Oh Crap It's Raining! Oh Well Might as Well Work on the Blog.

Oh Crap It's Raining!

Oh Well Might as Well Work on the Blog.

Well, a few people have been chastising me for being so remiss in updating our Blog.    Sooo, here goes,
forget that the season is almost over!  Having fun is hard work.  You know,  someone told me that retirement is really your second childhood but without adult supervision.  I think I can relate.

We arrived in Grenada in early December 2012, and finally got Sunshine II in the water on December 24th.  what a Christmas gift to have her back in  the water.

Dingy Concert

On January 4th.  a local marina produced another of there famous "Dingy Concerts"  go to you tube to see a video of all of the concerts.  In any case here are a few photos of this one.

We were anchored quite close and could see and hear the band very well.

It is a lot easier to dance on the deck of a 44 foot sailboat than in a 10 foot dingy.

St. Lucia

Early February found the intrepid crew of Sunshine II on the island of St. Lucia.  We were not planning on a stop here but when mechanical things break they must be repaired.  So a week on the beautiful island of St. Lucia we endured.  Time was passed by site seeing and ZIP LINING, yea thats right Zip Lining thru the rain forest canopy.  Quite a thrill, everyone needs to do such things.



Riding the zip line

Here we are, Robin, Me, Chris, Robert, the captains of four great sailing ship showing our glee of surviving our adventure.

Quenching our thirst after an exhilarating afternoon in the rain forest of St. Lucia.



     Rodney Bay's United States Signal Station circa 1941-47.

During WWII the US built and manned a signal station atop Pigeon Island to look out for German U-boats and radio updates to the US mainland.

The peak to the right is where the transmitter antenna was set.  The peak to the left was the original old fort which was built by Admiral Rodney during 1778/1782 for the purpose of keeping an eye on the French Navy at Martinique.

Look at Babs climbing the steep slope to Fort Rodney and Signal Hill.

Remember she has had both of her knees replaced.

Proof that Dr. K and his team at Trinity Orthopedics and Brian at Trinity Rehab do good work.

Feb.12, 2013

Cajun Mardi Gras  St. Lucia Style

Nana and the girls shaking their beads.

I have no idea what's happening!

Someone said that this is Mardi Gras Yoga.

Gumbo Time

Tim's New Toupe'

On to Martinique and the French Islands

Tim's 1st. Tuna about 8lbs.

 I don't care what my college class mate says sushi being fish bait.

Fresh tuna sushi with a little wasabi sauce, c'est bon!

 

Everything Mechanical!!

This time it's the Jib sail.

 

Ste. Anne,  Martinique

Stations of the Cross

Quite a hike to the last station!

Diamond Rock

Just off of the coast of Martinique is Diamond Rock.  During the time of Napoleon the British commissioned this barren rock the H.M.S. Diamond Rock and equipped it with cannons, men and supplies to harass the French ships entering Martinique for some 18 months.  This seamed to infuriate Napoleon to no end as Martinique was the birth place of his beloved wife, Josephine.

 

Ste. Pierre,  Martinique



Our Caribbean Home at Anchor in Ste. Pierre

Mount Pel'ee today



At the North end of Martinique is the town of Ste. Pierre.  On May 8, 1902, for all practical purposes, the town ceased to exist as Mount Pel'ee, a nearby volcano erupted covering Ste.Pierre in ash,mud, boiling gasses,lava and rocks killing nearly 30,000 residents.

 Over the last 111 years the town has rebuilt and the local farm land has been reclaimed and in certain ways the crops have benefited due to the rich volcanic soil.

One such recovered business is the DePaz distillery.  Although this distillery dates back to the late 1700's most of the owners family, lost their lives in the eruption of 1902, one of the surviving family members was able to rebuild the plantation a few years later. 

Today the DePaz distillery is one of the most modern and efficiently run distillery which I have seen.

This mill cuts the sugar cane into approximately 3/4 inches long pieces, crushes the sugar juice,  hot water is then infused into the previously crushed cane and  it is crushed again.  The cane is then burnt for a heat source to provide steam and the ash is then applied to the fields as additional fertilizer.  The waste stream from this distillery is virtually zero.

During the five month crushing season they process 250 tons of cane per day producing approximately 25,000 liters of rum per day.

Babs trying to decide which rum she wants to taste next.

Dominica

Of all of the islands which we visited this year, Dominica was the most natural with the least invasive development.

The tourism is all nature related such as hiking, boating and just enjoying the natural beauty of the island.

I am standing at the base of a bloodwood tree and it's impressive buttress roots.

One of the tours which we went on was of the Indian River.  This area was used in one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies as a set for the witch, Calypso's home.

As you can see the river has a quite unique appearance.

Some of the flora of this area which is growing wild is only seen at home as house plants or in green houses.

One day we rented a car to drive about the island.  The last thing the rental car agent told me as I was driving off of the lot was "Drive on the Left" Babs had to repeat that bit of instruction a few times during our drive.

Dominica has seven potentially active volcanoes.  Although there is no expectation of any eruptions in the near future.  They do provide for some interesting sulphur springs and boiling lakes.

Another movie scene.

Breath taking views

Returning to Grenada

On our journey back to Grenada we found this old freighter run-aground off the coast of Bequia, just goes to show you the Captain may not always be right .



Upon returning to Grenada I caught another tuna just off the Southwest corner of the island as the waters of the Atlantic meets with the waters of the Caribbean.  On this day the tides were quite dramatic causing a very distinctive color change at the interface of the water mix.  This guy hit my lure just as it crossed the color change area.

Upon our arrival at Grenada we anchored in Clark's Court bay just off of Hog Island.  Maybe it should be called Goat Island.

Actually some friends of ours stocked this little herd of goats on the island.

One day Babs and I took our favorite taxi driver "Shademan" out for a day sail.  Unknown to us this was his first time to see his country from off shore via boat.  To top off his day he caught a bonito weighing about 6 pounds, although a barracuda seemed to take a bit of a liking to it before we could get it aboard.

Oh!  we need to introduce you to our newest crew member,  Chatham.

Alphonse and Loraine showing Chatham the ropes.

While moving Sunshine II to her mooring for the summer, I caught these two guys very close to where I caught the tuna a couple of weeks earlier.  One of these fish is a horse eye jack and is known to carry a toxic nerve disease so it was thrown back in but the other one is a yellow fin tuna, need I say anymore.

Another Great Cruising Season Comes to an End