The Rain(bow) Report

Whew -  barely made it back inside with Clove before another downpour started.  Poor dogs had to be satisfied with a pee dash instead of midday walkies today.  The rain has been generous and fairly well-behaved over the last 6 days.  Daily rainfall has ranged from 0.7 to 1.7 inches each day, with a chance for more than 1.7 inches yet today (1.2 so far, with more coming down now).

Last evening, Barnie and I spotted this lovely rainbow as the sun was setting.

A hint of a double arc.  The main arc spans from approximately Pine Ridge Creek to Great Monkey Cay.

Unusual (to me, anyway) to see a rainbow this low.  The brown water is from a plume of fresh water from Monkey River due to all the rainfall in the recent days.

The colors at the base intensified as the rest of the rainbow faded away.

We were greeted this morning by a rainbow in the western sky as the sun rose.  I have learned to grab my camera any time I notice the sun shining while the rain is falling - chances are good there is a rainbow in sight!

A single arc over the swamp and jungle.

Always a great way to begin the day.

I call this rain well-behaved not only because it gave us rainbows, but also because it was spread out over time and hasn't caused any flooding, it topped off our water vats, and still let enough sunlight through to charge our solar power system.  The rain that fills our water vats is our only source of fresh water for drinking, cleaning, etc.  Dennis keeps a close eye on the vats and their maintenance.  We have to make sure we have enough water on hand to make it through the dry season.  That includes watering the garden.

Dennis also keeps a close eye on our solar power system, making sure that we don't shorten the lifespan of those big, expensive, batteries by letting the charge drop too low.  If it gets too low, we will need to run the generator to recharge them.  We have become very spoiled with our solar system.  When we first built down here in 2005, we had a big diesel generator for power.  The power tools for construction ran straight off the generator.  We soon added a small battery bank for the generator to charge so there would power 24/7 instead of only while the gen was running.  Our goal always was to move to solar power, which we did in 2015.  We installed solar panels on the roof of the new cabana, which we had oriented to maximize solar gain, and installed the baddass batteries we have now (here is a post Dennis wrote with the gory details of solar system we installed).  We were able to decommission the big diesel generator and get a smaller gas-powered generator for backup power.   The sound of silence when we turned off the big generator for the last time was magical.  The bit of red roof in the next-to-last photo is the generator shed, which was actually the first building constructed here.  With that generator and its big barrel of diesel fuel gone, we can use the shed for storage of gasoline for the boat and new generator; it also houses the water pump.

As I am finishing up this post, the sun is out, the batteries are charging, and the water vats are full - life is good.

Our Local Bar

Last Sunday was a damp, drizzly day.  So what do you do on a damp day?  You go to your local bar.  Our friend Craig has a small outdoor bar covered with a good palapa to keep the rain off, so Dennis and I walked about 1 mile up the beach to Craig's BareBones Beach Bar.  We took some mutton snapper to grill on his big grill and also some shrimp ceviche, green salad, and some homemade bread to toast on the grill.  Martha joined us and she brought some pork ribs to grill.  It was great to be out of the rain but still be outdoors since the temperature was so pleasant.  A great way to spend a damp afternoon.

Dennis and Craig grilling the fish at Craig's bar. I really like how he used bamboo to skirt the bar. 

Yesterday we got 2 new water vats.  These vats store about 500 gallons.  We were surprised by the cream color; usually they are black to inhibit algal growth in the water.  Even though they weren't black, they did seem to be opaque, so I hope that will be OK.  Each vat is about 5 ft in diameter. With us down here full time, we will need to collect and store more during the rainy season to last us through the dry season.  Dennis and Richard will get these plumbed in with the other 7 vats.

They are big enough to crawl inside, which you have to do to clean them.  The opening is about 20 inches in diameter.

On the south side of our cabana, there are 4 dwarf yellow coconut trees.  They are called yellow because the coconuts are yellow on the outside and also because the palm fronds turn yellowish as they get older.  We like these coconuts because they are disease resistant, they have delicious coconut water, and they bear abundant fruits.

Coconut palms on the south side of our cabana.

"Dwarf" is a relative term!  They are certainly tall enough to provide some welcomed shade to the cabana.

Look at all those beautiful yellow coconuts!

Another plant whose fruits we enjoy is the guava.  Our guava tree is bearing lots of fruit right now.  Each fruit is roughly pear-sized when mature.  We pick them before they are ripe, otherwise the birds get them.  I made a batch of guava and lime syrup that I will use to flavor yogurt, fancy drinks, and desserts.

Immature guava fruits.  The brown on the leaves is due to the salt spray and windy conditions.  The tree seems to be thriving in spite of the salt and wind.

I do leave some for the birds, but it is hard to be sympathetic to the birds when they take a small chunk out of multiple fruits instead of concentrating on one fruit!