Monday, November 16, 2015

The Neat Thief

       Mayreau’s Saline Bay has been a favorite anchorage of ours in the Grenadine Islands.  It is wide, free of reefs and pesky submerged boulders, and has a nice sandy bottom that offers good holding.  The beach is long and clean and the Mayreau’s locals are some of the most pleasant we’ve met.  The only boat vendors are fisherman who’ve sold us lobsters or fish at a fair price.
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       Sadly, we said “Good-bye” to lovely Saline Bay this morning and may never return again because yesterday evening we were robbed.  We had gone ashore after dark around 6:15pm and walked up the steep hill toward the first restaurant we found for dinner. Little did we know that while we were admiring the view of lights in the bay below and savoring a fine meal of fresh red snapper, a stealthy swimmer was making his way out to Exit Strategy
DSCN4055       When we returned to our boat around 8:00pm nothing looked amiss.  Dan unlocked the companionway door and we went below.  One of his cotton shirts was on the floor in the salon and I wondered why it was there as he stepped over it.  Then we went into our cabin and Dan noticed that the floor was wet.  His first thought was that something went very wrong with the water maker that is housed under our bunk. He began to move his pillow aside to access the water maker and the pillow was damp, too.  We both looked around our cabin.  It appeared to be pretty much the way we had left it except for a few minor details.  Our cruising document binder that holds our passports and check book was askew on the shelf and upon inspection we could tell it had been rifled through, but nothing was missing. The lockers were closed, but when Dan opened the one where his wallet is kept, its contents were disheveled and the wallet was empty of cash. Everything was still in my purse including all credit and debit cards, but the EC notes were gone.
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        Back in the salon, Dan picked up his damp shirt from the floor. We couldn’t figure out how the intruder got in because we always close and lock everything before we leave.  But the floor was still a little wet and it was then that we realized that the thief must have gotten in by climbing down through the hatch above the settee. Apparently, we had not locked that hatch.
       It was puzzling, though, why the thief took care in using Dan’s shirt to mop up the sea water from the floor. And why was everything left relatively neatly in its place?  We have heard of other robberies in which everything was ransacked and tossed about.  Guess we just got lucky.
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      We are grateful that our loss was minimal (less than 100 EC), as our two tablets, two laptops, and all electronics were out in full view and untouched.  We are also relieved that we were not on the boat at the time because a confrontation would have been traumatic.  In retrospect, although we routinely both check if everything is secured before we go ashore, we will certainly double check that everything is LOCKED from now on.
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Saturday, November 14, 2015

