July 11
Today was a slow day. I have a list of things to fix on the boat, but today I took care of one that wasn't on the list. Even sitting still things break. The rear a/c unit stopped circulating water. I had cleaned the filter and replaced the screen just a couple days ago. When I took the strainer apart this time, I found it full of sea grass. Since the water outside the bay has been so stirred up by the high winds, there is a lot of sea grass floating in the water. I cleaned the screen out, and stuck my finger up in the housing where I found lots more grass. I pulled all I could out and then opened the seacock without putting the cover back on the filter. Almost no water came out, indicating the intake is clogged before it even gets to the filter. To resolve this, I had to bring the garden hose inside, disconnect a hose from the filter and run water backwards through the filter. After that I had good water flow. I hope this doesn't become something I have to do every couple of days.
At lunchtime, Pat & Dori joined us in a dingy ride across the bay to Lower Woburn. We had been told that Roger's Restaurant was a good place for lunch. We found Roger's not far from the dinghy dock. We were the only customers there at first, but then the couple that recommended it came in. The girl who served us told us they had rum punch today, so we all ordered one. Rum punch is offered at most bars, and every one has a different formula. Most are nothing like the sweet fruity punch that I have been making. That's not to say they aren't good. Most are quite spicy, and Angostura Bitters are a common ingredient. The waitress was working at her own pace, and it's good that she only had two tables to tend to. She finally took our order and brought our drinks. Before the food came, I had to wave to the waitress and use hand signals to order another round of punch. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about. I had a chicken roti. A roti is a wrap that contains potato and a meat. It is always curry flavored. Chicken is probably the most common meat in a roti. What is a little unusual is that the chicken will have bones still in. For example, a whole chicken leg may be in there. In some places, you actually can order a boneless chicken one, or bone in. I generally like to have the bones out of my food before I get it, so I'll stick to the boneless ones. I have not tried a fish roti yet. I'm almost afraid to in case they just put whole fish in there.
When we got back to the dock, the couple who had recommended the lunch place came over to apologize. They said both the service and the food were nothing like they had experienced the day before. It was still an island experience, even if it wasn't one of the best.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 12
My boat project today is to replace the clips on the ends of the battery cables for the dinghy motor. Yes, my little outboard has an electric starter. Since we remove the engine from the dinghy whenever we travel, the cables have alligator clips on the ends to clip to the battery. These have been an ongoing problem with corrosion. I have probably replaced them three times since we have been cruising. The last time one broke was a couple of months ago, and I have just been pull starting the motor since then. I got a different type of clip this time to see if they last longer. Once installing them, I realized they will be a little harder to use since the jaws don't open quite as far as the kind I used to use. They'll do for now.
We were happy to hear from our friends Dave & Sue on Pirate's Hideout today. We met Dave & Sue in the Bahamas last spring on our way back to the States. We had kept in touch via e-mail, and knew they were down here ahead of us. They got here ahead of us because they had their boat shipped from Florida to the USVI back in December, giving them a two month head start on the trip down here. They also skipped the ugliest part of the bashing east by doing that. When we got to the marina here a couple weeks ago, we saw their boat was here, but they were on a trip back to the States. They got back last night. We caught up a little on what we've been up to since we last saw them.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 13
This morning there is a market run. Paper Moon has arranged for a taxi to take us to the fresh market in downtown St. Georges. Dave & Sue, Pat & Dori, Barb & I, Maribel from Paper Moon, and France from Moana went. We walked around the market checking out the produce and spices. A couple of guys approached us wanting to be our tour guides, but we told them we weren't tourists and that we had been here before. This got them off the course of trying to hustle business, but they were still friendly. One asked me where I was from. When I told him the US, he thanked me for the US's involvement in liberating Grenada in 1983. We have heard a number of people say this, and a taxi driver who was giving us a history of Grenada told us that 95% of the people favored the US invasion. I have read a very different version of that era, but it appears that account that I read must have been written by someone in the minority. As we encountered last week, the market ladies here are very polite and not pushy at all when you say no thank you to them. They are even wiling to spend time explaining things to you when you aren't buying.
