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.