Swimming

Dave and I have been keeping active this month. On the 7th, we did our second organized practice swim on St. John, gearing up for the Beach to Beach Power Swim. The second practice swim gave swimmers the option of swimming 1 mile or 2.4 (previously identified as a 2.25 mile swim). Once again we hopped on the 6:30am ferry to St. John and got a ride to Maho Bay. This time one of my coclerks came along for the swim. He's a runner but wanted to see if he could do the swim. All but one of the 17 swimmers opted for the 2.4 mile practice. It was a pretty nice swim. Didn't bother with buddies this time. The swim from Cinnamon Beach to Trunk Bay seemed really long to me though. I think partially because I was under the impression that Trunk was the next beach after Cinnamon. In reality, Cinnamon is pretty long and somewhat divided up, so from the water it looks like multiple beaches. Also there are a few small quasi-private beaches before Trunk. I was in the lead of a pack so I didn't have anyone to follow, which always makes it a little difficult (I'm sure speedy Dave can relate!) but a support kayaker was somewhat nearby and would point me in the general direction. It seems like there is always a V in the distant hills to look for during these open water swims here...

I saw a turtle, plenty of fish, and some pretty coral, but not much else along the way. A few people saw a shark. I have not yet had my first shark encounter here but I'm sure it will happen sooner or later... Dave finished the practice first in about 55 minutes and I came in at 1:14, with maybe 5 people in between the two of us. After finishing the 2.4, a couple people decided to swim the last portion of the race course on their own - another mile. I definitely felt up to it, but we'd already made arrangements to have our stuff dropped off at Trunk. One of the race volunteers gave us St. Thomas folks a ride back to Cruz Bay - all six of us fit in the back of her little pickup, barely.

Last Sunday was the final practice swim, and we could do 1, 2.4, or 3.5. We're both going to race the 2.4 mile distance. Since my friend Debbie will be on island for the actual race and has signed up to volunteer for it at Trunk where Dave definitely wanted to finish, I was fairly easily convinced to sign up for that distance too. It was tempting though to go for the 3.5, since we don't get many opportunities to have kayak support and do long swims like that.

We had a good practice swim - Dave got the same time as the last practice but this time he swam farther because the kayakers told him the right route. I swam the same course as before and shaved 6 minutes off my time. On the actual race day, they'll have buoys out to mark the course. I'm a little wary that we'll show up for the race and the course will be a little different than what we've been swimming. I just don't want it to be longer than I'm expecting!

Two weekends ago Dave and I had planned to swim from Cinnamon to Maho and back to practice. That stretch seems pretty safe to do without any kayak support; that is, there would probably be no boats that would interfere with us. But rather than race to catch the ferry (the lines at K-Mart always take longer than you'd think....), we decided to try to swim from Sapphire Beach to Lindquist Beach (both on St. Thomas). Lindquist Beach is only accessible by water (or by trespassing). We tried swimming to it a month or two ago but there were some jet skiiers in the water that were a little too close to where we'd have to round a corner.

This time though we got there by 10 a.m. so we figured any jet skiiers would still be sleeping. We made it successfully around the corner that stopped us last time. There were maybe 5 or 6 hours out there with a fabulous back yard "pool" that we were swimming in along with some beautiful coral and interesting fish. We could see Lindquist Beach - it looks nice and very uncrowded! Unfortunately, we got caught in a rip current. It was very bizarre because the rip tide was going against the waves which were going into shore! We tried swimming parallel to shore but I was barely moving anywhere. I think we could have gotten through it eventually but since we were so far out I was afraid of wearing ourselves out and not being able to swim back. So, we just turned around and headed back.

It was still a good 45 minute swim and we saw lots of pretty coral and a cute little turtle. The previous day at Sapphire, we saw a really huge ray that was very cool looking. Dave had found an underwater disposable camera floating along (with no photos taken yet) so I convinced him to take a photo of the ray with it before we turned in the camera to the lost and found. I hope the island visitors who lost it got their camera back and like the ray....

