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Cultural Aspects of Off Shore Cruising

20K views 67 replies 14 participants last post by  Blue Claw 
#1 ·
Thought I'd try a new thread to share some of Aeventyr's offshore experiences over the past 13 years. Anybody else like to contribute stories, pictures, interesting cultural events, the kindness of strangers etc? A pic form my voyage to begin...

Indonesian dancers somewhere on Flores Island
 

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#2 ·
What a great idea. Sadly I have no OS cruising experience to contribute but knowing what one might expect in an unfamiliar country must be a significant plus.
 
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#4 ·
The place: St Annes on Martinique, a nice little town outside the harbour at Le Marin. A traditional community fishing exercise (tourists did join in) A couple of boats deployed a net a 1/4 mile or so off the beach, the ends were brought ashore and everyone drags the net ashore, finally harvesting the catch when it's all been gathered in. This probably took over an hour all told..









This puffer fish was an unhappy casualty

 
#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
This conch didn't even make it off the fishing boat before being turned into conch salad, the day we cleared into Andros in the Bahamas:

 
#7 ·
Well, SOMEbody has to post some Carnival photos ... guess it might as well be me! The first is from a night parade; all those bright points are LED lights, it was wonderful:

The second was my favorite costume at the daytime "Grand Parade" on Aruba a couple of years ago:
 
#10 ·
Marie Gallant, these beautifully kept, ornate cemetaries are all over the Caribbean chain.



Typical "Boat Boy', this one in Domineca. These guys come miles out to greet you and offer their services (buoys, fuel, water, sometimes whatever) Though seldom really needed, it's cheap enough to engage them in some manner, lots of goodwill and you do help support the locals. We've even had one guy row out a couple of miles.. This is the more typical setup. They'll run you to customs too if you need it.



Dominican fisherman dragging their HEAVY boats out of the surf. This was at the extreme southern tip, a beautiful bay sheltered by a peninsula but it's a park and no anchoring is permitted.



Saturday morning market, St Pierre, Martinique



Barren ruins from Pele's eruption.. quite a powerful testament to that event.



Anchored off the Pitons, St Lucia.. this boat came by at 12 knots or so, with all these gentlemen standing at attention. After passing us they slowed over a reef, all of them jumped in the water with bags. 20 minutes later they left in the same posture. Apparently gathering bait fish for traps from the reefs.



And now some 'not so cultured'... remains of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie set in Wallilaloo Bay, St Vincent.

 
#11 ·
San Blas Islands - military and kids

We happened to be a town in the San Blas when there were about 300 members of the Panamanian army there for training. These guys have a pretty tough life with one month assigned to patrol the jungles along the border with Colombia - Darien Gap, not a nice place. There also was a fokloric festival going on and the army was doing its best to connect with the locals who are helpful in fighting against drug importing. These two guys were making balloon animals for the Kuna kids.
BTW, when we there the army caught one of the Colombian trading vessels that ply this coast with 700 kg of cocaine onboard - a big deal, it was even on CNN. To help with getting the support of the locals all of the trade goods on the boat, flour, rice, housewares, etc that were piled on top of the cocaine were given to the the village.

Our strangest cultural interaction in the San Blas was being asked by a family in a dugout canoe if we could charge their two rather old cell phones. There is quite cell coverage there but no electricity.

 
#23 · (Edited)
Native dancers, Vanuatu.

I spent 2 years in the Solomon Islands (relatively close to Vanuatu and very much the same cultures and people). It was there that the female breast lost some of its appeal, becoming much more utilitarian objects.

(I realize the last two posts were contradictory. But that's how I roll.)
 
#13 ·
Food

We have enjoyed the food when we cruise and have found some terrific markets along the way. Ecuador, Tahiti, and Fiji come to mind. The markets in Ecuador were particularly interesting since, because of elevation change and fairly short distances you could get anything from tropical fruits to strawberries.



We really enjoyed eating local stuff and the people in the markets always seemed to enjoy having tourists visit. We also ate in real restaurants too. Best eating was in Papeete (but who could afford most of it) and in Suva, Fiji which has several outstanding Indian restaurants (not a surprise since almost half the population is Indian) and a terrific, gourmet Chinese restaurant. We also found an incredibly good Chinese restaurant in the Chinatown of Lima. My wife, who is a Beijing girl, was shocked to find that none of the people working there were Chinese. She said she had never had better Chinese food.

 
#15 ·
Very good thread, mate, (Aeventyr)

Keep em coming, cant say we have too many "dancers" here in Idaho...


Thanks to everyone else.

Uphill
 
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#18 ·
This is a shot of a couple of kids in Vanuatu, a place we very much enjoyed, The one kid was so proud of his pig that he picked it up to show us.



This picture is in Bora Bora, which we did not particularly enjoy, btw. We happened to be there when all the island schools were doing a performance in a huge marquee tent for anyone who was there including moms and little siblings. Loved the flower headresses that these two had. Also note the incredible string of black pearls that this woman had.

 
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#19 ·
Young pirates looking to pillage and plunder, No we made popcorn and cokes for them...they took us out to the reef to capture lobsters, a great day in Indonesia.
 

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#25 ·
Men's dance in Vanuatu. The kept asking us if we had the Australian "budgie smugglers", seems those leaves were a bit scratchy. What's a budgie smuggler?
 

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#27 · (Edited)
Meeting people

We really enjoy meeting the people in various places and finding out something how they live. I guess in terms of a different kind of place to live, Pitcairn Island would certainly qualify. So long as you can deal with the isolation it seems quite idyllic. The weather is great (out of the tropical storm belt). You can grow most of your food, the houses are quite pleasant. Helps if your hobby is HAM radio since lots of people would want to talk to you.

Here is my wife (2nd from left) and some of the local people. You can see the mixed English and Polynesian background. Brenda Christian is the woman on the left. She is the immigration officer and drives the sea boat that comes out to bring you ashore.



Since my wife is of Chinese ancestry she finds it interesting to talk to Chinese people who have moved to various spots in the world to hear their stories. Here she is with some of the Chinese people who live in American Samoa. Chinese people run most of the stores in AS and work incredibly hard. The lady on the left owns two stores and works 6 1/2 days a week (takes Sunday afternoons off - but still runs to the local version of a Costco to buy stock during that time. We talked to another storekeeper and he works from 7 am to 10 pm 7 days a week - either he is the store or his wife is. We found out that immigration 'agents' (crooks) in Fujian province China convince people that when they migrate to American Samoa they are going to the United States - when they get there they find out that it is not the United States and that residents of AS do not have the automatic right to move to the US proper.

 
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