Merry Christmas from Grenada



Lynn Preparing for "Drinks in the Drink"

Cooling off at Seven Sister Falls

    What a season it is. Warm, windy, no snow of course but it is tough to believe it is Christmas after all those northern winters. But the beauty of it this year is that both our daughters have been here for a visit.

Hannah & Cameron above the Caranage

Touring Grenada Distilleries

     Hannah arrived a week ago Friday with her partner Cameron. He is a brave man traveling 1000 miles to not just meet the parents, but to stay on a sailing boat with them for a week. OK, he made a couple points with me right there, but in the end he is a nice man. Fun, confident, adventurous, kind, well read…maybe even a little quirky like the rest of us. Certainly a good fit. We spent the week hiking, swimming, sightseeing and in the evenings cooking and tasting various rums and spicing combinations.

X-Mass Eve Dinner

    Amanda arrived the night before Hannah and Cameron left allowing us one night of full family togetherness. Very fun as all the catching up, storytelling, eating, and rum tasting went late into the night.  Next day was pretty much naps all round. Since then we have been out doing much of the same with Amanda. Last night the three of us spent x-mass eve at Da Big Fish with traditional x-mass food, great friends Chris and Anne (Mr Mac), and excellent entertainment from guitarist/singer Baracuda.

    Today the cinnamon rolls baking, for dinner later we plan roasted chicken, potatoes, beets and a wonderful sticky toffee pudding made by Anne.

Happy Birthday Amanda

    Meanwhile…the rolls are done and out of the oven while I edited a couple photos so one more here of Amanda blowing out candles on her “Birthday” Breakfast Rolls.

Grenada For a Week

    Same theme right? But this time the plan is for more than a week. Hannah (and her boyfriend) are due to arrive a week from tomorrow and Amanda the following Wednesday. We are so excited! Meanwhile doing a few boat projects in preparation. and loving Grenada. With the exception of the occasional “Camp” atmosphere among cruisers and a couple camp “Councilors Gone Wild” it is nearly as great as Trinidad. BTW: Anyone who has been here for a week or so knows exactly what I mean by Camp & Councilors comment. Nuff said to use an old friend’s quote.

Some of the boats near the Fish Market

Lynn loves all the color

Preped and ready

    This week’s project, ah varnish. Oh how I love the beauty and texture of wood on a boat. It just belongs there instead of all the synthetics today. But it also needs a lot of love if it is to stay beautiful. While we are on the fast track in this sun to a natural gray finish for the toe rails, we’re still keeping all of our cockpit varnish. 

Radar and GPS leads all taped out of the way

One coat down, ??? more to go

A day of prep, a day of rain, a day of varnish. Frankly, I’m not very good at it, but a friend of ours, one of the word working “masters” provided some council after watching my struggle. Dennis bolstered my confidence by stating “Don’t worry, only the last coat counts”, after which he dashed my enthusiasm by also proclaiming that “when it’s on a sailboat; it’s NEVER the last coat.”  Tomorrow we’ll try another pass.

Trinadad for a Week

    We left Grenada one evening on a good wind for Trinidad. The plan was to come in, say hello to our friends Chris and Anne of Mr Mac, refuel, re-provision, and head back north. Maybe for Tobago, maybe Barbados, or maybe back to Grenada or Bequia, a week or maybe two at the most. Well here we are…still in Trinidad. Yes we have refueled and bought all the provisions the checkbook will stand….but there is just so much more.

Cathedral of Rum (aging)

    For starters, the country is beautiful. The topography, the people, the culture, the city, and the rainforest all are worth the visit. After all that the availability of resources here is clearly the top of the Caribbean. On a search of downtown Port of Spain Lynn and some friend found the textile district, blocks of stores with every type, color and weave of fabric one can imagine. So after an extensive list we have aboard one very large roll of Sunbrella canvas for making a set of dingy chaps and redoing some of our shade awnings. She also picked out new upholstery material for what will eventually become new cushions in the saloon. And one of the best finds was some inexpensive netting for bug screens on our opening side hatches. Oh and have I mentioned the food? Fabulous spicy mix of Indian, European, South American, and Island cultures. Doesn’t matter if it’s the street fare (Doubles at $3tt-4tt each, two of which make a meal) or a meal out (lunch today as much as we could eat was $72tt) it is done right. A bit adventurous at times, lots of eating sticky, juicy foods with fingers but nothing a bit of water and a couple napkins won’t take care of. By the way the exchange rate is $6.37tt to the US dollar so yes that was lunch for two at less than $11.50.   