The water is definitely warmer than it was a few months ago. I've got swimming a couple times before work. It was tough convincing myself to jump into the ocean at 5:45 a.m. the first time, but surprisingly the water was not that cold. The afternoon sun definitely warms it up a bit though, or at least makes the water feel that much more refreshing and welcome.

Dave and his brother Jon are out on a trip to the BVI today. Dave's got the new underwater digital camera with him so hopefully there will be some good photos to post later!

Carnival Mile and Adult's Parade

The week of Carnival ends with two parades - Friday is the Children's Parade and Saturday is the Adult's Parade. Why two parades? Well, Friday is the parade of the kids, and it lasts about four hours. The adult parade, on the other hand, lasts about ten hours. So, first off, nobody would want to sit and watch a parade that lasted fifteen hours. Also, I'm not sure but I think some of the adult's parade can get more PG-13, with audience members stealing kisses from the troupes and the like. So maybe Friday's parade not only lets the kids be the stars of the parade, but the content of the parade is more suitable for an audience of children. Since I was exhausted from J'ouvert, and Dave had to work, we skipped the Children's Parade entirely.

Saturday morning we got up early (again) to participate in the Carnival Mile Race - a one mile road race along the majority of the parade route. I had jogged the route earlier in the week with two other people so we could see what it was like, and Dave and I had walked it once too. Silly Kendra though, I did what everyone always says not to do - I sprinted out at the beginning with all the fast people at a pace I couldn't keep up for the whole distance. So, rather than building my speed during the race, I just got slower and slower... and slower... Lucky for me, I'm in a slow age group where not many women show up! The overall female winner was in my age group actually, with a time of 5:32, but they bump out overall winners from age groups. So, first place went to my coclerk's wife with a time of 8:59, and I easily won the second place trophy with 9:31 (third place was something like 14 or 15 minutes). The men's 19-29 group was quite a bit faster though, including the overall winner who came in at 4:46. (This is a guy from St. John who wins 8 Tuff Miles every year -- running those hills with less than six minute miles!). Dave did fabulous at 6:50 but came in fourth place. Not bad for someone who runs maybe once a month. It was a fun race, though in future races I plan to restrain myself better so I can run a better race and finish without feeling like I'm about to die. There's a two mile race at Magen's Bay on Mother's Day that I may try. After the Carnival Mile, we headed home for a few hours before venturing back to town for the parade.

A local law firm invited us law clerks to watch the parade from their second story office overlooking Main Street - a prime spot - and they even supplied food and drinks. (Although one of the lawyers teased me for losing the race to my coclerk's wife!) It was set to start at 10 a.m. and began around 11 or so. We showed up around 1 p.m. and some troupes were already coming by (about a mile from the start). But even after sitting there for an hour we hadn't seen a whole lot of floats or troupes. Troupes are just groups of people who walk or dance along the parade route in costume. Floupes are troupes with a float. This isn't the type of parade where the organizer makes sure each group moves along and stays within a certain distance of the previous group. Sometimes they come one after another, and sometimes you wait a little while before another group comes by. So we decided to walk down Main Street to see what else was coming. Dave and I aren't really parade people, so it seemed like the best way to see more of the parade without having to just wait for it to come our way.

The theme for Carnival this year was Glamour and Glitz - Carnival 2006. Most of the costumes were quite elaborate and sparkly! The troupes' costumes were very impressive. One of the first troupes we saw was the Birds of a Feather troupe. We also saw mocko jumbies (elevated spirits) - I don't know how those people walk on stilts for so long! We had fun taking lots of pictures. More are uploaded on our Shutterfly site. The spectators seemed to all enjoy the parade very much. Some of them would get up and dance with the troupes as they went past. A lot of the troupes and floats have sponsors, so sometimes the people in the parade will throw freebies to the crowd. I caught a keychain whistle and Dave caught a sweat towel - very handy here! [Incidentally, I came across two of my friends from soccer - both had made the national team and then quit because it was too disorganized and un-fun for their tastes. It's too bad because the team probably could have used them - they've been playing the first round of the Gold Cup in the Dominican Republic this week.] After another hour of wandering along the parade route and taking photos, we were worn out from the hot sun so we headed home. We went to Dave's friends Mark and Thea's house for dinner that night and on our way home around 10 p.m. we discovered the parade was just ending! A few days ago someone told me the trick to watching the parade is to watch it on tv at home until around 3 or 4, and then go to town. That way you can still see it all, but you won't get too tired from being in the sun all day. I'm still not sure Dave and I could put up with six hours of parade watching, but we'll keep it in mind for next year. A month ago I said I'd watch the parade this year and then join a troupe for next year. Not anymore - I have so much respect for the troupes. They must have so much energy to be in the parade. I think I'll just remain a spectator! We have more pictures from Carnival uploaded here.