Dave & Sue were both personal chefs in their previous lives, so it was fun to listen to them talk with some of the local ladies about which things were which and how to use them. George from the North Pole Bar saw us and invited us in for a beer. We met George last week when we were here. To call The North Pole Bar a bar is probably not accurate. It is more like a room with a refrigerator full of cold beer. George wanders out amongst the crowd near his corner of the market and recruits people to come in for a beer. Since walking around with a beer is not a problem here, usually you get the beer and go. George is hard to refuse, so we got a few beers even though it's was only about 10:30.
Once everybody had their produce needs satisfied, we walked a few blocks to the bus station. As in all the islands, a bus here is a mini-van that holds twelve people. We wanted a #1 bus that will take us by the Spice Island Mall where the IGA grocery store is. Since we are starting at the bus station, we can count of a full bus. We had to wait a few minutes, but then one came and we loaded up. When every seat was full, the guy who collects fares squeezed in next to Pat where there was not room for another butt. The good news was that nobody requested to get out before the mall, so at least we weren't getting climbed over. At the mall all of us and a couple other people got out. The bus route actually passes a couple of blocks from the mall and you have to walk the rest of the way. Seems like this would be a good place for them to circle through like they do in St. Thomas. We got to the IGA and fanned out. Since we will have limited space in the taxi back with eight of us, we plan to only get necessities today. Once everybody was done shopping, we called the original taxi who picked us up at the marina. He showed up a few minutes later and took us back to the marina.
Mid-afternoon a group gathered in the bar to play Mexican Train dominoes. We weren't planning on going, but Dave & Sue had gotten up there late and the game was already full. So, Dave came down to ask if we wanted to play. We went and joined them and then tried to refresh our memories on how to play. We haven't played since we were in the Bahamas in 2006. With a combination of our four memories and a few questions answered by the other table, we had a fun game. We played until 17:00, when we had to get ready for our next activity.
Every Friday night a fish fry is held in the town of Gouyave. Gouyave is on the west coast of Grenada, about two thirds of the way up the island north of St. Georges. Inga on Homeward Bound is the cruiser who has coordinates tours and such for other cruisers. She had arranged for two vans to take a group to the fish fry. Our van picked us up at 17:15. We picked up another couple over at Prickly Bay and then followed the second van north. The road weaves it's way right along the coast, high up on the mountain's edge, so we had a wonderful view all the way, with the sun setting just as we got there. We walked a few blocks from where the vans parked to a street that is closed off for the fish fry. Lining this street for a long block and then a cross street for a block, was booth after booth of vendors selling food. We noticed that a number of the booths were apparently left over from after Hurricane Ivan. The canvas on top said "USA Aid". Everything was fish something. We had been told by many people that the fish fry was a must-do. There was one guy we heard though who said it was just a bunch of fried chicken and French fries. Well, I don't know what town he went to, but there was no chicken for sale here tonight. It is a FISH fry after all. There were fish cakes, fried fish, grilled fish, steamed fish, stir fried shrimp, shrimp kabobs, fish quiche, fish pizza. There were also various side dishes made from local vegetables. We had some stir-fried shrimp which was served with vegetables and spaghetti, some grilled swordfish steaks, a piece of fish pizza and a piece of fish quiche. One of the guys in the group had a steamed fish that had been cooked by wrapping the whole snapper in foil with some veggies and broth and cooked on a grill. It looked and smelled great, but there was that picking your meat off the bones thing again, so I didn't try that. Of course there was cold beer, and one booth selling just rum drinks. I stuck with the beer, but Pat got a rum and coke that was 2/3 138 proof rum and a splash of coke. Needless to say he sipped it. To finish the evening, we stopped in an ice cream shop that had a sign advertising flavors like ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sour sop. Unfortunately, they were sold out of all the local flavors, so I settled for butter pecan.
