Alex, hot, sunny, wet, rainy... with a chance of SOUP
Such magnificent colours erupting in the skies over the beautiful Saline Bay. They speak of comfort and love and magnificence don't you think?
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We'd been planning a little get-a-way, a going-away, a sail-cation of sorts, and the perfect weather window was forming on the websites that we'd been checking.
"It's looking like a week's worth of calm and flat seas type of weather, dear..." said my Unable to Sit Still husband, "Might be time to Go! What say you?"
And since I too was feeling the call of the Unable to Sit Still silliness I figured we might as well, and, before I knew it,
"Sure, why not?" I responded.
And so GO we did. Anchor chain had already been scrubbed, dinghy bottom was free from slime and shells, and we'd provisioned our provisions the day before,
so by 08:30 in the morning hours we were exiting Mt Hartman Bay and waving bye-bye-see-you-soon to Grenada's Southern coastline.
The call of the explore is always with us and it's hard on the mind to leave a place you really enjoy, and our friends, and the fun we've been calling home for the last little while.
"But today is Volleyball..."
"And Wednesday is Wings at Secret Harbour..."
"And we will miss the Hike!"
"And the Hash...!"
Hibernating in Camp Grenada during Hurricane Season is wonderful, but it's a non-stop schedule (if you choose to participate) of activities that have days turning into weeks turning into months without even a minute's notice that make you go WTH=just=happened? And so a little get-a-way was just what the doctor ordered.
The winds weren't exactly as predicted for a perfect sailing course but truth be told we weren't all too disappointed, we were making water and the engine needed some running time and so we motor-sailed happily along. We'd been at anchor for awhile and it felt kind of unstable and yet delicious to be out and heelingly moving along, swaying to the swell of the big blue sea, the winds in our face, moving up on the windward side of the island of Grenada.
A scant 7 hours and 40 nautical miles later we dropped our anchor in Tyrell Bay (Carriacou) for the evening.
The next morning was forming to be overcast and kind of hazy and wet, perfect for the job we had planned for this type of drizzly day.
The job being prepping dinghy and going ashore to clear out of Customs at Tyrell Bay. Then up anchor and sailing the 7.5 nautical miles over to Union Island where we dropped the hook by Happy Island after telling the ever present boat-boys that we didn't need any help, thank you ever so much. Prep the dinghy once again to head ashore and meet with Customs in order to clear into St Vincent and the Grenadines.
It's little trips like this between islands that often make us wish for simplified clearance procedures!! Can't someone out there invent some sort of system that would allow technology to ease the process?
We've seen many take the chance and not bother with clearance procedures. And sure, you can play the legal roulette game with the rules that allow you to claim health or boat troubles. Bottom line is do what you will, the chance, and resulting repercussions, rest squarely on your shoulders.
The Grenada Flag was lowered and exchanged for the SVG flag,
and I smiled as I looked at our Flag Pack looking all nice and neat. I happily remembered the large favour our friends David and Libby (SV Peregrine) did for us a few months back by repairing many of the seams that had come undone.
It was up anchor one last time for the day and a scant 30 minutes later we were choosing our spot in the quite empty anchorage of Saline Bay (Mayreau)
that we would call home for a couple of days.
Nice to be in clear see straight to the sandy bottom waters again, but as I looked over the side of the boat, what do I see floating by? A rather large translucent blob of a jellyfish, Ugh !!
Despite the hazy and somewhat rainy overcast skies that had plagued us all day, the evening sunset ceremonies were a surprise,
and not to be missed.
The next morning was a sunny and breezy type of day, perfect for one of the chores on my To Do list that kind of killed three birds in one. We needed to go through our bedroom cupboards, so the clothes went in the cockpit to air out, and the cupboard spaces were wiped down and checked for mold or, heaven forbid, critters. A few hours everything was back in its space, minus one large bag of "clothes-to-go", ready and waiting for the next donation.
After lunch when the skies had hazed out a tad,
"I'm heading in to scrub Banyan's bottom" said Dave.
"Wait!!" I quickly replied as I changed into my bathing suit, "I'll go with you..."
Sometimes I figure I must suffer from amnesia as when I jumped in the water right behind him, and my eyes adjusted to the snorkelled view around me, it was only then that I remembered the jellyfish. And sure enough, there goes one... then two... and then I counted three-hundred and ninety-five of them floating by me, which is when I jumped right back out of the water and into the safety of the confines of the dry cockpit, luckily and thankfully, unstung.
Not much to do with that many jellyfish below me and unwilling to swim but make soup, right? I had a bag of Callaloo that needed using...
Dasheen is a common local vegetable that grows and looks rather like a dusty, large, deformed potato. The leaves of the plant above gound are large and broad and called Callaloo. Don't eat either raw. Ever. But steaming or boiling it up are jes'fine.
I started by chopping up some onion and allowing it to gently fry in some butter/olive oil mixture.
I always find that Callaloo soup is one of those "use up my leftovers" type of recipe, so when the onions were sort of translucent, I added the chopped up garlic, a carrot that needed using, a leftover (cooked) potato from the night before, a few stalks of celery, and I believe I even included some seasoning peppers.
In went the chopped up callaloo, a few cups of water, some vegetable broth seasoning cubes, and a few spoonfuls of coconut cream powder. Covered it up and let it gently simmer for about half an hour or so.
I added some spices,
such as paprika, turmeric, curry, ginger, pepper...
The resulting green goodness doesn't look all that appetizing, does it?
Using my Magic Bullet, I whizzed it all until it was smooth and creamy and back into the pot it went. I added a can of crabmeat, some SriRacha hot sauce, and stirred it all up,
and voila...
Bowl-fulls of deliciousness... Bon Appetit.
And with that I leave you with another magical production, brought to you by Mother Nature. Enjoy.