East Caribbean

Atlantis shuttle launch, June 8

We anchored behind Cape Canaveral! No good picture of the launch--we were taking a video.

East of the Bahamas, June 2 & 3

About 24 hours of storms--but we handled it like champs! Low point on a 10-day sail home.

Carnival, St. Maarten

The Dutch side's carnival parade, April 30th.

Beautiful dancer

They all had on wonderful makeup.

Float

This was a church group.

Heat problems

It was in the heat of the afternoon, and I don't know how any of them kept going.

Airport folly

People stand on the beach at the end of the runway watching planes come in.

Marigot Bay, St. Martin

Simpson Bay Lagoon is in the background.

Ft. Louis Marina, St. Martin

We're in there!

Rue de Hollande, Marigot, St. Martin

This is a residential "street," a path up the hill past numerous houses

Manta Ray--Nevis

12 feet of water this morning--it was so still we could see the bottom and what was on it.

Nevis Peak, Nevis

This is the view from our anchorage every morning. Another paradise!

Chief Rocker screaming out of the scene

with Halo's Pleasure coming up from behind--not much of a contest.

Winner's Circle

Chief Rocker ridden by Jay Jacobs. Easter Monday in Antigua.

Montserrat

from 20 miles away!

Marigot Bay, Iles des Saintes

This is part of and south of Guadeloupe.

French graveyard, Iles des Saintes

Pompierre Beach, Iles des Saintes

All the requirements--water, sand, picnic tables, chickens, iguana--no goats in this picture.

Scooter ride

One harrowing day in Iles des Saintes.

Abandoned sugar mill, Dominica

Caribbean fish traps, Dominica

Cassava vendor

This is a root they grind (see the bowl) and cook as bread. We had tried a store brand before, but cooked like this it was delicious!

Coconut palm, Dominica

Dominican coastline

Dominican lizard showing off

Indian River, Portsmouth, Dominica

Recognize this from the last scene of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2"?

Indian River

These roots actually form the banks of the river.

Indian River

Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica

We're in that crowd of boats.

Red Rocks, Dominica north coast

This ground has been scoured by the wind to look like rocks.

Dominican coastline

See the breakers over the reef?

Waves crashing

This was a little cove where the waves came in and up and were just gorgeous--this doesn't begin to touch what we saw.

Red Rocks

This crevice was deep enough to get into, and kids had written graffiti in the walls.

Our little group

Kris & Tony on Ticketoo, Linda and Mike on Casa del Mar, and us.

Town Square, St. Anne, Martinique

Restaurants on both sides! Lovely little Catholic church.

Main St., St. Anne, Martinique

Quaint French town, lots of baguettes

Carnival in Martinique!

Celebrants in St. Anne. See the pink hair?!

Beauty Contest

Tony said this was hysterical--these ladies pranced and sashayed around better than any young woman could do.

Burning the devil

Can you see his face?

Audrey Paige

Our friends Dennis and Allayne sail on this boat. They're from Chicago & just across the border in Canada.

Equinox

Our friends Dick and Moira sail on Equinox. They are from Maine.

Schoolchildren in St. Lucia

This is a beautiful church/school in the capitol, Castries. You see children wearing uniforms on every island we visit.

Predators beware!

Is this a smart bird or what? St. Lucia

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Our friends (from right) Denny/Ann on Kyeta; Allayne on Audrey Paige; Carey on Memory; Dick/Moira on Equinox; me.

Banana Farm, St. Lucia

They cover the bananas to keep out the insects. These are next to the road all over, although bananas are no longer a export.

Castries, St. Lucia

Not as urban as we thought the capitol city would be. Lots of tourists, tho, obviously!

House on stilts

This is how they build on hillsides in the islands. Lots of room for lower floors, or cool places to sit in the heat of the day.

House next door

These two houses were on either side of the picture I took of Castries.

Dennery, St. Lucia

Fishing village, typical of the Caribbean.

Garden bench

Typical Caribbean garden bench. Am disappointed I didn't get it focused.

Garden stone

Mamiku Gardens, St. Lucia

Grandpa's house

Grandpa's son lived here until 1951. Mamiku Gardens

Caribbean flowers

Caribbean mushrooms

Caribbean flowers

Mamiku Gardens

This tree is next door to Grandpa's house.

Caribbean flowers

Caribbean flower bed

Hibiscus flower

Spider orchids

Caribbean flowers

Tree orchids

So many colors!

Such a pretty green!

Caribbean flowers

Don't climb this tree!

Overlooking Praslin Bay

Just south of Dennery, east coast of St. Lucia

Racing the storm

Can you see the sailboat racing from the storm?

Soufriere anchorage

We're the first boat you almost see. This is at the base of the famous Petit Piton. Gros Piton is behind.

St. Lucia parrot

Chateaubelair anchorage

This is one of the most NW anchorages in St. Vincent. This is a return trip, 'cause we thought it was so gorgeous the first time.

