 |
| Soufrierre Hills, Montserrat |
We have reached St. Maarten, AND Yaya and Papou! The kids
are thrilled. We arrived on Monday morning after a 24 hour passage from Guadeloupe
which included a drive-by of the active volcano, Soufrierre Hills, on
Montserrat. This was very exciting. Anna has shown a big interest in geology
but unfortunately was under the influence of Benadryl after receiving 32 stings
from a jellyfish so was quite sleepy for the live-action lesson on volcanology.
The kids have had a fantastic week playing on the beach and
sleeping over with Yaya and Papou. There have also been lots of kids to play
with including a little boy from home in New Hampshire, here with his Great
Grandma and Mom, two kids from New York State, Ages 6 and 9 AND Alice and
Hattie from Yacht Cariad arrived, the day after us! Bob and I keep chuckling
because the kids are doing everything they can to avoid us, afraid of being railroaded
into leaving, doing school or some other task that involves removing a bathing
suit or leaving the beach.
It has been many months since we have seen any family at
all. My parents have been coming to St, Maarten for 25 years so seeing them,
and their neighbors here at the resort, is like coming home. We ourselves have
been here a number of times. Bob and I have had a running dialogue since
arriving in Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria about the similarities of Puerto Rico
and St. Maarten. Back in December, after being delayed multiple times in
Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal, we missed our departure date to meet Yaya
and Papou on their December trip which was a blessing in disguise because, for
one, we heard the crossing at Thanksgiving was awful AND we had a chance to
meet one of my adoptive Norwegian families at their regular holiday spot,
Puerto Rico de Gran Canaria.
I had stayed with Knut and Ingrid in Levanger, Norway over
twenty years ago and we had an awesome time with them and family at their
Hytte, or cottage, this summer in Norway. Knut and Ingrid had had to work much
of the time we were there but mentioned that they would be in the Canaries on
December 5. I wrote it off at the time, we would be half way across the
Atlantic on December 5, but after our misadventures trying to reach the
Canaries, we soon realized our stay there would overlap with Knut and
Ingrid!
 |
| West Coast of Gran Canaria |
There was much debate on where to stay and whether to take
Midwatch to where Knut and Ingrid were staying on the south coast of Gran
Canaria or to leave Midwatch in the north, leaving us flexibility for future
destinations with the predominant north winds and famous acceleration zones.
When we arrived at Las Palmas on the north coast, we were informed the marina was
fully booked and they would only have room for us for two nights. We checked
the weather, beautiful for two days out, and our decision was made. We sent a
note off to Knut and Ingrid to invite them to join us for the trip around the
mysterious ,and little-sailed, west coast of Gran Canaria.
Knut and Ingrid took a taxi from Puerto Rico very early in
the morning, arriving before dawn for the 10 hour trip to Puerto Rico.
Fortunately no one told us that the west coast of Gran Canaria was too rough
for sailing and it was the once-a-year calm around the island. We
had an absolutely lovely day. We sailed, or motored..., in close to the
high mountains, eyeing greenhouses and tour busses on the precarious mountain
roads. We spotted a pod of dolphins and a short fin pilot whale! We fished all
the way down, catching only a bird and I was thrilled to death to have Knut, an
old farm boy, on board, saving me the task of extracting the bird from the
line. We finally arrived in Puerto Rico late in the afternoon and we all had a
great dinner out at an Irish pub.
 |
| A well-handled, if unfortunate bird. All ended well for bird ...and humans. |
We spent the next few days visiting with Knut and Ingrid and
had soon dubbed Puerto Rico, “Norway South.” Anna has been learning Spanish
this year but we were hearing more Norwegian than Spanish. The Supermarkets were the same chain as in
Norway and the markets contained Norwegian products. The hotel where Knut and
Ingrid stayed was run by a Swede and had only Norwegian and Swedish guests. We even stocked up on our favorite Norwegian
candy and bought a tube of bacon ost.
It was about this time that we started to recognize this
place, not because we had been there before, but because it was so similar to St.
Maarten where my Mom and Dad spend their vacations. The menus, supermarkets,
tours, and even souvenir sellers were all geared for the Scandinavian market,
just as St. Maarten caters to Americans and Canadians. We were totally at home
visiting Knut and Ingrid and were treated to a great Thursday night special of
Torsk (cod). Here in St. Maarten, the Thursday specialty is beef brisket, but
the concept is the same.
Across the ocean, we are now well settled in in St. Maarten.
We have a routine including eating on the deck, swimming and Bob and I catching
up on work and boat projects. Mom and Dad (Yaya and Papou) brought along maple
syrup and Cabot cheddar and the supermarkets have items we have not seen for a
very long time, including fresh milk, large bags of tortilla chips and yummy
salsa. I’m glad we do love salsa because as the departing neighbor vacationers
empty their fridges, ¾ full jars keep showing up. Just this morning a bag of Fritos, a package
of Chips-a-hoy cookies and a bottle of rum somehow mysteriously arrived. We
think back to the great treats passed on when Knut and Ingrid departed Gran
Canaria to return to Norway, honey, Jam, cheese. All this tells me, people are
people and the world is small. Love it!
No comments:
Post a Comment