Monthly Archives: April 2013

Starry night

The good thing about being awake at 315am (my witching hour of late) is that I am in the islands, can sit on the deck of the boat and enjoy a warm, bit humid night under the stars as the tree frogs sing to me. The boys had a rough night of rum and diets (Donald style) and are making their own nightly noises. Despite that, it is peaceful and so pretty. The water is glassy with a slight roll, there are no lights on shore, few anchor/mooring lights, and nothing else but nature. I’m not sure if we have the internet at Admiralty Bay or not, but I do know we will not have anything in the keys.

So, in the event that we are offline for a few days, here’s to wishing my dearest and best friends and my sweet nephew a beautiful and happy birthday on 1 May! Hope you are all sleeping dreamily.

Pitons at the Pitons

Always an enjoyable sail/trip from Rodney Bay to the Pitons. We were able to pull out the jib while we motored (not much wind to truly “sail”), but the seas are blue, the sky is clear, and the turtles are humping! Yes, while swimming, we saw two happy turtles getting it on. After a short trip, less than 4 hours, a missed catch (or involuntary catch and release), we dropped Matt off at Soufferie to clear us out of customs while Wayne and I moved the boat to the bay between the Pitons. We captured a ball with no trouble (and lots to select from compared to last December when they were adding balls to accommodate the crowds). We had hoped to catch the fruit/veggie boat boy and much to our delight he arrived moments after we arrived. We purchased 3 smallish island avocados the size of oranges (normally they are the size of cantaloupes) and a papaya.

Matt returned as Wayne napped and I sunbathed on the bow engrossed in a new novel. Life is so different in the spring (off season) than the winter (in season), as there are moorings available, fewer boat boys, fewer boats, and fewer travelers. So nice! We were actually productive and completed many projects today as well–repaired the port high pressure line that had sprung a leak, completed our boat files, hung some photos, cleaned up our MOB floatation device, added the new MOB light, replaced boat parts that grew legs and walked away while we were gone, and removed some extra snaps from the window coverings. Of course this was in between beers, shandy’s and vodka drinks.

After sunset, Matt made an amazing pork chop dinner, with salad and garlic mashers (see photo below) and the boys kicked my butt in gin rummy! Tomorrow we have a long sail from the Pitons to Admiralty Bay, Bequia which should take anywhere from 8-10 hours. We hope to get up at dawn to get there in time to clear in to the country and have dinner with two of our Austin friends who are renting a house there for the week (Heather Newby and Michael Landry)!! if we miss them, we will catch them at the Tobago Keys!!

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Cashew

For those of you who did not know–it is a single cashew! They grow on trees with a fruit attached. You can tell they are ready when the fruit is a bright red and then they are picked. The fruit can be eaten as it is similar to a peach or nectarine (we are told) and the the nut can be twisted off, baked in the sun (we are baking our one nut–no Lance jokes) or cooked over a fire to separate the oil from the nut and then finally you have a cashew. Lots of work for one nut! I’ve taken this little scrumptious nut for granted and didn’t realize the long process it took to get to me–no more!! Great job, Maria in figuring it out!