Cabo Trafalgar in the Moonlight. Pen & Sail @penandsail - Tumblr Blog

~ Balata, the bullet wood tree ~ by Kay Pope

It is generally known that this evergreen hardwood tree comes from the rain forests of northern South America, particularly Brazil, the Guaianas, Venezuela and Panama. But Balata is also a native of the Caribbean found in limestone forests ranging from moist coastal areas to higher elevations in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Martinique and islands south to Trinidad. Officially known as Manilkara bidentata this tree belongs the Sapotaceae family and is also related to the Caribbean Sapodilla which sometimes appears in our supermarkets. Although the Spanish name Balata is most…read more at http://bit.ly/2sF7yfk

#balata #bulletwood #penandsail

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Our Hurricane Anchorage in Culebra by Kay Pope

One of our favourite Caribbean islands has always been Culebra, a small unspoiled island just seven miles long and 3.5 miles wide, lying between St Thomas in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. We first came in 1969 with our ketch Ramage and stayed there for the hurricane season months between June and November before returning to the British Virgin Islands. Culebra then had a small population of about 700 and there was just one hotel and restaurant on the quay at Dewey. There was also the Post Office… http://bit.ly/2sF7yfk

#culebra #penandsail #hurricane #sailingfamily

~ Barbados' Andromeda Botanical Gardens ~ by Kay Pope

In 1965 Barbados was our first landfall in the Caribbean after we sailed across the Atlantic from England. The island is low lying but has some rolling hills which rise to about 750 feet in the centre of the inland. But for us sailing in from the east the land was obscured by a heavy mist which we discovered later was caused by the large Atlantic swells breaking on the coral reefs offshore and throwing spray high into the air. Our sailing home Golden Dragon's course brought us along..…read more at http://bit.ly/2sF7yfk

Bearded Ficus Tree on Saint Martin. Photo courtesy of Victoria Pope

#barbados #andromedabotanicalgardens #penandsail

~ All About Cinnamon ~ by Kay Pope

Cinnamon is not only mentioned in the Bible as an ingredient in anointing oil, but it is also recorded that ancient Egyptians used cinnamon mixed with frankinsense, myrrh, ox fat and sweet moringa oil for a poultice to cure wounds. They also added cinnamon to their embalming oils. Until exploration began with ships in the fifteenth century cinnamon spice was rare and expensive, brought by Arab traders on difficult and dangerous journeys overland. But in 1518 the Portuguese discovered the source of cinnamon in Sri Lanka and a new era..…read more at http://bit.ly/2sF7yfk

Photo by Victoria Pope @Fish Day Saint Martin 2008

#cinnamon #penandsail

~ Paradise in the Tobago Cays ~ by Kay Pope

When my husband Dudley finished writing his second "Ramage" novel we set off for a holiday in our cutter Golden Dragon and cruised northwards among the Caribbean Windward Islands. it was when we reached the Grenadines and anchored in the Tobago Cays that we knew we had discovered Paradise. Tourism had not yet arrived here and only two islands, Union and Mayreau, inhabited at this time both each with a small population of about three hundred persons whose main occupation was fishing and agriculture. The Grenadines and the..…read more at http://bit.ly/2sF7yfk

In photo our crew William on Golden Dragon. Photo by Dudley Pope

#paradise #tobagocays #penandsail

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~ Noni The Painkiller Tree ~ by Kay Pope http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

Photo by Victoria Pope

#noni #thepainkillertree #Botany PenAndSail

~ Trinidad and Tobago's Royal Botanical Gardens and Seed Banking ~ by Kay Pope

The Royal Botanical Gardens of Trinidad and Tobago are also among the oldest in the Caribbean. They were planted by the botanist David Lockhart and opened in 1820 by the then Governor Ralph Woodford and the fully landscaped grounds now spread over a large area of 62 acres (or 22 hectares) certainly making them the largest. The Botanical Gardens are just north of Queen's Park Savannah and the down town area of Port of Spain. There are a very large number of beautiful trees, approximately 700 from all over the…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#trinidadRoyalBotanicalGardens #BGCISeedBank #penandsail

~ Genips: A Children's Favourite ~ by Kay Pope

Every summer here in the Caribbean islands we often see children out and about after school holding a long cluster of these green berries and their mouths busy sucking the ripe pale peach coloured pulp around the seed. Mostly called Genip in the Engish speaking islands, the fruit has many other names including Chenette or quenette and Spanish Lime. Also Kenepier in Guadeloupe, Quenepa in Puerto Rico and Mamoncillo or Limoncillo in other Spanish speaking areas. Catalogued as Melicoccus bijugatus this evergreen tree is a member of the Soapberry…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#genip #penandsail

~ A Short Visit To Antigua ~ by Kay Pope

I have just enjoyed a short visit to Antigua to see friends who had returned to their yacht they keep in English Harbour. Although brief it was a wonderful change of scenery and so good to see how well the island has developed and benefitted the people since I last visited Antigua in 2010. Dudley, my husband, and I had sailed to Antigua with our ketch Ramage many times during the 1970s and 1980s to have her hauled out at the Slipway in English Harbour. We had also enjoyed a…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#antigua #penandsail

