Time to Leave Port

As I sit and type this I am smelling Ron’s fresh bread baking and Gramma, Jenessa & Alex are at a great little beach called Pirate’s Bay. As soon as the last of the bread is out of the oven, Ron and I will head into Charlotteville to clear Customs and Immigration. We are planning on leaving early evening to head for Union Island. Gramma’s mouth has been watering ever since she read about the fresh croissants and other wonderful foods there and as she only has a week left, we would like her to see more of this wonderful little corner of the world. The trip to Union Island (the southern most point of entry of St. Vincent and the Grenadines) is about 95 miles and it will take about 12 hours on a reach. (Photo of Charlotteville taken from the bus at the top of the hill)

Jenessa and I started our morning with a lovely jog/walk around the community. For the most part this village is quite clean and very friendly. Almost everyone says good morning, good afternoon or good night to us depending on the time of day. We found it interesting that they use good night for saying hello when we use it to say goodbye.

The picture here is one of Alex’s latest “friends - Ronnie”. Not only does she attract the young men ashore this one came looking for her in his row boat. When they start rowing out to the boat, Ron figures it is time to leave Dodge.

Rain Forest Tour

Today we were very fortunate to engage a highly renowned naturalist by the name of David Rooks to take us on a tour of the oldest protected rain forest in the world. It was protected in 1794 by the King of England. David is a seventy plus year old Trinidadian who has guided people like Prince Phillip and assisted David Attenborough with some of his nature films.

The hike was about three miles long which Granny managed quite well. David showed us many aspects of the rain forest and was very knowledgeable about the evolution and regeneration of the forest after a hurricane. We were fortunate to see hummingbirds that are close to extinction, parrots, a trapped door spider nest and much more.

Christmas in Tobago

We celebrated Christmas in Tobago; waking up with the sun shining, the seas glistening and the public beach filling up early. Christmas in the tropics is a big family celebration with many people heading to the beach for the holiday. We put our Christmas presents under our miniature palm tree and after the kids were in bed. Ron and I organized the kids traditional Christmas treasure hunt. This year we gave it a nautical theme (which Ron loved and tortured the kids) using words like bimini, transom, gooseneck, davits, bilge, windless etc. to lead them from clue to clue. The treasure for the kids were I Pods which both girls are enjoying especially after Alex lost her discman over the side about the second day of our trip. I am sitting here laughing as the kids and Gramma are using their $1.00 store miniature fans and every once in awhile I hear one of them yelping as the fan strikes a part of their body.

We brought some mini maple syrups with us and delivered them to the nearest boats at anchor to us, two from France, one from England and one from Sweden. They were all surprised but pleased. We spent the rest of the day snorkeling and swimming with a visit to the Catamaran from England for appies and drinks at sunset.

Yesterday we sailed from Store Bay (southwest end of Tobago) to Charlotteville (northwest end). It was a long sail as we were dead into the wind and had to tack many times traveling a total of 60 miles to make 24 miles. The highlight of the sail was a very big turtle sighting and another pod of dolphins larger than the last keeping us company for quite some time. (This photo shows Granny sitting watching the dolphins, just before a big wave came and soaked her) The low point of the sail was discovering the furling foil had disconnected from the upper joint just before getting into Charlotteville. Luckily we were still able to furl the sail. Ron went up the mast this morning in the climbing harness pulling him self up with me on the end of the winch. With loctite and a hex key he was able to reconnect the pieces. This picture was taken by Alex when she had a turn up the mast. Both girls were able to pull themselves to the very top.

Charlotteville is a fishing community with houses lining the beach and scattered up through the hillside. The fishing boats are like a long boat dory with huge fishing poles made from bamboo looking like stabilizers out the sides. They use large outboards and anchor the boats off shore hitching rides to and from their boats from anybody in the vicinity in a dinghy. We woke this morning (5:30 a.m.) to parrots screeching in the trees. The bird life here is amazing, it includes pelicans, frigates, parrots, finches, doves and many more. We are hoping to organize a jungle tour in the next couple of days and off to the Tobago Cays for New Years.

Store Bay, Tobogo

On route to Charlotteville, we found a great little spot called Store Bay; very near the main airport at the southwest end of Tobago. We have decided to stay here for Christmas as it has great snorkelling, good facilities and appears to be a good anchorage. The above photo is Gramma enjoying the 9 knot reach across the south end of the island.

