name is Mary...or something like that.

We’re in Clifton Harbour, Union Island. The friends who intended to meet us here for Christmas, Sue and Morris and their 21 year old son Stewart aboard “Strider”, contacted us and said they couldn’t make it. They are back in Trellis Bay, Carriacou, and Stewart is suffering from a kidney stone.

This is just off the back of our boat today. The airport is in the background. This will be of special interest to kite surfer Walter who is visiting us next month with Dana, his wife.

We’re taking it easy here. Cat Tales is cuddled up to the back of a reef that is blocking the real Atlantic waves, but not the wonderful breeze. We’re reading, doing odd chores, and not much else. Dawn has the boat so well stocked that we can’t even give the locals any business. We have great internet, albeit we paid for it – Dawn is not a pirate today!

Anyway, the poem we borrowed and posted yesterday kind of inspired me, so I wrote one myself today:

Ho Ho Ho an a bottle o’ rum
Santa he in da Caribbean
Dat jolly guy wif da big red threads
Thick black boots an a hat on his head
(Da man gonna sweat til he frikkin dead)

We got no socks, got no mantle
But we got all de rum dat we can handle
Got no 'nog, but lots a punch
Takes nutmeg too, an' good for lunch

Supper gonna be wine an cheese
No turkey, no ham, holy jeeze
But don' need much, we move so slow
But have good times wif HOHOHO

We miss old friends an da visitin'
But we's lymin wif boaters an' no grievin'
Thanks for all the nice emails,
Merry Christmas to all from da Cat Tales
- by Laurie


The beach in the background is Sandy Island where we spent 3 days.


Sunset off the back of our boat at Sandy Island


This is a sign we saw on a building on our walk this morning! Many more of these around.


Also seen on our walk today was this unique building.

Merry Christmas all!

Cruiser Claus

T’was the night before Christmas, I swung on the hook
Flaked out on the settee, asleep with my book
When up on the deck I heard footsteps and stuff
“I’ve been boarded!” I thought, and I tried to be tough.

Then down the companionway hatch came a dude,
He was dressed like a nut and I thought, “I’m so screwed”.
But he laughed and he hummed as he surveyed my junk,
So I figured he must be the resident drunk.

His eyes were lit up like a junkie on speed
But he gave me a whole bunch of stuff that I need
Like rum and limes and new charts and a dinghy
And some kind of fancy electrical thingy.

I thought it was stolen but I wasn’t telling.
I hoped he was giving and wasn’t just selling,
And I poured him a grog which he downed with a wink.
Then I poured one for me (I sure needed a drink!).

Then he staggered above to the dark tropic night;
As I peeked I beheld an incredible sight –
Eight smiling dolphins and a beautiful sleigh
And the dude hopped aboard and prepared to make way.

The dolphins were ready to power the sled
But the guy raised a genny and mains’l instead.
With a burp and a chuckle he gathered the breeze
And called to the dolphins, now swimming with ease:

“On Fatty and Foxy and Old Barracuda!
On Teva and Mount Gay, Antigua, Barbuda:
Or Whatever your names are, you cute little fishes,
Here’s to every last sailor, my best Christmas wishes!”

As he sailed away leaving a wobbly wake
I hoped he had not many stops left to make.
He got close to shore and he soon was aground,
But the dolphins proceeded to pull him around

And I heard him exclaim as he sailed out of sight:
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!”
---Author Unkown

Hope you enjoyed this poem!
We have safely arrived in Union Island which is part of the Grenadines. Crystal clear water, and lots of boat boys selling anything from lobster to home made bread!!

Biking this Mountainous Island

Well, the bike ride around Carricou, was gruelling to say the least. Laurie was convinced that it was the way to see the island, but I knew that in this heat and humidity, it wouldn’t necessarily be a pleasant ride. We picked up the bikes at 9:30 yesterday and dropped them off 4 hours later after pushing the bikes up the steep hills and hanging on for dear life coming down the other sides! I am sore all over and at many times felt that if my heart could handle the stress I was giving it, it could take just about anything!

