Thursday, May 7

Grenada. Up early to go deal with the Shoe Excursion folks again for my tours on Dominica and St. Thomas, plus to arrange transport to the airport in San Juan. Then get ready for Grenada. I brought 6 books by Jan Karon, and Mark contributed about 8 books of various kinds.

I just got back from a most delightful afternoon spent with Cathy and Greg Wybern. Since parking is impossible near the dock, they dropped me off out in front of the terminal. Between the hike to the ship and the sudden tropical rain shower, I’m not sure if I was wetter from rain or sweat by the time I got back on board! Either way, the priorities are fluid replacement, salt removal, and writing up an account of the day...back in a little while.

Okay, that’s better. For those of you who are involved in the Grenada project, yes, I took tons of photos, but no, none is of any of the ladies (or men) who like to read. Nicole was supposed to have lunch with Cathy and Greg and me, but she had two 3 hour exams today (she’s working on a master’s degree) and just couldn’t make it. Cathy and Jesse (Greg’s secretary or assistant, I’m not sure which) will see that photos get taken and sent on to me, and I’ll pass them along then. Meanwhile, I gave them photos of us, and have promised to send along some info about each of us...where we live, a little background, what we do, etc. as they want to put this up on a bulletin board. So break out your bios and send them to me...or be at my mercy for a write-up.

At one point during the afternoon Greg checked in with his office and was telling Jesse that he was with one of the ladies who sent all the books. She said that she has read 30 of the books since they arrived! I even got introduced to the Dean of the Veterinary School (both Cathy’s and Greg’s boss), and he went on about how great it was that we sent the books. It turns out that when the books arrived, the Vet School people sent down a truck to the port to get the boxes and bring them to the University where they were initally stashed in Greg’s office because he had more room than the Dean’s Office.

Evidently each of the six boxes (once the contents were sorted), wound up in a different department to serve as a staff book swap center. Different staff members will take a bag of books back to their own village and swap them around, then bring them back for different ones. Nicole dreams of setting up even more book swap sites out in the villages, especially in the northern, mountainous parts of the island. The roads out there are not good, and from some places a person would have to take 3 different buses one way to get to St. George’s at the US equivalent of 50 cents/bus which is a whole lot of money for these folks. By the way, there is a small public library on Grenada in St. George’s, but it really isn’t accessible to most of the inhabitants, especially considering the transportation constraints.

Cathy described the excitement that spread among all departments of the University when our shipment of books arrived. She said it took a day or two for it to sink in on Nicole that these books were a free gift from us to her and her friends. She kept asking if this was really okay. Several women were involved in sorting out what would go where. Word spread and staff in other departments asked to get in on the bounty. Meanwhile, some of younger men would pass by the door but not come in. Finally Cathy asked them if they would like some books to read also. They were surprised that the books weren’t just for the women. Fortunately one of us had included some westerns that the young men really liked.

Cathy and Dean Siss suggested that, while they are ecstatic to get whatever we can send, it would be useful to have some books for younger children, or at least some books that parents could read to their children. I told them I didn’t know what we might come up with, but that I would pass the word along.

So Cathy and Greg took me on quite a tour of the more populated part of Grenada. This photo of downtown St. George’s looks all bright and new...mostly because it pretty much is. Hurricane Ivan, five years ago, destroyed about 95% of the island. The massive influx of relief aid has allowed not only the rebuilding of much of the island, but improvements as well, like in some cases adding plumbing and electricity although there are still many many Grenadians who do not have electricity in their homes. If they want to read the books we sent, they must do so during the day, or go sit under a street light.
Like many, if not most, Caribbean islands, Grenada is of volcanic origin and is very vertical with houses and buildings velcroed to very steep hillsides. The roads aren’t quite as precipitous as on Tortola, but they’re at least as curvy as Donna and Vince’s place. The difference here is that many are narrower and some are one way, but with no signs to tell you which one way...and looking at the cars parked along the side doesn’t always solve that question! Kudos to Greg’s driving!

We toured St. George University, Greg’s Small Animal Division of the Vet School, and several of the peninsulas that stick out like fingers (or maybe pseudopods) all around the southern end of the island. We had lunch at this lovely open air restaurant on True Blue peninsula. And I was shown the areas where the US invaded back in 1983 to restore order after several years of political unrest and the murder of virtually the entire Grenadian government. These sites included where the Navy Seals came ashore (losing 4 of their number of fierce rip tides) and where the Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

All in all, it was a great afternoon, and I feel so lucky that I was able to come here, meet Cathy and Greg and see the island again.

Friday, May 8

Dominica. I took a tour this morning billed as a rainforest scenic drive and Jaco Falls. Dominica is a very eco-minded place, and they have worked hard and very successfully to preserve the quite spectacular beauty of their island. The tour guide was excellent. From several remarks she made, I would guess that she is of Carib Indian descent. There are about 3,000 or more Caribs still living on Dominica.
The driver was also superior in skill, although I cannot say the same for the suspension in the bus or the local roads. Dominica is one of the most mountainous islands I’ve seen. It has 9 volcanos (none erupting at present), and the highest mountain is over 4,600 feet. The mountains may be taller than Tortola, but they also have more space to get up them, so I would say the roads are nowhere near as scary as Tortola was. We drove along the drier western side of the island for a while, then headed up into the rain forest areas. We stopped at a lovely river (the island has hundreds of rivers, all steep and picturesque) to walk on the volcanic sands and admire the clear waters as you can see.

Many hundreds of feet higher, we arrived at Jaco Falls just as the rain showers began. I did not descend the 55 steep steps to the pool at the base of the falls, but was able to get a wet look at them from up above, although I left my camera on the bus to keep it dry. I then consumed a rum punch that was mostly rum with a splash of punch (whew!) and chatted with some local ladies about the scruffy little chicken (see photo taken after the rain stopped) that seemed inordinately interested in my sandals. Then a rather impressive rooster appeared. He was so busy posing and showing off, that our driver was able to sneak up and grab him by the tail and pick him up...much to the rooster’s consternation and embarrassment!

After the trip back down to Roseau (the capital city), and through it’s very narrow streets with no traffic signals of any sort during rush hour, we ascended a hill called Morne Bruce where we had a fine view of the city and our ship. Then we had a stop in the local botanical garden where there was a tree called a cannonball tree which evidently only grows on Dominica and bears round items that look exactly like the tree’s namesake.

This evening is the last formal night, along with the Captain’s Circle party for this week. Mary is number one again in days sailed, and Mark is in third place.