In the world of survival of the fittest, I always believed that cats were far superior to dogs. Cats that I have owned have captured lizards, mice and birds and they accomplished these feats while being fed two square meals a day. In contrast, the dogs I have owned have generally slept most of the day with their head in the food bowl waiting for the next pour. Let’s face it, most dogs are not Lassie! Grenadian dogs and cats have shaken my core beliefs this week. There are three marina cats. Like most cats, they have the boaters well trained and rule the marina with an iron paw. They show up promptly at 8:00am and 4:30pm and wait expectantly for their bowl of food to be delivered. For the past year, the cat caregiver at the marina has been a woman named Denise. Her husband claims that she cooks more for the cats than for him. She arrives promptly on time with a bowl that rivals the best Poke bowls in Hawaii. If Denise is a minute late, the lead cat paces by the pool furiously glaring about at the rest of us who obviously did not get the 4:30-is-feeding-time memo. Denise arrives just in time to avoid a cat revolt and after she lays out the feast, she is rewarded with the lead cat walking within two feet of her and the other cats staring suspiciously from under a bush. Denise swears they love her dearly but as unbiased observers, we are not quite sold on that idea. In fact, the other day, I happened to walk by at 8:00am and one of the cats came running out and slid to a stop at my feet, demanding that I feed him. I am guessing that Grenadian cats think that all tall, white women look the same. So much for undying love and loyalty.
Until this week, I had not seen local dogs in the marina. The only dogs in marinas usually belong to boaters. They are made up of prima donna dogs that never even get their paws wet to I Am Dumb as a Rock dogs that insist everyone in their path of destruction loves them dearly and wholeheartedly. I was out working on a deck leak the other day when I heard a loud splash. There are only a few reasons that one would hear a loud splash in a marina and most of the reasons are not good. I jumped up to see if a diver had jumped in to clean a neighbor’s boat but as I reached the side of the boat, I saw a local dog standing on the dock pacing back and forth excitedly looking in the water. My gaze then fell upon a dog in the water. The dog was paddling furiously with a huge, bright green iguana in his mouth. Iguanas in the islands grow to be at least 18 inches long so they are formidable. As the dog in the water (we’ll call him Buck) held on tightly to his prize, he looked back tauntingly at the dog on the dock (we’ll call him Duke). I could hear the “nanny nanny boo boo I have an iguana and you don’t” taunt floating in the air. Duke gave a death stare to Buck when a smug look came upon his face. It was then that Buck realized his predicament. In a marina, if a person falls or jumps into the water, he better hope there is a ladder somewhere close by or he is not getting out of the water. Marina docks are generally built high off the water so that people can easily disembark from their boat decks. The docks are not designed for anything to be able to climb out of the water. Buck come to this realization a little too late. His head darted from side to side looking for an escape route while hanging on desperately to the iguana. It was at this time that I realized I was more than likely going to have to figure out a way to rescue this not so smart animal. Suddenly, Buck started paddling. He made his way around the front of the boat as Duke ran down the dock keeping him in sight and I dashed to the front of the boat doing the same. Buck kept paddling. I ran to the back of the boat, down the ladder and followed Duke down the dock keeping my eyes peeled for the paddling Buck. As I saw Buck turn to the right, I knew he was attempting to swim to shore which was a good 100 yards across open water from the marina. Duke also latched on to this plan and sprinted to the end of the dock which dead ended into a fence. He turned and raced back toward me at full speed. We both watched helplessly as Buck got his paddling feet tangled in a boat’s mooring lines. He stopped paddling and tried to balance on the lines. Then, the unthinkable happened….Buck dropped his iguana. Faster than I had ever seen a dog move, Buck leapt from the lines and grabbed the iguana again. Prize in mouth, he continued his paddle. Duke and I continued tracking his progress. As he hit the current, he began to struggle a bit and I could see him tiring. Just let go of the stupid iguana already! But no, Buck held tight and with a final push, made his way to shore and climbed to safety. Duke then jumped around side of the fence and ran over to meet Buck where they both ran off happily with their dinner. So, dogs versus cats in Grenada….dogs win hands down on the survival of the fittest test. Other than the demise of an iguana, the other excitement this week was the final placing of the last two fuel tanks! Bill worked hard all week to secure the tanks (I would say hard as a dog but he did not come close to Buck level efforts!) Now all that remains is attaching the final fittings and testing the entire system. Both crew and Galt are ready to be on the move again so wish us luck!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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