J'ouvert - It's Carnival Baby!

J'ouvert (joo-vay) took place the Thursday morning of Carnival week. It's taken this long for me to write a post about it because it was so exhausting!!! J'ouvert is basically a big moving street party/concert. Five bands get loaded up onto big open semi-trucks early in the morning (or late at night, depending on your perspective), and everyone else on the island "jumps up" and dances along with the bands as they make their way down the waterfront road. The J'ouvert "warm-up" starts at 12:30 a.m. and the real deal starts at 4:00 a.m. But, you have to keep in mind, we're on island time.

Dave and I parked by my office around 6:30 a.m. the morning of J'ouvert and started walking down Veteran's Drive (aka Waterfront). The road was closed to traffic, so many people were walking in the streets. Quite a few spectators were setup along the side of the road waiting for the bands and the crowds. We saw many tailgates and tables full of liquor and johnny cakes for sale.

Even though I'd been told 6 a.m. would be a good time to show up, I expected the bands to have moved further along than they had. We walked about 30 minutes before coming to the first band. I found out later they had literally just started when we arrived. Unfortunately for Dave, he had an early morning tour and only had time to stay for a few minutes before heading to work. As for me, I was told it was perfectly fine to get to work around 10 or 11 that morning since everyone would be at J'ouvert.

My coclerks found me and we stuck together for awhile in the big mass of people. The bands moved very, very slowly. They started around 7 a.m. and finished at the Carnival Village around 11 a.m. - maybe a mile and a half down the road. There was plenty of loud music and dancing in the streets. Equally important, there was free beer and rum! Between the second and third band trucks was a truck giving away Presidente beer. [As Dave will tell you, Presidente is the most valuable finished product domestic export from the Dominican Republic.] While it didn't sound particularly good to me at 7 a.m., I felt that to truly participate in J'ouvert, I needed to get a beer with my fellow revelers. When I got my beer I was also given a free mini-bottle of orange flavored Cruzan rum - very exciting! [Our loyal readers should know by now that Cruzan rum is made on St. Croix.]

Being in the streets near the bands was like being right in front of the stage at a huge concert. We waded through the fans from one band to another and back again. Bands included the Aktion Band, P'Your Passion, Cool Sessions, and De Sugar Band from St. Kitts. Of course, Jam Band was also there. I recognized many of their songs as I often hear them played at the beach on the weekends. But until J'ouvert, I didn't know they were Jam Band songs. I was also totally ignorant of the fact that they have a song called Superheros which causes many, many fans to wear superhero costumes to show their loyalty to Jam Band. Until I found this vital piece of information out, I thought I'd just come across an island full of people who like superman as much as me!

After a few hours of dancing in the streets, it was a bit too hot for me (even with the free Cruzan Rum hat I acquired) so I headed back to my office. On J'ouvert morning, the court has a big breakfast for all the revelers as they wander into work. Just picture a group of professionals who look like they just left a loud, hot concert where they'd been drinking, dancing, and getting sweaty and pushed around a little. Be sure to add the smiles on their faces. After drinking some cold water, turning the a/c on full blast in my office, and changing into a clean shirt, I felt much more presentable. I got some fruit, pancake, dumb bread, saltfish, and other yummy foods, then I headed to the building stairs to watch the parade of bands and fans make their way to the Village. All in all, it was a very interesting experience. Words and pictures don't really do it justice. There's a J'ouvert on St. John for their Carnival during the week of 4th of July for anyone interested....