Tobago Cays anchorage

Again, we're out there somewhere! No restaurants, no shops, nowhere to spend money. Great place to be--for a while!

Tobago Cays picnic

But we get out and about.

Bird in coconut

Someone ahead of us broke open this coconut and left it behind. This bird appreciated it!

Clifton Harbour, Union Island

This is St. Vincent/Grenadines. Have to be really careful in this harbour. We're down there in the middle.

Bequia anchorage

Much easier place to anchor! Lots of room--we're still further to the left of this picture.

St. Vincent Botanical Gardens

Flowers fall from the trees and blanket the ground.

Century Palm

This tree is blooming although only 36 years old, and will be dead in about 18 months.

Weaving plant

The natives make hats and baskeds out of these fronds--they are beautiful.

Root erosion

This is how this tree reacted to having its roots exposed.

One day flower

This flower blooms for only one day, and then it falls off the tree.

Flower middle

This is the petal--very heavy and waxy--quite a production for only 24 hours.

St. Vincent parrot

Moonhole

A new kind of condo--built into the mountainside and really basic. The meeting room looked like Fred Flintstone would walk out any second.

Bequia tour group

Our friends--Audrey Paige, Kyeta, Casa del Mar, Ticketoo, Vindemar, Conched Out.

Helping the local fisherman

Our guys got a big kick out of showing off helping the local fisherman pull up his boat.

So proud!

Another job well done.

Recognize this?

Movie set for Pirates of the Caribbean, Wallilabou Bay, St. Vincent.

Bet this wasn't in the movie

All the comforts of home.

Tobago Cays

Taken from Union Island. Truly an island paradise. This is what we were looking for when we came cruising.

Boys will be boys!

Wherever you go--they got an iguana out of a tree and were dragging it around by its tail. This is Union Island.

Union Island, Clifton Bay

This is the main anchorage at this island. You can see the reefs we have to watch out for!

Tobago Cays

These are the Tobago Cays, where we anchored the next day.

Petit St. Vincent

A gorgeous island, private, but we walked the beach and snorkeled.

Tony doing sail repair

The work never stops . . .

Warao Indians, Venezuela

The children (and some adults) paddled out to us on the Manamo River to "cambio"--trade.

Beautiful girl

This is one of the Warao children.

Boca de Tigre Lodge anchorage

Columbine and Casa del Mar

Typical village on the Manamo

Huts, no walls, colorful laundry.

Downtown Pedernales

A thriving metropolis--no cars, but we had great empanadas at the Millenium Restaurant.

Scarlet Ibis Island

First night anchorage on the Manamo, we lucked into anchoring right by this island!

Scarlet Ibis on the move

Clouds of them would come over the top of the trees. They came in at sunset, and were gone by sunrise the next morning.

One of many

One in flight

I can't describe to you how SCARLET these birds are--just gorgeous.

Feeding on the bank

After anchoring next to their night camp, we found their feeding grounds on the way out.

This is an anchorage?

Water hyacinths upriver, Manamo River, Venezuela.

Howler monkeys

The elusive monkey--makes a noise between a lion roaring and wind in the trees. Really cool!

Tapir

Debra and Cliff of Watermark I, and Sam from Encantada.

Duvali celebration, October

This is the Hindu celebration of the harvest, kinda like our Thanksgiving, end of the year, that sort of thing. These are all cruisers being entertained.

Hindu dance

This lovely girl performed three dances, and was quite striking.

Pitch Lake, south Trinidad

A true tar lake--just don't stand too long in one spot!

Harvesting

The tractors dug out the pitch, it was loaded into cars and hauled up the hill to the processing plant.

Worthless real estate

The yards around the Pitch Lake grow tar instead of grass.

Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad

With friends. Jesse James is next to Tony--he's the cruisers' buddy in Trinidad.

Sandy working

in what little comfort in the heat I can find! Chaguaramas, Trinidad

Cleaning shrimp

Local shrimp, cheap and delicious!

Indian cremation

This is a site set up for a Hindu cremation .

Leatherback turtle

May 11 She comes ashore and digs a nest with her back flippers.

Tagging her

They're putting on a tracking device.

Laying eggs

She digs a hole as deep as her back flippers are long.

Laying eggs

She will lay between 80 and 120 eggs every 9-10 days, often laying 8-10 clutches. 1-2% of each live to maturity.

In a trance

This particular turtle had been at this same beach 4 years ago, according to her tag.

Newborn turtle

This is how they look coming out of the nest. There were two for us to see--the weaklings who weren't going to make it to the water without help.

Maxi Taxis

This is how you get around! See Captain's Log, May 15

Local restaurant

This is the menu in the cheaper places. They vary a bit from day to day. This place really likes shark.

FIRE!

May 12 This was in a marina next to where we had lunch, just a few steps away from where we are staying. Firemen took care of it, and there was little collateral damage.

12/30/07

East Caribbean