St Lucia, Martinique, Donimica & Antigua

The last three weeks have passed in a flash as Ricky and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary aboard Allways Sunday. I learned a neat trick from one of my best friends, Beth Munley about doing special things for the whole week or month of your birthday, so I decided to apply it to our anniversary as well. We are standing in front of Diamond Falls in Martinique, where we strolled leisurely through the beautiful botanical gardens, stopping for a nice lunch, and taking lots of photos of some of my favorite subjects; flowers and birds. Here are a few of my favorites...



Purple Throat Carib Hummingbird



Cute little Bullfinch






We anchored a couple of quiet days between the famous Pitons. The mansion in the photo above belongs to Ray Charles.


One of the magnificent Pitons in the background. Perhaps the prettiest anchorage we've experienced yet.

A beautiful Chain Moray Fascinating creatures everywhere: a pod of small squid.


Next stop is quaint Martinique, birthplace of Napoleon's beloved Josephine, who grew up on a 200 acre, 150 slave estate. Again, many buildings in need of repair and paint, but still so fabulous.
Majestic and frightful, the infamous live volcano Mount Pelee, that claimed the lives of 30,000 people living in St. Pierre when they ignored her rumblings in May 1902. Known as the Paris of the Caribbean, she was the cultural and social center of Martinique, with wealthy plantation owners exporting rum, sugar, coffee and cocoa back home to France. Property is still a bargain here, and yes, she's still active!


Many ruins still attest to show the vast wealth of the once renowned city.


The large theatre where shows were always sold out.

The next island we spent only one day at, Dominica. Many old buildings in need of repair and a coat of paint.

Old church.

We walked up the hill to a large, open botanical garden and wildlife research center. More flowers and birds!!!

And finally, we are anchored in English Harbour on Antigua, where we arrived in time to see just a little bit of Race Week 2010, pictured above.

The ruins of England's late 1700's Nelson's Dockyard have been loving reconstructed to house shops, dive centers, a wonderful museum, marina, etc. We love it here!

We never get tired of the glorious sunsets!!!

Come see us - Ricky and Robin

ISLAND HOPPING FROM THE AVES TO MUSTIQUE

Hello All,
Ricky and I are honeymooning in some of the most beautiful waters in the world while Danielle enjoys a very long trip back home. She will stay with family until we go home for our next visit in May. Every body's happy, and that's what counts, right?
Here's a quick look at where we've been the last six weeks.

The Aves, named for the large number of birds that reside here, namely the red footed boobies, are quiet and peaceful with wonderful snorkeling. Local Venezuelan fishermen came by every day with fresh fish for sale.

The trees were full of nesting birds. The adorable fluffy white Booby chicks didn't seem to mind their photos being taken, but their mothers did!

Danielle carries a knife everywhere she goes, just in case she needs to leave her name behind.

So many treasures, and not enough hands. Ricky, can I fill your pockets with shells? Pretty please?

Cruisers have created a designated place where they write their boat names on rocks and pile them all together just for fun. Danielle provided our artwork.

The next series of Venezuelan islands we visited are called The Roques. We were enchanted by pristine white powdery sand beaches, and even caught some nice sized fish. Ricky is holding up a Skipjack Tuna, and snagged a couple of wonderful eating Barracuda.

Very few people around, just a couple of small structures occasionally scattered on small, picturesque islands used by fishermen.

Beautiful beaches everywhere...

...to explore and hike over.

I've been searching for an octopus for months now, and finally found the one pictured above. He's hard to spot with his legs curled up, and his bumpy texture and mottled color help him to blend in with the coral surrounding. The clue that gave his home location away was the huge pile of empty clam shells piled up outside his den. This Common Octopus is the only species that comes out during daylight hours.

Our next stop was the large and beautiful island of Grenada, also called the Spice Island. We spent a few days at the Grenada Yacht Club in St. George's, and enjoyed eating out, provisioning, an island tour, lots of marine stores for Ricky to browse, and washers and dryers, not to mention Internet. But truthfully, we much prefer being at anchor in more remote areas. The three day sail from Blanquilla was our hardest sailing experience to date, and hopefully forever. We knew it would be an unpleasant experience due to strong currents and wind on our nose the entire way, but had to get it over with in order to start heading north.

Ricky is still fixing things that suffered in the beating we took, but boasts that he is becoming a great diesel mechanic in the process. Our dingy was punctured, and we were lucky we didn't lose her. She's usable with new patches. The cook (that would be me!) was sick the entire time, and only crawled out of bed to serve up jello, soup, cookies and crackers. It could have been so much worse!

Nutmeg, shown in the above photo, was a huge export for Grenada, but Hurricane Ivan wiped out most of the trees. The island also grows cocoa, bread fruit, mangos, bay trees, and many other spices and fresh produce, tended by very hard working, machete carrying men. We found the local people to be extremely friendly.

We shared an island taxi tour with a nice French couple, Eve and Stephanie, who were our neighbors at the marina. The driving tour included a pretty tough hike with a local guide into the jungle to see the Seven Falls. Six out of the seven waterfalls empty one down into the other, and everyone in our small group, except the photographer (that would be me!) actually jumped from the top of all six falls. Well, somebody had to take the photos!

My fearless daughter leads the pack. After six jumps and hard climbing, all she could say was "I wish we could do it again!"

Ricky gives thumb's up sign, letting me know he's still alive, Thank You, Jesus!

We put Danielle on a plane in Grenada, and sailed into The Grenadines, stopping first at Carriacou (rhymes with kangaroo) pictured above, known for it's tradition of boat building.

This gorgeous view is from the top of Carriacou, but looks down on our next ports of call: Petite Martinique and Petite St Vicent. Petite St. Vincent (on the left) is privately owned and is an expensive restaurant and resort with perfectly manicured lawns and beaches.

We spent one night all alone at this quiet bay on Union Island, enjoying good snorkeling and a nice long walk on the deserted beach.

We are presently on a mooring in Britannia Bay at Mustique, a privately owned island that has been developed as an area of holiday homes for the rich and famous. We took a tour the same afternoon we arrived, and were delighted to glimpse villas owned by Mick Jagger and Princess Margaret, among others. There are about 80 spacious homes built, many available for rent when the owners are not in residence for a hefty price, staff included.

There's Allways Sunday among the huge luxury yachts! What a fabulous view!

This sprawling estate is owned by Tommy Hilfiger. It includes about four seperate houses.

Another view from high on the hill, overlooking beautiful homes and a rugged coast. I will sign off now, as we've just been informed that Reese Witherspoon is on the island!

Sea Ya!

Ricky and Robin