Along the way, as I was taking a picture of Grenada in the distance, a man came out from behind a little house, introduced himself as John Paul and asked us if we were in a boat in Tyrell Bay. After telling him we were, he asks, “What’s the name of your boat?”

“Cat Tales”, we reply.
“Do you have skype on board captain?”
“Why, yes we do…why do you ask?”
“I’ll row out to see you tonight and call my sister in the United States”
“Our connection isn’t very good and we haven’t been able to skype in the bay” I told him, trying to discourage his visit.
“No problem, you can get it, everyone does! See you tonight.”

Unfortunately for John Paul, we were out to dinner ashore last evening and if he dropped by, there was nobody home. Another sailor in the restaurant told us that John Paul sells nasty oysters from his row boat and very often comes aboard to use someone’s computer to make a call!

This is John Paul's house with Grenada in the background. What a view!

This young man was flying this great little kite that he made himself. These people need very little and are extremely resourceful!



This is the island of Petit St. Vincent and Petit Martinique in the background.
We’ll be moving today to Sandy Island, a uninhabited teeny island which is only a walk away on foot. We love it there because of the snorkelling and absolute peace and quiet. Unfortunately, we won’t be picking up Internet there and so won’t be updating this blog until Tuesday or Wednesday next week when we head to Union Island. We have decided to have Christmas dinner with “Strider” (Sue, Maurice and son Stewart) on Union Island before heading up to Bequia.

Paradise Beach, Carricou

We made he 7 hour sail yesterday from Grenada up to Carricou. It should have taken only 5 hours, however, the wind was shifty, on the nose and Laurie admits that he wasn't very sharp about his sailing tactics. We're looking for better time next time out.

Another Canadian boat, "Strider" was along with us and today we enjoyed Sue's company while her husband Maurice and son, Stewart were on the boat studying up for their diving certification. This is day one out of 5 for their studies and we were happy to grab Sue and escape to do a bit of a hike over to Paradise Beach for lunch. We were there in the spring and met the owner of "Off the Hook", Curtis and his mother Dolly. Dolly owns an extra house up the hill that she rents out for 65.00 US dollars a day. It's 2 bedroom with all the amenities of a home and only steps away from one of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen.



I was taking this picture, so this is Sue and Laurie


Now, don't you think this chair would look nice on our deck at home?



These Cruise ships were in St. George's Grenada. The third ship further out doesn't fit on the docks. It's the Queen Mary II!!


This is a section of the Grenada Hospital. Notice that the nurses wear hats. They all wear regulation shoes and uniforms too. Very professional!


Fresh fruit and vegetables are always a problem here. We didn't buy this broccoli, instead we threw it back!

Tomorrow, Laurie and I will rent bicycles and tour this small island. Hopefully, I'll have some pictures to share!

I'm picking up my wifi today from the local dive shop...hope they don't mind! :)
Well, it's after 4:00 on Thursday afternoon and it's time for our end of day swim and cleanup before we head over to visit the crew on "Strider" at 5:00 for wings and sun downers. We'll stay for a couple of hours and get to bed early tonight!

Moved to St. Georges

Hi everyone,
We picked up our anchor yesterday and were very surprised to find our chain and lines were coated with growth. I tried to use my long handled scrub brush to clean it all off as it came out of the water, but it was slimy and stinky, covering both of us before it was all finished. A Canadian couple came along in their dinghy to meet us and asked how long we'd been in this location to grow such crud. When we said that we'd been there for only 2 weeks, we all realized how full of life the bay was. This is not usually a good thing, since much of it could be from septic systems!!! Yuck!

It took only a couple hours to get around the southern tip of the island and up to St. Georges. We're now anchored in water where we can see straight to the bottom! Ahhhh, lovely! This is a busy harbour too, however, so just because you can see to the bottom, doesn't guarantee anything, but physiologically it helps!

We have entered a position report today, so if you have a moment, you can click on it and type in Laurie's ham sign: ve9rum and see just where we are.

We're heading into the mall today to pick up some rum for the season at the duty free spot. We were there about a week ago and the gentleman told us he couldn't care how much we bought. If we'd buy 4 cases, he'd even deliver! That amount isn't in the cards, so we'll carry our back packs and walk the 15 minutes and then schlep it back to the boat.