Pan Under Construction

Pan Making Tools

 We have found time for a visit to the Pan (Steel Drum) factory, the Caroni Swamp, and toured the local rum distillery, but of course that IS a requirement for any Caribbean island.

Caroni Swamp

Mandatory post-tour Tasting

One From the Relic Collection

    One of our highlights was an overnight trip to the Asa Wright wildlife Sanctuary. After a trip up the mountain valley to the old plantation house, now sanctuary headquarters, we got cabin assignments, a great meal, and then a night hike to see the creatures of the evening. Morning dawned with us gathered on the balcony of the main building, looking over the rain forest, coffee  in hand watching as thousands of birds began feeding at sunrise within unaided view. Hummingbirds to Tucans, with many other birds we haven’t even seen in zoos.

Balcony at Asa Wright

The real birders were carefully making drawings, taking notes, squinting through binoculars, whipping through reference books, checking off their lists, and at the end of the day counting up the number of new “sightings” Me; I sat with my coffee while the Hummingbirds flashed over every single flower on the bush followed by another, then another right over the rail next my stool. I simply enjoyed their flight, their speed, their grace; wondered at the strength to weight ratio they must surely have and enjoyed the quiet of the sunrise. Took no notes, made no drawings, and carried no reference books. I did think about Dick and Edie (Lynn’s parents) and contemplated how much they would enjoy a trip to this sanctuary. After breakfast, sans bacon to Lynn’s chagrin, we were led on an extended walk where a local expert pointed out the various bird rituals and locations, even a few that sat camouflaged perfectly for their surroundings, would have been missed without a guide pointing the way.

Divali Meal

    Another highlight outing was the Divali Celebration. This Hindu tradition is a Festival of Lights celebrated on the darkest night between mid October and Mid November. As I understand it the festival is to ward off the evil in life while celebrating the good. With no moon the street was lined with racks made from split bamboo, then covered with lights made of small clay pots, rolled cotton wicks, and filled with coconut oil. We visited a Indian Temple, listened to traditional music, ate fabulous food…curries of pumpkin, mango, black eyed peas, and flat bread and much more, all off fresh banana leaves, no silverware, no meat, and no alcohol. 

Street Lighting with Bamboo and Coconut oil

We walked the streets after filling our stomachs to find another tradition to be gifts of sweets handed to passersby from local families. We had been warned to graciously accept as this is the tradition, no compensation, no return gifts. So we nibbled until we could no more, then subtly slid the small bundles into pockets, purses, hats as we enjoyed the beautiful Indian dress of men and women walking the streets, sitting in front of their homes taking in the festival.

   All that just to let you know we are still in Trinidad and have not really fallen off the edge of the earth. Yes a look at the dates between updates explains why we’ve received emails inquiring whether we had. There has simply been too much, time going too fast, both work and play, so we have been remiss. Besides, we have been heading out weekends to an Island not far from here called Chacachacare. Calm, quiet, peaceful anchorage, and unlike near the industrial centers… dark. Saturday night we lay on the deck with our “his” and “hers” binoculars looking at Saturn. With the night dark and the air clear after a long rain we could literally see the rings and count the moons with our 7X binos. Too cool. We’ll be heading out of here soon…probably…maybe.

Just a quick video I shot as we came into Trinidad.  It'll give you an idea of the terraine. Too bad it can't give you a feel for the himidity.  WOW. It's actually nice and cool when it rains or is cloudy, but the second the sun comes out and hits all that moisture in the air: instant steam sauna. 
Right now, I'm sitting under the picnic shelter, next to the bar at TTSA, watching the daily deluge, moving occasionally to stay out of the drips. 
The shopping bus just returned and disgorged a dozen other cruisers and all their mornings packages and groceries.  They've all crowded under the picnic area and now my quiet is filled with chatter in several different languages.  Trinidad is a mecca for cruisers from around the world. At last night's potluck we met cruisers from Switzerland, South Africa, New York, New Zealand and England.  Since we're below the hurricane belt, cruisers come here to spend the season, haul their boats and have work done in one of the 12 or so boat yards. Pretty much anything that needs to be found/repaired/replaced or fabricated for a boat can be done here.  And done in wood or fibreglass or metal.  We (meaning Steve) have an extensive list and have to sit down and see what we really need to do or have made while we're here.  I'd just like to find some mahogany to make a new set of companionway stairs, our 'temporary' set is almost 3 years old.
The video wouldn't upload, I'll try again tomorrow.

Trinidad!