~ Martinique's Balata Garden ~ by Kay Pope

This lovely garden with over two hectares of tropical flowers, trees and three hundred different species of palm trees lies just ten kilometres north of Fort de France, Martinique's capital and port. Following the paths visitors can enjoy a delightful one and a half hour's walk among brilliantly coloured tropical flowers and also along a raised rope and wooden suspension bridge fifteen metres high among a canopy of mahogany trees to enjoy not only a bird's-eye view of the gardens below, but also the surrounding hilltops and a view across.…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

Photo of rainforest canopy walk on a suspended bridge courtesy of Balata Garden

#martinique #balata #botanicalgardens #penandsail

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~ The Rain Tree ~ by Kay Pope

This beautiful tree, also called the Saman, needs plenty of space to grow and, planted mostly for shade, is most often seen in a town square or a large open field with cattle sheltering beneath. They are native to our region which extends to the Yucatan Peninsular in southern Mexico to Peru, Bolivia and Brazil as well as our Caribbean islands that have plenty of rainfall since the trees need a rich and moist soil. They are easy to recognise with their symmetrical crown and a canopy of long branches.…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#raintree #samantree #penandsail

~ Guadeloupe's Botanical Treasure ~ by Kay Pope This botanical garden is indeed a jewel and is just a short distance south of the port of Deshaies on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe, also a favourite call for cruising yachtsmen. Called le Jardin Botanique de Deshaies today it has 120,000 visits a year from both tourists and Guadeloupeans who marvel at the way this tropical garden is laid out with 1.5.km of paths taking visitors to fifteen different areas of tropical plants presented as themes in an area of five hectares of land that rises from one hundred... http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

*The majestic Baobob is courtesy of the le Jardin Botanique de Deshaies and credited to the talented photographers Franck Decluzet and Patricia Brouard, please see their website www.kloro.net

#leJardinBotaniquedeDeshaies #guadeloupe #botanicalgardens

~ The MALAY APPLE and GUAVA ~ by Kay Pope

The MALAY APPLE is another fruit tree that Captain Bligh brought to Jamaica on his voyage to Tahiti to bring breadfruit and ackee to the Caribbean, it was called Otaheite at the time and Jamaicans still use this name today. In other English speaking islands this fruit is called the Malay Apple and also the same in French on the island of Guadeloupe: Pomme de Tahiti, or Pomme de Malaisie. This medium size evergreen tree reaches between twenty to forty feet and grows very easily from seed preferring moist coastal.…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#malayapple #guava #penandsail

~ Mammey-apple Mammea americana ~ by Kay Pope

This fruit has an appetitising aroma and a pleasant taste. Most often eaten raw, the flesh has a lovely apricot colour and is crispy, juicy, firm but also soft. As a dessert it is served in salads, or simmered with sugar and with cream or a little wine. Also made into juice and ice cream, there is a Mammey-apple marmelade. As well as tasting good the fruit has most of the B vitamins including iron, Vitamin C and the minerals, Calcium, Phosphorous. The Mammey-apple tree is a native of our.…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#mammeyapple #caribbean #penandsail

~ Beach Combing and Dredging for Shells ~ by Kay Pope

A year ago my daughter Victoria came to me with some photographs of an alive seashell, a Natica canrena that she had found at the water's edge the previous afternoon before returning on board her boat. The shells in this family of Naticideae and accompanying five subfamilies here in the Caribbean either live in shallow water, in sandy areas or further away where it is deep near reefs. We do not have a great difference between low and high tide here in the Caribbean, but when the sea recedes a…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

Photo by Victoria Pope

#beachcombing #seashells #caribbean #penandsail

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~ Jamaica's Botanical Gardens ~ by Kay Pope

Nearly two years ago I had such fun writing a blog about ships, navigators and botanical gardens which appeared in two parts on my website cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight. Then again just recently I wrote about ackee and how that plant arrived in Jamaica on board Captain William Bligh's H.M.S. Providence on his second voyage 1791-3 to Tahiti to collect breadfruit and other plants to provide food for the West Indian islands. I was intrigued to learn that in 1779 the Jamaica National Assembly had established a statute for a Botanic Garden in…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

#Jamaica #BotanicalGardens #caribbean #PenAndSail

#jamaica #botanicalgardens #caribbean #penandsail

~ The Amazing Calabash ~ by Kay Pope

We saw Calabash trees with their large, hanging green gourds very soon after we arrived in Grenada, growing in a large field alongside a lane that leads to the beach and the Calabash Hotel in Prickly Bay. There were cows grazing there also and "cow" became one of our little daughter's first clearly pronounced words after the usual Mama, Bapa etc! These trees live in dry coastal woodlands near the sea and also at higher elevations. They are small and generally do not grow higher much more than twenty-five…read more at http://www.cabotrafalgarinthemoonlight.com/blog.html

Photo by Victoria Pope

#calabash #caribbean #penandsail

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