As I type this we are driving back to Ft. Lauderdale to
catch a plane back to Guadalupe where our girl is waiting (we hope patiently)
for us in Marina Bas de Fort in Pointe-‘a-Pietre. We’re listening to a song called “Best Day of
My Life”. How apropos!!!!
We’ve just spent a few days back in Florida where we were
able to spend time with many of our amazing Florida family and few of our
special ones from Kentucky too. While it
certainly seems like every day these days is the best day, it’s impossible to
pick one day much less even one place that's our favorite. It seems infeasible but each day seems to
bring something new - some fabulous, some interesting, and yes, some not so great - that allows us to grow and really appreciate this wonderful life we’ve been
given. I was talking with our very good
friend Polya this weekend about change. Polya read recently that one should be in a different
place at a minimum every year (emotionally, intellectually, etc.)…...... Well, we’re certainly working on that!
We left Martinique and sailed north back to Dominica for a
reunion of sailors we sailed with from Virginia. It was so great to see people we hadn’t seen
in months. I guess the theme of this
post is again that it’s the people you meet along your life’s journey that are what
it’s all about. The Salty Dawg group
arranged a week with the perfect combination of both charity events and
parties. We loved it all. Dominica is filled with such natural beauty
and is (so far) mostly unspoiled. In the
5 days we were there, we helped a local orphanage, toured the islands rainforests and coastlines, emerged in
a gorgeous and really powerful waterfall, had a great scuba dive, toured a chocolate factory (with free tastings), went
hunting for both lion fish and Cuban tree frogs – both of which are invasive
species to the natural habitat of this wonderful island - and still found time
to catch up with our boating friends.
Deciding that we decided that we needed to fly back to Florida for business and fun, we arranged dockage for the boat and flights for us out of Guadalupe. During our week in Dominica, we participated in a daily VHF radio net where everyone tunes in with announcements about the daily plans and if anyone needs help. Well, on our last morning, someone announced that they had “two lovely girls” who needed a ride to Guadalupe. While Pedro, said he wanted to see how lovely before we committed, MaryAnn hailed them and offered a ride. Who could have known how lovely (inside and out) these two girls were. They are Nici and Lena aged 24 from Ulm, Germany who are backpacking through the Caribbean, Miami Beach, Mexico and Peru for a couple of months. We had planned to just give them a ride to Les Saints - an island that is part of Guadalupe- where they would catch a ferry to the mainland and then catch their plane to Miami in a couple of days. By the time we arrived in Les Saints and hooked up with Equus (Dan and Alison) and Free At Last (Yves and Lou Lou), MaryAnn decided that we were adopting the girls - hey, they’re already finished with university and have jobs.
Les Saints was charming and quintessentially France! The colorful little houses, the quaint cathedral, the farmer’s market and everyone riding around on their Vespa scooters with a baguette of french bread under their arm. The town was friendly and just plain adorable. We decided, rather than a stuffy restaurant – although they looked amazing – we would get groceries and bar-b-que on a nearby nature reserve island. We still had some lion fish (no, we didn't get to keep any of the tree frogs) from our diving excursion so we bought chicken wings and some veggies to grill. We had most of the island to ourselves - we didn't mind sharing with the goats - so we hiked a bit before taking over the picnic area. Again, another fabulous dinner.
The next morning, we tearfully bid the girls au revior , auf wiedersehen , adieu with
promises that we would get together in the next few months when we get to Europe. We even made tentative plans to
attend Oktoberfest in either Munich or Stuttgart.
We had a couple of days to get the boat cleaned and settled in her new temporary home, get laundry done and decide what we needed to pack before we too were on a plane for Florida. While in FL, MaryAnn’s main objective (Pedro said something about work) was to arrange a long overdue party with Janice, Rick, Larry and Michelle. A little over a year ago, they bought a gift package that included our friend Roberto Barba – he's the owner and head chef of Caffe Positano in Apopka, FL – coming over to one or both of their houses to cook for a party of up 20 people. We finally had a date when all involved were available, so a party was planned. Many of our wonderful Cocoa Beach people were able to attend and as usual Roberto dazzled everyone with the food. We were able to again raise money – the gift package was the result of a charity auction - for Tabitha’s House, a girl’s orphanage in Haiti that our friends' Pery and Suzanne (along with their Merritt Island church) support. A completely fabulous evening!
We were also able to meet up with Joel and Jamie – the founders of this wonderful Cocoa Beach group of friends we love so much – as well as our friend Doug whom we hadn’t seen since we left Connecticut. We spent time with Sam, Betty and Booser as well as Bill and Terri who happened to be in town from Kentucky. While we did miss seeing a few of our dearest friends, for the short amount time we had, we managed to utilize it to the fullest.
We’re heading back to Guadalupe where we have a few boat
repairs to contend with and then another island to explore. We’ll fill you in on that next time!
Until next post!
Awesome
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