Wildlife and cricket.
Oriole
Mon 16 Apr 2007 15:50
|
Hog Island, Grenada. 12:00.05N
61:44.48W
Easter Monday was another diving day and we spent
two idyllic hours on two reefs on the south west side of Carriacou - just
the two of us guided by Connie of Arawak Divers with whom we have now dived many
times. She has a knack of finding fascinating small lifeforms hidden
away in unlikely spots as well as the larger more dramatic fish. We
watched the yellow headed jawfish, no more than two inches long, which
lives in a burrow in the sand like a worm.
 Yellow headed jawfish
pirouette.
When it is confident the coast is clear it emerges
vertically from its burrow and does a little dance on its tail sinking
rapidly back if danger threatens. Providing one keeps still, the ballet is
enthralling especially if several emerge at once.
 Sergeant-Majors on
patrol.
On Tuesday we sailed down the windward side of
Grenada where we spied a pair of humback whales blowing and repeatedly throwing
their enormous tails out of the water and thrashing them down on the
surface. They were moving slowly north as we sailed south and we got
a good close sight of these wonderful creatures, fortunately not too close
as we would not want a tail the size of a large tree landing on the
deck! The contrast with the dancing jawfish was ridiculous.
We renewed our aquaintance with La Sagesse the
small hotel restaurant on the beach where we spent the aftermath of Hurricane
Ivan three years ago. We even managed to get Mike the owner to get out his
guitar and sing in his Bob Dylan style - a great evening.
The Cricket World Cup has brought temporary
stringent security arrangements to Grenada necessitating yachts calling the
Coastguard when entering a security zone centred on St George's the capital to
request an inspection and an escort to ones chosen anchorage. It was no
surprise that when we called repeatedly on the radio we got no response!!
The island is crowded with cricket fans but many locals sadly have found
the ticket prices pitched too high and have not been able to bring their unique
atmosphere to the matches.
 The cricketers sweltered while we sat
in the shade with a cooling breeze.
New Zealand struggling to
dislodge the Sri Lankan opening batsmen.
We watched a very sharp Sri Lankan team
effortlessly demolished New Zealand in the very smart new stadium built by the
Chinese "for free" to replace the one destroyed by Hurricane Ivan.
The recovery of Grenada in the three years since disaster struck is quite
remarkable and it is becoming a development hotspot for residential
property investment. Even Peter de Savary is in on the act. We
hope they do not spoil its small island
attraction.
|