Captain Dan and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

      It began well before daylight.  In fact, it began hours before Captain Dan awoke. I know.  I was there nestled within the bed sheets when I heard him yelling in his sleep, as usual with his mouth shut.  As First & Last Mate I am fully able to decipher his words of rage even with his mouth closed having heard the like countless times before.  Captain Dan was annoyed by a catamaran that had, in his estimation, anchored too close to Exit Strategy.
     At sunrise he left the bunk and poked his head up into the cockpit.  The familiar rant sounded again.  I got up as he was putting on the coffee and asked what the problem was.
     “Some cat dropped anchor next to us in the middle of the night!” 
     “Yes, you had a dream about that last night.  I heard you yelling about it in your sleep.”  I said.
     “No, there really IS a cat next to us and he’s too dam close!  His anchor chain woke me up.”
     I peered through a porthole. Sure enough, it was just as the Captain had said. Why do I ever doubt him? Hm-m-m, time to change the subject. “It’s time to listen to Chris’s weather report.”  I turned on the SSB, but all that was audible was the perfect pitch of crackle…buzzzzz…and some faint, distant Oriental sounding chatter.
     “That’s going to be of no use today,” snapped Captain Dan as he depressed the power button.
     Next subject- “Well, we’ve got errands to do today to get ready to start heading north tomorrow. I want to get a few groceries at the IGA.  Do you have anything we need to get?”
     He had just looked out the porthole again and sighed heavily. “I need to get the diesel jerry cans filled.”
     Now both of us were in the cockpit with our coffee.  We noticed that the dinghy needed to be baled out again after last night’s rain. The Captain put down his coffee and climbed into the dinghy.  The gunnel on which he sat felt mushy.  I watched him press on it harder and saw bubbles escape toward the stern.
     “WHAT the F---?”  Upon closer inspection, his fingers located a small hole near the seam at the back. “How did THIS happen?!”
     “There was an awful lot of junk floating by last evening after that downpour.  Maybe something punctured it.” I offered.
     “Get me the air pump from the locker,” he ordered. I found the pump and handed it to him.  He attached the hose into the gunnel and began pumping vigorously.
     SHF-F-F-F…
     “NOW WHAT!” He bellowed as the hose connection hissed and split open at the pump. “Get me some tape!”
     Aye, aye Captain!
     The repair was made and the dinghy held the air long enough for us to reach the fuel dock in the harbor.  We had to pump the dinghy up again before we could safely make our way back to the boat. After unloading the fuel cans, we prepared to hoist the dinghy out of the water for the fix.
     “YE-OWW!  SON OF A – !” He winced in pain.
     “What happened?”
     “I stubbed my dam toe again.”  Oh, no- I thought. He’s been stubbing that same toe at least once a week for five years!
     Now back below, “This is ridiculous!” the Captain fumed as he tore apart several lockers to find the dinghy repair kit. The directions indicated that the patch would need to cure for 24 hours before using the dinghy. “I can’t fix this until we’re done running around today!”
     We hurriedly readied to go for groceries and launched the dinghy again, traveling with the air pump. On the way to the bus stop, a bus driver hailed us and we clarified that we were going to the Wall Street roundabout.  There was only one other couple on the bus who had gotten off the cruise ship.  I commented to the driver that he was not on his usual route today as his posted number was 7 and we were on Route 1.  It was then he said, “I guess you didn’t understand what I said when I stopped for you. I asked if you wanted a TAXI to the beach.”
     “No, we’re going to the IGA.” When we reached our destination, Captain Dan handed the driver the usual bus fare of 5EC.
     The driver respectfully pleaded, “Man, I said this no bus today. Taxi fare is 10EC more.”
     Captain Dan pointed to the number 7 Route label and responded, “No you’re not.” But he reluctantly gave the driver his due after a word from me.
     As we approached the IGA Grocer, Dan headed to the ATM while I continued on to get groceries.  I had already completed most of the shopping and began to wonder why Dan hadn’t met up with me yet. I bumped into him when I turned down the last aisle.
     “You won’t believe this!” He cried. “At the ATM the receipt came out first and then the 500EC, but I was looking at the receipt and the cash went back into the machine!!”
     At that point, I confess I did something totally unbecoming of any First & Last Mate worth her salt, but I just couldn’t help it.  I started laughing uncontrollably, just as I’m doing now recalling it.
     “So,” he continued, “I had to go into the bank and stand in a line behind twenty people to see if I could get it back!”
     Somehow I composed myself and asked, “What did they say?”
     “They can’t refund it until they audit the machine and that may take up to a week.  So we need to stop at another ATM by the roundabout before we get on the bus. There’s one there that doesn’t charge a $5 US fee.” However, when we got there we discovered that the no fee ATM was not open, so we had to use another that did charge $5 US.
     Thankfully, the rest of the day was uneventful and we were revitalized when our friends on sv Suzanne ferried us in their dinghy to a relaxing, delightful dinner at The Nutmeg Restaurant, a place I’ve always wanted to go.
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Beverly and Lew of sv Suzanne

Monday, November 9, 2015

Grenada’s Mt. Airy Young Readers Program

     Thus far, we have spent three thankfully uneventful hurricane seasons in Grenada.  I like it here because there is a plethora of enticing activities from which cruisers can chose to entertain themselves.  It isn’t called “Camp Grenada” for nothing.  So we tune into the morning net daily and make plans for the day.

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     My very favorite weekly activity is volunteering at the Mt. Airy Reading Program. This program is the brain child of Grenadians Mr. and Mrs. Pascal and has been in operation for over nine years. This recollection of the story may be in error, but I believe it was ‘born’ after a local youth caused damage to the Pascal home and was to be jailed because he could not pay for the repair.  The Pascals recognized that the youth lacked basic skills to get a job to pay his debt and offered to help improve his skills in lieu of incarceration.
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Ready to READ!
     The Mt. Airy Young Readers Program occurs on Saturdays during the school year at the Pascal residence where their large garage has been converted into a nicely equipped library/classroom.  A taxi bus is arranged to collect volunteers from the various anchorages around 9AM which takes them on a twenty minute drive up and over the winding mountain passes for the nominal RT fee of 10 EC.

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Game time
    Volunteers are met with a warm greeting from Mr. & Mrs. Pascal and guided to a table of eager children (one to five in number) with their preselected books. The sessions begin and end with all joining hands for a short prayer. Then a few delightful songs are sung before everyone breaks into reading groups.  Reading is followed by board or card game time which the children naturally LOVE!  Then Mrs. Pascal gathers everyone in circle fashion again and some multiplication tables are recited in unison. Next, is a bit of oral spelling and, finally, a group story that usually teaches a life lesson. Before dismissal, everyone is treated to a cold drink and hearty snack.

    NO TEACHING EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY!  YOU, as a volunteer, will not be teaching them to read, but YOU will be helping them cultivate a love for reading with deeper understanding. All of the children with whom I worked knew how to read, although some lacked confidence.  I focused on helping them understand vocabulary or idioms within the text, predicting what might happen next, or summarizing what was read.
    CRUISERS: PLEASE VOLUNTEER! You need not commit to more than one session, but be prepared…after you go, you may not want to stop.

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The students in my last group took all these photos.