Nevis & Boat Party

Well, let's see. What have we been up to? Well, I had to stop the cat human-toilet training experiment when Jack gave himself a urinary infection holding in his pee and Zura found other outlets for her frustration. We're back to the old time-honored medium of kitty litter. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Saturday, we didn't really feel like doing anything but were bored, so ended up playing Mexican Train dominoes for a few hours. Good thing, because we were a bit rusty. Jim & Wendy of Merengue will be visiting in a couple of months and we do NOT want that dunce cap back, so will have to start practicing!

Sunday was a really nice day so we made it over to Nevis on the Seabridge ferry. We didn't take our car, but here are others lining up to get on (they back on).


The back of the boat swings as the cars load up. It's freaky.



Mikey looking spiffy before we take off and other riders watching as we "lift off."



Here's where we were heading.



We met a fun group of people working for an insurance company who travel to all kinds of neat places so chatted it up with them for the whole trip over. The water was really calm; here's the channel leading to the ocean, so the trip was a cinch.



20 minutes later we were in Nevis. Who were we visiting? Well, one of Michael's best pals from college, Kim, summer vacations next door to Gerry and Sandra. Turns out Gerry and Sandra are going to build a house in Nevis. Kim found Mike on Facebook and discovered he lived next door in St. Kitts, put us in touch with each other, and we became e-penpals (I say "we" because I am apparently in charge of communications for the family). Gerry & Sandra are in the neighborhood to get their project started so we headed over to put a face to the emails.

First we ate breakfast at the Oualie Beach Resort whose staff apparently were having an off day. Gerry had to ask several times for his coffee, beg for his toast, and our breakfast potatoes never showed up. The orange juice was good though! Then we headed over to the lot to see what the view would be - beautiful, of course. Then it was time to head over to the lush villa they were treating themselves to for this visit. So here are the faces to go with the emails! Hi Kim!

Gotta show the view from the place, of course. The 2nd picture shows St. Kitts off in the distance.



We ended up down at the pool, just a few steps from their patio, and had a nice laid-back day soaking up some rays.



Then it was time to catch the 6pm ferry back.



The sunset was spectacular with an affect of melting into the sea. Of course, none of that comes out in pictures. I know you guys have sunsets of your own, but we're in the Caribbean. We're supposed to take pictures of sunsets! Palm trees and white sand too! Can you really have too many?



I even tried videoing the event hoping to catch a green flash, but the sun stayed orange all the way until its final disappearance. We ran into 2 contractors (and their wives) working on the same project as Michael's and ended up having a great conversation with them too (they travel a lot for their jobs and had just ATV'd all across the island). As a matter of fact, we recommended one of them for Gerry's construction, so now they'll become pen pals. See how this works? Here I am, enjoying the trip back. I think I could just ride this ferry back and forth all day. Think of all the people I'd meet!

What do you do when the lead car's engine won't start? Manpower!



The car behind it was such a low-rider that they had to take the front bumper off so it wouldn't get damaged. Hope nobody in the back was in a rush!

Today is election day. You know how some countries give everyone the day off on election day so people will vote? Here, they give everyone the day after the day off because they know that the winners will be celebrating and the losers take to the streets to voice their dissatisfaction. The airport was packed the day before the election as the politicians actually flew constituents that were living overseas in to vote. Did I mention that they've stopped the sale of liquor until the voting booths close? And if the current administration wins, there are 3 days of official holiday. Think that was enough incentive to win some votes? That's right 3 days. A great idea for employees, not so much for employers who have to pay them double-time to get work done they had already planned (like a lunch for 200 people - and with grocery stores closed). Sure is different on the islands.