Category: Cruising

We now know that due to issues with furling gear we are going to be too late to transit the Panama Canal for a Pacific crossing in Feb/Mar 2014. The alternative is to slowly make our way through the ABC Islands, Columbia, San Blas, Panama and down to Ecuador. From there we would cross to Galapagos early in 2015. But we are thinking the unthinkable; not to transit at Panama. We remained totally committed to a circumnavigation until arriving in the Caribbean. We can’t quite put our finger on it but we are not so enthused at the idea any

The Chocolate Factory on the Edmonton Estate; beans are cleaned and washed before being crushed to form a chocolate paste, then pressed into chocolate. After much discussion about the high cocoa content chocolate that they produce, purity of the bar, and good health benefits we bought a couple of bars. Once back in daylight we were somewhat surprised to find that the bars are only 60% cocoa.

The Rum Factory; described as a working museum the rum factory uses a water wheel to crush sugar cane, heats the juice in progressively hotter vats, then ferments in large tanks before going round the distellery to produce a rum that is 75% achohol.. Somehow this activity employs 100 people. Following the factory tour we had rum tasting. We all found it about the same as syphoning petrol…

Taking a break from the industrial stuff here are some local flowers:

The Cocoa Processing Plant; it’s stacked so the seeds dry in their own heat, then sun dried on racks, washed and polished. A factory has now been built to grind the beans and it opens in about a month’s time (taken a few years for some vertical integration). It was all very dark and very basic within the cocoa barn.

More plants, seeds and spices along with a few local houses that we passed along the way together with the purchase of the famous ‘spice necklasses’;

The Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist – many times over! Holder of an OBE he has met with the Pope, Queen, Prince Charles and many Prime Minister’s but his interest is making natural medicines from the island plants.

We took Cutty (actual name Cuthbert) Island Tour of the Spice Island. It’s amazing to see what’s growing on every corner. As we toured in his taxi Cuthy, who is a farmer when not driving, stopped every 10 minutes to show us more plants and spices, fruits and vegetables. These included from what I can recall: Pineapple, Papaya, Cocoa, Castor Beans, Ginger Leaf, Nutmeg, Star Fruit, Lemon Grass, Cashew Nuts, Limes, Traveller’s Palm, Poinsettia, Chelsea Flower Show winners, Cinnamon, Breadfruit, Bread Nut, Noni, Cloves, Turmeric, Cocoa Pods                         Cocoa

We have been to Choo Light Chinese Restaurant a few times. It’s almost cheaper than cooking onboard. The restaurant has a large floor area but we tend to be the only ones eating there. Mrs Choo said the crews have just stopped coming and people get take away now – and this is a common thread across all island businesses. Things are slowing down or disappearing. Top dishes here are Honey & Garlic, Black Bean and best of all Ginger & Green Onion

We have had a few good days but the squalls returned