On the way back to the marina, we had to stop first to drop off the couple we picked up at Prickly Bay. As we pulled back out on the road, the driver pulled to the side, stopped the van, shut it off, and got out. Someone asked where he was going and he yelled "Got to pass some water". He went behind the van, took a leak, and came back to continue on or way. I've had taxi drivers stop for gas while I was in the cab, but never to pee on the side of the road.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 14
When we first got to the marina, we came in the slip bow first. That means our stern is facing the wind. Even though we are in the marina, with the wind blowing, there is always small waves on the water, which slap the back of our hull and make an incredible amount of noise. Since we sleep in the back, it's particularly annoying. Originally I had hoped to get our bottom job done as soon as we got back form St. Maarten, and I figured we would back the boat in when we came back from the yard. But that's not going to happen for several more weeks, so I decided to turn the boat around. The wind is not blowing quite as hard as it has been this morning, so it's a good time to do it. Pat & Dori are off to a local cooking class this morning, so I called Dave over to help take our lines. We backed out of the slip, down the fairway, turned a big circle out in the open water, came back down the fairway and into the slip just like backing your car into the garage. This may not seem like a big deal to non-boaters, but most sailboats don't back up to save their lives. When we were done, several of the other boaters on the dock made comments about me showing off. I pointed out to them that their full-keel boats might not back up well, but to think of me bouncing around next time they were in rough seas and they were riding nicely along. That's the tradeoff of a fin keel. It backs up nicely and turns on a dime, but in big seas it is not as stable as a full keel.
Barb was going to cook us some breakfast this morning, but the propane wouldn't stay on. There is a safety solenoid in the system that controls the gas flow. You turn it off when you are not using the gas, so you don't have to outside and turn off the tank every time you use the stove. Well, the solenoid kept opening and closing, so she couldn't use the stove. Another thing to fix that wasn't on the list.
Later in the morning we shared a cab with Dave & Sue to the store again. Dave has a taxi driver that he got to know before they went to the States, who will run errands with you for a reasonable rate. Bert, the cab driver, dropped me at Budget Marine while he took the others to IGA. He came back for me a bit later. Unfortunately, Budget didn't have the propane solenoid I needed, so Bert took me to Island Water World, the other marine store here. They have both items I needed and we headed back to the IGA. When we got there, he dropped me, and took Dave to the cell phone store while I joined the girls to finish the shopping. Dave and the cab got back as we were checking out, so it was perfect. We loaded up and came back to the marina.
After stowing the groceries, I installed the new propane solenoid. Remarkably, this part is apparently quite standard on all boats. Usually when you have to replace a part that came originally on the boat, the brand that the stores sell is somehow different than what the boat manufacturer used, and you have to adapt something. Well, in the West Marine, Budget Marine, and Island Water World catalogs, they all just carry one propane solenoid, it is the same in all three catalos, and remarkably, it's the same as the one on the boat. So the replacement job went smoothly and the stove is back in business.
Before we left for the grocery run, the power to the whole marina went out. Bob got the power company out to diagnose the problem. I was impressed that he could get the power company out here on short notice. I'm not sure what the problem was, but when we returned, the power was back on. The power here is European style 220v 50hz, so we have to run through a transformer to use it. Several other boats have had trouble getting enough voltage to run things correctly, but we have not had a problem fortunately.
There is a pot luck dinner in the bar tonight. Barb made an Oriental salad for our contribution. We were up there at 17:00, and unlike a couple weeks ago, there was a good crowd. Bob had his large grill available for folks to cook meat and he had also provided a large pizza. We had lots of food and great deserts. After everybody was done eating, the karaoke started. Pat and I both did our standard numbers. We stayed there until about 21:30 singing and partying.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 15
Today I hosted the Coconut Telegraph SSB net. We didn't have a lot of boats checking in. That may be because people are getting to their summer destinations. A lot of cruisers will get to wherever they are staying for hurricane season and haul their boat out of the water for storage and fly home for a few months. We'll see how the net goes over the next couple of weeks.
My boat project today was to replace the broken riser arm on the rear hatch. This is the one that got bent when closing it during a rainstorm a couple months ago. My brother brought the replacement parts form the States for me. While it was akin to a jigsaw puzzle, I got the new riser arm and handle assembly in with little trouble. Again, the new parts matched the old ones, and I didn't break anything else in the process.
Mid-morning, Bob the marina owner knocked on the boat. He explained that the marina was near it's capacity for electricity, and if we could conserve some, he would appreciate it. I told him we could shut off our small air conditioner during the day, and he thanked me. He needs to address this ongoing power problem though if he expects to attract season long boats.
