Grenada: July
20 - August 1, 2012
Click on the above thumbnail for a map during this time period
Performance by Donnel Best
On July 20 we attended at Secret Harbour Marina a
performance by Donnel Best. He has gathered together a number of other
young men, including his brother, to make a band so that he can give
fund-raising performances to finance his prospective music studies in Boston.
They were quite good, but being new, they ran out of prepared numbers before the
crowd was ready for them to quit. Donnel sang as well as played his violin.
He is very talented and we predict that he will do well.
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Donnel Best -- a natural performer
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Member of the audience
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Desserts on Tusen Takk II
On July 21 we had a number of folks over for
dessert that included a Tropical Paradise cake with pineapple in and mango,
coconut and almonds on the cake. Delicious! And brownies made from
Ann's (Receta) One Pot Brownie recipe. The latter can be found on
page 299 of her book: An Embarrassment of Mangoes.
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Lynn (Silverheels III), Håkan and Anna-Karin (Unicorn)
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Håkan, Anna-Karin and Kathy (Oceana)
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John (Oceana), Ken (Silverheels III) and David (Persephone)
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Rock 'n' Roll with Doc Adams
Doc Adams' first gig after returning to Grenada was at
De Big Fish on July 24. We met Marty (Bay Pelican) and
the crew of Unicorn there and had dinner before the performance.
Doc Adams has re-shaped his band and now does rock 'n' roll rather than the
blues. He is fantastic at either.
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"Doc" Adams and drummer -- his new band
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Marty (Bay Pelican) and Barb
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Anna-Karin and Håkan (Unicorn)
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Dwight
Faithful readers will recall that local fisherman
Dwight has hurt his hand and is currently unable to work. On July 25
we met him at the bus terminal at St. George's and we all caught a bus up to his
home, where we met his wife Glenis and her daughter Alicia and a cousin.
And of course Dwight and Glenis' charming son Akel. Glenis and
Alicia had to get downtown to do some last-minute shopping in preparation for
Alicia's trip to London, but before she left she served us a delicious meal of
salad, corn-on-the-cob, rice, mixed vegetables and stewed goat. We
look forward to spending more time with the family when we return after the
hurricane season.
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Dwight and his son Akel
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Performance by "Barracuda"
On July 26 there was a performance at Secret Harbour
Marina by Barracuda. An entertaining mix of American songs from the
60s, 70s and 80s and Italian classics.
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Barracuda
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Barracuda and El
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El
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Portion of the crowd at Secret Harbour Marina
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Barb and Anna-Karin were part of a large chain that danced through the crowd
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Mt. Hartman Bay
Out on a walk on July 26, Barb decided to stop in at
the Cave House restaurant and make reservations for dinner for our
wedding anniversary Aug. 7. She took a wrong branch of the road, and ended
up atop the restaurant instead of beside it. While taking pictures so that
I could patch together a panorama, she was challenged by an owner/caretaker (?)
who was not at all happy with her presence. She batted her eyelids
with sufficient skill to be able to finish her photography and then found her
way down to the restaurant to make the reservations.
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Panorama of Mt. Hartman Bay from atop the Cave House
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Walk with Unicorn
On July 27 we left the dinghy at Whisper Cove and
hiked over to Le Phare Bleu. Going down the steep incline from the ridge
between Clarke's Court Bay and Le Phare Bleu was just at (or maybe a little
beyond) my comfort zone for my arthritic ankles, but I was able to make it back
to our dinghy without calling for a helicopter rescue.
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Håkan, Anna-Karin and Barb
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Looking west over Clarke's Court Bay toward Hog Island
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Tribute to and Performance by Mighty Sparrow
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Mighty Sparrow or
Birdie (born
Slinger Francisco, July
9, 1935, in
Grand Roy,
Grenada,
West Indies) is a
calypso
singer, songwriter, and
guitarist.
Known as the "Calypso King of the World," he is one of the most well-known
and successful
calypsonians. He has won
Trinidad's
Carnival Road March competition eight times and has been named "Calypso
Monarch" eleven times.
