What We've Been Up To

The boat repairs from our lightening strike are progressing.  Some of it has been easy, others a little more difficult.  The anemometer (wind direction/speed) that we had is no longer available so we purchased a different model.  Of course they are never the same shape or size so now Jim is trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.  The VHF radio we want is ordered and should arrive in a few weeks.  And so on, and so on.... 

Here are just a few of the fried instruments we took off and replaced.

Owen from Enza Marine did the repairs at the top of the mast.  He spent most of the day in the bosun's chair...

... but remained ever cheerful. 

Remember, when you think you've got it bad, there is always someone who has it worse.  This small, uninhabited boat just sunk one day.  It is owned by a Grenadian and kept on a mooring in Prickly Bay.  We don't know how the leak happened but one day it was floating and the next day..... glug!  Divers attempted to re-float it with an airbag.  They had it part way up when the airbag ruptured and the boat sank again.  It kind of puts our repairs in perspective, doesn't it.

October 13th was our 31st wedding anniversary and we decided to treat ourselves to lunch at BB's Crabback.  That's a painting of chef BB in the corner of the photo with the restaurant behind.

The restaurant is very casual with a great view across the Carenage toward Grand Anse Beach, Port Louis Marina and St. George's.  The food is anything but ordinary!

For starters we had the signature dish  Crab backs (left) and spicy Salt fish Fritters.

Our main course was a spicy, chicken dish, curried goat (easily the best we've ever tasted) and a side of pumpkin fritters.  When BB learned we were celebrating our anniversary he treated us to ice cream served with a passion fruit and rum sauce.  Delicious!

We don't treat ourselves to fine-dining very often opting instead for the less expensive, local cuisine like rotis or chicken served with rice and peas and provision ( a sample of starches such as breadfruit, pumpkin, squash, dasheen, etc).  I'm sure we'll treat ourselves to BB's Crabback again.

The thing that has been frustrating about our 2 months in Grenada is that Jim and I have been sick about half of that time.  The day before Natalie came to visit I came down with a flu bug.  Luckily it only lasted 48 hours and I was feeling good when she arrived.  Unfortunately, I gave it to Jim who was sick for her first 2 days here.  Then several weeks later we both became very sick.  We thought we might have Dengue Fever, a mosquito-born illness that has been showing up throughout the Caribbean.  We had flu-like symptoms; high fever, head and body-aches but then we developed very bad coughs.  Maybe we had bronchitis, we still don't know.  We wondered if the neighboring boats could hear us coughing and we thought about hanging up our quarantine flag to warn everyone to stay away!  We ran a fever for a week and it took another week for us to get our energy back.  We were miserable.  Friends checked on us and picked up groceries when we needed something.  Then after recovering for a couple of weeks I caught a cold!  I don't think I've had a cold since I left the States 4 years ago!  Guess my immune system was not fully recovered.  And in the spirit of sharing, I've now given the cold to Jim.  That's 3 illnesses in 2 months times 2 people.  Sheesh!  So the blog has suffered along with our social life but we have managed to get in a few outings between illnesses. 

 Our Sunday routine this year has been to join Matt and Karen (S/V Where II) at the Sandbar on Calabash Beach for a game of Bocce Ball.  It's the Aussie's vs the Americans!

 You have to love a sport that you can play with a rum punch in your hand.

 The crew of another Aussie boat S/V Orchid joined us for a game.  That's Alexander, Nicholas, Matthew and Rachel.

 Matt and Jim buying refreshments from the happy crew at the Sandbar.  That's P on the right who makes a great rum punch and supplies me with the Packer scores.

Another Sunday, another match.  Karen and Matt talking with Christine and Guy (S/V Princess of Tides).

On Friday nights, the town of Gouyave holds a fish festival.  They block off two streets and vendors cook fresh fish and lobster as well as a wide variety of side dishes.  It's always fun and great eating.  We headed out with the Orchid family and Colin and Sandy (S/V Papillon).  It did rain on us but it couldn't dampen the fun.

At one point we asked someone to take a photo of our group.  We ended up with a great shot of our shoes!  Ooops, guess I forgot to tell you about the red-eye delay with that camera.  Next shot and he cut Rachel out of the picture.

We finally ended up with this picture of the happy, although wet crew.

Here's one of the vendors cooking over a grill that is made out of an old wheel rim.  We are always amazed at the ingenuity.  This is a big batch of lambi (conch) chowder.  The chowder wasn't quite ready when we took this picture and Jim forgot to go back later.  Guess we'll have to go back again.