Friday, February 9, 2007: I’m sailing! I’m SAAAIIILIIIIING!!!!!
St. Thomas Plan A: Arrive at the airport and inquire about “reasonably priced” hotels on the island and pay through the nose for a bed for three nights before boarding my ship (and let’s not even think about restaurant meals and cab rides around the place or the cost of three days worth of entertainment…).
St. Thomas Plan B: Meet a retiree on the plane and talk about your common interest in diving until he invites you to stow away on the sailboat that he, his brother (the owner) and a few friends are meeting on that afternoon for a 10-day sailing trip.
Guess which plan I went with?
So here I am, sitting on the deck of Paul’s 50-foot sloop (the Caribe), with Paul, his brother Phil, and their friends Eric, John and Arvid.
We just finished a steak dinner (I put myself to work in the galley while John did the steaks on the barbie outside). Now they’re drinking beer and rum, smoking cigars and talking about colleges with good hockey teams for Paul’s son. I feel like I’ve crashed one of my family’s famous boys weekend fishing trips. Which is pretty much exactly what I’ve done; these boys just have longer weekends and bigger boats. Dad, you would be so jealous...
We’re going to cruise around the islands until Sunday, when they’ll bring me in to the port in Roadtown in Tortola, where the Legacy will be waiting for me.
We spent last night in the marina. The boys took me out to Duffy’s Love Shack, the local marina bar in the parking lot across the road. We had a few drinks and all shook our variously aged booties in the salty air. We set sail around noon today (er, actually we motored all day: no wind) and headed out to Watson’s Rock between the islands of St. Thomas and Jost van Dyke for a bit of snorkeling. We were going to go for a dive—these guys are all divers, and before leaving the marina this morning we (meaning they) rented an extra tank and weights for me—but after our rather strenuous snorkelling adventure (I’ve never seen so much surge!) the boys decided to take it easy: we just hit the beach instead and had a drink at the Soggy Dollar bar.
Along with everything else, I even got a look at the Legacy. She was moored off the same beach as us. Looks like a fun boat—we cruised by as we were leaving and everyone on deck had a drink in their hand (it was 5:00 p.m., time for rum swizzles and deck games)—but she certainly isn’t pretty. I’m glad I’ll be going to the Mandalay after my two-week orientation; she’s a lot more graceful.
(For more pics of the Caribe and the guys, check out their website
St. Thomas Plan B: Meet a retiree on the plane and talk about your common interest in diving until he invites you to stow away on the sailboat that he, his brother (the owner) and a few friends are meeting on that afternoon for a 10-day sailing trip.
Guess which plan I went with?
So here I am, sitting on the deck of Paul’s 50-foot sloop (the Caribe), with Paul, his brother Phil, and their friends Eric, John and Arvid.
We just finished a steak dinner (I put myself to work in the galley while John did the steaks on the barbie outside). Now they’re drinking beer and rum, smoking cigars and talking about colleges with good hockey teams for Paul’s son. I feel like I’ve crashed one of my family’s famous boys weekend fishing trips. Which is pretty much exactly what I’ve done; these boys just have longer weekends and bigger boats. Dad, you would be so jealous...
We’re going to cruise around the islands until Sunday, when they’ll bring me in to the port in Roadtown in Tortola, where the Legacy will be waiting for me.
We spent last night in the marina. The boys took me out to Duffy’s Love Shack, the local marina bar in the parking lot across the road. We had a few drinks and all shook our variously aged booties in the salty air. We set sail around noon today (er, actually we motored all day: no wind) and headed out to Watson’s Rock between the islands of St. Thomas and Jost van Dyke for a bit of snorkeling. We were going to go for a dive—these guys are all divers, and before leaving the marina this morning we (meaning they) rented an extra tank and weights for me—but after our rather strenuous snorkelling adventure (I’ve never seen so much surge!) the boys decided to take it easy: we just hit the beach instead and had a drink at the Soggy Dollar bar.
Along with everything else, I even got a look at the Legacy. She was moored off the same beach as us. Looks like a fun boat—we cruised by as we were leaving and everyone on deck had a drink in their hand (it was 5:00 p.m., time for rum swizzles and deck games)—but she certainly isn’t pretty. I’m glad I’ll be going to the Mandalay after my two-week orientation; she’s a lot more graceful.
(For more pics of the Caribe and the guys, check out their website
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12:52 p.m.
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