CARRIACOU ................

Now CARRIACOU is truly the Caribbean home of traditional boat building ........ Other islands do it too, but not like in CARRIACOU ....... In fact this weekend is 'Regatta Time' in Carriacou's little sister island of 'PETIT MARTINIQUE' ...... We left to go there this morning but with wind at more than 20 knots and a good headsea we changed our minds and we will try again in the morning ......... After all, nobody has a gun to our head, so we are allowed to change our minds ...... In any case we hate banging to windward ....

This beautiful vessel is under construction on the 'windward side' of the island ...... Painstaking work with hand tools and all line of sight ........... Craftsmen that have done this all their lives and like in the Bahamas, the racing is all for the love of 'Bragging rights' .......... This sloop is shallow and will be fast ..........



Knotted pieces of timber and left-overs are brought down from the sawmill and sometimes decisions are made on the spot ........ We overheard them talking how best to install the toe rail to prevent the crew from sliding off the deck .......



Here is another sloop under construction on the foreshore ....... Barely .....



But the tradition of sail is everywhere ............



You see, we managed to get to the 'windward side' of the island by getting on a bus to go to town, initially to eat some 'roti' ..... But then the bus driver made us an offer to also drive us to the other side, for a smaller than normal fee ..... Well, how could we refuse ..... And one of the stops, when we crossed the mountain ridge, was at the hospital, the "ROYAL PRINCESS HOSPITAL", officially opened by Princes Margaret, Queen Elizabeth II's sister ....... And this magnificent flamboyant tree, locally called 'coquioco', is in the circular driveway ...... And if you go round it too fast, you end up in hospital ..... But you will get a great breeze if you are lucky enough to end up in a ward ......



That's Elena's (the Bus driver) grandchild leaning over to talk to Willie ..... Mark and Willie, from the yacht "LIAHONA", shared the grand tour with us .........



Do a double-click on the image to sharpen it ...............



O.K. ...... This is a 'pre-loved' traditional Carriacou sloop ........



This is Tyrell Bay where "LIAHONA" and "ARITA" are anchored on the lee side of Carriacou .......



And this is the grandson, who knows his ABCs, can recite the numbers to twenty, is smart as a whip, is two years old, has big eyelashes and plaits in his hair and is a 'heartbreaker-in-the-making' ........ In no time at all he will be learning to drive .......





Spectacular views wherever we drove, and Elena and her daughter gave us a superb commentary on everything ........... Really nice people ..... You can see the diversity in land-use, and just like on all the islands, building a house without the ability to pre-finance it, is no easy task .............. It has to be done in small but consistant steps ..... Sometimes a few bricks at a time ....... Those small islands are Petit 'St. Vincent' on the left which belongs to St. Vincent, and the Grenadines and 'Petit Martinique' on the right, which belongs to Grenada ....... the border is kind of in the middle somewhere ........... Customs and Immigration is for 'other people' ........



Ours was really a 'mini-tour', but as you can see, you gain a lot of insight into local people's lives ....... Elena is explaining to Laurie how the hospital has separate wards for men and women ........ Elena's gloves are not to 'reinforce the point', there are cannons for that, but when you have to drive a mini-van all day with a black steering wheel...... Well, you wear gloves in this heat ..... Or lose your skin to blisters ....



Earlier in the day we went in LIAHONA's dinghy to do a drift-snorkel, but the current was so fast everything was a blur ........... We tried elsewhere closer to shore and while it wasn't spectacular, it was beautiful and wonderfully refreshing ........ Despite the murkiness of the water the 'QUEEN OF FLORIDA' still managed to get some great underwater shots ...........







Just around the corner from our snorkel spot sits a building on the cliff edge, that was once a restaurant/bar .... No idea how they managed to get their supplies up there, for there is no road or path to it ..... The windows are now gone, but in its day it was in the record books as " One of ten best places in the World to get a great view from a bar stool " ....... Well, the view is still there, and we could organise a bar stool ..... Now, how to get you up there is the problem .... The other photo is about what happens if you don't pay attention ...... Or maybe it was a hurricane ...... Same thing really .....



And in town, HILLSBOROUGH this time, we found another shoe maker and leather worker .......... Also a 'Rasta', with a flair for artwork, ............. We are working on finding the connection ...... The shoe connection that is ............