A Working Engine!

Fording the Cumberland River

Upper Dark View Falls

After a week in St Vincent we finally have a working engine! The new starting motor came from Florida and arrived Thurs in Kingston, the capital here. Since we needed to travel an hour to pick it up from FedEx and customs we decided to make a day of it. Brother borrowed a car and took the 4 of us to town. Besides the work and shopping, we had lunch and later visited one of the larger waterfalls in the north.

The drive each way gave us a chance to see the island if you could concentrate on the sites. The roads are poor, steep and windy and Brother’s driving fast. It sounded like the car was falling apart. It reminded me of playing a video game. There were not many tourists in town so the market had a different atmosphere. To get to the waterfall we took the west coast road almost to its north end and hiked in. You wade through the stream at the bottom of the first one and then climb to another higher one. The gardens around it were also spectacular. On the road we passed a truck with the marijuana workers piled in the back, a smoking jeep. There are quite a few farms on the northern slopes. They hang a rope from their huts and pull themselves and then the rope up.

Friday the repairs were done. The engine started which by then was a beautiful sound. Then it would not stop. Fortunately we can stop it manually until we replace another part. We took the dinghy to a small beach nearby and did some snorkelling later. Beautifully warm water and lots to see. Now we are in the squally, windy weather. We are waiting out Sat but will leave Sun and put up with the seas. The customs officer, Camille, came up here to check us out today and then we have 24 hours to leave. We paid overtime today but at least she didn’t charge us to re check in.

Camille told us about one time she boarded a boat to do the check in and the captain refused and sailed off with her on board. She needed to call the coast guard to get home. Needless to say there was a fine involved.

We plan on a final dinner on shore tonight. We can take the dinghy but townspeople and staff have to wade across the rocky fast moving stream each way. There is still a lot of damage around from the bad rain storm and landslides last Christmas including bridges, roads and homes. It is a poor island but the people we have met have all been friendly. Brother invited us to dinner on Sun with his family if we were still going to be here.