here.
It is a luxury that I do not allow myself very often, but we were in St
Barth's and the anchorage was very rolly with an east wind and a southern
swell. The rolling was such that it was hard to convince yourself that it
was mother ocean lulling you to sleep. Instead it was your irritating
brother shaking you just to be annoying. When stuff on the galley counter
start falling off onto the floor, you know the anchorage is less than fully
acceptable.
So when we arrived in St Kitts well after the sun went down, and found a
marina with reasonable rates, we jumped on the opportunity to have a nice
quiet, motionless night. We invited Cathy and Rob over from Quatico, an
Island Packet 38 that was at sea the same time we were coming down from
Bermuda. They sold their cars, furniture, clothing, everything except their
house, and they rented that out. They are planning to cruise for 4 years.
After that kind of commitment, I don't know how I could stand the sleepless
night, knowing that it was self-inflicted and that I had burned so many
bridges.
I think maybe I have been gone too long, as I am focused on the discomfort
of a rolling anchorage, and not on the lovely weather and the thrill of new
discovery. Also, I saw a Dominoes Pizza place, and thought for a second that
sounded kind of good. But I am getting back into the swing of things; today
I made up for the mental transgression by asking our taxi driver to take us
somewhere that had goat on the menu. He complied. I did not have the goat,
but did have some local fish.
St Martin calls itself the friendly island, but I think St Kitts deserves
the moniker. When we arrived, there was a big commercial catamaran in at the
dock and when I asked them if they could move to make room for me, the
captain said "We are all about brotherhood here, I would be glad to move,
and to help you dock". Then they gave us a big bag of ice and a 6 pack of
beer for having graced their island with our presence. Finally we are
appreciated.
Ken, Leann and I took a tour of the island by taxi, and saw really beautiful
gardens, majestic landscape and a monkey. I was the only one to see a green
monkey in the wild, but it was a really, really big one. I think it could
take Ken in a fight, and maybe Leann. (You won't catch me fighting some
monkey)
I would send pictures, but I only have satellite connectivity now.
Tomorrow we hope to kite a beach south of here, if there is sufficient wind.
ttyl
