11 August 2011
I had a great day. We checked in with the Gendarmes and Mark, having placed his order for bread the day before went to pick it up. We were meeting Sophie and Junior so I could go for a hike with them, but that was postponed a little because Heartbeat had dragged anchor in the night and they were waiting for high tide to get off the sand. Unfortunately, as the tide was coming in, so was their boat, so Mark went to help with our little 3.3 HP engine and eventually they got her back afloat by tying a rope halfway up the mast and Mark taking the other end in the dinghy and tipping her at an angle. Once they were re-anchored further out in the bay, the three of us set off: destination the highest peak of the mountain. We haven't ever seen the top as it is always shrouded in cloud, but we set off with empty bags for any fruit we found on public land, Sophie and me in our hiking shoes (the first time I have worn shoes for ages!) and Junior in his flip flops. At some point, the trail ran out and we never quite found it again, but as we had walked a substantial way up to the top, we were happy with our 2 hour climb and set off back down again. Junior expertly shimmied up a coconut tree to get us our drink. I have never been one for coconut milk, but this had to be one of the sweetest, thirst-quenchingliest (OK, not a real word, I know!) coconuts I had ever tasted. We also collected an armful of wild basil, found a couple of guavas to eat on the way, some oranges, lemons, blackcurrents and hot hot chillis! Other fruit we spotted were unfortunately in peoples gardens, so we left them where they were - pamplemousse (a giant grapefruit) avocados, mangoes, cashew nuts, bananas, soursops, breadfruit. Maybe tomorrow, I'll take some money with me, so I can ask if I can buy some - the trees are literally laden with fruit.
Junior cooked us an amazing Trinidadian curry and bought it over in the evening. Unfortunately, there was no fish to go with it, despite Mark and Xavier going out in the dinghy to try their luck. So, another lovely evening with Heartbeat and Xavier and tomorrow we will go to visit Xavier's house on a mini-hike up the valley with the kids. Oh, and the tooth fairy even found her way to Pegasus last night, her last visit to us being in Greece. She's a clever fairy that tooth fairy!