Mt. Airy Young Readers Program and Workboat Races

Children and Cruisers at the Mt. Airy Young Readers Program

Spelling Bee....Reshawna, on the right, is one girl from Carol's group

Workboats and families on Grande Anse beach

Launching a workboat before a race

Two workboats take off after their race started

Saturday was a big day for us. The day started with us participating in the Mt. Airy Young Reader's program. The program was started by a Grenadian man, who was a teacher, and his wife. They began by inviting youth to their home on Saturdays to help with their reading. The word spread and more and more children began arriving by public buses from all over the island. They eventually moved to the community center to accommodate all of the children, ages 4 - 16. Today, the man who started the program is in his 80's but his wife still runs the program. Cruisers who found out about the program started volunteering to help out, so each week a bus load goes up to Mt. Airy in the gorgeous Grenada mountains and reads with groups of children. There are very few books and everything they use appears to be from many years ago. There are no books for older children. This is definitely a program, among many, that could use donations of books and materials to enhance the children's reading experience.

Yesterday's Young Reader's program had a different than normal format since it is the weekend of Grenada's Independence Day. Many of the children came dressed in the colors of Grenada - red, green, and gold - and the morning was filled with songs, prayers, spelling bees, a Grenada trivia game, outdoor games - soccer, frisbee and kite-flying; and then a one-pot meal of rice, beans, and chicken. After the final prayer, two young girls sang a song for all of us and we said our farewells before we left to head back to town.

On the way back, we got off the bus at Grande Anse beach so we could watch the workboat races, which is part of Grenada Sailing Week. Workboats are shallow draft, wood boats, with bamboo masts and sails that appear to be made from old sailboat sails. Before the race, they launch the boat by dragging it into the water and over the waves, then they attach the wooden rudder and hop in the boat when the starting gun fires. At the end of the race the captain jumps out when they reach the beach and runs up to the official table to check in and drink a shot of rum.

If you know anything about the Caribbean then you know that the beach is quite a festive happening during the races with music, games, dancing, swimming, and drinking! There are boats everywhere and families play in the water and on the beach while enjoying the festivities. Grande Anse beach is definitely the most beautiful beach in Grenada with water that is aqua and blue and so inviting. If you have not been here - you must come and visit sometime!

Victoria Food Fest - Grenada

A short beer stop on the way to the food fest.

Jon ordering a cup of sour sop ice cream

Drummers from Victoria and other nearby villages

Young dancers from Victoria

"You've got to go to the food fest!" Shade Man, our favorite bus driver, kept telling us. "This is the only place where you can try ALL of the local Grenadian foods!" We figured we better give it a try, so we gathered up two busloads of cruisers and headed to Victoria on the northwest part of the island. The Victoria Food Fest is only held on the last Saturday of each month, and the people from Victoria prepare and sell all of the traditional foods of Grenada. People from all around the island make their way there each month. In addition to eating just about everything you can imagine, there is entertainment and people selling handmade items. With Grenada's Independence Day coming up next week, this Food Fest was PACKED with partiers!

The drive is a long one, winding all along the west coast, so about about half way there Shade Man stopped to let us all get a beer at a little store on the street in a small village. The store is built right in front of the owners house, so they all came out to watch us file out of the buses and sell us some beer. "It's 3 beers for $10 EC!" Shade Man yells to all of us. Everyone lines up to get something to drink. After drinking and visiting we continued on to Victoria.

We arrived right as everything was getting geared up for the big night. We wandered by all the food tents to see what was written on the chalkboard menus.......goat, turtle, MONKEY, chicken, manacou (possom), fish, crayfish waters, Man Waters, Curried Bull Pissle (yes, it is what you think), conch, breadfruit pie, yam pie, macaroni pie, smoked fish pizza, sour sop ice cream......and the options went on and on! We sampled food here and there, but we just couldn't bring ourselves to try monkey, curried bull pissle or manacou. We finished our evening with sour sop ice cream and then hung out in the street being entertained by local drummers and dancers.

