Author! Author!

 

Check out "The Sky at Night" column (page 35) in the January issue of

Caribbean Compass magazine.  www.caribbeancompass.com.

Better yet, bookmark it so you can read it every month as Jim is the new author of this monthly column on Astronomy.



 

There is much to see in the night sky.  Just the other night, Jim had me up on deck at 2 a.m. to look for the Quadrantids meteor shower.  2 a.m.!  I must love him a lot!  Anyway, I'm very proud of him and I'm sure you'll enjoy reading about the sky at night.

 

 

Storm Strikes St. Vincent and St. Lucia

Were were awakened very early Christmas morning to thunder, lightening and heavy rain that continued for hours.  But luckily Grenada was spared the worst of the storm.  On the islands of St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica, a storm that one news report called a low-level trough or hurricane swept through the area causing flooding, washing out bridges, and destroying roads and banana plantations.  At least 23 people are confirmed dead and several are still missing.

Any cruising boats traveling through the area are encouraged to drop off bottled water, old sails or tarps that can be used to cover damaged roofs, gas or diesel fuel and any other donations.

We have spent a lot of time in St. Lucia, Dominica and the Grenadines.  They are beautiful islands with wonderful people. 

Our heart goes out to those affected.  

*photos courtesy of The Epoch Times

Packet Party

It looked like a mini Island Packet rendezvous in Grenada over the Christmas holiday. 

Here are the crew from IP-460 Cutter Loose, IP-37 Dragon's Toy, IP-37 Starshine and IP-27 Merengue at the Boxing Day Cruiser's Pot-Luck and music jam at De Big Fish Restaurant.

Maybe IP stands for "Island Party"!

Party-on Packeteers!

A Cruisers' Christmas

 

How do Cruisers spend Christmas?

Usually we gather for a pot luck on some one's boat.  A big boat!

For Christmas Eve this year we decided to do something a little different and held a lobster barbecue on the beach.

 



Hope on S/V Starshine placed an order with some of the local fisherman who brought us about 60 lbs of lobster tails.  That's Hope with a lap full of lobster as she and Phyllis prep the tails.  Everyone brought a starter or side-dish to complete the feast.

 

Who's that cruising across Prickly Bay?  I told you Santa loves the Caribbean.

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

 

All I Want For Christmas.......

..... Is A Boat That Floats!

We finally made it!  We launched Merengue on December 23rd.

With weeks of work and repairs behind us we are looking forward to life on the water again.

This is Merengue being transferred from the boatyard to the travel lift,

and from the travel lift to the bay.

And we're home again in Prickly Bay, Grenada.  From our house to yours

Merry Christmas!

Caribbean Rum and Beer Festival

Last year we arrived in Grenada 1 day after the Rum and Beer Festival.

We missed it by 1 Day!

Jim was not going to let that happen this year!

In addition to the rum tasting there were culinary students preparing food with rum.
There was rum cake, rum balls, coconut shrimp with beer and chicken and beef  flambe with rum.

Jim makes it a point to taste new rums where ever we travel and we had already tasted most of the rums at the festival but it was still fun.

Here I am pretending that I don't know anything about El Dorado Rum so I can get a sample of the El Dorado 15 year old.  Smoooooooth!  We highly recommend it!

Grenada produces a number of good rums.
Another good reason to visit!

Nimrod's

Over in Woburn, a small village on the south coast of Grenada, is Nimrod's Rum Shop.

Nimrod's was made famous (at least among cruisers) in the book

 "An Embarrassment of Mangoes". 

Nimrod's is a typical rum shop, a place where the locals gather to have a beer or rum and to Lime.

Think of it as your favorite neighborhood bar. 

Wendy, Phyllis, Steve and Hope enjoying a cold one.

If you be limin' then you know this is good advice.

Definition: Limin' - to relax, take it easy while you hang out with friends.

We be limin' mon!

More words of wisdom or just a warning?

The aroma of curry was just too irresistible so we moved down to the patio to wait for 

Mrs. Nimrod's chicken roti......... 

........and to enjoy the view of the neighborhood.

I think all neighborhood bars should have a view like this!