Sailing Encore

This is the first entry into my journal I kept during our adventure in 1985-1986:

11-8-85

To keep proper account of an adventure one must start at the beginning and carry on thru till the end. This I will try.  Whether or not I accomplish it will be based on “BOATING”. This term will need to be explained- Besides the act of being upon a vessel in the water, I wish to include and emphasize all the hassles and problems that accompany this form of recreation or lifestyle, as will be my case for the next year.

Several years back Vernon and I vacationed on a crewed charter boat in the Virgin Islands. It was wonderful. We took some sailing lessons, joined a sail club and bought a 37 ft. Tayana- Wanderlust. In over our heads, we made the best of it in a boat that was beautiful but couldn’t point near windward. The idea to take some time off our jobs and sail the Caribbean began to formulate back then. But so did the idea of having children. The child won out and Steve was born 3-12-84. Steve is a blue-green eyed boy with strawberry blonde hair and an activity level that the local island women describe as “a lot of passions for one so young”.  At 18 months he is on the go from sun up to sundown.

We saved money, sold our cars, rented our duplex and finally quit our jobs. Some of our friends were envious, others thought us fools- I am beginning to wonder! In October we flew down and purchased EXPEDITE in Antigua from Gareth, an English guy who seemed to have jerry-rigged the boat to make it work. And of course it is now breaking for us. We spent the first two weeks in Antigua fixing the wheel, claiming lost luggage, repairing window leaks, repairing the engine, installing another battery, cleaning, having an awning made, having the main sail repaired, fixing the ice box, fixing the stanchions, having the floorboards varnished…. I could go on and on. All the while we are trying to adjust to living on the boat. Vernon dealt with the boat problems, keeping at jobs I would have given up on long ago. I dealt with every day needs of food and of course helping Steve adjust to this very different environment. There are so many new “No!”s and for the first time we are, the three of us, around each other all day and night. Back home, his active personality was spread to family while we worked, so it is an adjustment in schedules and entertainment. Steve has met other kids on Antigua. The couple who run the museum at English Harbour have 4 year old twins who love playing with him and gave him their old push car. We stow it in the forepeak and bring it out when we are tied up at the marina. We also met another English couple with a daughter, Lauren, one month younger than Steve. They would play together for about 5 minutes but start pushing each other and she would bite Steve. Anywhere she could get her mouth to.

Steve and I took the bus to the town of St. Johns to provision. It is hot and sweaty bus and everyone gets off smelling the same, stinky. But he loved not having to sit in a car seat and watched out the window at all the farm animals along the bumpy road. The Queen of England came to the island for a visit while we were there so they fixed the potholes but only in the roads she was to travel on. Provisioning has been so expensive here. I don’t know how the local people afford it. The stores carry very little dry goods, most of it US, and fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive and limited. A head of lettuce is about $3 U.S. and rots very quickly. My refrigeration system on the boat is a block of ice. So I am very limited with what I can keep fresh. So providing the basics for Steve is my main focus as I provision.

There does seem to be a sort of Murphy’s Law curse on us. Minor jobs with the boat become major. And what we think should go smoothly does not. When we finally got away from the boatyard to anchor in a bay off Shirley Heights, the night went calm and our buoy line wrapped around the keel. As we went up to remedy the situation a wet squall came up with winds and biting rain. We fought with the line then finally just moved away from the buoy and anchored.

Passing the days as Vernon worked on the boat Steve and I would walk around English Harbour getting to know the locals. We have had fun times going to the beach to swim and play in the sand. He does really well with his swimmie floats on his arms. The snorkeling on the reefs is beautiful with the water so warm and full of sea life.  And he loves chasing the rooster by the market and running after the goats in the field. English Harbor is a beautiful historic spot where the English fleets and pirates brought their ships to protected anchorage. Shirley Heights sits at the top of the mountain overlooking the bay and we love to listen to the local steel drum band play in the evening. Steve dances to the music and everyone cheers him on.

But still there are so many “No!”s and you can never turn your back and feel he is safe. His knees are black and blue with new boo-boos every day. He split his lip and fell into the open bilge when the floorboards were up. And we’ve all been bitten by mosquitos till we have bites on bites. Some nights he awakes at 2am to cry till 5am only to awake again for the day at 6am when the sun shines thru the hatch. One day he took a bite out of the toilet bowl cleaner cake and I ran to the public phone to make a panic call to the poison hot line in the U.S. Most of my calls have been to my mom. I try not to sound too frustrated since this was our choice and it is supposed to be fun….

So after a day of boat problems that didn’t look like they’d ever end and a screaming frustrated child that finally fell asleep, Vernon and I would look at each other and want to cry. What had we done?! Vacation in Paradise this wasn’t!! I remember the third night after arriving, sitting in the Pizza restaurant for dinner, crying over my beer wishing I was back home getting ready for another 12 hour shift at the hospital. But with the warm evening breeze we would sit in the cockpit and look out at the beautiful starry sky. We watch the shooting stars and talk over the day’s adventures and help mend each other’s wounds with a soft touch. Like the line from CSN song “When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you understand now why you came this way”. This adventure is just beginning and we are getting our sea legs more coordinated every day.