No photos today as we're picking up a teeny signal from a hotel on shore, just enough to use our Ham Radio email program to put up this entry. It's nice of bloggspot.com to have the ability to email our entries, otherwise we wouldn't get this up at all today!

take care,

Dawn

Saturday - a trip to the museum in St. Georges

It is Saturday morning, and Dawn has left for her last tutoring session. She loves and hates it. With so many crowd-control strategies picked up over her career, sitting in a room of mass confusion and keeping her mouth shut must be rather frustrating. I think she’d rather be the one in control. She says that it's about an hour too long (3 hours total) and the kids have mentally shut down. Anyway, the weblog chore is mine for today. When Dawn comes home, she can add photos and a few comments, so it will be a team effort.

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!

Wind Generator

It is Wednesday, and we’re fixing stuff and doing chores this morning, as we do almost every day. Sunday, I did some fibreglassing to a bulkhead in the anchor locker, then followed that with some gelcoating overtop, and went around touching up gelcoat chips all over the boat. I found that the casting that makes up the steps on the stern of the port hull was detaching at the top, so that was yesterday’s fix. It had been cleaned, dried, pumped full of 3M 4000 calking, and has 3 jugs of diesel weighting it down – looks kind of funny to passers-by.

For months now, the wind generator has had a nasty vibration in it and we have been trying to figure out what has been wrong with it. Upon close inspection this morning, I discovered that a tip of one of the blades had sheered off. I fixed it this morning by hacksawing off the other two blade tips, making them all the same length. We must have broken it last year some time. Dawn has just done some laundry in a bucket – rinsing out the sweat from past hikes. We made water and chilled the cold plate in the fridge.

Not all work, however. Each day we swim, and some days we hike. Last night, we had some other boaters aboard for drinks and snacks – Denis and Arlene, a Canadian couple aboard Tiger Lily II. We’ve known them from 2004-2005 down here, meeting them initially on the ham radio, Mississauga Maritime Net.

We are just about to leave for a walk and to try a Chinese restaurant nearby. We found a lime tree over in that direction and Dawn wants to steal some more limes for our happy hour. Before that, here are a couple of photos that Dawn has taken and commented on:

This is a view from the front of the boat since we arrived 2 weeks ago.


Our view to the north of Prickly Bay, Grenada.


This large catamaran arrived beside us this morning. Laurie always watches these big cats with envy!

About once a day the heavens open up and torrential rains pour down. Within minutes, the sun is back out and everything is steamy hot. This shot was taken at a restaurant Da Big Fish where we were already tucked inside watching these poor people arrive. After they came into the restaurant, the men took off their shirts, squeezed them out and sat down and ordered up cold beers. Their female friends disappeared into the washrooms where they did the same! Fresh water can only improve one's appearance around here, so no worries...

Tutoring up in the mountains

Inside our boat this Monday morning, it's 35 degrees and humid. The wind is blowing lightly and there's barely a cloud in the sky. We enjoyed poached eggs on toast, which is different from our usual home made yogurt mixed with cereal and bananas. After breakfast, I had a nice talk with my mom on skype. We've signed up and are paying for REAL internet in the bay which also allow us to add photos to our blog enteries.

Over the past 2 Saturdays, I've had the pleasure of joining a group of cruisers as they bus up to a community center and work on academic skills with a large group of children from the ages of 5 to 16. I was very fortunate that Westley picked me out of the crowd last week as he was a joy to work with. Although he is in grade 5, his reading skills are around the grade 2 level. That didn't matter, he worked hard and enjoyed his time and picked me again this past Saturday. We enjoyed the company of one of his friends, Rayskin and occassionally Rayskin's little brother. Rayskin was very bright and eager. This week's assignment had little to do with reading, although there was a bit of writing involved. They were asked to make a Christmas card for someone in their family. My boys didn't really want to do much writing, but eventually ended up with something they could give to their loved ones. The leader of the group, a local named Jeanne passed out construction paper, sparkles, scissors, and only ONE large bottle of glue which was problematic.

Check out the liquor bottles in the background here at circle prayer time!

