Following all the hullabaloo in Texas in April, we headed off to the Caribbean for a couple of weeks to do all those things that married couples are supposed to do after their wedding -- decompress, relax, and catch up on our sleep. The plan was to spend about six days at a resort in Grenada, and then to catch a Windjammer tallship out of St. George. After a week of sailing around the Grenadines, we'd come back to Grenada. Then a day in Barbados, a day in St. Maarten, and back to Michigan a few hours before Stephen had to teach class.
We stuck to the plan pretty well, except for when we got sick. Here are pictures:
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In Grenada, we stayed at a "hotel" called LaLuna -- really a collection of primitive-chic beach huts. Very picturesque, in a wooden-beam-and-thatch sort of way. And very colorful. We had a room with a view of the sea below, and a wonderful porch from which we could watch gorgeous sunsets. There were colorful steps -- about a hundred and twenty of them -- leading down to the restaurant and bar area.
Here's a picture of our bar and bartenders. Over in the restaurant, Kristen would commune with the wildlife at breakfast, while Stephen would hatch plots about what to do that day. (This sandcastle was one of those plots. Note the three lines of defense against frontal assault. Also note the crab perched on top of the keep.) We spent the days reading, walking along the beach, swimming (the water was blue, really blue), pretending to be mermaids, or exploring Grenada. (Here's a picture of the capital of St. George, and here's a picture of some machinery at the River Antoine rum distillery.)
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Then we boarded the S.V. Yankee Clipper, a tallship that sails around the Grenadines. (Think of "Pirates of the Caribbean"! Think of Columbus and his merry men discovering the New World! Or think of luxury yachts, if that's what turns you on.) It was hard to get a good picture of the Clipper -- either we were in harbor with our sails down, looking boring; or else we were at sea with the magnificent sails up, but where we couldn't get a picture of the entire ship.
It was pouring rain when we left Grenada. Passengers got to raise the sails, while the loudspeaker belted out "Amazing Grace" (apparently some old nautical tradition). The crew were fairly nice about allowing -- and sometimes even encouraging -- us landlubbers to help. They'd even let you steer the ship, if you wanted (and it seems that drinking and driving wasn't out of the question either).
We spent five days piddling around the Caribbean. We first headed to Mayreau, a virtually undeveloped island with stunning beaches. Then we went up to Bequia, which had turtles (as well as more beaches). Then down to the totally uninhabited Tobago Cays, which have the most stunning snorkeling in the Caribbean. Finally, we visited Union Island (note Stephen climbing off the front of the ship) before returning to Grenada.
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We amused ourselves by snorkeling every time the ship was in harbor. The Grenadines were wonderful for snorkeling -- there were fish and coral everywhere. We saw colorful fish. We saw blue fish. We saw small schools of big fish, and we saw big schools of small fish. We saw starfish. We saw an octopus (he's all balled up there, but you can see his eyeball and his sucker-laden tentacles). We saw a fish that looked like a leopard. We saw a fish that looked just plain weird.
And we saw gorgeous coral. And more gorgeous coral.
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