Getting out and about
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While we are effectively immobilized, waiting for our replacement
throttle cable to arrive, we have been getting out and about. Brian is being active and has become involved with a group of
volunteers that organize swimming lessons for local people. It is surprising
given the amazing beaches and warm water here, that the local people do not have
a culture of enjoying the water.
Brian is also doing a free-diving course which I thought was like
snorkelling but, apparently, is more akin to yoga, but in water, with breath
control and relaxation to maximize time underwater. I am being less active but did join Dennis and Martha (Fishcake) on
a tour to a waterfall at Mount Carmel with a picnic lunch; Peter and Linda (Koka
Chin) came too. First a local minibus to town to change busses and then a second
bus northeast towards the middle of the island. These busses are an experience in
themselves – some of the driving is atrocious: break-neck speeds on winding and
busy roads. The intense acceleration and breaking are accompanied by lots of
hooting and shouting as they collect passengers with a conductor (lookout)
scouting for potential pedestrians to convert into passengers while also opening
and closing the sliding side door and collecting fares. The walk down a jungle valley to the river and waterfall was
spectacular. The path was clean and easy and the vegetation incredibly varied
with coconut palms amongst the trees and enormous bamboo along the river in
places. There were orange trees but
the windfalls were very sour and, a first for me: brightly coloured cocoa pods
growing directly off the trunk of the tree. In amongst all the greenery, a myriad of
coloured flowers and leaves made it seem more like a garden. The falls were about 60 or 80 feet high
and some of our group were determined to stand under the falling water but I
declined as the approach looked slippery to me and not a good place to break a
leg. Our second ‘outing’ was to the Independence Day parade at the
National Stadium in St Georges. Lots of marching and drill by groups of
military, police, coastguards, scouts and St Johns Ambulance. Flags were raised
and lowered, anthems played and dignitaries welcomed. The Prime Minister was greeted with a
rapturous welcome from the crowd and surprisingly, despite independence, a
Governor General, the British Representative, (muted welcome) attended and
inspected the various military units who were standing to attention in the
heat. Not my thing but
interesting to see how enthusiastic and patriotic the locals were in the stadium
with most of them dressed in national colours of red, yellow and green. The military band was entertaining, and
different, in that at intervals the uniformed band leader would break into a
dance routine rather like a New Orleans Mardi Gras. Afterwards there were
various steel bands and singers but, for me, the most dramatic display was a
group of dancers on 2- and 3-metre-high stilts just attached to their feet. After a while it seemed that you were
watching incredibly tall, stylised, stick-people dancing and forgot the
stilts. There were also exhibits of
local food and products around the stadium and rum and nutmeg featured
strongly. The take away food and
national dish is called ‘oil-down’ and comprises a very thick stew of chicken
with pork pieces and plantain, plus kalloo (like
spinnage). The Fishcakes have now left to head north. We have been socializing and had supper
on Koka Chin one evening and Peter and Linda ate with us on Thursday evening;
Brian did his signature pasta dish. I’m also getting on with some minor jobs on the boat: I have
scraped the peeling vanish off some handrails on the coach roof. The new water pump stopped randomly but
that turned out to be just a loose negative deep inside the labyrinth of wiring
behind the switch board. I heard yesterday, Friday, that my cable had arrived at DHL on
Grenada from St Marten. Nothing will happen over the weekend and the lady that
deals with the paper work at Budget Marine doesn’t work on Mondays so I might
get my hands on the cable on Tuesday afternoon. The ship from Portsmouth with my
replacement Hydrovane rudder arrives on Wednesday but, it seems, it will take
two or three days to unload the container and then I have to collect paperwork
from the shipping agent and take it to the port to get the package
released. In between times we shop for basic commodities to keep our food
stocks going. I bought two tuna steaks this morning from a lady in the fish
market who deftly sliced the steaks from a big piece of tuna with a machete.
I’ll update you when I have extracted my replacement Hydrovane
rudder from the docks. Our plan, if time allows, is to do a quick round trip to
Tobago before the end of February.
It is only 80 miles and an overnight passage would allow us to arrive
early morning with first light. All best, Tony and Brian
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