Sophie's Sojourn

Yahoo!  Another niece!

We have 2 you know!

Sophie came to visit us in Grenada, her first time in the Caribbean.

 The first day begins with a noodle-float in the ocean.  It's a great way to begin a vacation!

 Celebrating Jim's birthday with friends at De Big Fish Restaurant.

 Sophie and Jim

Sophie and Wendy



Jim and Sophie doing a little cooking together.

 It's thirsty work!  Just a little sip as this is 15 year old El Dorado rum.

 The result of their effort was a delicious chicken curry with breadfruit.

 Beach day at the Aquarium restaurant on Magazine Beach.

 The surf was really big so we had to skip the snorkeling.  Instead we ate......

 drank.......

drank some more......

and hung out on the beach.

 Island tour time with our guide and friend, Cutty.

 Cutty always teaches us about the local plants.  This are cocoa pods.

 Annandale Falls

River's Rum Distillery

 Rivers is the oldest working, water-driven distillery in the Caribbean established in 1785.....

 ...thus the old pictures.  Oh wait, cameras hadn't been invented in 1785!

 Tasting the overproof rum.  All smiles, Sophie's ready!

 Oh, that's rough!

 What is this stuff?  Look at Jim thinking "I got her!"

 Oh, there's the burn!  Will I ever feel my throat again?

Cutty's favorite neighborhood rum shop.  We stopped for a cold beer on the way home.

 Another beach day.  You can't have too many! 

This is the view looking out from Umbrella's Restaurant on Grand Anse Beach.

 Our waitress strikes a pose for the camera.

Not to be outdone, Sophie strikes a pose of her own!

We loved having you here sweetie.  Come back soon!



Ghosts, Goblins and a Scuba Diver?

Halloween in the Caribbean is like everywhere else.  It starts with the kids looking for treats.

Only here they appear in dinghies.

Then the grown-ups get into it.  It's one of the few days each year you can act like a kid!

 Rikky announcing the costume contest winners.

 Oops!  This is Rikky!

Hope wins first prize for her scuba diver costume and for keeping it on all night in the tropical heat!



Another great party at De Big Fish!



In Case You're Interested

I put out another Calendar for 2012.  You can see it at http://www.cafepress.com/Merengue .



Watching the Weather

Watching the weather is something we do at all times.

It's not like when we lived on land and wanted to know what the temperature would be or did we need to carry an umbrella.  It's so much more now.  Can we safely make a passage, will the conditions make an anchorage uncomfortable, will there be enough rain to collect water, etc?   Weather watching never feels more important then in hurricane season.  There have been 16 named storms so far this year and 2 have become hurricanes.  Early this morning invest 98L became Tropical Storm Ophelia.

We have been watching this system closely because as it developed off of Africa it moved slowly, staying at about 10 degrees north.  We are anchored off of the south coast of Grenada at 12 degrees north.  Several predictions had it moving directly over Grenada.  In the last day it moved and is currently at 12.7 degrees.  Of course one man's good luck is another man's misfortune.  The islands north of us may not fair as well.

We will continue to watch this storm because predicting the weather is certainly not an absolute science.  The people of Grenada know only too well how a hurricane can turn as Hurricane Ivan did in 2004 when it took a sudden turn and blasted the island.
Wikipedia reports: The cyclone was the ninth named storm, the sixth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane of the active 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. Ivan formed in early September and became the 10th most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. At its peak in the Gulf of Mexico, Ivan was the size of the state of Texas. It also spawned 119 tornadoes across the eastern United States.

Ivan caused catastrophic damage to Grenada and heavy damage to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and the western tip of Cuba. After peaking in strength, the hurricane moved north-northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike Gulf Shores, Alabama as a strong Category 3 storm, causing significant damage.

The reality is that you are much more at risk of hurricanes along the coastal United States then we are here in Grenada.  History has proven that.  But just in case, we'll continue to keep watch.