Snorkling today we saw many new fish and beautiful coral that we have not come across before. This included a very large French Angelfish, Lobster, Trumpetfish, Parrotfish,Butterfly fish and best of all a Barracuda. The Barracuda was very non threatening, but that didn't stop Alex from looking for a quick exit from the water. The picture above is of a small octopus that Alex found coming from a shell that someone threw from the ocean.

We are the only boat in the bay with Christmas lights and have had many nice comments about how nice it looks. The kids and gramma worked on making snowflakes for the salon window and for our miniature palm Christmas tree. It is very different experiencing Christmas in the tropics, but lots of fun. I would like to take this time to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

Go figure. We are on an island of 70,000 people and they have two fast cats as well as two ro ro ferries. These kept us entertained at our last anchorage between the comming and going of the cruise ships and interisland ferries.

Our sat phone system is not connecting in this location and we have only been able to check internet and blog from the internet cafe. We hope to have better coverage when we cross back to the Grenadines.

TOBAGO

Well we arrived safely in Tobago on December 20th after a 15 hour sail with a little bit of motoring from Grenada and into Scarborough. The boat according to Ron performed great although the crossing was a bit rough for Gramma. Not that she or any of us were sick, she was just a little bit too nervous to sleep. This was great as she was able to keep Ron company while the rest of us dozed on and off. Not many boaters appear to go to Tobago because you are going against the current and wind most of the way here. So far it has been well worth the trip.

At dawn we realized we were being escorted by hundreds of flying fish. What an amazing sight to see these fish that one could easily mistake for birds soaring over the waves. The climax of this crossing was when we were joined by a half dozen dolphins. We sat on the trampoline only feet away while they played in our bow wave, swimming upside down looking at us and jumping and entertaining us for about a half hour. This is something that I have always dreamed of.

Tobago & Trinidad are two islands and one country. Their currency is about $5.00 of their dollars to one of ours. Once one gets over the TT price and then converts it to our dollars you realize things are priced very reasonably.

We are leaving Scarborough to head off this afternoon to a marine park for some snorkeling and swimming and then up to Charlotteville where we hope to do some eco-touring of the island.

GRENADA

We have spent the past week with us getting climatized while Ron continues to fine tune our boat. Our internet understandingly hasn't been high on the priority list. Every once in awhile we luck out and connect into somebodies free wireless.

Lot's of evidence still around of the two hurricanes, Ivan & Emily. Many trees down in the rain forest as well as many new roofs on houses. Ivan was the first hurricane in 49 years to hit Grenada and they were caught unprepared. There is still the odd boat up on shore abandoned as well as the odd house without a roof.

The weather here has been near perfect. Temperatures have been mostly between 25 & 29 with a breeze blowing most of the time. We have had rain, and have been enjoying it as it comes down with a vengence and then is gone.

Quite the experience riding around in the mini buses. For $2.00 EC (80 cents Canadian) you climb aboard a mini van which should seat 10 comfortably and where it is not unusual to see between 16 to 20, one can ride to St Georges (20 minutes away). All this while listening to Reggae or Christmas carrols or Gospel.

We rented a taxi the other day and spent the day touring the rain forest, waterfalls, chocolate factory and a very old rum distillery. Lot's of fun.

Alex has started a scrap book of all the phone numbers she has been given by young men. Both girls have been having fun with all of the attention and Alex especially has been working hard on her tan. Gramma(Ron's mom)has kept us laughing, between having to stand on her toes to see over the customs counter and trying to use the radio mike as an ear piece to saying woohoo on the radio when she mastered using it.

Things that are different in Grenada: driving on the left, light switches switch on by flicking down, everyone has a cell phone, lots of road side fruit stands & vendors, mostly cement houses, doesn't appear to be a drinking age, and nobody moves very fast.

Leaving on a Jet Plane!

Well, with much to do we managed to leave Hornby and are on route to Victoria. Jenessa, Alex and I meet up with Gramma in Victoria and fly out Monday night on the Red Eye. We will be joining Ron & MoonBeam in Grenada, Tuesday, December 6 in the evening. I will try and get some pictures and an update next week. Thank you everybody who helped and offered to help. I would like to thank everybody for all of the good wishes, what a wonderful community and wonderful friends.