As with any group anywhere in the world, the bell curve is well filled out. You get the brilliant bright eyed kids who absorb information and pick up skills like a sponge, then you get the middle of the road average kids and then you get the low end, some who really don't want to do anything academic and would rather run, punch, hit, scream and so on. The lack of control of these children left me cringing at many times as I am used to running a tight ship and enjoy FULL control. After cards were finished, expensive paper was made into paper airplanes and the bad ones chased them right over and into those of us who were still trying to work. Westley has a very strong dialect requiring me to listen very carefully to what he's telling me, but I couldn't even hear myself let alone him.

Here's Westley. What a cutie!
After we finished making cards, my little boys and I made boxes to put Christmas presents in. It's one of the crafts I always did in December with my class. Many of the brighter gals stopped by to see how they were being made and quickly made their boxes too!

So, I have one more Saturday coming with this group, which happens to be their Christmas party complete with the cruisers bringing food. Heaven help us!

It's funny how many of the tutors got off the bus at "Da Big Fish" and rather than dinghy directly back to their boats sat and sipped a cold beer while debriefing over their morning experience!

The good experiences have me missing my old job as a grade 3 teacher, but the lack of control and the behaviour of the students made me very happy of my decision to leave work early and sit on my boat reading a quiet book!

This afternoon, Laurie and I will catch the bus into St. Georges and spend time in the mall. Laurie needs a few items in the hardware store and I just want to wander around window shopping in air conditioning comfort and having lunch at the food court! When we leave this island of Grenada, we'll be heading to islands in the Grenadines with very little in the way of shops, groceries etc., so we will be doing a final stock-up before leaving here next week.

Grenada

Hi Folks,
I have finally put up a position report. You will find the link on this page and it when you click on it and type in ve9rum (Laurie's ham radio call sign) it should take you to a map that will show where we are presently located. Laurie says sorry for the delay, Claire!

We've had a couple of busy days here. We took the bus into the capital city to get a SIM card for my phone. That's all taken care of now, so if we need to make a call, we'll have the ability. Laurie spent all day yesterday trouble shooting one of the starters for an engine and he thinks he has it solved. It's always been a sporadic problem, so just because the engine is starting fine now, it doesn't mean it will continue to do so.

This morning, I was able to have a long talk with mom using Skype and the reception was amazingly clear. We talked for 15 minutes and I got caught up on all the happenings at home. My dad isn't well, so it's important for us to keep up to date as we feel a bit disconnected down here.

Congratulations Kendra (my niece) and her new finance Steve! No solid date yet, but that will come. We're very happy for you!!!

The other day we met up with our old friend Mike Campbell from the boat Loreley. We met him up in Union Island back in the spring of 2005 and then again in Trinidad that fall. He taught Laurie how to fish at dusk from his dinghy and we're hoping for more lessons in the next few weeks. Mike has lived alone on his boat with his 2 dogs and cats for over 20 years. Both the dogs are new to us, but the cat is the same one we met a few years back. He has no need to lock his boat with his guard dogs onboard!

Laurie and I are having Gene and Susea from "Moody Blues" over for sundowners and a movie tonight. Four around a laptop isn't the best; however, it's a concert we're watching, so it shouldn't be too bad!

The weather here is hot, hot, hot. As soon as the sun appears, it climbs into the 30's right away. There's a nice breeze though here in Prickly Bay and lots of cool water to jump in to.

All for now,
Dawn

Prickly Bay, Grenada

Sorry for the delay.

Dawn and I had a quiet time on Friday. After clearing in through Customs and Immigration in Prickly Bay - the kindest, nicest C&I people and processes we've been subjected to in our travels - we had our "anchor beer". Yes, a little early in the day for us, but we deserved it. The crossing was over 16 hours of square waves, and after a while, you just get brutally tired of hanging on. My neck may be a week before it feels better - yeah, this is Laurie, the one with the big head (filled with inertia?)

Trying to sleep in a boat in the afternoon down here is also a difficult chore, but I did it. I was a snoring ball of sweat. Dawn tried, but couldn't do it. We did both catch up overnight, and Saturday found us feeling fine.

