There are no-see-um's of course. usually only seem to be around at dawn, and again at dusk. We have found that there are ways to avoid and control them with some thought. Simple things, like dont grow bushy shrubs right next to the part of the porch where you sit outside. They can't tolerate much wind, and hug the ground for the most part. They need cover. Mostly ankle biters, here, because of the trade winds. Mosquitos are not nearly as much of a problem, but it varies from island to island. THis is basically a pretty arid country for the most part. There is a lot more standing water on islands to the east than there is to the west. Wetter in general on the windward side of the islands. Compared to Texas Gulf Coast, or the Keys, I would say mosquitos are not really much of a problem here.
We have a lot of knowledge about Pine Cay, and the Meridian Club of course. La Gringa's family have been homeowners there for 17 years. We are headed over there to measure for a new refrigerator in about half an hour, in fact.
The no-see-ums are not that bad really. Not as compared to many other places. Some people dont get bit at all. I am not one of those people. They will pass up several hundred perfectly good victims just to get to me. They dont want to ruin their appetite snacking on other people, for some reason. They are willing to wait. Some of them will fast for days just on the rumor that I am going to be available on the menu. Bugs,in general, consider me a delicacy. Bugs in Europe, the Americas, and on other Caribbean islands stowaway on aircraft and boats just to get a shot at me. I am the record Great White trophy in bugdom. So, if I can handle it....
Some of the insect repellents out these days are pretty acceptable, not the old railroad tar and creosote smelling things of the past. I dont even bother to use it, though.
Forgot to answer your question about the laws...the TCI legal system is pure Brit. Land title is guaranteed by the Crown.
We have a lot of knowledge about Pine Cay, and the Meridian Club of course. La Gringa's family have been homeowners there for 17 years. We are headed over there to measure for a new refrigerator in about half an hour, in fact.
The no-see-ums are not that bad really. Not as compared to many other places. Some people dont get bit at all. I am not one of those people. They will pass up several hundred perfectly good victims just to get to me. They dont want to ruin their appetite snacking on other people, for some reason. They are willing to wait. Some of them will fast for days just on the rumor that I am going to be available on the menu. Bugs,in general, consider me a delicacy. Bugs in Europe, the Americas, and on other Caribbean islands stowaway on aircraft and boats just to get a shot at me. I am the record Great White trophy in bugdom. So, if I can handle it....
Some of the insect repellents out these days are pretty acceptable, not the old railroad tar and creosote smelling things of the past. I dont even bother to use it, though.
Forgot to answer your question about the laws...the TCI legal system is pure Brit. Land title is guaranteed by the Crown.
Just got back from a run to Pine Cay a few minutes ago. Talked to Bev and Wally, the managers of the Meridian Club.. There have been a lot of upgrades to the rooms etc. this summer. They open officially November 1.
We havent been there in a week, but not much going on this time of year. Bruce has seemingly dug some kind of a spot to haul his boat out. I got to ask him what THAT's all about. If we can dig our own canals, I might get into that myself.
did he dig that on purpose, or is he going to claim the throttle stuck open on him late Saturday night after a Provo run...
Couple guys building a new section of floating dock. A filipino and a local TCI guy. I told them I had waited a long time to get a photo of them working....they thought that was funny:
We headed to the house, and packed up most of the stuff that has drifted over there with us over the summer. Clothes, food, tackle box, couple spare fishing poles...loaded up the golf cart and stopped by the Meridian Club to arrange to get some work done at the house before the first round of winter visitors arrive..
Golf carts and bicycles are the only forms of transportation on the island. No cars, trucks, dirt bikes, ATVs....none of that loud motorized stuff.
I took a photo of the old dinner bell at the Meridian Club. They ring it every night at 7:00 PM ( give or take a few cocktails) to announce to everyone on the island that dinner is served. Of course, most people show up poolside an hour or two, or three, before for cocktails.
We carted our stuff ( literally) back down to the boat, and found Romeo, one of our painters hanging out with the guys fixing the dock. Gringa laid into him, like "What the hell are you doing over HERE?? How come you are not working on our house!?!?!" And things of that nature. Romeo acted like he had been caught playing hooky, but I guess the gist of it is that they are getting some other little projects done waiting for the subcontractor to put the tin roof on.
So, here we have a caucasian Gringa joking with an Asian Filipino, a TCI islander of African descent, and a loafing Hispanic housepainter from the Dominican Republic. This here is what you might call your polyglot society. Did we leave any races out?
We headed back to Provo with our boat load of stuff. I spotted something washed up on the beach over in a little cove area of Water Cay, and took the boat in close to the beach for a look. It was someone's console, looks like it got ripped right off the boat. It had barnacles on one side, so it had drifted a ways before washing ashore here. I could make out the steering wheel, and engine contols still on it. I wanted to jump overboard and go take a closer look, as I am in the market for some gauges and can always use some stainless hardware if I can salvage it.
Alas, La Gringa Suprema takes a dim view of my tendency to pick up stainless lock washers, brackets, cables, loose pieces of nylon line,and the odd section of PVC. She says I have enough junk to open my own shop. I was telling her, hey, as a minimum the fiberglass itself is probably fixable, and the steeringwheel looks good...and you KNOW there will be stainless hardware...but nooooooo... (Edited 1/05/08: Three months later we would see that someone indeed eventually salvaged this console.)
There were squalls in the area, and we had a cooler full of frozen food to get home, and I am good for several hours with something like this to pick over.
So, I turned the boat for home. As we left the little cove I noticed its kinda a scenic little place, with the waves breaking on the reef off in the distance. Good spot for a picnic and a swim;
But ever since we got back, I have been thinking about that console. It must have just washed ashore during the storms of the last two days. What made it float? The hardware should have sunk it. And where's the rest of the boat, is it sitting on the bottom just outside the reef? It would have taken some force to bust a console off...
