Tobago Cays and Mayreaux - part 1

We decided to hire a boat and take a tour of some of the Grenadines. The goal was to get to Tobago Cays for some snorkeling at the reef that exists there. Its about an hour boat ride south from BQ.

We arrive at Tobago Cays

>>>double click for largest size<<

Pay the entry fee to the Marine Park

Check out the island that was used in Pirates of the Caribbean

Hang out some while snorkeling ( this is not an underwater camera)

A boat vendor

We pass a boat on the way out

The HGTV house

Many of you have mentioned that you saw an episode on HGTV on international house hunters. They showed 3 houses. One was in Moonhole and 2 others were in Spring. We would certainly not suggest that Moonhole is a desireable location. It is the farthest away from town, and to get there you have to drive a dirt road through an active quarry.. Not you pleasant approach

The one the lady bought was Seacliff.. up the hill in Spring. She like the house but complained about the roads. (ha)

By chance we met a couple from Rochester who were here for a week, looking at homes. They were staying at Seacliff!  We ended up having refreshments with them at the house.

The woman who wanted to live forever in Bequia doesn't live there anymore -- she rents it.

Here are a few picture of the house. Nice, but not sure it was great.

Hanging out around the pool with some weather coming.

The house is set up with a main house and two separate bedroom areas

The main house

One bedroom area

The other bedroom area

The Main area

The main area is actually somewhat dated and oddly set up

The view

Mangwana

It's the name of a house here in BQ. It sits pretty much on the top of one of the peaks, and we look at it from Ravenala. It's big, it looks like it costs a lot but the place looks like a bunker. So we decided to take a look. Firstly, we had to find the road, that looked liked like a driveway.

Well, it has one hell of a view, but the place looks like a bunker.

http://www.grenadine-escape.com/villas/wana

What to do when the world hands you lemons? - just call me juice boy.

Well in this case -  limes...

Earlier I mentioned that we had 2 lime trees outside the main house at Ravenala. What I didn't realize is that the limes would be ripening while we were here. When the limes are on the tree, they are green, but turn yellow when ripe.

You do not need to pick them as they simply fall of the tree during the wind, rain, or just age of ripeness. Simply pick them up, put them in a bucket and have at it. Every couple of days I get a bucketful -- about 50-60+ limes. A couple of times I just pushed the tree and a bunch fell off.

Cut in half

Squeeze -- I likely would have only done this once if there wasn't a juicer.

 Find a container and fill

Got (used) technology?

In talking with Jal and Alana, we became aware of the lack of technology in the schools and library here on Bequia. The government of St. Vincent and Grenadines are heavily involved in building a new airport on St. Vincent, so much of everything else is put off as that project sucks up a lot of money.

The cost of technology here is very high relative to the income  levels of most islanders, so most people just don't use computers. Jal and Alana want to change that.

We've decided to help.

We agreed to seek out unused, older technology that may be collecting dust in homes, companies, or where ever, accumulate what is available, and ship it to BQ for Jal and Alana to distribute as appropriate.

If you (or anyone you know) have any unused computers, iPads, kindles, etc... and wish to donate them, let us know and we will make arrangements. Contact us by email: kevin-AT-sheamail.net or alicia-AT-sheamail.net

Beer Snob -- not

As many know, I pretty much drink only micro beers: brown, red, IPA, wheat, - but never fruit. Here in  BQ you do not have much selection. There is Carib, Hairoun, Heineken, and maybe Guinness in a can.

So I tried them and concluded that I could actually drink the Carib. I am thankful that it wasn't just Miller Lite and Corona

Drinking yellow beer at Mac's Pizzeria

With Lobster Pizza

With Ken's Special

With Jal

Turtles

The Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary is on the other side of the island over near Spring. It is the effort of Brother King, who has been working for many years to improve survival rates of hawksbill turtles. In the wild, upwards to 60% of young turtles do not make it.

The sanctuary takes in new borns, directly off the beach as they hatch, as well as take in older turtles with injuries or something wrong.

We got there at a good time... they had just collected over 800 new borns and had them in their tanks. These guys are 15 days old.

They were tiny - about 4"

Here is a full size guy - about two feet long. There were about 10 of the big guys.

We ended up snorkeling among the hawksbill when we visited the marine park at Tobago Cays. They were in a protected area and we managed to see many large hawksbills