Return to The Virgin Islands

What better way to get this blog rejuvenated than to post about our recent trip to the US and British Virgin Islands? We've been in Texas for 4 months and really missing our floating home. When Steve and Deb invited us to spend 10 days with them on Alternate Latitude in the Virgin Islands, well, how could we say no?

We went with some of our other sailing friends from Kemah so we dubbed ourselves the Kemah Krew and hopped a plane and headed to the islands.

The notorious Kemah Krew consisted of Troy and Deana, Cory and Tammy, who live on s/v Menestheus, Capt. Rick Weiler and of course, our hosts, Steve and Deb on s/v Alternate Latitude. Alternate Latitude is a 44 foot Voyager Catamaran so there was plenty of room for us all and we had a fantastic and fun filled 10 days of sailing, snorkeling, swimming and just plain having too much fun.

Kemah Krew

Alternate Latitude

The Virgin Islands are fantastic cruising grounds. Easy sailing from one beautiful island to the next. White sand beaches and turquoise waters make sailing there a dream. We have been there on Storyville twice and spent several months cruising those islands. One thing that was noticably different on this trip was that we were there in the off season. When we were there on Storyville every anchorage was full with charter boats and mega yachts everywhere and sometimes, depending on where you were, you had to hope that there would be a mooring available. During the off season there are so many fewer charter boats and many full time cruisers are further south waiting out hurricane season. It was strange to see the empty anchorages, but nice to have them all to ourselves at times.

We flew into St. Thomas and sailed to Jost Van Dyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Peter Island, Norman Island and St. John. What a fantastic trip and just what we needed. Some time on a boat, on the water in the beautiful islands. Oh how we've missed them. We couldn't have asked for better hosts or better friends to spend the time with.

Panoramic Views of The Virgin Islands

Swimming With Turtles

Perfect Beaches

Flying the Spinnaker down the Sir Frances Drake Channel

If you are looking for a vacation that you will never forget, think about chartering with Steve and Deb on Alternate Latitude. They can show you all the cool spots in the Virgin Islands, whether you want to party at the best beach bars or kick back on a beautiful white beach or snorkel with sea turtles. So click on the link to find out how to have a fantastic vacation, and be sure to tell them that Storyville sent you!

One of the coolest things we did was swim with the turtles at Buck Island. They were so cool and we loved every minute of watching them calmly swim and eat sea grass. Here is a video.......

Buck Island Turtle Video from Deana Jones on Vimeo.

Hark, now hear the sailors cry, smell the sea, and feel the sky, let your soul and spirit fly, into the mystic. ~ Van Morrison

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Test Post with Blogsy

OK, I'm trying out another app called Blogsy. It looks much more comprehensive than Blogger and I think I will be able to edit and post pictures better with Blogsy, plus it supports html. We will see how it goes because it looks like there will be a pretty big learning curve, but I really want to get this blog back up and running. We've made some life changes, had some life changes made for us and had a few adventures along the way. I need to get back to blogging and I am hoping that if I can do it on my iPad then that will make things even easier and more convenient.

I wonder if this app has spell check? It does not appear to be auto correcting so I will have to see if there is a setting that needs to be changed. Hope I don't misspell anything! Did I just misspell misspell? I don't know. LOL

It looks like I am rambling so I will just post a few test photos and see how this works:

 

Luna the Boat Dog

Well, so far this is pretty easy to use. Now, just to see if I can post a link to another page - here is link to my friends Blog on Pipe Muh Bligh. They have been busy updating the sailing blog lately, so give it a look!

I think I'm a fan of Blogsy. Let's see how this post looks. Hopefully the Storville blog will be back up and running soon!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Is This Possible?

It's been a while since I tried to post a blog using my iPad and the Blogger app. This is just a short test to see if things have improved. The main complaint that I had before was posting pictures using the app. Let's see how that works now. 

Now for one more, just to be sure:

I can't seem to find a way to caption the photos. That will be a problem, but maybe something I can work around. I will see how this post looks once it has been published and determine whether I can start using my iPad to create blog posts.

Carnival - Carricaou Style

Oh, yeah, we had fun at J'Ouvert!

Every island in the Caribbean has it's own version of Carnival. They are at different times of the year and each island adds it's own unique flavor. The only other Carnival that we have been to was in Dutch Sint Maarten. What I remember from the parade there were lots of fancy costumes and, of course plenty of dancing and partying.

Carriacou even has a different Carnival than Grenada, even though they are the same country - they are different islands. Carriacou's Carnival coincides with Mardi Gras and so we were lucky enough to be here to celebrate.

The party got started on Sunday afternoon and continued through late Tuesday night, no, wait, make that early Monday morning.  We started our party by waking at 4:00 AM (yes, that's AM) to attend the J'Ouvert festivities in the neighboring town of Hillsborough. J'Ouvert, basically a big street party/parade, is a contraction of the French words jour ouvert, which means day break and we had to get up early to be there, so we fortified ourselves with bloody mary's, coffee and breakfast tacos with Chris, Denise and Christian on their boat s/v Anne Bonney. We were joined by Bob and Deb of s/v Chimayo, they have a local car and provided us with transportation to the party!

