I now have two women on Dolce Vita. Rosalie, a friend of Maggie's, came for a 10 day visit. I sent an email to a friend writing that I hoped God would protect me while there were two women aboard. She wrote back hoping that God would protect the women. Only time will tell. :)
Granada's Carnival celebration is in two weeks. This is similar to New Orleans Celebration on Fat Tuesday. Many if not all of the islands, have different dates throughout the year when they celebrate the Carnival. Granada's is one of the largest. Steal drums by the hundreds will rock your night away along with many colorful costumes. Steel drums were first used in Trinidad. An empty oil drum was found to have a pleasant sound when tapping on the top. From there to today, the drums are made of different sizes and tones from the drum can be modified my shaping different sizes of raised circles on the top surface. They are then tuned by the master steel drum tuner. I will capture some photos and movies to share with you on the next blog.
There are many activities for the cruisers and locals to enjoy on the island. Last Saturday the three of us joined 30 other cruisers and locals at a concert honoring a singer call the "Mighty Sparrow", the world king of Calypso. Look him up on Google to learn more about his music and talent. We have also been on a historical tour of the island and enjoyed the romps through the jungle on Saturday afternoons. The hike lasts a hour or more on a marked trails with a few paths that end in a dead end. You return to the last fork in the trail to find the correct path and continue your hike. Drinks and food await you at trails end. The hike is called the Hash House harriiers. Look this up on Google to read of its' history around the globe. Let's not forget Tuesday's beach volley ball for two hours and yoga twice a week.
We sailed north about 10 miles to a marine park where we anchored overnight. The snorkeling was great and the highlight was viewing underwater sculptures. I will share photos of that below.
Restaurants and bars around the harbors have happy hours everyday, many of which also entertain you with music from live bands from the area as well as weekly jam sessions where cruisers bringing their talent and instruments to entertain the happy cruisers during happy hour. :)
So you might wonder how I don't get bored while I wait out this years hurricane season. Now you know. This is just a few of the things to do around here and lets not forget one activity that takes up more of a cruisers time than anything else. Fixing stuff on the boat and dropping hundreds of dollars at the local boat supply stores.
Let's move on to some more photos. My attempt in sharing the photos is to make you crazy with jealousy. I hope to be successful. :)
We were anchored only a few yards off the beach on the island. Some great photos from the little village.
There is always a church in the center of many of the villages. Many of the people around these island are very religious, but unlike Mexico, not all are Catholic.
Another village and their church.
People moving about. Many just to visit and spend time with friends and family.
I can't forget to take photos of some of the flowers that grow wild around the islands.
A colorful pub. Happy hour is in the afternoon. You would see more people entertaining themselves with their friends as the days temperatures begin to cool.
One of many great views as we hike around the islands.
A close-up photo of the flame tree.
Dolce Vita is off in the distance.
A far off photo of the mountain (hill) that Maggie climbed.
One of many colorful characters that visit your boat wishing to sell you their stuff from fish, vegetables, tee shirts, fruits. Fruits: did I tell you about the fruits on these islands. There is an aboundance of every fruit that you would expect in a tropical environment. Mangoes that are as sweet as you can ever imagine. Nothing like what we taste from the stores back home.
This is not a photo out of a travel magazine. We anchored here. We experienced the anchorage up close and personal.
Two kids we met walking around. They wanted to race me down the hill. You know I never turn down a challenge. They kicked my butt.
Another colorful character.
Tobago Cays now has a marine park where they protect the turtles. Here are a few photos.
No this is not Arizona. Some of the islands are dry and cactus can be found as you walk around the island.
One of the churches we visited
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Here is Maggie showing off again.
We visited two factories on a tour that we took. The first was the chocolate factory where they use the same process that has been in place for more than a hundred years.
This is what chocolate looks like off of the tree.
They open the pods and remove the fruit from inside and let it set in these bins to start the drying process .
Next they place them on trays to further dry.
These are tourists moving the beans around with their feet to make sure all beans are evenly dried . There are people that work here that have this as their job.
This is an old Rum distillery where they still use a water wheel to turn the machinery needed to crush the sugarcane.
Here is where the sugarcane is crushed to extract he juice.
Next they warm the juice to remove any water.
Then it is moved to three different bins as it is cooled.
At the end of the line, they fill these coolers and from there they fill the bottles for sale. The end result is rocket fuel. The rum is 170 and 185 proof.
Have you ever asked what nutmeg looks like before it is arrives in jar at the grocery store?
This is what you find after removing the outer layer of the pod. You next remove the red wrap around the nut and then crack the outer shell to find the nutmeg that you grind in your food or drink. Granada is known as the spice island given the many spices that are grown on this island.
We visited an area where the costumes are made for the Carnival and where entertained by these high school kids playing the steel drums. We thought we have heard the best of the steel drums played back home. This I found to be untrue. These kids were great and sounded like nothing that we have ever heard back home. They will be competing in this years Carnival.
The visibility was poor because of recent rains but this should give you a reasonable view of what we saw as we snorkeled in the Marine Park.
I dove down to get this close-up photo. Boy did my head hurt because the depth was around 30 feet and my ears didn't clear.
Some of the fish in the area.
This is the highlight of the sculptures. Human figures standing in a circle holding hands. You would be startled if you came upon this not knowing of it first. The figures look so real.
Well that is it. This should bring everyone up to date. I will send a blog out after the Carnival.In the mean time be safe out there and don't let the political scene back home in the USA get you down.
