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Carriacou Week 3 & Soca Monarch Finals #187550
03/16/2019 02:34 PM
03/16/2019 02:34 PM
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 846
S
Sunset_Sammy Offline OP
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Sunset_Sammy  Offline OP
Traveler
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 846
Friday February 22, 2019
I told the bus driver yesterday that I needed to have laundry done, he said to just leave it at the shop on the main road in the morning, so I dropped it off when I went up to get my bread for breakfast. She gets it right from the bakery truck in the morning and it’s still hot when I pick it up.
Some folks suggested the Lambie Queen in Tyrell Bay for live music on Friday nights. I went up to check it out and ran into a guy from Vermont that has owned a home here for 15 years. He was visiting for a week with his kids. Soon we were joined by Shaka and Curtis. The food here is good and reasonably priced. The band was also good and it was a welcome break from the quiet nights on the beach.
When I got home that evening my laundry was hanging on the door knob to the cottage, so once again great service.

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This is the nicest beach on the island

Saturday February 23, 2019
It was busy at the bar today; one of those tall ships were in port, it must have been the bigger one except for the concert I’ve never seen that many people on the beach. It’s good to see that the passengers are finding their own way around the island.
I had picked up some pork which I grilled at my spot in the lot next to the bar. Grilling is always relaxing to me although I’m still trying to get used to the way the coals burn, I have to adjust the grate to keep the food cooking but not burning.
I had intended to take the bus to Tyrell to see Barracuda who plays the blues and some classic rock I’ve been told, but it was raining out so I just chilled at the bar.

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A cloudy day doesn't stop the kids from getting out on the water

Sunday February 24, 2019
Sunday was another lazy day, I seasoned up some chicken for the grill and planned on just spending the afternoon chilling in the hammock. A couple guys from the bar joined me for lunch, Tre and Shandy; not only were they amazed by the simplicity of the grill but they were really surprised to see I had roasted a breadfruit and had a couple smoked herring to go with it, a suggestion from one of the local guys. A couple small kids stopped to see what we were doing and I could see they were eyeing up the chicken. I asked if the wanted some and told them to come back in a little while once it finished cooking; they came back alright, with their six brothers and sisters in tow. Luckily there was plenty, but I finally had to grab a couple pieces and some of the breadfruit for Lee and Gregory as I had promised them some. I tell you that smoked herring heated up on the grill was fantastic, from now on if I’m grilling there is going to be smoked herring on the grill; just remember to rinse the salt off of it.

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Nothing like laying in a hammock on the beach with food on the grill

Monday February 25, 2019
Walked over to Tyrell and picked up a couple things from the supermarket. I saw my buddy out working in front of his house so I stopped over to say hello. He invited me in and made a nice lunch of fried cuvallie and salad with a few glasses of rum punch on the side.
It was a rainy afternoon so I just spent the rest of the day at the bar, I came here for relaxation and I’m certainly getting it.


Tuesday February 26, 2019
Tomorrow is the start of Carnival with the final Road Show in Hillsborough; people are already putting their food and drink stands together. I walked to Tyrell and picked up a bottle of Jack Iron. It’s funny to see the unlabeled bottles with the seals broken on the shelf at the supermarket, but that’s how it is. Jack Iron, at barrel strength of 198 proof, is the drink of choice on Carriacou and the subject of my friend’s song.

This is a link to his song on youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSFQcmC80zo

I try not to inhale while drinking it and chase it down quickly with water. It is good in a rum punch because it doesn’t have a strong flavor like Rivers.
I had planned to have a cookout on the beach and invited my friend, but the chicken didn’t thaw out in time so I had to disappoint him when he showed up.
There were some events going on in town, but they were more geared towards the younger crowd.

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A boat at anchor with Sandy Island in the background

Wednesday February 27, 2019
I knew I wouldn’t be cooking much during Carnival, Jack Iron and fire don’t mix, so I deboned the chicken legs and turned them into chicken patties. I had some fresh rolls and made some nice sandwiches that I brought up to my friend’s house for him and is helper. I also brought a jug of rum punch so I may have had an adverse effect on productivity that day.

