16 July 2006
Happy summer! How can we be in mid-July already?
The 19th of June, brought me from St Vincent to San Juan. After an afternoon exploring Old San Juan, I discovered a
great sushi restaurant, “Wasabi” in the area I was staying, Condada. Tuesday morning I was back at the airport en
route to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to visit mom & Bill. Wednesday morning mom and I set out to drive to Chicago. As we
entered the Westin where we were to stay, my sister, Donna walked up to me! What a great surprise – she flew in for
just the briefest of times, but I couldn’t have asked for a better surprise! We spent the afternoon shopping on
Michigan Ave, went for a fabulous dinner at the Peninsula Hotel and then enjoyed a relaxing spa morning at KIVA
Thursday before her departure back to California in the afternoon. Mom and I then enjoyed a great evening, having
an early dinner at “Bin 36” prior to seeing “Wicked” – thoroughly entertaining! (I am now looking forward to reading
the book!)
Friday AM, after a walk through Millennium Park and Navy Pier, mom & I headed back to Cedar Rapids. Saturday we
took Bill and viewed a “wearable art” exhibit by Cat Chow at the CR Art Museum. Although short, it was a great visit!
Monday June 26th I was off to the airport again; to eventually arrive in New Haven to visit dad & Dollie and Lynda,
Nick, Alex & Christopher. Although the weather was a bit gray, Alex & I managed to get in several days of waterskiing &
wake boarding. Lynda took a day off work and we did a marathon shopping day and caught up over our ‘girls’ lunch’.
Various activities, gatherings and of course, Fourth of July kept us all busy. Lynda & I even managed to squeeze in a
“real” movie theater movie and a bit of tennis.
The bonus while in Connecticut was the opportunity to meet up with Wildman and Melissa on their brief sojourn in
Madison, next door to Clinton, after their visits on Long Island & upstate NY and before their return to Southern
California! It was a brief glass of wine at Café Allegra, but I have photos to prove it and it was so wonderful to catch
up with dear friends from So Cal! (They hoped to make it back in time for Dee’s beach bash on Sunday, but timing
was questionable!)
July 7th, I flew back to San Juan, another chance for sushi! Saturday morning, final Starbucks for awhile, then a hectic
(OK, so I over packed!!) afternoon at the San Juan airport. The blessing was, Jeremy had arranged for our friend,
Bob, to pick me up in his private plane for the final jump from St Vincent to Bequia – so much easier than lugging all
my stuff to the ferry in the midst of Vinci Mas (St Vincent’s version of Carnival). Jeremy was awaiting my return at the
illustrious Bequia airport bar – he, Bob and I felt duty-bound to spend some cash there, so my first evening back was
spent at the airport bar!
With Patricia, my friend that was staying in my guest apartment for the past couple months, having returned to
Canada on Friday July 7th, another guest checked in that Friday evening, for a week. As of yesterday, I have guests
in for the next month. Meanwhile, the GYM is still plugging along with new equipment eminent and the start of
construction for the new location “getting ready to start” – soon – I hope!!
The puppies and cat are all doing well. We now have several land turtles wondering about the property – they are
causing great frustration for the puppies!
Getting ready to head down for the institution of “Sunday afternoon at Lower Bay”!
Congratulations to the Southern California babies!! Jena & Tim’s, Sierra; Jen & GianMarco’s, Mateo; Kelly & Jerry’s
baby (sorry I don’t know the name yet!!). I think there are a few more due soon – be sure to keep me posted!
As always, I look forward to guests coming to Bequia! Once the new GYM is complete, I will have a second apartment
available as well the current guest apartment. Bookings are coming in - upstairs is tentatively booked for September
and January – March 2007 is already booked fairly back to back. March brings about the World Cup in Cricket,
hosted by the West Indies and the Bequia Easter Regatta is April 5th – 9th , so make plans to visit soon!
Write soon and check back every so often for updates!
Xoxo
Lisa
8 AUGUST 2006
OK, so that last one hasn’t been posted yet! Recent fun here in the islands: Jeremy & I left early this past Thursday
morning Aug 3rd) and had a nice sail down to Carriacou(about 6 hours) dropped anchor at Hillsborough to check in,
buy some groceries and say hello to some old buddies of Jeremy's. Then we moved on down to Terryll Bay where
most of the Regatta goings on were going on.
We anchored and stopped by
to meet some friends at the
"yacht club" just in time to
head over to the skippers'
briefing at one of the sail
shops. Started running into
people right & left that I had
met during Easter Regatta
here on Bequia. Then actually
ran into a guy that I met on
Dominica a couple years ago
that J also knew from St Lucia.
Jeremy almost wasn't going to
do the 'round the island fun
race' but I & others convinced
him that is why we went down
there! After registering,
ourselves and friends Gordon
& Judy went to the one
restaurant on the bay - Turtle
Dove - a pizza joint right on
the beach. Friday morning up
& ready (kind of!) for the start
- Jeremy getting fishing lines ready! As I was learning some of the intricacies of coming about on Jeremy's boat, I
managed to steer us off course a couple times and do a full 360! OOOOPPS! Good thing we weren't really racing!
After 4 hours of sailing, realizing we were amongst the last "4" boats, hitting a dead wind area VERY close to a big
reef, Jeremy made the impulse decision to turn on the engines and forfeit - still an hour motor back to the finish then
off to the charity auction at the "yacht club" then to the after race party at "Turtle Dove"! Long day...
Slept in Saturday until after the rains passed then back to Hillsborough to
check out, get me to a Doctor for an eye infection, pick up groceries & ice
for the next day and eventually off again early afternoon. Sailing past Petite
Martinique, Petite St Vincent, Palm Island, Union Island and Mayreau, we
eventually dropped anchor in the Tobago Cays. Beautiful! Went for a swim,
Jeremy fixed dinner including fresh baracuda he caught during Friday's
race!
Watched part of a movie and REALLY slept in Sunday! We anticipated
leaving after a swim & breakfast, around 11am - well that's when we awoke!
Eventually off and straight into the wind the entire way back - arrived on
Bequia around 5:30pm. Everything was fine while we were away, apart from
the puppies chewing through an electrical cord, which the young couple
staying here tried to tape back up for us. Early to bed Sunday night then
with my eye still bothering me, I took the Monday morning ferry over to St
Vincent to see an eye specialist. The meds he prescribed were not exactly
easy to track down, but they JUST arrived via ferry 45 minutes ago, at 2pm,
from a pharmacy on SV. It has been extremely painful in the mean time but
now hopefully I will “see” some improvement.
Despite my incapacity yesterday afternoon, I had the GYM open and four new people started last night!
Well, that's all the news from the rock.
© 2006 AQUA on Bequia
