Pinney's Beach

POSTDATED: Today is Family Beach Day at Pinney's Beach. It is my least favorite beach here. There are sand fleas and its too touristy. You always have somebody trying to sell you braids for your hair or cheap beads. We managed to enjoy ourself anyway. The kids snorkeled for awhile and then dug a huge hole in which we buried them. The kids and I ate at the Gold Rock Pavillion which is on the south end of Pinney's. They have an excellent lobster salad that I really enjoyed! (I keep trying to upload a picture of the kids in the sand but keep getting an error message. So, just imagine 8 kids with their heads sticking out of the sand and wearing big grins.)

POSTDATED: The kids and I made our first trip to town without Brian today. We went to pick up a few things, like mosquito coils, but the ABM (ATM) was out of order. We managed to have enough cash on hand though. We stopped at TDC, the Drink Depot and Island Hopper. Unfortunately, the Drink Depot was out of Sprite. I am not sure who decides what and how much to order, but this seems to be a common problem around here.

Pemos

POSTDATED: Today we went down to Nisbett Beach. Its nice to go there because it is a resort so there are never any locals there, its close by, and they have beach chairs. All the beaches on Nevis are public except the Four Seasons so they can't kick us out!

For dinner we went to a local place called Pemos. It is run by a lady named Dassi (sp?) who lives above the restaurant. We each had a sandwhich, fries, and a drink. The chickens run around the yard, but no goats because it is fenced. Dinner there tastes great and only ran us about 50 EC, which is about 17 US! Out front there is a beautiful Flamboyant Tree, which is the national tree of Nevis.

POSTDATED: Today we met the Turner family at Oualie Beach. The Turners used to live in Davenport, IA when Ben was completing his Master's in Anatomy at Palmer. He is also on the medical fellowship and assists in the Gross Lab. They have three kids, Hannah (8), Harrison (5), and Autumn (18 mos). Their mom, Elizabeth, graduated from BYU with a degree in dance. Ben and Brian went out looking for lobsters. Ben found two which he gave to us so Brian cooked them up as an appetizer. I had to leave the room. They were tasty though.

Windward Beach

POSTDATED: Today is our first family beach day for the summer. We are off to Windward Beach, which is on the other side of the island. We were to meet at the Lapray's house but ended up driving past it and up into Butler's Village, past Domino College (from the Buffett song - really!). We turned around and managed to finally find their house. Very few roads are marked here so it can be difficult finding someone's house.

It took us quite awhile to drive to the beach. You have to take this really long road down the mountain and then another long road to the actual beach. Some of the road is pretty torn up and in bad shape. Janet Lapray got her car stuck in the sand. Somehow she hit a spot that just gave way even though most of the sand is well-packed and "safe" to drive on. A local helped us get the car out of this hole, but it was a bit scary.

Windward Beach has a lot of waves as it is on the Atlantic side. Nolan lost his snorkel mask. It was knocked right off his head by a wave. We looked for it for a while, but gave up. It is probably in Africa by now ;)

Spouses of Students

POSTDATED: This morning we went to Nisbet Beach. Brian went out looking for lobsters, and I thought he drowned at one point. He was far out (although I think you can stand even out at the break-water) and difficult to see. Plus, he didn't find any lobsters! We came home and made a pineapple upside down cake for the "SOS" (Spouses of Students) party. The theme was mexican, so there were tacos and homemade salsa, etc.



What is really nice here about the families is that they stick together. You have to or you'd go nuts. So, the Laprays, Morenos, Turners, Chad/Holly/Olivia (not sure about last name - sorry) and Adrians all got together for a little food and swimming this evening at the MUA pool. Chad was like a camp counselor organizing little swimming contests for the kids. At one point Holly jumped in to the pool in a skirt! It was a bit warm. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

The Caona

POSTDATED: Today the kids and I drove down to the Four Seasons where we met the captain and crew of the catamaran The Caona. Lennox is the captain and builder of this boat and he has two young people, Fitzroy and Kalendi working as his crew. We departed from the Four Seasons and took a 45 minute cruise to the southeast side of St. Kitts. The views of Nevis were beautiful.

Once we reached St. Kitts we anchored for 45 minutes of snorkeling and swimming. By now the kids have become very good snorkelers. They tried to help me, but I just prefered to get out of the water. From what I did see the water, about 15 feet deep, was very clear. Nolan and Mich stayed out almost the entire time. I passed that time on the boat trying not to be ill as the sea was really rolling from a storm that had gone through the night before.

Later we had dinner with Brian at a local ex-patriate spot called The Gallipot. Nolan was down at the beach and was stung by a bee, but otherwise dinner was very enjoyable.

POSTDATED: Brian has the day off due to mid-term break so we get to spend another day together before he returns to class. Unfortunately, we are ready to leave and the plumber shows up to fix the shower. Fortunately, the plumber doesn't take too long so we were able to head down to Herbert's Beach. Kids and Brian snorkel for a bit and I "try". I think I am better on sand!

POSTDATED: We down to Oualie this afternoon. Its just like being home. Brian has started to teach the kids how to snorkel. They are naturals - the little fish.

We Are Here

POSTDATED: We arrived in Nevis approximately 30 minutes behind schedule, which is typical around here, but we cleared cusoms without any delay. Brian was waiting for us and we rode "home" in his "new" Toyota Tercel with the extremely loud exhaust system. We unpacked and had a Carib, and it was good! For dinner we drove down to Pizza Beach. Brian and I shared a large black olive and crushed red pepper pizza. It is a very good pizza, but you feel the red peppers after the second slice! After dinner we drove down to Oualie where we saw our friend Lennox Wallance, whom we met on oure trip down in March. The kids hit the beach immediately. It was a nice night.