--
On July 28 we attended what was billed as the last
performance (before retiring) of The Mighty Sparrow. He was born in
Grenada, but grew up in Trinidad. The first half of the performance turned
out to be a tribute during which other (much younger) calypsonians sang some of
his songs and some of their own. In the second half, Mighty Sparrow sang a
number of his own songs. He is apparently in ill health; he mostly sang
from a seated position. A number of his songs are available on Youtube.
Three that he sang that night are:
Saltfish
Mr. Bendwood Dick
Congo Man
He may be retiring, but his songs remain popular.
I just noticed this morning in a Trini Sunday paper a list of this week's top 10
calypso songs. Listed as number 2: "Good Citizens" by The
Mighty Sparrow.
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Mighty Sparrow singing one of his many hits from his younger days
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Prime Minister of Grenada making a presentation to Mighty Sparrow
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More Dinghy Repair
David (Persephone) mentioned one day that it
looked like we had excessive "smoke" coming out of our dinghy exhaust. I
assumed it was just that I had put too much oil into the gas for the 25 hp
Yamaha 2-stroke, but when we next used the dinghy I realized that we had steam
(!) coming out of the telltale combined with an intermittent flow.
Ken (Silverheels III) had experience with replacing the impeller on his
Yamaha, and offered to come over and help with the replacement. So we put
the dinghy back up on the upper deck and removed the lower unit of the outdrive.
Took it down to the cockpit to get out of the sun, and then replaced the
impeller. Piece of cake. Except we didn't notice that the rubber
collar that mates the water tube from the lower unit to the water tube in the
upper unit -- that collar had gotten pushed up onto the upper tube instead of
being secured on the lower tube. So when we put everything back
together we got no flow at alll! Back up to the upper deck with the dinghy
and off with the lower unit. Peer up into the upper unit and find the
collar and secure it onto the lower unit pipe. (There is a little nipple
on the collar that fits into a hole in the lower pipe.) Put everything
back together and YES (!) we have cooling flow out the telltale. I
should have started boating earlier in life. I feel like I have
lately learned so much about the various systems associated with our cruising,
that it will be a shame to retire to landlubbing without getting to use my
knowledge again. Not that I am asking for any more mechanical
difficulties, mind you.
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Ken (Silverheels III) and Chuck replacing impeller on our dinghy
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Flight to Trinidad
It was our intention to hang around in Grenada until
at least the middle of August, and to then move on down to Trinidad to await our
scheduled haul-out in early September. But our insurance does not cover us
for damage caused by named storms if we are above 10 degrees 50 minutes, and
Grenada is at 12 degrees. So when Tropical Depression #5 (which
later became Ernesto) threatened to hit Grenada, we fled. We left
Mt. Hartman at about 6 PM on August 1, and were slowed for the entire 14-hour
trip by strong currents that were no doubt enhanced by the full moon.
At about 2 AM Barb took over the controls and I retired to the settee in the
saloon for some sleep. The ride was a little bumpy, with the waves coming
in almost abreast, but the stabilizing fins did a good job of minimizing the
roll. We had of course before departing done the usual amount of securing
of things that might fly about, but the truth is our sailing friends would be
amazed and appalled at the number of loose items that we habitually leave
unsecured other than to be placed on non-skid material behind a fiddle.
That is how good our stabilizers work. And then at about 3 AM a rogue wave hit
us. Tools and portable VHFs went flying from a shelf on the port side of
the pilothouse. Items flew off the desk in the saloon. The oven door
came open. The table in the saloon came sliding into my settee and dumped
its contents onto me. A 2-liter pitcher of water skidded along the galley
counter and dumped into a corner storage bin. Much crashing and banging
was heard but fortunately nothing was broken.
We have been cruising on Tusen Takk II since
July 1, 2005. That is the first time we have had things fly about.
Just one rogue wave in seven years. Will we be better prepared for
the next rogue wave? To find out, stay tuned to the exciting adventures of
"Barb and Chuck Go Cruising".
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