With the long drive back ahead of us we decided not to stay for the last entertainment of the night, a Grenadian Comedian. Too bad, that would have been good! We arrived back to where our dingies were tied at 11:30 and it was midnight when we got back to our boats. Shade Man was right...the Victoria Food Fest is definitely a place to get ALL of the local foods!

Sea Glass Hunting

Jon finding sea glass in the water on our favorite sea glass beach

Some of the best glass can be found in the water before being washed up on shore

Carol just starting her search in the best sea glass spot on Grenada

Some incredible treasures we have found so far. The colors are just amazing!
On the bottom right you can see a marble that has been tumbled by the waves.

One of the highlights about being in Grenada is hunting for sea glass. Grenada has one of the best spots to find sea glass in all the islands we have visited so far. We drove around the entire island to find the best beaches for glass and have settled on the one spot we like the best. Each week we tie up our dinghy at a nearby dock and walk up to the main road in Woburn to catch a number 2 bus. All of the buses in Grenada are named and usually we get "Bird Pepper" stopping to pick us up. I can't wait to get a ride in "Bawl and Beg"! The buses are for 16 passengers, but they aren't considered full until they get 22! We get dropped off in St. Georges and then walk about 2 miles to our favorite beach to look for glass. After we have tired ourselves out finding all that we can possibly carry, we get a coke at a little beach restaurant and have a fresh water rinse in their outside shower - ahhh.......

Once rested we walk back up to the main road to walk back to where we get the number 2 bus again. As we walk along the road, we stop to talk to some local people here and there. They are so friendly and love to share their knowledge with us. We see the local tailor in his shop in a ship container and wave hello, and meet a woman coming out of her house explaining to us about the breadfruit growing on her trees. Then just before we head downhill we always stop to see what boats are anchored outside of St. Georges and what cruise ships are in. It is always such a great day!

The best time to find glass is after large swells have been pounding the beaches. We never know what condition the beach will be in or how much, if any, glass we will find. One time we went to our spot and the surf was so calm, but we found hardly any glass. The next time the waves were so high they were crashing over our heads and drenching us as we scrambled around the big rocks to grab the glass before it got washed back out to sea. It was crazy, but we couldn't quit because every time a wave crashed over us it was raining sea glass! I noticed some people watching us like we were a couple of nuts out there, but we didn't care. We filled one gallon zip lock bag....it was a good day even though we were exhausted afterward. On another sea glass hunting trip we found a big stash in one rocky area. It was an area about 4x6 feet between the rocks. There was glass everywhere!! It was like striking gold. But, our best day yet was when we arrived at the beach on a calm day and saw some butts up in the air as people were collecting shells and glass. We knew it was going to be good. I started picking up pieces right away as Jon walked farther down the beach. Soon he came back with his hands full and told me that glass was littered everywhere on the beach. Oh my gosh! It was everywhere and the most beautiful pieces I have seen yet. We stayed bent over for several hours filling two bursting gallon zip locks and started on another when we just couldn't keep going. Each full bag weighs at least 10 pounds so we knew our carrying limits were already met. We got our coke and fresh water rinse and headed back on our walk to catch the bus "home". It's official....we are sea glass junkies.

Dinghy Concert in Grenada with Madison Violet

Join us for a fun time on the Water!

The tugboat Calico moored in Clark's Court Bay near where we are anchored. They invited all of the cruisers with their dinghies to come and tie up for a concert. Madison Violet is from Canada, and they put on a fantastic show! What an awesome time we all had. You can see our yellow dinghy on the far left and Jon (with his hat on) groovin' to the music.

Holidays in Grenada

Local house decorated for Christmas

Whisper Cove Marina Christmas Eve



Happy Hour before Christmas Eve dinner at Whisper Cove Marina

Delicious Christmas Eve buffet......Yum!

We were so excited to be in the water before Christmas! We decided to do something special so we made reservations for Christmas Eve dinner at Whisper Cove Marina. The couple who runs the marina are from Montreal and they cooked an incredible variety of food for their buffet. We had ham, turkey, pork ribs, meat pie, scalloped potatoes, several salads, and fresh bread. For dessert they served sugar pie and apple pie. It was all so delicious! They also had a local guitarist playing Christmas music during our meal. We met some new friends and really had a wonderful time!

