Tuesday, 30th March 2010 - Christine Hyde's Birthday
06.30hrs Very cloudy, but the scenery here in this Island is breathtaking, When the rest of the crew got up, we all went for a swim in the crystal clear water. Even in 10m of water, we could still see the bottom clearly with all the colourfull fish and the odd lobster swimming around.
We cleaned the boat top again and booked a local "Restaurant" for dinner tonight. Thats for the 4 boats here, Voyageur, Crazy Horse, Ocean Jasper & A lady, 12 people in total.
10.30hrs Aileen & the Skipper went ashore and walked/hiked 2 hours to the WATERFALL. This is the 3rd highest waterfall in the world, and it was pretty spectacular, even though there was not too much water in it. The track up to this place in the mountains was tough going, Aileen got a bee sting when we disturbed a wasp's nest by accident. We met some of the other "crews" on our way up and down, and all enjoyed the experience, plus the long overdue exercise.
We also met a local family who were living on the path, 3 girls, 1 boy, the parents and grandparents. All they wanted from us was nail varnish, lipstick, perfume and the men wanted earings. Oh! and any old ropes.
We collected lots of fruit on the way back, specially limes and lemons, with the permission of the locals. Their "Grapefruit" is lovely, very sweet and juicy, and most times huuuuge.
The round trip took about 4 hours and was very enjoyable. When we arrived back to the boat we decided to lift the anchor and drop it again in another position, as the original spot was all boulders and not good holding. So to this end, the Skipper got in the water and located a patch of sand while Aileen and Donal manovered the boat into position and dropped the anchor again. Walla, done! Backed up the boat and dug in the anchor properly.
17.30hrs We went over to "Voyageur" for a drinks party ( all 4 boats ) before going onto teh restaurant for dinner.
DINNER :- Ahhhhhh , sure, this was a meal with a difference. We were met at the dock by Lorena and Gorgie, who brought us to their house. The dinner was already prepared and we were introduced to thier parents and children, so the whole family was around, The food consisted of a chicken dish a fish dish, fish cakes, bread fruit, bread and a big helping of rice. The whole lot was huge and most of us could not finish the plate. This was followed by Grandad getting out his Guitar and drums and we had a great music session, everyone joined in. Amazing, all the songs he could play that we knew and all from ear.
22.30hrs We paid the €14.50 each (equivalent in local currency) and rambled off down to the dock and made our way back to the boats, happy out that we really had a wonderfull experience for the evening.
That's it for today,
Stephen Hyde, the Skipper