Q1 of Tom and Kirstin's excellent vacation in the books
2) Sailing at night. What a rush.........the wind, waves........the spooky beauty of the sea and stars at night. We actually try to plan full-moon sails just because of how amazing it is.
3) Meeting interesting people.........like Hendrik and Arja, our Finnish friends. Hendrik is a folk singer (club quality) and gave us a private concert. Forgot how much I liked 70s folk rock. Others like Mark and Eileen from Wavelength were great too.
4) Touring by scooter......It's stupid but I love driving those 125 cc scooters around Caribbean islands. Definitely going to buy one someday.
5) The sea critters.......whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and yesterday............the weirdest thing of all. On a long dinghy ride we saw what appeared to be a human head dive under the waves as we approached. Hmm. We looked at each-other. Then we asked a dive boat guy what that was. Apparently a giant turtle, with a cross section of about 5 feet. Head as big as mine.
And here are my top five:
1) I hate it when people say that the Caribbean is "all alike"- definitely wrong. Yes, all the places we have been are islands and all of the islands have been sunny but those are the only similarities. I love learning about different cultures and seeing new sights. Every single day has been an absolutely incredible adventure - you never know what the day will bring. I love every day of this.2) Living on the boat... I will admit that initially there was apprehension about spending every day and night on the boat. While I loved boat weekends in Annapolis, I always knew that we were headed back to a very comfortable home on firm land (with city plumbing, for example). I can honestly say that living on the boat is completely luxurious - we have hot showers when we want them, cold wine when we need it and more space than we know what to do with. When I reflect on some of the boats we have seen down here, I realize that we are completely and totally spoiled. And I am incredibly grateful.
3) Singularly sublime moments... hiking through the woods and only hearing parrots and hummingbirds, snorkeling over bubbles coming from thermal springs, marveling at the variation of blue in the water, looking at the sheer power of nature in volcanoes, zipping along on a scooter holding on to Tom through sugar cane fields, ordering in my pigeon French at a restaurant (and someone understanding the majority of it). Amazing moments all - and to have the time to appreciate it!
4) Ditto on sailing at night. This was a big concern for me before leaving on the 1500 - sailing through the night dodging ships, sea critters and land. It was essential for the success of the trip that we both become comfortable with sailing at night when either of us were on watch. I now thoroughly enjoy sailing at night and feel comfortable controlling the boat when it is my turn at watch.
5) Traveling with Tom. Enough said.