Random Thoughts on Paradise

I noticed the other day that I haven't written a reflective piece in a long time. Honestly, I've been in a bit of a funk lately. I know, I know you are probably thinking how can you be in a funk when you are in paradise. I am going to try and put into words what I have been thinking. Those of you that know me well know I would rather speak than write this. I also thought it important that we share some of the rough times as well as the good times. I assume you want a realistic view of our journey. So hear goes with my thoughts: When we started this journey on December 21st by leaving St. Pete we were filled with excitement, wonder and lots of butterflies in our stomach and, yes a good ole healthy dose of fear. We were so green we didn't know anything about our boat. We were honestly too busy learning the boat, the weather and navigation to even think about home (sorry). I guess that was a good thing. Then we had the challenge of the Bahamas. Boy, that was not an easy place to start our trip (reversing currents, small, narrow entrances with rapids, reefs and lots of shallow water). To top it all off we had the northerly cold fronts that brought extremely high winds. We kept saying, "let's just get to the Dominican Republic and we will figure it out". We had options; we could turn around and go home, we could stay in the DR for hurricane season or we could go south to Trinidad.
By that time the Caribbean sailing class of 2006 was most definitely formed. We were a tight group of cruisers heading south together; we hiked, did waterfalls, ate, shared stories and treated each other like family.
So we sailed on to Puerto Rico and stocked up on all the US goodies we could possibly find. We loved getting so many boat projects knocked off our list at the Ponce Yacht Club. So again filled with excitement and surrounded by our class of 2006 we sailed on for the southeastern Caribbean islands.
Glenn and I have discovered that we prefer to see fewer islands and stay a little longer at each one. Saying that, we still did not have the time at each island that I thought we would. I guess the biggest disappointment about the trip so far is the lack of opportunity to meet the local community. The highlight is without a doubt meeting the cruising community. I think we will have a much better chance to really get to know the local communities in Panama and when we head back up the western Caribbean.
I was really looking forward to the lower Eastern Caribbean - basically from St. Martin down to Grenada. The islands have a much more dramatic landscape. But with the month of May came the heat and the rain showers. I would not mind rain, in fact I would love it if it would rain hard enough to clean the boat or shower outside but noooooooo… it rains about 5 mins, just long enough that you have to close all the hatches. Crossroads has 4 overhead hatches and 16 side windows for a total of 48 latches, so we spend a lot of time latching the hatches. And of course these 5 min. rain showers happen several times during the day and about 3 times a night. So you just out of bed and do the hatch dance. With the rain and heat also come the rolly anchorages. I can handle a lot of things but a rolly-a anchorage gets on my last nerve!!! It is also exhausting to move every day or so. We have to prepare the boat for sea and take the dinghy engine on and off every time we move, I know, I know - cry me a river.

May also brought great things, our first visitors. Ken and Becky's visit was so helpful for us. More than they will ever know. It was so good to be with home folk and share our new life with them. It was also a great treat to get goodies from the states; sundried tomatoes, dried blueberries and a copy of People magazine! I was so deprived of pop culture I did not even know who won this year's Oscars. Oh my! I wanted everything to be perfect for our guest. I guess that's when I realized just how much control over things we really have (like, very little). We got a marina in Guadeloupe thinking it would be easier to get on and off the boat with luggage. Well French marinas are very different, they don't have a finger pier so you have to crawl over the bow of the boat to get on. It would have been much easier to get on from the dinghy. We also had some of the rolliest anchorages that we have experienced to date. This made it difficult to cook and hang out on the boat. Ken and Becky were real troupers about it.

On our own again, we moved on to another beautiful French island, Martinique, and yes the first two stops on that island were also rolly. I thought I might be going crazy, I didn't want to stay on the boat because it was so rolly but I didn't want to stay in town because it was so hot. I longed to be back on the boat, go figure! Finally, we arrived in Merin, Martinique a beautiful well protected harbor, no rolls, great breezes and the best chocolate crepe I have ever had. Hallelujah! I think I like cruising again. We stayed there 5 nights! Yeah! , We didn't really want to leave but we needed to go south. Marigot Bay St. Lucia was also a very nice harbor and we could swim from the boat. We decided to skip St. Vincent because of time and stories we had heard about dangerous harbors (pirates of the Caribbean). That gets us to Bequia in the Grenadines. Bequia has a ton to offer for the cruising community. It has a calm, safe and clean harbor, nice beaches and lots of restaurants. We will stay here until the wave passes. It is due to hit the Eastern Caribbean on Tuesday night and should not be a big deal. You just don't want to be underway while a wave is in the area. I have gone on long enough but I want to finish by saying that today I am happy to have my health, a beautiful view from our house and a nice breeze. Glenn and I are very fortunate to be living our dream one day at a time. Thanks for listening.
Michele