We've made contact with three boats from the past: Mike Campbell from Loreley, who was so helpful in Trinidad in 2005, when Dawn broke her ribs, called us when he heard us on the radio, still an hour out. We'll enjoy spending time with him, but he is in another bay right now. Susea and Jean from Moody Blues came over after we had napped, and Susea talked Dawn into being a volunteer reading tutor on Saturday, for the local youngsters. They took off at 9:00, and they met up with Linda from July Indian, a friend we had made in Bequia last year.

Dawn had a fulfilling time during the tutoring session, apparently impressing the formal teacher in the way she affected a struggling grade 5 boy named Westley. In the meantime, I had finally found my Leatherman, and had spent the morning and early afternoon on numerous chores. We had a mid-day lunch, a lovely swim, and enjoyed happy-hour drinks with Linda and her husband Gary, and Susea and Jean at a bar called "De Big Fish".

Today, it is 9:30; and we're planning to join Susea and Jean on a hike over to Mount Hartman Bay and back before trying to recommission the watermaker, with it's new reverse osmosis filter. Except for the watermaker, all systems appear to be working fabulously.

Email is working fine, so feel free to send us your news.

We're in the water

Wednesday 5:00 pm

This was a hectic morning. We did a load of laundry and then I headed up to the office to pay up and get my pass for the crew to put Cat Tales back in the water for 1:00 pm. After all the paperwork was completed, one of the gals asked if we'd mind going in at 10:00 instead of 1:00. I politely said that it wouldn't be a problem and left the building. I then broke out into a run to the boat and told Laurie that we had to step it up and get things organized for our new splash time. I had to hang wet laundry all over the boat, take the covers from the windows and wash them, take the little tent affair off and coil the hose and electrical cords. Laurie decided that he NEEDED something at the store and left me alone with the list! He arrived back and started assembling the piece of material he bought to make a splash plate under the step...something we've been meaning to do for a few years, but I just didn't expect him to get the job done only minutes before they boys arrived.

Everything went fine and we're now out in this dirty harbour sweating in the dropping sun. Laurie and I are going to go back to Peake's tonight for a shower, then we'll walk to the next marina and have dinner. Once the sun goes down, the temperature outside is beautiful. No sweaters necessary whatsoever! Tomorrow, we'll visit customs and they can decide when we leave and how much trouble they want to put us through. There's so much paperwork done here, it's crazy. I'm not getting Internet out here in the bay and may have to send this tomorrow.

35 degrees inside the boat
air conditioner packed away
Chagauramas
Trinidad

The Do-List Dwindles

Our do-list was a mile long when we arrived here only 6 days ago and now we're down to only 2 items left. It felt great to clean up the dinghy and get it up on the davits complete with outboard motor that Laurie serviced and tested yesterday. This morning, I cranked Laurie up the mast for an inspection of the mast head light and the antennas. While he was there, check out the photos he got of this place (Peake's at Chagaramas). He even took one of himself, which I think he learned from our neice Kendra! Laurie knows to be extra polite to me when I get him up the mast, or he'll be stuck up there until I decide to let him down.


You can see the large tent affair I made a few years back. It was always too windy to use it successfully in windy anchorages, but it is doing the trick here. It's much easier to keep the boat cool with the extra shade and the boat stays drier in the torrenial rains they seem to happen several times a day.


This is the same boat lift that will put Cat Tales back in the water on Wednesday.





We went to dinner with the German couple rom the boat Aphrodite on two separate nights. Hopefully we'll see them somewhere up the island chain. Their boat has been put back into the water today, so they've left the boatyard! The other day, Cordula offered me a drive to the huge grocery store in her rental car. I gladly accepted and filled a cart with anything I might need over the next few months. The prices here aren't perfect, but they're the lowest we can expect from here on up the islands. My bill was in Trinidad and Tobago dollars and came to over $1800.00. We divide by 5 to get a close figure in Canadian dollars. Laurie and I will catch the bus tomorrow and finish off our grocery list. Sadly, it will be by bus and back packs and rolling carts in the excessive heat!

Apparently the Queen is coming here to visit us at the end of the week. We have no idea how much this will change routine and interfere with business around here. They have hired extra coast guards to harrass us and the helicopters have been flying over head today.