At 15:30 we dinghied over to Roger's Beach Bar for the Sunday barbeque. We aren't planning on eating here today, but thought we'd come over for a few drinks. This is the place that serves rum and coke by the bottle. Dave from Pirate's Hideout came with us. When we ordered our rum, the guy was out of little bottles to pour in, and asked if we were together. When we said yes, he asked if it would be ok to combine our two small portions into one big bottle. We said yes. This was the first time I understood the portions. A little bottle is a quarter of a big bottle. We enjoyed a few hours with the folks on the beach.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 16
Another load of laundry got done today. I think we can see the bottom of the laundry basket now. My boat task today was to fix a drawer that would not latch properly. It has been not latching ever since a dumb ass rigging guy worked on the boat in Texas before we left cruising. He had to remove the entire drawer and frame to get at a bolt behind it, and when he did, he tweaked the whole thing and stripped out the screws. I had replaced the screws with larger ones back then, but the drawer has not latched right. Fortunately, the door to the v-berth is always clipped open when we are underway, and it keeps the drawer form being able to slide open. I removed the whole frame assembly and found that the top edge was able to pivot a little, probably as a result of being used as a handle when the guy removed the frame last time. With the whole frame sitting on the floor, the drawer would slide in and latch perfectly. So it appears to just be a matter of alignment. I glued the top piece so it could no longer pivot and let it dry. I carefully replaced the frame in it's normal position, and the drawer latches fine. Didn't expect that to be so easy. While I had the power screwdriver out, I noticed that the screws in the hinges of the v-berth door looked a little loose. I tightened them and magically that made the door much easier to close. That door has always required a hard push to close, as it was binding in the frame. Now it opens and closes effortlessly as it should. A bonus fix!
Late in the afternoon, we went up to the bar for happy hour. There was the usual dominoes game going on, but we didn't join. We just had a few drinks and visited a while. Back on the boat, Barb made a baked taco surprise dinner. It turned out quite good, but it's one of those things we'll probably never have again since there is no recipe and it was a combination of things that had to be used before they went bad.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 17
The last load of the laundry backup has been done! The basket is empty. It tuned out to be nine loads total. I guess we just have too many clothes aboard since we are able to go that long without having to do laundry.
I joined Pat and Britt on a taxi ride to Budget Marine, the parts store, and Spice Island Marine, the boat yard. I had to return a part I bought that was the wrong size at Budget and Pat & Britt needed a few things. After Budget, we walked over to the office at Spice Island. Pat wanted to get a quote on a bottom job here, since it appears it would be half the price of Trinidad where he had planned to do it. I want to see if I can set a firm date for our bottom job. We met with Mile the yard manager, and he was very pleasant and took his time listening to what I wanted to do with sanding the bottom. He explained that once the boat is out of the water, we'll be able to see how much really needs to be sanded. We set a haulout date of August 27. Pat got his answers and probably will wait and do his bottom job up here on his way back north from Trinidad in November.
Later back at the marina, we spent the afternoon up at the bar. Terri from Sea Otter was teaching a water colors class to about a dozen women. Their results were very impressive. The dominoes game was going on and Barb was playing in it. I joined several other guys in a few games of pool. At one point, Bob the owner, asked a few of us guys to come help him take lines from a large sportfish boat that was coming in. The boat came in where Bob told him, but didn't think the slip was long enough. He is only staying overnight, so Bob moved him around to the outside of the north dock and took up the whole dock with him. This area would normally be used to tie several boats stern-to, but it's open now. We got the boat secure and the captain came out and thanked us all. Before we left the dock, the captain asked for a favor. He wondered if anybody had a vacuum he could borrow. The built-in central vacuum system on the boat was not working. That's particularly funny since the boat is brand new and these guys are delivering it from the factory to Trinidad. I offered him our small vacuum and he assigned one of the crew members to follow me to get it. Later in the bar, the crewman brought the vacuum back and bought me a beer in return.
Dinner was last night's leftovers, and they were just as good the second time around. We played a little Sequence and Barb kicked my butt as usual.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 18
Today's boat project is to fill the water tanks. OK, it's not fixing something, but it's a boat project nonetheless. The way water usage here works is a little different than most marinas. We pay by the gallon, and there is a meter on the power/water pedestal where we connect the hose. But, there is not a hose connection for each slip. So multiple boats share the same meter. When we checked in, Bob said to just note the before and after meter readings whenever we used some water. We have done that, but I'm confused exactly what the meter is counting. It isn't gallons, and when I did the math, it didn't appear to be liters either. I finally remembered to ask Bob, and he said it is liters. I apparently did the math wrong when I tried to convert it earlier.
