Sailing Amélie : Meghan On Amélie-July 2014

Ahoy again mateys! Again, I am very sorry that it took so long to get the blog done (by the way please apreciate it if you you have good working internet) but just in case you don't know, this is what I wrote 3 weeks ago so it is not the latest updates. Anyways, Amélie IV has travelled from Grenada to many of the Grenadines in the past 2 weeks and has seen some pretty cool things which I am sure you would all love to hear about.

Canada Day

We started off the month of July by celebrating Canada day! We announced it to everyone on the daily morning net (on the VHF radio) that all Canadian yachters were welcome to come to a potluck on the beautiful Grande Anse beach (Grenada)! It included Canadian music, lots of swimming, lots of yummy food, a few games of beach soccer and of course lots of red and white! To finish off the day, all the kids went to the weekly volleyball game in Secret Harbour.

The Grenadines

Baby goat on Union Island

A few days after Canada Day, we sailed a bit up north to the beautiful Grenadines. I haven’t been to all of them yet but I have a feeling that they are going to be my favourite islands in the Caribbean! We didn’t spend as much time as we would have wished to in them but we were mostly just checking out what there was to see for when my aunt and cousins, our first guests come aboard because we would really like to take them there.

Conch after cracking it open

School of fish snorkelling in Carriacou

There was one island in the Grenadines that really “opened up my eyes” and that was Mayreau. We took a short walk to find town and we were saying to each other while we were walking that we needed bread and somehow someone overheard us and told us to go to the house across from him. We knocked on the door but there was no answer so he came over and opened the door for us (he said it was his father-in-law’s house). He asked us where we were from and we said Canada. Apparently, he had done a research on Canada in high school and he started telling us all about how he had to know all the great lakes, the territories and the provinces. He then started talking about how later he had become a peacemaker for the Grenadines and he represented all his people and reported what they said. He also has received many letters from: many famous people including Queen Elizabeth! He sold us the bread and then added that he was very interested in history books so if we had any we didn’t want, he would like that a lot. We said that we definitely had at least one then we walked away feeling in awe that we met such an interesting person!

We walked a little bit more and then found a really cool looking bar where the whole restaurant was painted with the liberation colours (red, yellow and green) and there was the sound of drums coming from inside! We walked in and there were about 6 people playing instruments (mostly drums). We sat down and when you looked all around you, there were flags everywhere and there was not one corner of the restaurant that was not painted red, yellow or green! Comments of the restaurant were written all over the walls and in a small room at the back I could see a small camping bed which is where the store owner probably slept! The drummers played many songs which they probably just made up! It was not a very fancy restaurant and it didn’t look like they had a lot of money but when you looked at them, they had built a very nice community and they were very happy with their life! When we left the restaurant, I gave the owner Robert one of my Rainbow Loom bracelets (one of my liberation coloured ones) and I have never had someone more thankful for a bracelet than he was! When we got back on the boat, we (or at least I did) had a whole different perspective of how life can and should be lived even when you have almost nothing!

Finally, after months of talking about it, we made it to the beautiful Tobago Cays (another island in the Grenadines)! I had always been saying that I really wanted to go to the Bahamas but I don’t think I need to anymore because the water is beautiful enough for me here! It is crystal clear even in 20 feet of water and to just describe swimming in it, it really was just like swimming in the sky!

The moment we got there, we had heard about the sea turtle watching area so we dingheyed right over to the beach next to the watching area. If you are ever looking for a good place to snorkel, Tobago Cays is the number 1 place to go (at least in my opinion)! Anyways, we were snorkelling at the turtle watching area and I was alone for some odd reason and I was thinking to myself: “Hey! Wouldn’t it be cool if I saw a turtle when I was all alone! It would a memory of a lifetime like when mom swam with a sea lion!”. So I kept snorkelling and then I found a box fish and then I looked to the side of it and there is a sea turtle right there grazing on some seagrass! I was so in awe that I just could not speak or move! Ok, obviously I couldn’t speak because I was underwater but I was so surprised I thought I was dreaming! It was so interesting to watch it eat because sometimes it would accidentally eat sand along with the seagrass and so it would spit the sand out! I would also follow it when it swam up to the surface and then I’d pop my head up just in time to see it’s too! Swimming with the turtle reminded me of when I was younger and I got to feed and pet squirrels because I felt like a princess and you can call me “kiddish” but I really felt like the Little Mermaid swimming with that turtle! While swimming back to the boat, me and my mom saw a ray and the moment it started digging about 6 box fish came around it and we saw that a couple of times so we think that they have a symbiotic relationship!

We also explored one of the little islands (the Tobago Cays are really just a marine park surrounded by inhabited islands) which had a nice beach that especially Matthew, our “big fish” loved! My parents and I discovered (while Matthew swam in happiness!) a really nice view up the hill of the island. I was literally looking down at at least 10 different shades of blue in the water all scattered everywhere to make the beautiful water even more beautifu! If we had that kind of view on our boat, we would never have to worry about hitting reefs! Hopefully these pictures will give you a better idea and feeling of the magnificent Tobago Cays!

SPCA

After the Tobago Cays, we sailed back down to Grenada! On our first night, we decided to go see our friends on sailing vessel Rafiki to tell them we were back! The two girls (who are 10 and 12) said they had volunteered to work at the local SPCA (an animal rescue center) walking the puppies there! They then asked me if I wanted to come with them the next day to help them! As you can imagine saying no to this opportunity is definitely not an option in my world! When we got there the next day, they gave us a short walk through of the center which was quite small considering that I have only been to the SPCA of Calgary where each dog/cat/bunny has their own kennel but in this SPCA they only had dogs and cats and only had one 3 kennels so 2 small ones for the cats and 1 big one for the dogs. They still had all the necessary medicine and had a nice vet station.

When we got to the dog kennel (which was outside) all the dogs and puppies were so excited to see us (as you can imagine) and it was hard to pick which one to walk because I knew they all wanted to! I wanted to walk one that looked like it wasn’t chosen very often so I almost chose a very sad looking pit bull named Blaze but later found out that he was a very aggressive dog that had been abused and shouldn't be walked by a volunteer. I ended up finding a really cute boy puppy in the corner who had the absolute cutest face! He was scared of me at first and did not want to come out of the kennel but he eventually did after a lot of my encouragement! The nickname I gave him was Mr. Handsome and he seemed quite satisfied with it! He was a very playful, energetic and fearless puppy! We took them to a park behind the SPCA and we had to go down quite a steep hill. I didn’t think he’d be able to do it but in the end, it was me that had more trouble doing it! Everyone who owns a puppy says they are a lot of work and I did not believe that until I took a puppy out for a walk! By the end, I felt like I had ran a marathon! I found it incredible how much energy he had and I might now think twice about ever getting a puppy! I did have the time of my life though rolling around in the grass with them!

After we dropped the puppies back off, we got to hold little tiny kittens no bigger than my hand! They were quite scared at first being outside of their kennel but you rocked them for a little while (just like a baby) and they were calm! Here are some pictures of the adorable animals we played with!

I hope that gives you basically an idea of what we have done in the past few weeks but here are some extra pictures that don’t need a big explanation!