The party was already started by the time we arrived. Everyone was in a festive mood and people were painted in all colors of paint and some were covered in motor oil. These participants are called Jab Jabs and they will be only too happy to smear you with some paint. I think I could live here for years and not understand the symbolism of some of the costumes. Obviously emancipation from slavery is a big part of it, but it seems to me like there were so many nuances that could take a lifetime of living here to comprehend. One example was a woman in a nuns costume with a big fish hanging out of her mouth.

We managed to get back to Storyville sometime around noon and it was time for a long, long nap! Then, after we were rested up we returned to Hillsborough the next day for the Mas Parade and even more fun and entertainment. Everyone participated from the young to the not so young! What a great time we had.

See what I mean? I have no explanation. 

Everyone gets in on the action!

OK, you tell me......

Shaquille, part of our Granadian family.

Interesting. Wonder what's in the bucket!

Waiting for the parade.

Mr. Serious

Part of the Shakespear Mas.

Denise and Chris are in on the fun!

Love the Mocko Jumbies.

OK, here you go - some real Jab Jabs!

Youngsters in the parade.

A lobster on the street!

King Neptune?

Every troop had a huge sound system!

And of course, steel pan music. 

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!
Troy, Bob and Chris

Fried Bakes

I'm just now getting around to posting about the Fried Bakes that Nesta cooked for us.  I know everyone will want this recipe because they are awesome! Unfortunately, I let Darnell sail away with the recipe that Nesta wrote down for us. I will make sure to amend the post with the recipe. Of course, Nesta does it all by memory and didn't need a written recipe.

The bakes are fantastic! They are all warm and fluffy. We even sliced them open and popped in a piece of cheese. Nom, nom, nom.

Nesta and Darnell - ready to fry some bakes!

All the good stuff - yeast, four, a little sugar and some lard.

Nesta is an expert kneader - not too much kneading.

Troy volunteered to keep the guys entertained while we cooked. What a guy!

Just look at that perfect dough - time to let it rise.

Then roll it into perfect balls.

Let the frying begin!

Here is the result - lovely, yummy fried bakes!

Chive N Thyme

Nesta with me and Darnell

One of the (many) things that I am falling in love with in Grenada is the cooking. I'm having a blast trying out the local dishes on my own. Thanks to our friend Nesta, a Grenadian AND a fantastic cook, Darnell (s/v Island Dream), Carolyn (s/v Moondance) and myself have been having a ball learning to cook Grenadian style.

We took a trip to the fruit and vegetable market in St. Georges, with Nesta at our side to help make sure that we are charged the local prices. Just buying the vegetables is a pleasure, as you walk through the market, you see the lady washing her beautiful heads of lettuce in buckets and bagging them for you.  The tomatoes too were picked that very morning. I just love the sight of a well stocked vegetable market.

My bundle of chive n thyme

One thing you can never leave the market without is your chive n thyme. It's basically a bundle of seasoning goodness that you can be sure will include chive and thyme, but it's even better than that. You will almost always find a few extra goodies such as local basil, celery, or, if you're really lucky, a few leaves of chadon bene (pronounced shadow benny, it a local herb that tastes like cilantro). It's fun to cut the string on your chive n thyme and see what you find inside.

I decided to try my hand at pumpkin soup.  I used a big hunk of local pumpkin that I bought at the market and added  my bunch of chive n thyme, some fresh ginger, garlic, coconut milk and a few other goodies and let me tell you - Campbell's will be calling me for the recipe any day now! 

Nest week Nesta is making a visit to Storyville to teach Darnell, Carolyn and I how to make bakes. One hint about what makes bakes so good - they're fried!

Pumpkin soup, ready for the heat

This is some yummy soup (I grated a little nutmeg on top, just because I could

My chadon bene, growing in Storyville's cockpit

Calabash Bowl

My Calabash Bowl, filled with salad

Check out my Calabash Bowl! It's a bowl made from the fruit of the Calabash tree. It's like a gourd in appearance and different trees actually make different shaped fruit. They are carved and used for cups, bowls, bottles (in years past sugar cane field workers carried Calabash bottles filled with water into the fields with them) and even for musical instruments and decorative uses.

The bowls are popular here in Grenada for use on the beach during oil downs. Lucky for us, our friend Jude has a Calabash tree growing next to his house. He happily made two bowls for us and also a beautifully carved candle holder.

This is the tree growing next to Jude's house

Calabash have grown all over the world, from Africa and Europe and the America's, for thousands of years before Columbus even discovered America. They have been carved and used for everything from carrying water to making music.

This is Jude. He made our Calabash Bowls!

Calabash growing on the tree

Our bowls came from this tree

Jude also carved this beautiful Calabash candle holder for me