Jan. 21 Cumberland Bay St. Vincent
Sarah, Mike and Arvil went to shore at 6:00 am to meet their guide for the hike up the volcano, it had rained last night so the trail will probably be a little wet. Dan, Em, Keith and myself had made plans to hike the Cumberland Nature Trail. The brochure says to get there you need a taxi or guide to get there, but we had heard it is just beyond the village of Spring Hill so we decided to try to walk there; yes Dan has convinced me against my better judgment to exercise once again. Our first clue should have been when everyone we asked directions from looked at us like we were crazy and said it was a long way. We made our way through town and took the turnoff to the countryside. The road was a steady incline, but not so steep as to make it strenuous. The road paralleled the pipeline that brings water down from the mountain to power the hydro plants which provide electricity to the villages to the area. The further we got up the mountain the more rural the area became, soon giving way to farmland. The pipe varies in construction from spiral welded steel to wood slats held together with steel rings; I found one section that had a slight leak and took advantage of the cool flow to soak my head in order to offer some respite from the heat and the effort of the walk.

Cooling off at the hydro pipe

As we went along everyone we met, from the most dreadlocked Rasta, to the farmers in their soiled and tattered clothes, to the people who looked out from their very modest one room houses greeted us with a “good day”. I get the feeling that most tourists that pass this way have the sense to do so in a taxi rather than on foot. The road in the farmland area was lined with fruit trees of every description, we found a guava lying on the roadway and since the skin was intact we treated ourselves to a little bite each. The road kept going on uphill and still whenever we asked someone how far to go, they replied “ a long way”. After about an hour and a half we got to the top of a hill, and I had reached my limit; since we had been constantly passing such beautiful valleys and farms we figured we would save the actual nature trail for another day and took a little breather while I waited for my Spot Locator to send out it’s signal. There was a herd of goats grazing nearby and a farmer came over to talk to us, inquiring where we were from and how far we has walked. St. Vincent is a very verdant island, the valleys lush and full of various shades of green.

One of the many lush valleys we passed

We started our way back, using a different set of muscles this time; it is almost as hard walking down a steep grade for me constantly fighting the tendency to go into an uncontrollable pace which would surely end with me flat on my face. When we were in the village, we stopped at a small store for cold drinks, the lady didn’t have any bottled water for sale, but was happy to fill it from her tap in the back. Once back at Cumberland Bay we stopped at Josephs bar for a well deserved cold beer before taking the dingy back to the boat. The first thing I did was change into my swim suit and take a nice cool relaxing swim along side. After being refreshed I went into the galley since I had promised the rest of the crew I would make my banana bread with some homemade rum sauce.

Umm banana bread with rum sauce

Our intrepid hikers finally made it back, exhausted and with legs encrusted in mud form their long hike up the volcano. The banana bread came out perfectly and the rum sauce was also very nice, especially considering it was my first attempt. Dinner that night was at Mama Elma’s where we had once again arranged for her to cook us a whole goat; this time it would be half curry and half barbeque. We went ashore and stopped for one round at Josephs then made our way over to Mama Elma’s.

At Josephs

The curried goat was just as tasty as before and the barbequed portion was tenderer than the roasted version we tried on our last visit. She served it with a full array of sides, plantains, rice, cole slaw, pototoe salad, and stewed pumpkin with peas; it was all top notch and at 300 EC ($120 US) for the whole meal split between us, a great bargain.

Everyone's digging in
Back on the boat after dinner everyone was worn out from their exercise during the day so it was an early night with just a few nightcaps of our favorite rum, Captain Bligh.

Sammy, I want your life! Sounds like another great trip, thanks so much for posting!

Hope our trip is as just as eventful and full of good food and drink as yours!!!!

Now that's a Caribbean adventure.

Thanks everyone, it's been hard trying to keep the reports interesting having just done the same trip on the charter last month, but Jan 30 Kim and I head for Grenada, Carriacou and St. Lucia for four weeks so that should mix it up a little.

Are you sure you wouldn't rather take me with you??? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

No I think I'll stick to the original plan.



Kim on Maho last Feb.
<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Groovin.gif" alt="" />

Bingo!!!!!!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Banana.gif" alt="" /> Right answer!!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />