History lesson

Yesterday we got to play with a monkey named Frisky. He was a very funny monkey. He liked to bite and jump on people. While one person distracted him by jiggling a can with rocks in it, the other person dug a hole. Sometimes Frisky would see the person digging the hole and jump off the table spreading his arms and legs out. We stuck a stick in the ground and he jumped on it. It started tipping and he flung backwards. He loved the taste of lemons.     AK

Boyd and I have been enjoying learning about the history of the islands. The colonial period when France, Great Britain, Netherlands, and Spain were establishing colonies, developing plantations, and managing slavery is fascinating. We have been exploring ruins and trying to engage the kids in the history and culture, forgetting that we had no interest in history til well after college.

From Golden Rock Plantation on Nevis Island we were able to take a hike up to the rain forest, tour the plantation ruins, and even cool off in their pool.  www.goldenrocknevis.com.  It looked like a heavenly place to rent a room that doesn’t rock. 

Leaving Nevis at midnight, we sailed to Guadeloupe, which so far is high on our list of favorites. It has a memorial Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve as it was one of his favorite diving places in the world. Since he was the pioneer of SCUBA they commissioned  a “bust” of him and sunk it in 39 feet of water. Scuba stands for Self Contained Underwater Apparatus. Evan calls it Super Cool Underwater Bubble Activity.

We have purchased several books that are helping guide us and also give the history of the islands.  The other sources that have become very important to us are Windguru.com and Passageweather.com.                 JK