This week we established Survivor Island – Kid Style. While on a hike on Carriacou, we spied an uninhabited island that deserved a closer look. The adult dads took off for an exploratory mission to White Island to investigate. We needed to make sure the island was safe and investigate the Lion fish population. The island looked to be perfect for the event. The island passed the initial investigation for the purpose so we presented the case to the kids. …
We made it to Bequia in time for the Easter festivities. Good Friday started off with a Regatta. Many boats entered the Regatta but Saphira Blue was not race ready when we arrived so we got to watch. Saturday started with Coconut Boat races for the kids. Essentially a coconut cut in half with a couple of sails added to the top and a keel on the bottom. It was quite interesting to see how well some of them sailed….
We arrived in Fort-d-France just in time for Carnival. In short, this is a large, island wide party for 5 days. I think there is only one official holiday on the Wednesday but the festivities start even as early as Saturday and go strong through Wednesday. Each day has its own theme but basically all about Ying/yang, good/evil, balance etc. Many of the organizations and groups spent months planning and building their props and costumes for this event. On Saturday,…
Today I thought I would issue a bit of a warning for those cruising or planning to cruise the Caribbean. The Manchineel tree is very common in the southern USA and across most Caribbean islands. It is also known as the Beach Apple tree because it likes to grow on beaches and has small green apple like fruit that it drops onto the sand regularly. This tree is in the Guinness Book of Records as the most dangerous tree…
Montserrat has the most active volcano in the Caribbean, Soufrière Hills, and hence was high on our list to visit. The volcano erupted last in 2006 and has been smoking since, building its pressure. It is expected to erupt again sometime in the near foreseeable future and hence caution is to be exercised anywhere around the volcano. On our way up to the Volcano Observatory, we stopped at Runaway Guaut. This is the valley where the English drove the last…
As many of you know, Dominica was hit very hard by category 5 Hurricane Maria in 2017. While the hurricane lasted only 5 hours over the island, the sustained 200mph winds damaged every part of the island’s natural growth and infrastructure. This is the second major natural disaster in 3 seasons following Tropical Storm Erika in 2015. Some of the damage to roads and bridges caused by flooding from TS Erika had still yet to be repaired. Maria’s high winds…
The Boiling Lake in Dominica is a unique attraction in the Caribbean. There are only a few lakes of its kind in the world and it is a spectacular site. First, the hike into the boiling lake takes a bit of determination and a good pair of shoes. Chris and I left from Portsmouth on a local bus bound for Roseau with a few other like minded cruisers. The trip took a little more than an hour to arrive in…
We went out on a limb this year and decided to try and find our new cruising friends for New Years Eve. We were lucky enough to have AIS (Automatic Identification System) on our boat as did a couple of our friends. There is an online service at www.marinetraffic.com that allows you to see recent location of AIS enabled boats. It only works sometimes and only when the boat has the equipment on near an AIS base station. We took…
Our tour up the Indian River shows us how resilient nature can be. As you can see, many of the trees that created the full canopy are gone but the new growth is filling in. The Blood Wood trees (named for their red sap) are turning green again. Many of these trees have been growing on the river bank for a hundred years. The coconuts are well on their way to making new coconut palms! The small coconut trees…