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Looking towards Hillsborough from the road to the airport

I met up with Boneless in town; he had to meet with some dancers and sign the contract for the Soca Monarch finals; the contract signing, by all the finalists, is the main event of the road show. These dancers could dance, especially one who looked like she had a motor implanted in her lower back. A young lady, from California, joined our group; she was on the island watching a boat and dog while the owner was in Israel. She had been hitching rides on boats around the Caribbean for a few months. We had a great time; drinking Black Label rounds of a ¼ bottle at a time, music playing from the various DJs, people dancing in the street, it’s a lot of fun. His song is one of the most popular and is on the radio constantly, so as we’re walking around people are shouting out lyrics which has basically been going on all week. I stuck around until 12:30 or so and then caught a bus home.

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The lovely Dawn, one of the dancers we met with

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The girls show what they can do

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Some of the contestants for the Queen Show to be held on Thursday

Thursday February 28, 2019
Today was going to be a special day; Fred, a long time TTOL’er and fellow Skyelarker, had sailed up to Grenada from South Africa stopping in St. Helena, Brazil and Guyana with the Oyster Round the world Rally and was coming to visit for the day. Now it’s a two hour passage on the ferry ($60 US R/T) and it leaves four hours after it arrives, so it was really nice of him to go through all that just to come see me for the afternoon.

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The new port facility at Tyrell before the ferry gets in

I met him at the ferry dock in Tyrell and we took the bus to Hillsborough. I showed Fred around the town before we stopped at Snaggs, now called The Big City Grill or something like that, it’s the water tank bar. We had a beer there before heading over to Butterfly Bar for drinks. Fred was impressed that they serve the alcohol by the 1/8 & ¼ bottle, we finished off a ¼ with some unsweetened orange juice (I’m trying to live a healthy lifestyle on this vacation, hence the unsweetened OJ.
Afterwards we took the bus back to L’Estere and stopped at Banana Joes for a beer. Time was running out to get back to the ferry, so I showed him the cottage and we had a couple shots of Jack Iron before walking back to the ferry dock. We were a little early, so we sat at a nearby bar and had a beer before he boarded the ferry for the return to Grenada. It makes you feel good when I friend will go that far out of their way like that.

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Fred and I at Banana Joes

Tonight’s main event for Carnival was the Queen Show, where the Queen of Carnival is crowned, it’s like a beauty pageant. There was also the Powder Fete at one of the local bars, but neither was anything I’d be interested in so I just hung out at the bar and got a good nights rest in preparation for the Soca Monarch finals tomorrow night.

Friday March 1, 2019
This would turn out to be one of the craziest and most memorable days of my travels. My friend, Boneless, was a finalist in the Soca Monarch competition; this is a prestigious award with the main prize being several thousand dollars. The performers are responsible for organizing all aspects of their performance.
Today was the day of the show; Boneless stopped by my cottage in the morning and asked if I could do him a favor and meet him in Hillsborough around 10 as he needed help in gathering up the props for his performance. We walked around town for a while to try and find someone who would loan, rent or sell him a boat to use for the show; the song is about a boat carrying casks of Jack Iron rum. He did a few impromptu performances at some of the stands along the main road, his song is very popular.

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Performing at the Tourist Board Tent

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Rehearsal with the band

First order of business was to go to the tennis court for his rehearsal; the venue supplies the band and the performers rehearse with them to make sure they understand the way they want them to play their songs. Afterwards we hired a pickup truck/taxi and headed up into the hills where someone had left an old rum cask out by their gate for him to use. We wrapped it in a tarp, so his competition couldn’t see it and brought it backstage at the tennis court.

