Month: September 2019

Our friend Justin came for a visit and brought tropical storm Karen. We’d been watching the weather reports and decided it wouldn’t be a bad storm so much as a slightly uncomfortable storm. Lots of rain and wind but we are so protected in our marina it really wasn’t a big deal.

Justin arrived on Saturday and we went out for a nice lobster dinner that night at a local favorite, Aquarium.

We were worried that the storm would stir things up too much to dive on Monday so moved it up to Sunday morning. As we were heading out of the harbor on the dive boat we saw all the local fishing boats coming in to anchor inside the marina area. We all looked at each other thinking “what are we doing?”

It was a rough ride out to the first dive site and I was glad I had taken some anti-sea sick medicine, but once in the water it was no big deal. It was a little challenging getting back on the boat with all our dive gear but nothing unmanageable. The second dive was pretty and by the time we were done things were settling down. Our trip back into the harbor was much calmer and we learned afterward that the storm basically passed over while we were under the water!

By Monday the skies were clear and the rest of the week was beautiful. I can only hope all our storm experiences are as non-eventful. For those anchored out it was a bit more hectic with several boats dragging anchors and one unoccupied boat drifting out not to be seen again.

We then spent Monday showing Justin around St George’s followed by a couple days at the beach. Since the restaurants and bars are right on the beach it’s easy to grab a table and then swim as the mood suits.

The previous week hospital ship USNS Comfort was anchored out in St George’s Harbor providing medical attention to anyone in need. Part of their mission is establishing friendships wherever they are and to further that they put on a concert in town. The Navy band The Navigators performed with a local band and everyone had a great time.

It is the rainy season but some days it just rains all day. Even tho we’ve been seeing regular rain in St George’s apparently the eastern side of the island has been getting a little dry to the point that their reservoirs are only half full. So on days like today  I console myself with the fact that it’s good for the island and we didn’t really have any outside activity that we HAD to do today.

On Sunday we decided to run over to Silver Sands to check out their lunch offerings only to find out they are closed for the month. Of course we found this out as our taxi was becoming a blip on the horizon. So we walked up the hill around the corner and down to Coconuts on Grand Anse Beach and lucked into a great lunch complete with steel band entertainment! Some things were just meant to be.

Of course we went diving yesterday even tho it was raining off and on. If you’re going to get in the water and get wet what matters a little rain, right? Because of the rain it was a little darker than normal underwater and things that usually only come out at dusk were starting to emerge. Fun!

The current was also a bit stronger than usual. I should have known something was up when Ron, our dive master, casually asked if anyone would have problems with stronger currents. Of course that meant in reality that we had to swim against the current to stay over the reef on our second dive. Otherwise we would have been swept out into deeper water. Not a safety issue but we wouldn’t have seen much. After a 50 minute dive of constant motion on top of a deep dive on the Bianca C ( a very nice wreck dive) we definitely had naps in our future when we got back to the Laa Dee Dah.

We also learned how to play Grenada Train Dominos last week with couples from the two boats next to us. It takes every bit as long as Monopoly. With a few libations and nice munchies we had a great afternoon. Definitely something we would do again.

After sitting on Abacos, Bahamas for more than 48 hours Dorian slowly moved west and north. Thank goodness it just glanced the lower eastern seaboard, missing Daytona, Myrtle Beach and Wilmington where we have friends and family. At last count Dorian made landfall a total of five times, bringing extensive damage each time. Total travel time was a couple weeks thru the Caribbean, Bahamas and north thru Nova Scotia.

I’d like to think that because of the severity that will be the only one to worry about this season but since it’s only early September we’ve got eyes wide open.

We are managing to get out for lunch at new restaurants either on our own or with friends at least once each week. There are so many restaurants it’s really not difficult.

One of our lunchtime adventures took us to a cute restaurant on the point at Carnage called Sails. Great food, nice views and a wonderful breeze.

 

We forgot to take our camera for diving yesterday and so missed what would have been a spectacular picture of two lion fish, one large the other a little smaller tucked inside a barrel sponge sleeping. It’s now lobster season so I’m trying to talk the dive masters into letting me bring along a net bag and glove to pick up a couple of the many lobsters we see on our dives. Not sure how that will play out.

Although Dorian missed us by miles the Bahamas weren’t so lucky. Abacos has been hammered and we’re just starting to see reports of damage. Considering Dorian was a Cat 5 when it hit Elbow Cay we’re anticipating there won’t be much left when it’s over. Now we wait to see if it hits the US coast and if so, where. Hopefully it will miss Myrtle Beach and Wilmington as we have friends and family there.

Today we were back to our regular weekly diving with EcoDivers. Such a great group of people!