Carriacou, Grenada

Grenada has already established itself in our book as a place that sucks you in. We learned this the second morning after we arrived in Tyrell Bay on the island of Carriacou. We had checked in the day before and planned to make our way south towards Prickly Bay on the main island to meet my parents who were flying in from Chicago in a few days. We meant to leave in the morning.

The Grenadines

Steph on Endless Pleasure took this. It looks like we're sinking.

We started for Bequia at daybreak and decided to sail along the windward side of St. Vincent. It was a bit lumpy (2 of our wine glasses broke that had survived a year and a half on the boat) but the wind was decent and we made good time. It was weird watching Endless Pleasure in the big seas because it was like watching ourselves get bounced around. It also looks worse from a distance, as you don't realize you're moving around as much when you are on the boat. We caught a nice Black Fin tuna just as we rounded the bottom of St Vincent.

When there's too much excitement

Endless Pleasure (before it all went pear shaped)

We finally met a boat we had heard about from our friends on Del Max. Tim and Steph on Endless Pleasure also have a Privilege catamaran that is very similar to ours, albeit a bit larger and spiffier. They're in the process of launching charters of their boat. They are nice, interesting, and fun, with personalities that should make their charters a success. Matt and I agree that most likely I do not have the personality to do charters. Matt says it's "definitely" rather than "most likely."

Elegant Martinique

It's so hot as we head south in the Caribbean that it seems like the dogs have become nocturnal. Almost every dog we see is napping in the shade. As the sun goes down and the temperature becomes more tolerable, we start to hear the howling and barking. Strangely, we never see dogs in the water.

Dominica Nica Nica

Purple Turtle Beach near Portsmouth

Dominica is the first place where we encountered "boat boys." In the Caribbean, the term refers to the local men that come out to your boat and offer various services or items for sale. It's not considered a derogatory term, I'm told. In some places they can be somewhat tenacious, as in they won't go away if you don't give them something.

Still carrying the baggage of my American sensibilities, I was not really looking forward to dealing with this unaccustomed invasion of my personal space (so to speak). On a side note, Mark has a habit of getting inches away from people when he's talking to them. Usually, strangers seem to think it's funny, but he's only six. We're working on this with him because it won't be too cute anymore when he's nine.

Guadeloupe

An impressive mural on the side of a truck in Deshais.

Guadeloupe is another French island, which means more great bread and chocolate croissants. Deshaies was our first stop and most people do not speak English. We got to practice our French and the locals got to try to figure out what we were talking about.

When a volcano destroys your Capital, keep calm and carry on

Soufrière Hills volcano.

Carry on...and perhaps do a bit of evacuating. Actually, since the volcano went from dormant to active in 1995, the population of Montserrat went from over 10,000 to around 4,000. The initial eruption and subsequent pyroclastic flows destroyed the capital city, many other settlements, and the main airport. Two-thirds of the island is now uninhabitable and off limits to the general public. But that being the case, the island keeps on going and the volcano doesn't seem to intrude on the locals daily thoughts too much.