The rest of the day was lazy, filled with off and on rain showers, dominoes, pool, and computer time.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 19
I awoke to the sound of rain on deck about 05:00 this morning. It's wonderful being air conditioned so we don't have to jump out of bed and close windows every time it rains. This is the rainy season here, so showers come any time of day and almost always just before dawn you can count on one. What was unusual this morning was that the rain didn't stop. Most rain here consists of a couple minute showers, sometimes heavy and sometimes light, but never long. Today it rained a steady moderate rain for a couple of hours. This is apparently the rain which was forecast to precede the next tropical wave that should pass through later today.
By late morning the rain had stopped. I carried the computer up to the bar to try and get a good enough connection to use Skype. I have found that while I can connect on the boat, the signal is marginal enough that if I try to use Skype the signal will drop. I have to make two calls today, one to Cingular and one to the US Embassy in Grenada. The one to the embassy is to make an appointment to get more pages added to my passport. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that they can do that locally and I don' have to mail the passport back to the States. But, you have to have an appointment and they say they cam only make them by phone. So I called and got a recorded answer. The recording was about two minutes long and basically said to leave a message and they would call back to make the appointment. Hard for me to do since I don't have a callback number. At the end of the recording there were a couple of options to transfer to different departments. One said "For citizen services, press 2". When I pressed 2 however, the recording said I had entered an invalid extension. So much for call number one. I sent them another e-mail requesting they make me an appointment via e-mail. We'll see. Call number two was to Cingular. We canceled our last account with them back in May, but I noticed a $15 charge on my Amex account. I called the number that their website lists for if you are calling from outside the US. Unfortunately, those people expect to talk to customers who are having trouble using their phone internationally, not billing questions. So, I called one of the two 800 numbers listed for customers. The girl there could not find our account based on the old phone number or social security number. She asked what state I lived in and I told her Texas. She then said "No wonder I can't find your account. You need to call a different number." Well, they ought to put that on their website. You would think that if they think they are good enough to use the AT&T name now, they might have one computer system to find any customer. When I finally got the right customer service place, they looked at the account and found where it said it was for data usage, but there was no date attached to it. The girl agreed that if she couldn't tell me when the usage occurred, I shouldn't have to pay for it. It took twenty minutes (at $.20/minute) to process the refund request. $15 minus the $4 to call equals about five beers. Add the aggravation of dealing with poor customer service and I'm not sure it was worth it.
For lunch, Pat & Dori, and Britt & Terri joined us on a trip over to Lower Woburn, across the bay. We are going to look for a place called Little Dipper, which we read about in the cruising guide. We walked up the hill almost to the top and found Little Dipper. Since sometimes the directions found in the cruising guides are a little vague, and places come and go over the years, we were pleased to find it. We were greeted by Joan, the owner, bartender, cook, and waitress. The Little Dipper is an open air place with tables for about twenty. The kitchen is in a small room on one side. Joan seated us at the only table for six, which was right on the edge overlooking the bay. Being almost at the top of the hill, the view from here is outstanding. You can see our marina clearly as well as the anchorage between the mainland and Hog Island. Joan took our drink order and quickly brought it to the table. She brought out placemats, silverware, and napkins and placed them in front of each of us as if we were in her home and not a restaurant. She then gave us our choices for lunch. There is no printed menu. We had the choice of fish in a Creole sauce, shrimp in garlic butter, or conch in a curry sauce. Three of us went for the shrimp, two for fish, and one for conch. After a bit a young man, who we later learned was Joan's son, brought the meals. Each plate had callaloo, beans, rice, and a small lettuce and tomato salad in addition to the entree. The food was all good. After we had all finished and Joan and her son had cleared the table, we chatted a little with Joan before we left. She was a chef in many restaurants in Europe and the States most of her life, and came back home to "retire" and run her own little place. We'll be back here.
