Doreen, Davidson, Jeff and myself set off last Sunday for an adventure. We headed up north, stopping off at DIY shops to get bits and pieces for peoples building sites. We then visited a newly built house to check out their wooden floors to see if the finish was good enough for our house – it wasn’t, so then the real journey began. Doreen and Davidson had vague memories from childhood of being able to drive down hidden tracks to reach some of the more remote inlets on the north east coast. We bought some water and ackees by the side of the road to keep us going until we hopefully found a roadside café at lunchtime. On our way to the first beach we drove down a very rocky winding road which was lined with wild fruit trees, so we feasted on Guavas, sea grapes, hog plums and mameres, which are full of seed and quite aromatic but not that tasty. We picked sour sop, which are large prickly fruits and are generally used to make drinks or ice-cream .We then headed for Grande Anse, a beautiful long beach with big rollers coming in three different directions that crashed onto the beach. This place is famous for turtle hatching but also for dangerous rip tides that have caused several drownings, so we were careful not to go out of our depth whilst we swam in the warm water. After a while we got out and were approached by a Rasta who offered to climb a coconut tree to get jelly coconuts, which are the ones full of milk and the flesh is still young and slippery. These were great and we drank the cool milk whilst chatting to the guy who seemed to live on the beach and made a bit of money here and there if anyone wanted coconuts. The rest of the time he fished and collected fruits just as we had done.
We set of again, this time heading down a disused track to get to a place called Au Leon. This track needed a serious off road truck; we crossed three rivers, most likely the same one, as the road was very windy and steep. At times the track was strewn with boulders and fallen rocks and sometimes the whole track had been washed away. No one had been down this road for a long time but there was no turning back because we couldn’t turn round as it got narrower and narrower. We eventually got our bearings and found the right track to take us back up and away from some great little coves. At the top of the ridge, some way from the sea, we came across another group of young Rasta’s who had just walked up from where we had been, carrying large sacks of seafood. We stopped and chatted and Doreen made a deal to buy the crabs, whelks and fish. They also had illegal, out of season lobster, which she said she would buy from them in future once lobster season started in September. It is too risky for a restaurant owner to have illegal lobster as officials regularly make checks of freezer contents.
We returned to Marigot and Doreen quickly cooked the crab and whelks, which we ate with garlic butter, salad and French bread. It was the perfect ending to a great day out and we all agreed that we had to do more off road stuff and just see where the day takes us.
The house build is going well apart from the plumbers being sacked, which I am sure you were all anticipating. Jeff could not cope with them a minute longer, so he paid them off and he and the foreman will complete the rest between them and plan to get another one for the tricky bits, like the pool. As you can see from the photos the roof is starting to appear and we have a plasterer in preparing inside walls and finishing off water tanks.
John and Fi arrived yesterday and were amazed at the progress. We plan to do a bit more inland stuff with them and tonight we are of to Canaries for the fish fest that they do every month. Should be a fun weekend as tomorrow we are going back to Canaries for a swim in the waterfall and then onto the Two Pitons for lunch at The Dasheen. We also have another visitor, an American girl called Jackie who will be with us for three nights before she heads back to the States. She has just come off a dive boat where she has been instructing and looking after up to 25 youngsters. What a job! That’s all folks, please note the difference in quality of the photos, we have just upgraded our camera and I think they seem crisper.