We made our way down to the Lazy Turtle with the crew on Plane Song, a boat we know from Trinidad, and had lobster and lambi (conch) pizzas, carbonara, and all other sorts of yummy things as we watched the sun set over Tyrrel Bay yesterday. The dock at the Lazy Turtle is awesome…it is half poured concrete, broken in large chunks, and layered so it steps down to the water. Then, in about 2 feet of water, it ends. Tied to the end of the dock with discarded rope are two car tires, and to that is chained a floating dock, which floats tilted at about a 30º angle. It jerks out, then floats back in with the surge of the waves. Watching rum-blushed sailors climb out of their already unstable dinghies as they attempt to go for dinner is pretty hilarious. Reminds me of those fun houses at the Youth Fair when I was growing up.

Lazy Turtle with Bruce and Gail from Plane Song

After Lazy Turtle we all conquered the dock and jumped in the dinghies to head down to the Lambi Queen for an evening of Steel Pan music. In the islands you’ll see a lot of crude wooden tables with folding chairs set up in shady spots, under trees, sometimes with a tarp tied over them, that the men use to sit around and play dominoes in their free time. There is one of these domino huts next to the Lambi Queen, and they had a pretty raucous game going, so I wandered over to see what was going on. Turns out they were playing Cuban dominoes, and when a spot opened up, I jumped over with Jason and we took on the locals. We won round 1 with a shutout, but in round two, our new challengers pulverized us. John cut a rug with Gail from Plane Song, the dogs and a goat wandered around in the street outside with the spectators, and we ended the night thoroughly sated with our Caribbean night out.

Dominoes with the locals

The boys are out diving as we speak, and I intend to finish my confined water and get into my open water exercises this afternoon. Simon, a local vendor who sells to the cruiser community, just pulled up to the boat in his wooden dinghy with a live lobster in his hand and asked if I wanted it…for $25 EC a pound. It was 3 lbs, and with a 2.6 EC to US exchange rate, that sounded rich for my blood, at least for lobster prices in this part of the Caribbean. Oh well, maybe next stop.

Lara does confined water exercises with John

Until next time,
Lara

Jason wires the SSB and VHF to the GPS

Rib dinner at Lucky's, $3.85. Yes, it's that shack behind us. And it was good.