The Culps of the Caribbean

We spent a few hours at Shipwreck Beach today.  Was not very populated despite the clear skies. The entrance to Shipwreck Beach Bar is fairly unassuming And when you get into the bar it is even more unassuming. The Caribbean Sea at Shipwreck, view to the north. There is a rain squall in the distance. The Caribbean Sea view to the south at Shipwreck. This picture doesn't look like much.  I am snorkeling on the left and Kyle is snorkeling on the right.

Much Ado About Nothing...really.  I was very concerned about the imminent tropical storm that was headed our way.  All day I kept a wary eye on the weather radar and had spent a couple of hours lowering the hurricane shutters at work. While it was not predicted to hit us directly, I fully expected hours of drench rains and extreme winds.  Well the wind did pick up, but not enough to topple a trash can.  And it did rain, but was only heavy in isolated spots.  At one location in the town area, there was a long puddle about 6-8" of deep water.  We went to the grocery store and in usual Michigan-esque pre-storm fashion expected to see gobs of people buying supplies to get them through the storm.  Not so.  The grocery store was no busier than usual.  At work not one local person even brought up the impending disaster.  When we got home, the wind was calm, there was no rain and we had dinner out on the veranda.  Went swimming in the pool ...

There are no pictures of me snorkelling, but here are pictures of the beach about a mile and half from our house where I went snorkeling for the first time.  It was amazing.

We spent the afternoon at a sleepy little fishing village on the northeastern edge of St. Kitts.  On the way through the village we saw lobster traps being constructed and I would have taken pictures but that seemed intrusive at the time.  While beach combing I observed a local fisherman with a dozen conch that he was extracting from their shells.  Very interesting.  He did not want his picture taken. On the way to this village we passed a large number of lobster buoys just off shore on the Caribbean side.  When the restaurants say "fresh lobster", indeed it is fresh, as are the conch fritters. A reef protects the shoreline to make this a natural safe harbor for the local fishing fleet.  Mount Liamauga in the background. Amy and Kyle in the distance doing some beach combing.  Amy has a huge collection of beach glass from this trip. Looking south along the Atlantic coastline. Kyle is rescuing a Portugues...

On the way home from work this week, I saw the aftermath of an awful accident.  A taxi van had mowed down 4 goats that had run into the road (as they are wont to do).    3 large goats were clearly dead and 1 was alert but laying on its’ side.  Turns out 2 of my colleagues were riding on the bus at the time.  They relayed the story the next day of what happened when and where and the reaction within the bus during the accident.  They provided details on that two of the dead goats were also pregnant and the one that was alert had broken legs (and I presume was put down).  The upside of this tragic event is that a bunch of folks will be eating well for the next several days.

Brimstone Hill Fortress: A UNESCO World Heritage site Kyle's first visit.  A great view in addition to history.  The island of St. Eustatius is in the background.

WE LOVE NEVIS. Here is why: We took the Sea Bridge car ferry to Nevis       Lot's of unusual signs           Found a beautiful beach a few miles from the ferry dock.  Of course, as usual, there was no one there but us.  The water was crystal clear, warm and a sandy bottom.       A very typical church here with accompanying cemetery.  The shutters on the windows are opened on Sunday, there is no glass, just open air.  The graves are somewhat above ground. This was the last operating sugar mill (before the modern era).  I am certain it was constructed and operated by slaves.     A huge set of gears turned wind power into the force that would squeeze the juice out of the sugar cane stalks using the press below.     Once the juice was extracted it was diverted to a series of metal vats called "copp...