Da Caribbean News Ledda
Welcome all,
Another months slides past without barely noticing. Surely it can't mean that I'm getting older, and the grey hair, surely that's from the salt air and the sun, not from the age.
Firstly I would like to dedicate this News ledda to a couple of very special Lionheart family members who tragically loss their lives in a traffic accident recently. Paul and Sanda who travelled onboard Lionheart in March 04, will be sadly missed by everyone. No one can replace them, and their memories will live on for all eternity.
March has been one of the driest months on record. This is far from normal. We usually get a little sprinkle of rain each night which generally keeps every thing lovely and green, but now all we have is a dry, brown country side, begging for a fire to Wisk it away in a flash.
For the past few weeks I have been filling five gallon water tanks in town and driving them home to empty them into out garden cistern. We still have a little remaining water our main cistern but once that runs dry, we'll rely on the water that I have brought from town. You don't realize how important water is, until your without it.
Away from the drought of the island life, Lionheart continues to explore new frontiers, sharing the experiences with lots of fascinating people. One of these truly amazing experiences happened whilst returning from Anegada, a small island 18mls north of these islands. It was still calm, so we were under motor. The call on deck was to watch out for whales,which are normally migrating through here at this time of year. Low and behold me hearties, there she blows, way up in the distance, two spouts of water and then a breach. I changed course and headed towards these Humpbacks. At about a quarter of a mile off, I shut the engines down a slowly glided to a halt. We saw nothing, not a drop of water disturbed, the ocean was a giant lake with a mirror finish to it.
We were all disappointed that we didn't get to see these amazing critters up close. I decided to jump in the water a see if I could hear them underwater. Instantly I could hear the Humpbacks singing, calling out to one another. I popped my head up and told my guests to jump in the ocean and listen to their calls.
At this stage were still about five miles off land so they were a little reluctant to jump in. I think they saw the reaction on my face and they just had to experience it for themselves. By their sounds it was as if they swam right up to us then slowly turned and headed away. After they stopped calling I tried to emulate they sound, and straight away I got a reply with the same sort of sound. I tried it again and again, the same thing happened.. We were hooting and hollowing for ages after that and we all knew that what had just happened could well have been a lifetime experience So from now on please add on my resume that I can now speak whale.( it maybe as good as my Japanese- but I do speak whale.)
We are presently in the throws of Easter, so everyone please have a happy Easter if you celebrate it. Somehow I managed to get Easter off this year, so I intend to enjoy it to the fullest. I want to go easteregg hunting with Lucie. I want to sleep in with Sarah and I want my dog Shadow to get the paper for me. But realistically, one out of three aint bad.
In Cane Garden Bay at the moment we have wall to wall Puerto Rico. The Rican's have taken over our quiet little anchorage. They have big beautiful fishing boats tied to boats up and down the full length of our beach. They are a happy bunch so all you hear all day long is the Spanish language, joyful and loud. They generally wake up late, so they don't start partying until afternoon, but they keep it up all through the night.
Yellow, our pet chick is here to experience our first Easter. She has grown quite a bit and now tries to fly on the odd occasion- usually to escape the clutches of Lucie . Yellow has been sentence to the garden now, so she now has her own little box to sleep in, away from the main house. I keep saying HER-I hope she is a her otherwise she is going to need those feathers to fly a long way, away when she develops a crow. Mmmmmmmmmmm rooster for dinner.
The other day we befriended a couple of frogs, tree frogs that have an amazing calling whistle,and placed in a bottle for all to see. They last a few days before we finally realized we couldn't feed them , so we let them go.
If it rains for forty days and forty nights, I don't know if Lionheart could handle so many pets. This house is bursting at the seams with animals, with the goats, dog, cats, fish and now a chicken, there going to start calling me Noah, but that's alright- this man is still living the dream.
Take care of one another.
Mobbsie