Christmas day was all about relaxation and fun. We opened presents first thing in the morning, and then we baked sugar cookies. Since we only have one cookie cutter they were all in the shape of a Christmas tree, but that didn't matter, they were yummy anyway! We gobbled them up in no time! We also watched the movie "Elf" and just hung out on the boat. Great day.

I am sure you noticed that there are no pictures of New Years Eve. Well, that's because we didn't do anything on New Years! We tried to stay up, really we did, but bed time is so much earlier on the boat. I woke up at midnight and listened to the fireworks, but we couldn't see them since they were around the other side of the island. Oh well. HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! 2011 is going to be an incredibly good year.

Back to Aldebaran II in Grenada!

Getting her hull polished in the boat yard.....Beautiful!

Anchored in a beautiful bay in Clark's Court Bay area on the south coast of Grenada

We arrived in Grenada late on the night of December 8. Philip from the Yellowhouse apartment picked us up at the airport after waiting while we made our way through customs. By the time we got to the apartment is was midnight. We were happy to be in a comfortable bed listening to tree frogs and crickets after starting our travelling day at 3:00 AM!

Bright and early the next morning Philip delivered us to Grenada Marine Boat Yard to begin work on Aldebaran II in preparation for putting her back in the water. We opened her up to find mold everywhere and it took us two full days to wipe her all down. What we hoped would take us three days to get her back in the water, actually took 12, since we decided to do some varnish stripping, hull polishing and other work that is better to do on land with power. Each day we started at about 8:00 AM and ended our day of work at about 5:00 PM. Then we came home to our little apartment to a shower and comfortable bed. We were just so thankful that the weather was much, much cooler than when we left in July!

Finally, splash day came for us on December 21....the winter solstice and full moon! We had to get in the water before the employees took two weeks off for the holidays and we made it! They put us in the water, we climbed on the boat, and started the engine. She started right up! Yipee! We motored over to a mooring ball for the night and worked hard to get things put away so we had a place to sleep. The next morning we moved over to a little bay in the larger Clark's Court Bay on the south part of the island.

We took our time to get things put away and comfortable again and meet up with people we met before we left Grenada in July. Relaxation was in order for the holidays.

Colorado for Hurricane Season

Cruising around in the little Papaya!


A small sample of our Mermaid's Message of Hope jewelry!

We finally decided to head back to Colorado for the very active hurricane season. After putting Aldebaran II on the hard in Grenada for a little rest, we took off for Colorado to enjoy the dry, warm air, and take advantage of all there is to do in Fort Collins.

We spent time taking lots of rides in our little Audi TT Roadster, going to farmer's markets, traveling to California for meditation retreats at the Chopra Center, visiting with family, doctor's checkups, hanging out with friends, and launching our new sea glass jewelry business called Mermaid's Message of Hope!

While visiting the beautiful islands of the West Indies we discovered sea glass on some of the beaches. The "gems" were so beautiful that we decided to create one-of-a-kind sea glass jewelry and that is when Mermaid's Message of Hope was born. The response to our jewelry, and the message each piece holds, has been incredible. We were able to take our jewelry to several home parties and nearly everyone who came took a piece of the sea home with them. Everywhere we go people want to buy our jewelry when they see us wearing it, so the message is clear that this little business is on it's way to being a success. Even as we ready ourselves to return to Grenada we were invited to participate in a jewelry show next weekend!! We are so excited about our jewelry and the good energy it provides for everyone. We have been keeping good records of where each piece of sea glass came from, so when we return we will be able to give some of the profits from our jewelry to educational or environmental organizations on the islands.

We are now looking forward to returning to our home on Aldebaran II. Only 11 days from now we will be there! Please check in on this blog and join us for our next adventures as we sail around the Caribbean and continue our hunt for more sea glass, meet new people and old friends, swim with sea turtles, and explore the islands.