In Search of Pirates... or Johnny Depp.
Trip Start
Apr 01, 2010
1
18
Trip End
May 06, 2010
Vieux Fort, Saint Lucia
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Anyway, after what I'm taking as a good omen for the rest of the trip, my flight from runway-challenged JFK actually took off on time and arrived in warm & sunny St. Lucia 20 minutes early.
I was greeted at the airport by Peter - a cab driver our captain, Norman, sends to pick up new crew and Tom from New Jersey who arrived earlier and will also be aboard for the next month.
Tom had the delightful suggestion of stopping to pick up a bottle or five of wine for our first night. Yup, good start.
We made our way to the dock and Norman picked us up in the skiff. Two minutes later we reached the boat. No ladders here. Norman wanted to see if we could climb aboard without it. Easy if you're six feet tall... a higher degree of difficulty at 5'4". Anyway, aboard we climbed. We were greeted by Jason, a Canadian now living in Australia, who will be with us for two weeks.
First things first... Norman made it clear that there was plenty of potential for disaster. No one had been swept overboard yet - but it could happen - and if it does he'd try to save us but couldn't promise anything. Turns out a couple of weeks ago they hit some crazy 20 foot waves on the way to Dominica. As a result, three people left the crew before the next sail. Right about then visions of the rogue wave from The Perfect Storm appeared.
Anyway after paying up we moved on to the important stuff - like the pump action toilet. Jealous? And my home for the next month. My berth is about 6'x5' with a small closet and my own hatch (think skylight) to hopefully (although apparently not realistically) catch a breeze at night.
Soon Cindy & Scott, who had each joined the boat earlier got back from a day ashore. Tonight is Scott's last night. Cindy, who lives in RaChaCha, or for you non-Oswego grads, Rochester, is on for another week. She showed us how to pull up seawater with a bucket to do the dishes. I get the feeling everything is going to be quite salty... not just the captain.
Adam, was the last to arrive today. He lives in Kentucky now but has lived in, among other places: Switzerland, Austria & Germany. Maybe my new found knowledge of Nordic sports will come in handy. Just wait until I start throwing around Simone Ammann and Gregor Schlierenzauer! Ah, Schlerie!
Anyway, after dinner (cooked by Norman) the rest of the night was spent on deck drinking our 5 bottles of wine while Cindy & Scott told us how to best avoid (or at least cut down on) getting yelled at.
We'll spend Friday in St. Lucia waiting for our last crew member & then head out to St. Vincent first thing Saturday morning.
It's now Friday morning and as we found out pretty quickly everything in Vieux Fort is closed for Good Friday. Everything that is except The Reef - a bar right on the water. Norman dropped us off at the docks and we walked about a mile and a half to the beach & the Reef. Vieux Fort is a little fishing town and a far cry from the resort area to the north. We passed our share of ramshackle shacks, stray dogs and wild horses on the way. As our choices are limited we'll spend the day at The Reef before heading back to the boat.
