SO MUCH FUN WITH THE KIDS

We had a fabulous fun filled 4 days with Kelly, Andrew, Jenna, Austin, and Emily.  We swam, floated, noodled, snorkeled, sailed, fished, played volleyball, played dominoes, fixed fantastic dinners, hiked to waterfalls (the kids jumped off the falls) learned about the island and experienced life on a boat.

We loved the time we got to spend with these special young adults.   Thanks for coming!!!

Andrew enjoying a Stag beer after volleyball.

Austin fishing.  Too bad it was not catching just fishing.

Austin helping the girls get into a one man kayak.  The giggles and laughter warmed my heart.

More fun in the galley.

Emily with conch shells after volleyball.

Emily, Kelly and Jenna after a falls jump!!

The hike to Seven Sisters falls.

Jenna jumping off a 35 foot waterfall.  WOW  All the kids jumped the falls.

More hilarity !!!!

Kels after her jump off the 35 foot falls.  It was so scary.

Andrew and Kel on the van ride to Seven Sisters falls.

Kelly and Emily sleeping on the tramp.

Our guide, Super Butterfly in yellow, with our kids when they arrived at the last jump.

Looking down the river.

Moon rise over the mountain.

 Super Butterfly, our guide, was fantastic.  He showed us many things on the way to the falls.  Here he is in a tree picking a guava fruit.   He showed us flowers, herbs, fruits, vegetables etc on our hike.

Super Butterfly coaching Emily down a falls where you had to brace your self against the sides of the mountains to get down.   He did this for each person.   How great is that?

Super Butterfly showing the nutmeg fruit.

Volleyball with the cruisers.  Austin on the left in striped shirt, Andrew in the back getting ready to serve.

The view from top of the falls where you jumped.   Look at how small we are below.

Another falls where Super Butterfly was coaching.

Thanks Shane from Moonshine for the pics.

Carnival, Hash and Dinghy Drift

These pictures are from when we went up to the Commancheros steel pan practice.  These are pictures of the mas parade costumes which they prepare on site as well.  Each costume has a theme, i.e. love, strength, happy etc.   From these pictures they make the costumes.

 

Here are the ladies working on making these elaborate costumes




Head dresses on a rack.   Not sure if they are finished or not.






The finished product.  These pics were taken by a friend at the parade of bands on the final day of carnival.

Here we are getting ready for the hash which was located near the town of Grenville. Our friends Sunny, John and Ann are posing with us in the photo.     It was a wonderful hike about 3.5 miles.   We crossed a river, climbed up a very steep incline, walked through a farmers land where the "road" was paved with mangos.   I could not believe all the mangos.   Saw goats, bulls and a huge tree whose trunk was over 15 feet wide.   It was magnificent.   It must have survived hurricane Ivan.   The island lost about 90% of their nutmeg trees during Ivan.

On a spur of the moment decision, we joined a dinghy drift.  A bunch of dinghies tie together and drift around the anchorage, sharing snacks while laughing and having a good time.   The sunset was fantastic.  We got to know more people from the anchorage.  The dinghy next to us brought their dog so I was a happy camper.

steel pans, paddle boarding, windscoops .......

This year based on recommendations from friends who went last year we went on an evening trip to the Commencheros steel pan practice.   It was the kids practicing for the upcoming Carnival.  It was totaling overwhelming.   They do not have sheet music.  The band leader sings what he wants them to play both in the melody and the rhythm, counts one two, one two three four and they start all over again.  If he is not satisfied, he will tap on one of the drums, everyone goes quiet and the process repeats itself.  Needless to say I was amazed as I am pretty sure everyone else on the trip with us was.   I could not find anything on the internet that did justice to what we heard.

We learned about the different sections of the band.  

This is the base section

These guys cracked me up, but were making music.  Kirk is in the back left hand side with a pink/red shirt on talking to our new friend Joanne.

Looking past the base section to the chord section; some are referred to as guitar and cello.  Look at how young these musicians are!!

This is the harmony section, I did not get a picture of the melody section.  They are right behind the harmony section and the rhythm section (drums) is behind the harmony section.   Each section played their part of a piece and then they all played together.   Was a great experience.

Food was served for $15.00 EC.  Chicken, slaw and salad.  In US that is $5.61.  The following Tuesday Kirk went with his cruising friend Peter and local friend Martin to see a man who makes, tunes and sells the drums.   

Dinghy Concert

A local resort & marina, Le Phare Bleu and Island Waterworld occasionally host a dinghy concert out in one of the anchorages.  We hopped in the dinghy with drinks and headed to the show.  This is the tug boat that hold the band with a barge tied to it.  The barge has bench seats for those who cannot get there by dinghy.

A taste of what it was like.   We are in the middle left.  I have on a white shirt with a purple bandana around my neck.   We were surrounded by people we knew and if we did not know them when we got there, we knew them in a short while.  It is a free concert.  They sell beer on the barge or you can bring your own.   

Paddle boarding

Our friends Shawna and Jon on Beausoliel lent me one of their paddle boards.  It is a yolo yak and very sturdy.  I had fun paddling around with Shawna.

Our new wind scoops.  woo wee  fanceeee

WEDDING WEEKEND

Beautiful Sarah and Nathan, my dad, Carolyn and Jay are in background.

Christian, Sarah, Nathan with Kirk and Andrew in the background

Carolyn, Dad, Bif, me, Kel and Kirk

The happy married couple

Kelly and Donna at the rehearsal dinner

     

Sarah, Nathan and Donna at rehearsal dinner

Catch up

Back to Greneda

I flew back to Greneda on July 12^th.   Kirk came back on June 24^th.  We had a great time in Maryland seeing everyone.   Thanks to all who hosted, invited, went out with, spent time with, laughed etc with us.  We so enjoyed ourselves.

Sarah and Nathan had a lovely wedding.  The wedding weekend was great.  The bride of course was most beautiful.  It was great to see family and friends and meet new family and friends.  Thanks to our long distance friends who came.  So special.

It is also great to be back in Grenada.  We stayed in Port Louie Marina for a few days while I got my bearings back.   Kirk was most anxious to get “back on the hook” after being in the marina for a few weeks without me. 

We have met new friends, rekindled friendships with people we met last year and been in 3 anchorages since we left the marina a little over 2 weeks ago.  Kirk has been monitoring the weather coming off of Africa and so far so good.   This morning he reported that things might heat up after August 11^th.   We shall see.

We have been busy making windscoops for the deck top hatches and also for the hatches that let air into the rear salon.   The trick is to force the air in and keep the rain out.   Very tricky indeed.   I made us a bag specifically to carry the big bags of ice out of a thick insulated material I brought with us.  The ice can melt pretty durn fast in this blazing hot sun.  I plan on making a bag out of sail cloth (thank you Christian) for the “new to us” fins I bought from a fellow cruiser and also some shopping bags.   If I get good enough at it, I might even give them as gifts to fellow cruisers.    Elizabeth had made  sail cloth shopping bags and given them as Christmas presents a few years back and they have been our favorite bags when we go to the grocery.

Christian on his steel horse

Our buddies at home

The three stooges?  No my best buds at home

Kel and Andrew's Lewis  My 2nd granddog  love him

The beautiful bride to be at shower hosted by Kel

Elizabeth on her horse at a horse trial   fun day

The hobbit house back in Grenada.  Can you see the green roof?

More pics in next post!!!