No photos today, I forgot the cord to attach the camera to the computer.  We got into Trinidad after a beautiful, overnight, full moon sail from Grenada.  After a quick check in with Immigration and Customs, we made our way around to the Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association.  TTSA has a large mooring field and anchorage.  We chose to anchor so that we can swing with the wind and keep the boat a little cooler.  The moored boats are moored bow and stern so they can be packed in pretty tightly and there is no swinging going on.  The sun here is brutaly hot, so any breeze is welcome. 
Generally when we get into a new country we spend the first few days getting to know our way around and checking out the buses and grocery stores.  Here in Chaguaramas, the first thing to do was get our mail sent from Florida.  It seems that debit cards have expiration dates and that cash machines give their version of a belly laugh when you try to use one that's expired!  Who knew??  Anyway, we pooled our available Euros, EC, $$ and TT and are making due until the mail comes, sometime next week, we hope.  (We've had friends offer to loan us money until our card comes, but we think that if we have to suffer a little now, we may remember to check the dates in the future. (insert another belly laugh here.))
We have lots of friends here, we're all still waiting out the hurricane season and we're looking forward to catching up with them and also meeting all our new neighbors here st TTSA.  There are several tours planned, one of which is called "A Taste of Trini", an all day trip where we get to eat our way around the island.  Can't wait for that one.

Random Stuff

    Sometimes there just isn’t a fitting title for the random thoughts that roll around in my head. I know many of you won’t be surprised by that. Even Lynn wonders how I get from one train of thought to another so quickly. Most I don’t share but they are all connected somehow. I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

What’s with the lights? Yes it gets dark here like just about everywhere else. Some boats stubbornly refuse to use lights at anchor or anywhere else. Then there are the bright red ones in the cockpit, the green ones, the strobes, the lawn and garden variety that kind of, almost work for a few hours (after that you’re as dark as the no lighters) and even the little bitty flashing yellow one. These days of bright, super-bright, cheap, hardly use any energy at all LEDs it’s tough for me to imagine any reason for being un/improperly lit. There I was…..2 AM, wind howling, rain in buckets, the kind of event where boats drag and maneuver, can’t see a thing,but know everyone is up and on watch. Rain eases ever so slightly and a green navigation light pierces the night. S@#T, he’s going to hit me!!! But it doesn’t happen...looks stationary... what? After the storm…yes it was a bright green light being used as a cockpit and anchor light. Very considerate ;)



Retired AND Relaxed; Tiki Bar Pan Band

Retired and Relaxed Cruisers? There are retired folks, there are younger folks with families, even younger yet cruisers delaying entry into, maybe taking a short break from, the working world. It is interesting though the number who can’t really give up the “working” mentality, maybe a few control issues. Yes I am guilty of fixing/updating something when I probably should be reading a good book. But the quibbles, quips, jockeys’ for last word, must be involved in everything, and subtle/not-so-subtle I’m running this inputs on the web and radio net sometimes make me wonder. Seems the younger not yet retired cruisers are the most relaxed. Perhaps it's the mentality beat into us through working careers…or maybe a few would be happier just going back to work?

The “No” Boat: There was this boat in the anchorage we referred to as the “No” boat. You see it had no lights; no flag, no name, and the old "gent" aboard wore no clothes. And…I’ll post NO photo to protect the innocent. You wouldn’t want to see.

Can't let these two pass:

Cock Soup?

Appetizer? Aphrodisiac? Main course? Does anyone need a cigarette afterwards?

Bread Made by Ho's?

And; Bread made by Ho’s? I have no idea, but I swear it was the only brand on the shelf Saturday morning that was still warm and soft. Hmm…

Chao ab Ordo

Just a small sample of our new 'order'.

When we moved aboard, 8 1/2 years ago, things got put away just to get them out of the way. They didn't always end up in convenient places or anywhere that even made sense.  Some of the tools we use a lot ended up under the bunk in the V berth, not easy to get to, but we knew where they were, so they stayed.  When we left the dock 2 1/2 years ago all the power tools were in the workbench, easy to find, easy to use. Well, we haven't had 110 power for more than 2 years and those tools were still there, taking up space. 
As most of you probably know, I'm a compulsive organiser. I like 'like with like' and things always put back from whence they came.  I like things to be where I use them, not where they fit on the boat. I also have to say that generally I leave Steve's stuff alone, he's a big boy and if it works for him, great. But this really was driving me crazy.  I talked him into a little reorganisation. Heh heh heh...
 I had to put the "reorder the boat" days on the calendar way in advance so Steve would have time to mentally prepare for it.  He really hates change. I scheduled 2 days thinking it would be enough time to take everything out of the V berth and out of the workbench and make sense of it all. (yes I really did put it on the calendar, once I found it)
We actually needed 3 days to take out all the wire (measure it, bag it, log it in the inventory), sort all the thousands of nuts, bolts, screws, washers, do dads, assorted pieces of wood and metal, canvas working tools and hardware, power tools, 3 bags of hand tools, a dozen empty plastic peanut butter jars and so much more and then find new places to put it all away again.
I think I mentioned that Steve hates change, but he really got into this project, sorting, even throwing (gasp) a few things away!
We may not have complete 'Order out of Chaos' but I can sleep well knowing that all the #6 flat head brass screws are nestled together in their appropriate compartment, in the appropriate box.

