Hodge Podge of Stuff

This is going to be a blog about a lot of different things.

When last we wrote we were headed to Nevis from Major's Bay. We arrived, picked up a mooring ball and went to check in with Customs and Port Authority. Because St. Kitts and Nevis are the same country we didn't have to go to Immigration. Customs just looked at our clearance from St. Kitts and clarified when we were planning on leaving. The Port Authority checked our coastal clearance and then charged us $95EC for the mooring ball.

We met Maggie and Roy on DRUM. They are from Toronto and have her daughter visiting with them. We teamed up with them to go on an island tour on Wednesday. Our tour guide was DJ, David Watusi. As you can see from the picture he is very tall. He also is a singer and we purchased one of his CD's after a very effective sales pitch from him. We toured around the whole island stopping at a few 'plantations' along the way. Montpelier Plantation is now an inn for tourists. Princess Margaret and Lady Di have stayed there. All of the plantations were at one time sugar plantations, but there is no sugar produced on the island now. On most of the plantations you can still see some of the old machinery and the bases for the grinding of the cane. We drove into one plantation, New River, which someone had mentioned on the Coconut Telegraph as being an interesting place to visit. It was another plantation, but there has been no restoration done. I would have found it interesting to stop and take some pictures, but nobody else was interested and since DJ was not the best guide we have had, it didn't happen.

At one stop DJ picked some Shaddock for us to try. It is a citrus fruit that looks like a grapefruit. It is not as juicy as most citrus are, has lots of seeds, and a milder taste. We did see lots of different plants and it is amazing at how big they grow.

We are now waiting to see what the weather has in store. The forecast is for northerly winds and swells. If I didn't have the doctor's appointment on Sunday we would be heading for Major's Bay in St. Kitts to wait until this weather slows down. The moorings here are more open to the north than Major's Bay. So far, 5PM Friday, the swells haven't been too bad. The wind is holding us into the swells so we are rocking rather than rolling. That is byfar a much more comfortable motion. In case you are wondering what the difference is between rocking and rolling I will try to describe them. If you are standing in the cockpit facing the bow of the boat and the bow is going up and down, think rocking chair or rocking horse, then the boat is rocking; if the sides of the boat are going up and down the boat is rolling. When both motions happen at the same time think Tilt-O-Whirl at the fair. One cruiser said the reason rocking is easier to tolerate is because that is a normal movement for the human body such as when we are walking. A couple of squalls have come through and dumped some rain.

Mystic Journey weathers the waves quite well. Her length and the shape of the keel help a lot to keep her steady. The northerly weather is forecast to be around until Tuesday/Wednesday so we will stay in this neck of the woods/sea until then and then head south east to Guadaloupe or Dominica before we head to St. Lucia to meet the Perrys and then on April 5th Jason arrives for a "laid back" (his words) vacation.

Just for general interest. The couple that is renting our acreage sent some pictures of the backyard taken this winter. They said at one point the drifts were higher than the treeline, that is 30 feet. The pictures made us realize how fortunate we are to be here where it is sunny and warm (usually), but they also made us homesick.