I can tell you right now she aint gonna let me go back over there just to look at it. She's afraid I might bring it home.
Thats not fair. Some of it is on the porch.
(changing the subject) Hey Welder...
Heres conch tenderzied, breaded, then sauteed in butter and garlic, with fresh lime juice squeezed on top...
Well we have all kinds of photos of the house of course, so be careful what you ask for. Its the major thing going on with us right now...well, except I have been doing some thinking about a wreck site...
I take about a dozen photos every time we are out at the house site, anything new or changed.. Its been helpful, going along. I have photos of all the plumbing roughed in, wiring, etc. If I ever need to knock a hole in a wall, I will be able to see exactly what's inside it. We were just out there Sunday after the rain finally let up. Only things going on right now with it are the beams across the top of the pergola,
and they have put these little decorative things on the columns ( dont know what you call them)
and they are finishing up the tops of the ledge, or seat,or whatever along the top of all the outside patio walls.
And they have started installing the louvered windows:
These are cypress wood, and will be untreated, allowed to weather to a light gray. No glass in the windows, just screens.
That hole next to the windows will be a big sliding glass door, from our bedroom out onto the patio.
Oh, they also installed all the gutters, and the outside light fixtures. Now waiting on the roofing sub to put the tin on and make the house weatherproof so they can get serious on the inside.
On the concrete, over the blocks they paint this blue binder stuff. I dont remember the name of it, but I believe it both seals the concrete and binds to the plaster. Then they put a rough coat of this plaster stuff over it, left it with a pretty smooth finish. Over that went a finish or skim layer, which is smoother yet.
Here's the only photo I can find that shows the rough coat of plaster over the CBC, its about as thick as the mortar joints between the blocks:
Another smoother coat went over that.
I think there are two paints to apply now, they have already put the primer coat on in the living room, its a yellowish color ( I think, but I am partially color blind, so it could be some other color).
Thats the primer coat over skin coat plaster inside.
Then the final coat goes over that. All the construction here is CBC and poured concrete. Our architect specified all the finishes, and our builder tends to go overboard. So I think we are okay.
The pergola will have a floor the same as the patio, which is 2'x2'x2" concrete pavers being custom poured, white with a little gray mixed in and a varied, speckled finish, on purpose. They will be bedded in sand.
There was a good idea posted about rescuing a Gilleys sign, I might look into that. It may be too late, though. But we wont lack for things to use to decorate. The Meridian Club re-decorated all the rooms this year, and those Haitian painted chairs are for sale cheap. I am pretty sure I posted a photo of them earlier. La Gringa wants em, and I was thinking of attaching them to the wall as shelves or something. Use them to build something else.
There are several beaches around where amazing amounts of neat stuff floats up. One over on another island we call Trash Beach. We could furnish an entire neighborhood with net floats, etc. Driftwood. Theres plenty.
Also, I kinda like some of the Haitian art around. For example, there is a little kiosk kind of place just near here that I just passed coming back from working on the @!#$%*&# gas tank on the boat this morning. They carry all this wall hanging stuff cut out of tin and copper. Some of it is brightly painted, some they leave just bare metal:
They got suns, and stars, and fish, and zodiac signs, palm trees, all kinds of stuff. I think the copper ones would weather pretty well. I notice they leave them outside here all day every day, rain or shine, without any problem:
There is also a native handicraft place in Blue Hills that has some neat stuff, if you like this kinda junk. A friend of ours runs it. Can get some photos next time we are over there.
Between here and where we tie up the boat is a stretch of bad road. Its about three miles of dust, potholes, loose gravel, dirt and rutted, exposed bedrock. It goes through some limestone cuts, and in one of those there is a small opening. I have been looking at this little cave each time we drive by to or from the marina. I could tell that some animal or something must use it. Theres a small ledge at the entrance, and its smoothed down. I thought maybe dogs were living in it. Its difficult to see into from a moving car because its dark inside it, and bright sunlight outside, and anyhow, I just never took the time to stop and look at it. Okay...I'm lazy.
Well, usually we are on a mission, either to the boat to leave, or coming back to town after being away. But today I was just doing some work.
And recently, I've been carrying this little camera in my pocket, trying to keep an eye out for things that seem commonplace to us now, but that might be of some slight interest to someone living in a different environment. So today I thought I would actually stop and look.
Still sitting in the Samurai listening to country music, I could see there was trash inside, obviously people are using it. Or some really clever dogs with access to beer. So after Old Waylon ended on the radio, I climbed out for a look.( Priorities, ya know)
The opening is about three feet high. Plenty of room to crawl inside.
I didnt feel like crawling inside today, had just spent two hours in the sun and I was hot, tired, sweaty and thirsty. But I did get down and crawl inside the opening. I was surprised. It actually opens up a little bit inside, and goes way back. I didnt have a flashlight with me, but there was enough light to see that the cave turns upwards at the back. I could not see the end of it. I snapped a photo, and the flash lit it up pretty well. I still dont know how far back it goes. You can see more in the flash photo than I could see at the time.
I could see enough to know I wasnt going to go crawling back up there in the dark.
This part of Provo is between one of the areas where Haitian sloops come ashore with their cargos of refugees. My theory is that this is a spot where people wait and hide, calling someone local on their cell phones to come pick them up. Its a good spot, a car could come zooming up on this very lightly travelled road, and you could be out of this cave and in the vehicle in seconds. Beats hiding in the bush in the open I guess. Maybe someone would even leave a couple cool ones for ya if you were expected.
Gives me ideas about digging my own cave in the rock the house is being built on.
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