For the love of... food.

Ester and Omega ham it up.

They say that an army travels on it's stomach.  The same can be said for a sailboat crew. Especially Steve and I.  We love to eat and cook and are willing to try pretty much anything.  Since retirement, we've found the chance to indulge in our love of perusing grocery store aisles.  Traveling through the Caribbean has added a whole new dimension to this hobby. There are sooo many different nationalities and mixes of cultures, the old blended into the new. The foods are a huge potpourri of tastes, Eastern curries added to Caribbean spices, with a little French sophistication to top it off. We're having a wonderful time here,  spending enough time in one place to really get to sample the local cuisine is  one of the best parts of traveling by slow boat.
Yesterday we started a series of classes given by True Blue Bay Resort.  They're trying to introduce their guests and visiting cruisers to the Grenadian foods and how they're prepared.  The two ladies who do the classes were funny and friendly and really enjoyed being in front of the group. Their banter and obvious love of cooking was great to see.  It was very informal and we could ask questions throughout it all.  The bar served rum punch and cold Carib beer.  At the end we each got a plate of Mahi Mahi on a delicious passion fruit sauce and topped with a Sambal of cucumber and green peppers.  Don't know what a Sambal is? Neither did I.  Now I do!  It's basically a salsa but made with tamarind nectar, Asian chili sauce and fish sauce.  Delicious, well except for those yucky green peppers, but Steve ate those.  The recipes are available on the link above.  Enjoy.

Carbon Footprints

Got involved in a discussion among US friends a while ago about alternative energy. The effort was a challenge since most folks involved had clearly chosen their positions, but the gist of it all was the cost of alternative energy and whether it is or is not competitive and viable. My assertion is that it is relative. While power flows freely and cheaply out of the outlet, the pollution in some far away state, alternative energy seems pretty expensive. Interrupt that flow for some reason; put the plant in our backyard and the cost/benefit ratio teeters, likely in another direction.

    Things also change here on the cruising sailboat. We by our choice of course, must produce all of our energy. There is no outlet to plug into when the batteries are low or filling station down the street with cheap, clean fuel to pump when the tank is down. But at the end of the day we want power in the battery bank, water in the tank and warm for a shower, clean clothes for tomorrow, ice for sundowners, a cool fridge, and some spare diesel in the tank for getting underway or emergencies. We do that with a small wind generator, one 85 watt solar panel, augmented by our engine when it is already running for another reason or when we absolutely have to. Before leaving we super insulated the fridge, built a highly efficient unit, big battery bank, kept electronics to a minimum, and replaced lights with LEDs trying our best to lean the balance in our favor.

    Some sailors sail more, some run the diesel more. Some produce large amounts of electricity with solar and wind, some have generators. A few are without refrigerators or watermakers and need little. We all have different “musts” among our cruising needs. For us the biggies are the watermaker and the fridge. But whatever our choices are, we have to power it. We have to get it and keep it in balance. Most things our moms taught us anyway: turn the lights off when you’re not using it, same for the fans, open the fridge one time for everything, and so many more. We’ve all been told…I hope.

    We last filled the tank in April in Puerto Rico where diesel was around $3.90/gallon. Everything before Puerto Rico since leaving the US was around $6/gallon or more, sometimes well over that since… the cost/benefit ratio teeters. So I decided to tally the data since that last fill: 85 gallons of diesel consumed in over four months. It has seen us through 740 nautical miles, 15 Countries, and 33 different anchorages. Coupled with our solar and wind…made all our water, cooled our fridge, froze our ice, heated the water heater, and powered all our computers/lights/electronics. Trying for a next fill in Tobago or Trinidad end of September.

Some of you may have noticed that the 'Adjima counter' on the right side of the blog has clicked over into another year, another decade.  I thought long and hard about how to celebrate this milestone. I don't think Adj enjoyed the party and hats as much as I did last year.  She's not much into company or surprises, unless they're food.  She has a favorite blanket.  We grow grass for her to graze upon.  She only has to open her mouth and we put food in it. What more could a cat want?  I could come up with nothing.
In the end, she had a little catnip and fresh tuna, curled up with blankie, covered her face and took a nap.