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"Casks of Jack Iron"

I had planned to go back to the cottage and take a swim, have a little something to eat and maybe take a nap; the competition goes well into the early hours of the morning luckily, he was on 3rd and Killa B, another favorite of mine was on 5th. As I started getting my stuff together, he asks “are you going? We still have to get a few things”. I tell him, “I could come if you want, do you need a hand?”. To which he raises both his arms and looks at me sideways, OK; I guess that’s a yes.
Good luck came our way as he found someone who had an old boat for sale, so he hired a small dump truck and we headed off for Windward on the east side of the island. We stopped at the Sunrise Disco and had a couple beers, while there we met a couple from Louisiana that were on their first visit to Carriacou. They came to Windward to see the boat building that they are famous for here. We also had to meet with the fellow who is currently working on a 60-foot boat as he was going to lend Boneless a few things for the show.

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A large boat under construction

He explained about some of the process, they use a lot of cedar which they get from the forests in the hills of Carraicou. We found a suitable anchor and a small trailer that we could use to move the boat around on. Once we got back to Sunrise, he asked the couple where they were going and since they were planning to take the bus back to Hillsborough, we offered them a ride. As we started leaving, I mentioned that they may have just gotten press ganged into service since we needed more muscle to load the boat into the truck. They were good sports about it and I think they enjoyed getting caught up in our spur of the moment adventure.

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"Captain drop the big anchor"

So now here we are, five of us riding around Carriacou in the back of a dump truck, what a sight that must have been to the people we passed, many of whom shouted out verses of the song as we drove by.
We finally pulled up a dirt road and there was a small oat someone had made from the bottom of an old dingy and some plywood. It was showing signs of decay but would suit our purposes just right. Back to the tennis court we went, however the gates were locked so we loaded the boat on the trailer, covered it with a tarp, and stashed it beside a rum/snack stand. Afterwards we stopped off at one of the many small bars near the bus terminal and had a few beers, some Jack Iron and grilled lambi.

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Success!!

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And off we go, mission accomplished

I went back to the cottage got my swim and nap in and them met up with the rest off the crew at the main road to take a taxi into town. I had bought a ticket for the show, but we didn’t need one as he had backstage passes. It was pretty interesting to be backstage and see things unfold, some of the other early acts were there and everyone was getting their costumes ready and going over their programs. The guys that were going to dance in the show came and they got ready as we drank some of the Jack Iron we brought along as well as beers from the drink stand in the venue.

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The guys clowning around before the show

Now the original plan was for me to film his performance and take photos of the show. About half an hour before going on he asks if I could do him a favor; he needs someone to play the part of the Captain, all I’d have to do is wear the captain outfit and dance around in the boat, sure why not. The costume was in his size so there was no way the pants were going to fit and the shirt wouldn’t button all the way, but with the life vest on you couldn’t quite tell.
When our turn came, we rushed our rum cask and boat out on stage and got into position. We had a good performance, lots of energy from the dances and he didn’t miss a beat singing the song. Unfortunately we came up a little short, out of 14 acts we took 4th place, missing 3rd by just one point; I guess no one ever told him white people can’t really dance.

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The Captain

I stuck around for a few more of the acts, Killa B is hard to beat, he had a very professional production which included video, choreographed dancers and great nice professional looking costumes; he ended up taking first by a good margin. Word must have gotten around fast, Curtis puled in just as I was coming off the beach, I like to have a nightcap on the beach before bed, and greeted me with “hey Captain”.
The video of the show isn’t out yet, but when it is, I’ll comment on this thread with the link.


Last edited by Sunset_Sammy; 03/16/2019 02:35 PM.

Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!
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Re: Carriacou Week 3 & Soca Monarch Finals [Re: Sunset_Sammy] #187556
03/16/2019 03:51 PM
03/16/2019 03:51 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
Carol_Hill Offline
Traveler
Carol_Hill  Offline
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 82,466
Central Florida!
Thanks for the report!!!


Carol Hill
Re: Carriacou Week 3 & Soca Monarch Finals [Re: Sunset_Sammy] #188107
03/21/2019 02:57 PM
03/21/2019 02:57 PM
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 846
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Sunset_Sammy Offline OP
Traveler
Sunset_Sammy  Offline OP
Traveler
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Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 846
The video of our performance is out, I'm sitting in the boat until about 5 minutes into the performance then I get up and start busting some moves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHGfBIJ-HLU


Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!

Moderated by  Eric_Hill, Eva 

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