April 3-4

April 3

The unfortunate thing about salt water is it never dries on its own. No matter how long you leave stuff hanging, if there is salt water in it, it will always be a bit damp.

The weather s beginning to change, and as the weatherman put it on the local TV station the other night, “This nice weather won’t last long folks, it’s going to get hot again.” Storm clouds are building up as well.

Liz and Patrick can’t get out this month so we are going to wait to see when Doug Ryan gets over here. We are going to head up to Allen’s Cay to help with the tagging and measuring of the iguanas. After that we will go to the Abacos and visit Nipper’s, before heading across to the States.

Yesterday morning while Rick was making coffee, he scalded his stomach with boiling water when the glass jug he was rinsing broke.  Yeah, Heavenly Scents because it stopped most of the blistering and is healing up fairly well with the Healing Balm and DermaCure.  He was also using the auto grinder the day before cutting up some conch shells and the blade shattered. Part of it hit the base of his throat and went straight in. Luckily the sternum stopped it going in any further. Once again, Healing Balm and DermaCure to the rescue after a little Hydrogen peroxide first cleaned it up.

Today was a great day. I didn’t do any work at all. We took chairs, my paints, snorkel gear and lunch to the beach and spent four hours there.

Rick missed the turtle in the morning. He surfaces about 100 feet behind the boat, waves a flipper and as soon as the camera turns on he dives.  BUT...

This afternoon after we got back to the boat we went for a swim to the big coral head about [coincidentally!] 100 feet behind the boat and guess who was lurking there! Rick got some film of his swimming around. He is small and shy.  The fish in that coral head are amazing too. There is so little growth here but every once in awhile you find a spot where there is a great coral head.

Yesterday someone else found one too, with the bottom of his boat! He missed the mark in the harbour and ended up on the bank. Partly sand, partly reef, so he was stuck there all day. When he got off he came back into the anchorage to check out his bottom and re-set his waypoints!

Today is Good Friday so all the businesses are closed, which is fine because we all need a holiday! Right? But that means no internet access until tomorrow.

April4

We helped someone out today by giving them a connector for their AIS. Now we need to get our SSB hooked up.

This morning the turtle came by and waved but by the time Rick got into the water he was gone.  We swam over to the reef to see if he was home.  But we couldn’t see him. We are going to shore first to see about some internet hook-up and a few fresh vegetables; then find a water shirt for Rick and a bathing suit for me that doesn’t look like a dress. [The ‘old lady’ suit I have is too big now –yay!!! And is too heavy a material]

The weather here has been “less hot” but believe it or not, when you guys get crappy weather, it extends down here too.  It cools the area off by about 10 degrees. The locals love it, but they aren’t walking around in shorts and swim suits. They still work for a living.

Eleven years ago today we left Grenada to start heading home for Liz & Geoff’s wedding. That was an epic trip.  Maybe that’s why today I’m feeling particularly homesick.  But I’ll get over it. 

I just wish the grandkids could jump on a plane and come down here for awhile. There is so much more of the world here... kids from Australia, Ireland, and England, all of whom have sailed on the ocean. The local kids here are cool too! And they could all learn so much from each other.  This is where explorers landed! This is where you look out on the ocean and see nothing but water and can really imagine what it was like. This is where science is put to work preserving the fishing and farming, and where you learn to live without being hooked up all day and still survive! 

That being said, I have to go now and find some internet so you can all read about this, and check out the pictures!

Tonight we might go to the “Rake and Scrape” at the Chat’n Chill. At first I was worried about what kind of food that was, but it’s not food...it’s music! It’s played on saws, goatskins, maracas, accordians and guitars.

Later... :)

 CRAP the internet here sucks!!! I can't download the pics. Will try again later