Carnival Time

Hello again, we are still in Grenada at the moment. We had thought about sailing to Trinidad this weekend, doing it overnight to take advantage of the full moon. It is 80 miles, so if we set off in the morning, it would be unlikely that we would get there in day light, whereas if we set off in the evening, we would. But, lethargy set in 🙂 and we have decided to do it at the next full moon. We will be sailing in the company of another boat, Wahoo, with Roy and Dale, who we have spent many happy hours with over the last few months.

We have been watching a couple of tropical storms over the last couple of weeks. The first one to cause us some concern, was Danny, which DID become a hurricane, but luckily for us crossed to the north of us, unfortunately it has done some damage where it made landfall in Dominica, and as this is a very poor country, it has caused a lot of hardship to the people there. This morning on the cruisers net the call went out for any equipment or clothes and linens (and cash too if anyone has any to spare) that will be sent over to the people there to try to help out a bit. We will probably stop there on the way back up the island chain later in the year if it is possible……it may not be much, but anything we spend there will help the economy which relies heavily on tourism. The other storm, Erica, again passed further north, and crossed between Antigua and Guadeloupe, but as far as we know there hasn’t been any major damage done….it feels a bit odd really, as these are places where we spent a lot of time and have some wonderful memories of peaceful, sunsets and long walks……I can’t imagine the fury of the storm (and have no wish to experience it either) We keep an eye on the weather situation, and the service here is very good, as you can imagine, Grenada, after being caught unprepared a few years ago, are now very vigilant. We are the lucky ones, if something is forecast, all of us in boats, can weigh anchor and move away from the danger, the people who live here, can only batten down the hatches and pray.

We had the carnival in August, a crazy time, it seems to spread over a week, though the carnival parade is on for 2 days, the costumes are wonderful, colourful and lots of work and imagination went into making them….I believe that preparations for NEXT year are already underway. In the morning, very early (too early for us!!) the first part starts, where there seems to be lots of used engine oil (yuk!!) thrown about, topped off with paint….we were advised that if we went to this part….use old clothes….as these are all we possess now (boating is hard on clothes!) we decided to give it a miss. But Devon, one of the local taxi drivers, who a lot of the cruisers have become friendly with (he is a sweetheart) took us into town in the afternoon to watch the parade. It was supposed to start at 2pm, but of course we are in the Caribbean, on ‘Island time’ and so it got going at 4.30pm….. we were at the start, so the participants hadn’t really got going, but the colours, it was like being inside a rainbow, and the lead costumes of each section were truly works of art. You could hardly see the dancers inside them. Dale and Roy who are from New Orleans, and who know a bit about Carnival…..think Mardi Gras……brought some beads that they have collected over the years from their own Carnival experiences at Mardi Gras…..these are traditionally thrown or given to people in the crowd, they gave us all some to give out….lots of kids looked very happy! It was a lovely happy friendly experience, we never felt threatened or worried at all even though there was quite a crowd. Later we went on to the Stadium, where all of the people in the parade, got their chance to go on the stage in their individual groups to show off and dance….it was judged at that time….I never got to grips with the judging, and have no idea who won….I guess they all did.

As I am writing this, it is Throwing it down with rain….come to the Caribbean eh?? Still in a bit the sun will be out I guess. We are hoping to have a beach BBQ on Monday (rain is forecast….it will feel like home:)) We have been collecting scrap wood for it when we have been walking around, had a bit of a scare when we took some on board….it had termites in it….NOT a good idea on a boat with lots of wood….We have spray!! used lots of it and hung the offending wood in a bag in the water for a bit….it will dry!

Ooooo can you see a difference?….I have a new computer…..Harv broke his last month, and mine was getting a bit old and slow, so we decided to buy a couple of new lap tops, now there is a very swish computer store here in town, but the prices are exorbitant….at least double the price at home, including delivery! And we are mean! So we ordered a couple in Britain, and Harv’s Dad kindly handled the parcelling up and delivery for us, but what a game….the tracking was hopeless, when we finally did get the company to let us into the secret of where they were, we were amazed at the journey the poor things had…honestly these computers are better travelled than we are….They left Christchurch and went to Heathrow, then to East Midlands, and then back to Heathrow, then off to Venezuela, to Barbados, back to Venezuela and on to Trinidad….then finally here…we had to leave them a couple of days to let them get their breath back!

We have been doing a bit of DIY too…..our dinghy is made of a material that degrades in sunlight…..yes a great material to make a dinghy out of, but we can cope, Now lots of people here have a thing called ‘Dinghy Chaps’…..no not an infectious disease…I’d never heard of them either, we we are from England, and the sun doesn’t shine enough to make a difference. These things are basically a cover that goes over the tubes that form the dinghy, and they can be made for you at great cost out of durable fabric, that is VERY expensive….do you remember me mentioning that we are mean????? So we went to the local hardware store, and bought a tarpaulin and some Gaffer tape, and set to on the dinghy dock to cut pieces and stick them on, we got lots of attention. People were watching VERY closely, and are obviously going to follow our example….when they see if they stay on of course…..it has been almost 3 weeks now, and I know for a fact that lots of tarps have been bought!!! It was sweet how many people came over and offered to help, many of them didn’t speak English well, so lots of sign language went on, I felt quite redundant….so I left Harv and his helpers and went for a beer…well SOMEone had to do it…….

Well off to have a look at making a rain catcher, we will be able to fill up our tanks with all of this. Here are some pictures of the Carnival, I hope that you like them….. Bye for now.