Sailing The Caribbean 2004-05

Since my last post had a boat theme I felt like this might be a good time to share a little about my sailing experience in the Caribbean during the winter of 2004-05.

The trip started when I flew down to Trinidad during December '04. Once there I met up with my friend Jan whose father owns a 42 ft Venezia Catamaran. Jan and and another friend by the name of Dan had been dodging hurricanes all summer on their way south from St. Croix. I was joining them for the trip back up. Jan and Dan decided to take a break in Trinidad and had the boat hauled out for repairs. The first week was spent working on the boat.

Once the boat was ready we left Trinidad and sailed into the wind towards Grenada. It was kind of rough and when night fell I got sea sick. I was ok during the day but it's hard to see the horizon when your sailing through a pitch black night. It was the only time I got sick. Around sunrise we stopped briefly at Grenada to rest awhile in a calm bay before moving on. After a couple of days we arrived at Martinique. We spent a whole day ashore on Martinique then left in the evening for a 3 day sail to St. Croix. I really enjoyed that segment of the trip. I was over my seasickness and being out on the open ocean felt really peaceful to me. I especially liked the night watches. It was very beautiful. I also thoroughly enjoyed observing flocks of flying fish during the day.

A couple of unusual things happened along the way. As we passed St Lucia, about 30 miles to the west, we were approach by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. When we first saw a boat with a large gun motoring towards us I was little nervous but luckily it was a legitimate Coast Guard. We communicated over the radio and gave them all of our info and they followed us for about an hour before wishing us a safe voyage. In the end it was probably good. At least someone knew we were out there. Something else unusual was when a low flying aircraft flew over us in the middle of the night with no lights. Jan thought it was military related. Both incidences probably have something to do with all of the drug running that goes on down there.

After we arrived in St Croix Dan decided to leave the boat and Jan wanted to hang out for awhile. I then chose to set out on my own for 3 weeks. I purchased a 3 week LIAT airlines Island hopper pass. LIAT, leave at anytime as I liked to call it, is the local airline of the Caribbean. They fly a variety of prop planes that tend to put the adventure back into flying. My favorite flight was aboard a Twin Otter as I flew from Nevis to Antigua. During the three weeks of Island hopping I visited St. Lucia, Dominica, Nevis, St. Kitts, and St, Martin. Not to mention a couple of long layovers at the Antigua airport. It was a fantastic time. Highlights included several hikes: Gros Piton on St Lucia(with a colorful Rasta guide); Boiling Lake and Gros Morn (highest mountain) on Dominica; and Mt Nevis on Nevis.

When my 3 week pass was up I returned to St Croix and the boat. Dan had left but Jan's girlfriend joined us and we sailed off to Culebra and Puerto Rico. After a few days in Puerto Rico Jan's girlfriend went home and Jan and I set out again. We headed back to St Croix via Vieques and St Thomas spotting whales along the way. Shortly after our return to St Croix and 3 months since leaving Houston it was time to go home.

Since my Caribbean journey I haven't really sailed much but I'd really like to. I spent enough time on a boat to have a good feel for what it's all about. One of my dreams is to sail across the Atlantic from the Canary Islands.