Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Cocktail party

Yesterday evening we had a cocktail party. Everyone had to fish out a cocktail on a piece of paper and then make this. They were all rum based to keep people from getting sick from mixing. They were all naughty cocktails some in name and ingredients. Everybody brought their bottle and some were beautifully decorated and with a clever, beautiful or sexy thing to say about it. It was a great night and it became more hilarious as more was consumed. I had to through a few in the bushes that were way to strong for me. Afterwards we went to the restaurant for pizza. Another great day in paradise as they say here all the time. I just want to let you know that I was up this morning in the yoga group doing silly poses (just mine looked silly) and for a swim after that.

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Cruising life in Grenada

Tonight we were invited to a Tex Mex night. This meant that everyone needed to make something Mexican to eat or drink. It was a great night with lots of food and drinks such as margarita sangria and Mexican sunrise. While we were there we were asked for another fun night or rather nights. We had to pull a ticked with a very sexy cocktail. Mine is 'pull your panty down. All are with rum base. So we all by a bottle of rum and use half to make this drink. On the night we will get it in little shot glasses.
The week later we use the other half to make a so called bush rum drink adding all sorts of fruit the way they do here. In some of the islands the put snake heads and all sort of horrible things in the drinks. We will not but it is in that sort of way. It is all about eating and drinking here though. Still when in Rome

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Carnaval in Grenada

Carnaval is fantastisch here. Leading up to it is music everywhere. Soka music. On Monday it started officially with the parade which starts about 4 am but basically the music goes all night. We were woken up way before 4 am by the music actually vibrating the boat. So we got up and walked out the gates of the marina with our old clothes on. There were already lots of people all full of paint dancing. As it got closer to day break it became one big mass of people moving while dancing and throwing paint and oil. The history behind that is the slaves who worked the fields from daybreak and the oil represents the molasses from the sugarcane. The number of people and the loud loud music made it a real happening. Also all the drinking and smoking dope would have helped We did not stay all that long and 'enjoyed'it further from the boat. I had Chloe on Skype and she could hear it clearly.
That afternoon was the costumes parade which was very beautiful. Representing different times of the day the seasons and the different countries.
In the evening was mas which is the parade of lights. We waited with all the other people for hours dancing to the music. Finally we saw millions of red lights coming down the hill accompanied by even louder music. It was a fantasic hype and everyone gets swept away by it.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Sailing again in the month Sepember

We are now in the marina at St George's and all the things we have to do to the boat are going well. On the 8th our 2 new solar panels will arrive and we already have someone making the stainless. All good. So September we will be sailing to Tobago. I have seen the pictures and it is a beautiful island. We will be back in Grenada for October when we will take the boat out of the water to do the anti fauling.
Looking forward to sailing again and seeing a different country.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Possible hurricane

So we are now in the marina and at the end of the week there might be a hurricane. The guy from the marina came around and told us to prepare by taking the Bimini down and getting extra lines so we went to get new dock lines. Will keep you posted

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Back in St. Georges

We sailed back to St George's and tomorrow we will go into the marina to do some work on the boat. It is evening now and this is what we see from our boat on anchor

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Boiling water

I would like to tell you about this strange thing we see all the time here. Rocky and I were both below when we heard this strange sound like something had come loose on the boat and was flapping. We both rushed to the top and saw what looked like boiling water around the Dutch boat next to us. We knew that it was fish going berserk around and against their boat. They were also looking at it. At first I thought that they might have thrown something in the water. There were also a lot of birds flying around. A bit later we heard them around our boat and we saw a lot of different kind of fish big and small frantically swimming and flapping around. This is very different from the flying fish everywhere. Now we see it a lot
Today I sat on my noodle and went around the boat cleaning just below the water line. Then all these fish were around me probably for the stuff I wiped of the boat. I did not know how fast I could get back in the boat. No thanks not with those frantic fish.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Cooking class in Grenada

First of all it is not a cooking class but a cooking demonstration. That is until you get there and sit down with your rum punch. The food is cooked already and Omega keeps saying how 'everything is running along nicely which is good because she is hungry'. She is a comedian and keeps asking how well she is doing. She has us all in stitches with her sing song language.
When the lady who organized the event said how great Omegas ommelettes are she tells her to repeat it because she is sure we did not hear. When someone asks how much a stick of butter is she proceeds to explain that you buy a certain brand of butter cut it in half and then slice it again. Also a carton of cream she says is this kind of shape never mind liter or half liter. The recipes she gives is for about 40 people so when we ask what it would be for 2 she says 'never mind you just invite friends'. You can imagine with the strong rum punch it was a laugh a minute.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Prickly Bay Grenada 17 July

So we finally left the bay at St George's and sailed to Prickly bay. We had to go back to St George's to get the sim card activated so we went by bus. That is pretty cool here. They have those mini busses with a driver and helper. This helper hangout of the window enticing people to take the bus. So it stops anywhere people want to get on. And if it quiet the driver will go off the track if they spot anyone walking. We have had some sightseeing tours this way. Also you can pay a couple of dollars more and they will take you to your door. All this in often a multicolour painted bus with loud reggae music. Very friendly and helpful though. Yesterday we saw another example. It was quite busy on the road and the bus was completely full. A car in a driveway on our side of the road was trying to get across. Our driver stopped put his hand out of the window to stop the oncoming traffic and the car in the driveway was on his way. This is just an example of the friendliness and consideration of the people here. I absolutely love the people here. They always say hello. They sing and love telling stories,dance and everywhere there is music. This is difficult to show in photos. I include a photo of this round thing with a BBQ in it and all that you can rent to go around the bay. Pretty cool hey.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Our boat on anchor in the bay again

We moved back in the bay and our first night was perfect but last night was very bad. We were rolling the whole night like we were at sea. I went for a walk and took photos of the boat on anchor

Monday, July 9, 2012

Trip around Grenada

We saw chocolate factory,rum distillery and waterfalls. I will show it to you in photos. You see first the old rum distillery and after that the coco beans with the walking of the beans and the dansing of the beans. The chocolate is very high in percentage of chocolate

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Plans

So we sort of have decided what we want to do. We will be back here after time in Australia and sail around the Caribbean islands again. So many still to see. Then before hurricane season we will go to the ABC's (Aruba Bonaire and curaƧao). We will go through the Panama canal. We heard from so many people that this is a fantastic experience. Then we go across the Pacific islands. Again we heard from a lot of people that this was the most wonderful trip with the trade winds. People hang around sometimes for years in island like Tahiti. I was afraid of the long crossings with like bad weather but it is not like that I have been assured. So that seems better to us now then going to Europe first because you would still have to come back here before crossing the pacific. Anyway that is the plan but you know 'the best plans are flexible'

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Friends visiting from Florida

Bill and Suzanne arrived on Sunday night. I had made calaloo soup with hot chicken bread fruit salad and the long string beans. The next day we had a relaxing breakfast and went to town. That evening swimming and a long happy hour. The next day we took the boat to snorkel the statues had lunch and went for a great sail. Bill at the helm. Then again happy hour and dinner on the boat. The next day we went on a tour of the island with some other friends. We saw waterfalls spices chocolate factory completely from the coco fruit. And we saw the rum factory. There is one photo where they dance in the coco beans. After this more happy hour and diner at the restaurant. Today Bill and Rocky worked on the boat while Suzanne and I first went by bus to a mall and after lunch we went visiting by dinghy and bought mahi mahi fish at the fish market for our BBQ tonight. Now they are doing dishes before we have mango and cream. Not a bad life.