8-07-02 We are two months into hurricane season and so far, so good. Just the usual tropical waves marching across from the African continent at regular intervals. Luckily, none have developed into tropical depressions, or worse yet ... hurricanes near us. (A tropical depression is the first warning for possible hurricane development.) We have wrapped-up our boats projects and did some touring yesterday. We rented a car with our new Turkish friends who are just starting off their circumnavigation - Seda and Cüneyt. We drove along the west coast, through Port of Spain and to Waterloo to see a unique Hindu Temple (30% of Trinis practice Hindu religion). Then up north to the mountains and rain forest to the Asa Wright Nature Center. The Asa Wright Center was formerly a cocoa and coffee plantation and it attracts bird-watchers from all around the world. We took a guided tour through the rain forest -complete with the standard afternoon downpour. Great spot to see tiny colorful hummingbirds, woodpeckers, bananaquits, motmots, tanagers, bellbirds, etc. Pat's Mother is an avid bird-watcher and we wished she was with us to see all the beautiful birds. After seeing the sights, we will leave for Grenada tomorrow. Grenada is about 80 nm northwest of Trinidad, and we will sail the passage overnight, arriving on Pat's birthday - August 9th. We are very excited about going to Grenada, as their Carnival week is just starting and Pat's parents are flying in to visit for a week at the end of August. We are looking forward to having them onboard with us for some sun, sailing, snorkeling and just relaxing.
8-18-02 Been in Grenada (Lat 12°00'N/Lon 61°46'W) a week and a half now, after an overnight sail from Trinidad. Grenada (pronounced 'gren-AY-duh') is the smallest independent country in the Western Hemisphere, it measures 12 miles wide by 21 miles long. The island is volcanic and a mix of tropical landscapes, fertile valleys, mountains, rainforests, and rivers flowing into beautiful sand beaches. It is also known as "Isle of Spice" and this little island produces one-third of the world's nutmeg. SIMMER smells just as fragrant as the island, since we bought a spice necklace strung with beads, nutmeg, mace, vanilla, cinnamon, turmeric, bay leaves, and cloves. The scent makes us hungry full-time though! You'll be happy to hear that we survived (barely) our first Caribbean Carnival. Carnival stands unique as a major festival throughout the Caribbean islands. It is traditionally a pre-Lenten celebration on most of the islands, usually just before Easter. But a few of the islands celebrate at different times of the year - Grenada's Carnival, called Spice Mas, is usually in early August and includes spirited contests and performances by calypso singers, steel bands, pageants, the election of a Carnival "king" and "queen", street dancing called "jump ups", costume and dance competitions, parades with floats, music and masquerading revelers. Historically, Spice Mas celebrates emancipation from slavery by combining design, music, dance, food and drink during the 2 to 3 weeks of events. Lots of late night partying. You have to have alot of stamina for Carnival time, we've discovered. We are not used to staying up so late, so many nights in a row. We are just now feeling normal again, and Carnival ended 5 days ago. Now that the big event is over, we will check out some of the other bays on the southern coast. The southern coastline has jutting peninsulas, deep bays and small nearshore islands, perfect cruising grounds for yachts.
8-26-02 Still on the southern coast of Grenada, in Mt. Hartman Bay now. Pat's parents are flying in tomorrow for a one week stay onboard SIMMER. We are very excited. They will be our first visitors since we left on our voyage 4 years ago. We've arranged an all-day island tour with a local Grenadian and a few other yachties so that they can see the island when they are here. Otherwise we'll swim, read, fish, catch-up with each other ... and of course drink a few rum punches.
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