Back at the marina, we joined the gang in the bar for some dominoes. I was surprised when I walked in to be handed a FedEx package. We had ordered our mail to be shipped on Tuesday. We were expecting a replacement credit card which was why we got the mail just a few weeks after having my brother bring it to me in St. Maarten. The reliable way to get something here is FedEx, and it cost almost $100 to ship it. I knew it left Monday, and that it shipped two-day, but I didn't really expect to get it in two days. In Puerto Rico, (part of the U.S. for those who failed history), USPS two or three day Express Mail takes ten days routinely. So we were pleasantly surprised. It's nice to know if we need something, we can get it, but it's expensive.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
July 20
We started the day in a new way today. There is a place on the other side of the bay, in Lower Woburn, that advertises that they serve breakfast. Any Kine Marine does a little bit of everything. "Kine" is a Hawaiian word that means "the best". So Any Kine means the best at anything. And they do about anything. They serve breakfast from 07:30 to 10:30. They have free wi-fi and four computers of theirs that you can use. They have a washer and dryer. They do welding and any kind of metal or wood fabrication for boats. They fix outboards. They have a dock that can hold about four good sized boats. Whether they're the best at any of it, I don't know, but you have to give them points for being entrepreneurs. We tied up to the dock and walked a plank that connects the dock to the land. Up a muddy path, we found a building that has been cobbled together with bits and pieces of wood and concrete over the years. As we approached a door on the side, the young man who runs the place came out to greet us. He came here from Hawaii, thus the name of the place. He took us through the door and we were in a room about fifteen by twenty feet, that was air-conditioned, well lit, and had a nice clean tile floor. This was the kitchen/restaurant/and internet cafe. It was like being in someone's house, not like a restaurant. We could sit inside to eat if we wished, or we could sit at one of two picnic tables outside. The young man turned us over to the two local girls who make the breakfasts. One was the chef, and the other took the order and delivered the food. The kitchen consisted of a refrigerator, a gas stove, and a table. We placed our order, got our coffee and juice and went out to the picnics tables, where we joined Britt & Terri from Sea Otter. In a little while, our food came. Barb had eggs over-easy, home fries, toast, and bacon. I had an omelet, with sausage links and two blueberry muffins. The omelet wasn't the best I ever had, but it was ok. After we finished, the chef girl came out to ask if everything was good, just as if we were in a fine dining establishment. It was quite cute.
While we were eating, we were entertained by a young boy about twelve or thirteen years old. He had been hired by the place for the summer to do odd jobs. Today his job is to move some rocks. It looks like they are trying to build a ramp to launch small boats from, and they had a load of dirt and rocks dumped near the waters edge. The pile has already been spread out, but the boys task is to take the larger rocks and throw them in the water to extend the ramp out into the water. He was doing this all by hand, one rock at a time. He had two six foot lengths of pipe that he was using to pry the larger rocks out of the dirt. The best part for him though was throwing the rocks. All young boys like to throw stuff in the water, and here he was getting paid to do it.
Around noon, we joined Pat & Dori for a taxi ride over to Prickly Bay. They are planning on heading for Trinidad in the next day or two, so they need to check out with Customs & Immigration. We figured it would be a good excuse to go out to lunch at a new place. We had Bert the taxi driver drop us at a Chinese restaurant about a quarter mile from Prickly Bay Marina where Customs is. We had a nice lunch, although you could tell that some of the vegetables were things available locally and not what you would expect in Chinese food. Like cucumber in the hot & sour soup. But it was good nonetheless. After we ate, we walked to the marina where Pat & Dori went into Customs, while Barb & I went to the mini-mart. We needed a loaf of bread. We hear advertisements on the VHF for Da Bread Man. He apparently used to come out to the boats with his breads and cookies, but now he sells them at this mini-mart and at one store in St. Georges. We selected one of the loaves, which feels like it will be a very dense bread. We then walked down to the tiki bar by the dock and had a couple of beers. Pat & Dori joined us in a few minutes. The bartender was a young lady from New York City. Her mother is from Grenada and her father from Trinidad, but she was born and raised in Manhattan and just moved here in the past year. We enjoyed talking with her about her perspective on the place. On one hand, she liked the laid back life, and the way that families stick together here. She has a number of aunts and uncles here that she sees. On the other hand, she misses the shopping and eating options of New York. She loves New York pizza, and doesn't like the local foods like dasheen, callaloo, etc. She said she has committed herself to stay here two years and then decide what to do.
We took a cab back to our marina about 15:00. We read and napped and played on the computer for the rest of the afternoon. We actually skipped happy hour tonight. In the evening we watched a DVD that Pirate's Hideout lent us. It was the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Even though we know the guys and their basic routines, we had never seen the whole show. At one point, we got laughing so hard that the cat started meowing incessantly like he thought something was wrong. Of course that just added to our laughter.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.