B
bill walton
I've noted several postings lately on the various forums asking about cruising the caribbean in a Hunter. A pair of fellow 42 owners who used to be our dock neighbors on a Texas lake, before we both departed, has been cruising the area for about a year and a half now. They send us a monthly, sometimes, newsletter when he hits a port with email facilities. I don't think they would mind us posting his latest. Their email address is kenwendy@juno.com.Hello everyone,Well, we made it to the year 2000 and I guess that's a good start. Weare still sailing and seeing things that we missed last year. Since ourlast communication we have celebrated the new millenium in thepicturesque Tobago Kays. It was quite a celebration, we rondezvoued with6 or 7 other boats and started our celebration watching the various newyears parties starting with Australia all the way to New York. We werelucky enough to have tv reception in English which had a BBC and CNNspecial all day and night. You folks think think we have any luxuriesdown here--we even have television --sometimes. We then all gathered ona boat--"Kosrae"--friends from Texas and drank champagne, rum, beer,cognac and ate black-eyed peas. It got a little exciting when all thedrunks started shooting their flare guns off at midnight, including yourstruly--can't believe we didn't burn anybodys boat up. We did almost dropa flare into somebodys dinghy, but they were nice--they thought it wasfun,--gave them a bottle of wine anyway. I would say, we brought the newyear in with the best of em. Must say, the next day, the next day justseemed like another day, though--with a mild hangover. We then sailed up to Bequia, one of our favorite places in theCaribbean--we always seem to stay there 3 times as long as weintended--it is still one of the paradises in the Caribbean. We get sosettled in sometimes, it's hard to leave, but we knew we needed to startheading north--still so much to see. The skipper, me, didn't pick a very goodday--for the next 2 days as we sailed to St. Vincent and St. Lucia, wewere bucking 25-30 knot winds and 12-14 ft. waves. --NOT that great of asail!!! The boat was wet everywhere--got caught by several huge waves,knocked us around pretty good, but it's nice to know the boat can handleit. The inside of the boat looked like we had just unpacked without usknowing it. I would have to say, the expression on Wendy's face as weanchored and looked below was one that said--"if we're going to have todo this very much, I think my old job in Dallas is looking better andbetter"!!! When we finally got to Marigot lagoon in St. Lucia, it waslike we had gone to heaven--no wind, no waves and beautiful sceneryagain. Stayed 3 days just getting everything back in order. FromMarigot, we came up to Rodney Bay , a nice easy sail, which is where weare presently. We are really living in style here--unlimited water andcable tv in the marina. The skipper has learned that if he wants to keephis first mate, you need to provide a little comfort and luxury now andthen. We leave tomorrow for Martinique and then on to Dominica. We'llprobably go pretty fast, we've seen both of these islands on the way downlast spring. I know everybody seems to enjoy picturing us with some occassionalhardships here in paradise--the most recent one made me appreciate thisboat in that it is very similar to the airplanes that I flew--thesimilarity being, we are lucky enough to have 2 of everything--2 friges,2 motors, 2 sails, 2 heads, 2 beds, 2 radios, etc. This time, thefailure was the master cabin head. If you talk to all sailors--they willsay the thing they work on the most is their head--meaning "the toilet"for you landlubbers. Bet not many of you have torn your toilet apartlately--it's a fun, "shitty" job. Wendy handed me the tools and I playedplumber for 4 days. There is nothing more frustrating to know that youhave done everything right and it STILL dosen't work!!! Today, it isworking!!!!!!! The problem is, I don't know why. Therefore, I haveordered new parts knowing that it's going to give me problems again, andI will once again have that shitty job. I think that's enough on mytoilet story, I'm sure you have the picture.As you know, we have adopted 2 cats--"Bob" and "Marley", brother andsister which have turned out to be great company, very entertaining, andoccasionally destructive to Wendy's bikini tops--Marley likes to chew thestraps off her bikini tops. Therefore, Wendy has numerous bottoms andjust a few tops--it's ok with me!! For you cat lovers, you will likethis story--when we are in a slip in a marina, Bob, the male likes towander. He regularly goes and visits people on all the other boats--theythink it's cute except for this one group of Germans---Bob went to visitthem then decided to jump through a small hole that went into the boat'sbilge--a part of the boat that only a cat can get into. Then, he wouldnot come out--so at 7:30 am, we were greeted by some Germans trying totell me our yellow cat was trapped in their boat. So, I got dressed,went to their boat, crawled into the bowels of their boat where I couldsee him in the distance and fortunately when heard English instead ofGerman and a recognizable voice, he meowed and walked out just like itwas no big deal. He followed that event the following night with anunintended dip in the ocean. He apparently fell in off the dock rightnear our boat, however, we didn't even know he was gone. All of asudden, here comes Bob looking like a drowned rat walking back into thecabin--salt water all over Wendy's clean floors--it turns out he somehowfell in, some neighbors 2 boats down heard this god-awful meowing in thewater--there was Bob holding onto a concrete pier talking away. The ladyjumped in her dinghy, pulled him out of the water, put him on the dockand that's when he showed up noncholontly in our cabin--soaked. We nowlock the cats up at night in the main cabin--that seems to work. Forthose of you who are now thinking--that boy needs to be fixed--we alreadydid that in Trinidad. He dosen't even like girls. Enough cat stories.Another visual event that many of you can possibly picture--is thehaircut that I gave Wendy 2 wks ago. She had been bugging me to get theclippers out and give her a buzz. We called it a butch in the 60's. Ifinally gave in and found out it wasn't as easy as I thought it was goingto be--Wendy now has a totally new look--she always wondered how muchgray hair she had. Now that the longest hair on her head is 3/4 of aninch, no blonde hair left, and this beautiful, solid silver hair colorvery similar to mine. Believe it or not, she really likes the haircut,but not too sure about this new color. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to geta picture for everybody. Thank God she is so feminine because her hairis shorter than nearly all the guys. Good news--it IS growing. Our future plans are to continue to island hop up to St. Martin. We planon being in the St. Martin area all of March where we will have severalguests join us and visit the nudist beach!! You will be sure to read ourSt. Martin letter. Then down to Antigua mid April through early May forAntigua Sailing Week. Followed by returning to Trinidad for hurricaineseason. We will probably take approx. 6 wks for a visit back to theStates and Canada this summer. The big picture is to be in Panama byFeb. of 2001 for our big adventure in the Pacific--destination--NewZealand and Australia. I guess that about brings us up to date. We are doing wonderfully andhave forgotten how we used to live, it seems like decades since we werepart of the daily ratrace and spending everything we made just to live. We are still spending money on toilet parts and other necessities--thedifference being, everyday is an adventure which we are still enjoying. Stay in touch, we'll talk to you soon. (electronically)Fair winds, God Bless,Ken and Wendy.