Barbados

Miami to Barbados.   Now there's a phrase that has a pleasant ring to it, especially when it's coming from the intercom of an airliner during the welcome aboard spiel presented by a well groomed hostess.  

 I had boarded a plane the day before, in the subfreezing temperature of Redmond, that had taken me to air conditioned LA and then on to tropical Miami.  When offered the option of a 12 hour layover in Florida or a 20 hour one during the booking process, I naturally chose the longer one.  My body no longer handles time changes on the Easterly leg of a journey as it did during my younger days, and the idea of a full eight hours sleep, along with the thoughts of a leisurely dinner and breakfast during the voyage, was really appealing.  I found myself listening to the welcoming speech while well rested and eager to get on with it.  Of course the flight was delayed a bit.............

The wheels finally got long enough to touch the ground again around 10:30 PM Barbados time and looking around, I noticed the opportunity of a lifetime had presented itself to me.  The airport in Barbados borders the ocean and there is an amazing breeze that flows through the open air portion of the terminal.  Realizing I could enjoy the fantastic smell of that breeze and relive the simple pleasure of a carefree time when long ago, as a much younger man, I allowed the Good Lord to provide my bed where ever I grew tired enough to need sleep, I laid down on one of the many benches and slept soundly through the night.

It seems odd that such a simple act could turn back time so easily, but that act nullified lessons learned over many decades about such things as personal safety, the necessity of a comfortable mattress and the need to protect ones belongings from the lawless hordes.  Of course, it helped knowing the most valuable item in the bags resting under the bench while I slept was clean underwear.  And, yeah, my camera was small enough to fit in my shirt pocket.  Forty years peeled off my age that night and I slept through the process.  The vacation was off to a great start.

There was a time when the world was ruled by giants who learned to fly people from place to place in airplanes twice as fast as the speed of sound.  Of course those days are long gone and the world is now ruled  by kids who play video games while hanging out at the mall.  But, when the giants ruled, Barbados was at the center of  the planet.  Every Saturday, at 9:30 AM London time, British  Airways would hurl a Concorde down the English runway fast enough to land in Barbados, four time zones to the West, at 8:45 the same morning.  

Never did I ever imagine I would find myself in the cockpit of the fastest commercial airliner in history, but when I woke, there it was, less than 1000 paces from me: I started the day off by climbing on board and visiting that treasured space.   After several hours of peering into every place I could see, sitting in VERY comfortable seats that had previously been occupied only by the wealthiest among us, and of walking on every surface that would support my weight,  I returned to the airport in hopes of finding a duty free shop.  Barbados is famous for it's rum, and I wanted to drink me some!

The oldest rum distiller on the planet, Mount Gay, is located in Barbados and some of their rum is deemed the best the world can offer.  They offer several different types, all produced in the same distillery, and sorted by the amount of time the brew is allowed to age.   One of the blends is said to contain stuff that is 108 years old!  Personally, I believe a bottle or two of rum produced at that time was found somewhere in a back corner of a falling down building somewhere on the premises when a hung over employee was looking for a quiet place to recover.  Further, I think one or two drops of the liquid from this find has been added to batches of 100 gallons or more to make a blend that can be sold for at least $100 per liter!  Hey, I'd do it, wouldn't you?  As you can see, I was successful in my search and uncorked the first bottle that evening.

After roaming around the place a while longer, I boarded another airplane.  This one would take me to Kingstown, in the island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and to Blue Lagoon, where my sailboat was waiting.  

                                 

Sailing The Caribbean, Pt. 1

For some reason I can not quite understand, several people, both friends and friends whom I have not yet met in person, have asked me to continue posting.  I'm both honored and puzzled.  What ever have I done or had happen to me that had not occurred in the life of at least one million other folks who daily walk this planet?  Although I do not understand your interest, thank you for it.  I'll try.

Sailing The Caribbean 

One of the oldest dreams I have been hostage to for my very short life is the one of sailing single handed around this big planet.  In my mind I often leave this world and find myself lashed into and cringing in a quarter berth as the ocean around me rages, daring me to leave the comfort of my cot and slings and to come on deck where it can toss me far from my cork of a boat.  Of course both The Dream and I know that I have already talked to the Good Lord and He has directed me to stay safe and secure in my bunk.  The ocean will always lose in this dream, and I will always survive, just as I once did in real life.  The Dream persists and I still have the desire to make the voyage.  I needed to find a starting place, one where I could find answers.  

My body is now many decades older than it was when The Dream first appeared.  Can I still handle a sailboat?  Do I still want to make this circumnavigation?  How can I find out if I want to do this?  The answer, of course, was to go sailing.  So, for the first time in almost thirty years, I planned an open ocean voyage.  I enrolled in a sailing school who promised:

"Guests with little or no prior sailing experience should be able to complete Course 101. Those with a reasonable amount of sailing experience may be able to complete courses 101 and 103. To complete all 3 levels, resulting in bareboat certification, guests will need to have a considerable amount of prior sailing experience and knowledge of coastal navigation - and therefore guests should not expect to be able to complete all 3 levels in one week unless they do have such experience."

"I'll not be able to fool these guys," I muttered to myself, "These are the only people I've seen that do not promise the moon."    So, I called them and signed up for a one week course that, if I were successful, would result in certification allowing me to charter a yacht on my own, without the need of hiring a Captain to oversee the way I managed it.   

I paid the tuition, bought the plane tickets and set off for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a bunch of islands located in the Windward part of the Caribbean Sea.  In short, Paradise.