Location: Rodney Bay, St Lucia
A gentle rain rolled its way down the Soufriere Caldera towards the ocean at the base of Petit Piton, where Vela rocked us gently in our sleep. As the light was returning to the bay, the crew were rising to start the engine and slip the mooring to get underway. The tangle of twisted lines, each as thick as your forearm and as long as a tennis court, put up more of a fight than was anticipated but was soon freed up as the sun made it’s first peek above the volcanic crater rim high above us. The motor over to Rodney Bay took a couple of hours, and we ate breakfast with the towering Pitons slowly diminishing toward the horizon. A double rainbow graced us, though, as Anna’s marvelous and abundant pancakes were efficiently polished off. Carolyn’s Oceanography class followed clean-up while the staff put Vela safely into the anchorage at Rodney.
The rest of the day has been a blur of brain-tickling Covid tests, brinjal parmesan, shore time, provisioning, posing for Ocean Star as she circled us on her way to the Pitons, and posing in the background of the BELOW DECK cameras filming on a nearby superyacht. I manned the fort on board for a short time while others were away, and so I have little to report on what antics transpired while ashore. I did, however, eagerly watch a resort, Hobie Cat comes zooming past, as so many had been doing, and was wondering what blunderous fate would befall the occupants, as also had been happening. But suddenly, the occupants called out to me by name and turned out to be Tom and Smash, waving excitedly as they zipped past. They steered the craft alongside, and before I knew what was happening, Smash had doffed her lifejacket and leaped from the trampoline into the choppy water. Tom waved for me to join him, and I clambered eagerly down the sides to board the catamaran. Lifejacket secured, we pushed away from Vela and took off on a screeching beam reach across the bay. Tom rode the leeward pontoon like a cowboy, and we nearly pitchpoled in a gust because of his forward weight. Granted, I had the main oversheeted for maximum speed. I yelled that he looked like a beginner and that he should join me on the windward side to maintain balance. But he had other plans. His intention was to deliberately have the twin-hulled vessel tip on its side, like a car going around a corner at speed on two wheels. This seemed like risky business, but the grins on our faces told a story that was not of fear. So we tacked back toward Vela, chose the gustiest line we could see through the crowded anchorage, and took off again on a beam reach. Tom pointed to a gust rushing toward us, and we braced ourselves, oversheeting and understeering in anticipation. When it hit us, we were ready. The boat staggered for a moment, the leeward pontoon pinned deeper into the rushing water until the sail took hold and rocketed us forward. The lower side began to plane on the water while my side cleared the choppy surface, and we raced along, flying a hull. The boat continued to accelerate, and we shrieked like excited 6-year-olds, wind and spray whipping us all the while.
The Hobie soon had to be returned to the rentals, and the students began their trickle feed return back to the boat by dinghy. Anna’s team had a wonderful egg noodle pad thai ready on time for the setting sun, at which point I was reminded of my duty as skipper to document the day. In lieu, the accompanying photographs will be a collage of people’s smiling faces while carrying out some of the more everyday tasks like photographing the sunset, sampling the dinner spread before presenting it, and cramming in the final words of an essay that is already overdue. And finally, for Squeeze, if you were to travel the country selling your wares from a truck, what would you be selling?
PS. The chart house has just been stormed by masked officials in retroreflective sunglasses and swimsuits, chasing wildly after Dylan for whom there is a handwritten warrant of arrest for taking hostage the beloved unripe Mango, Tommy Jr. Dylan has locked himself in the head. He is trying to negotiate the terms of the ransom through the knee-high ventilation in the door. Both the door and the outside leading hatch are guarded by short-tempered “officers.”
1. Nick with the BELOW DECK yacht behind him.
2. Annika, Alissa, and Lizzy grafting in the galley
3. Nick through a kaleidoscope
4. Emma B and Nick R. presenting dinner.
5. Sofia and Ellie asked to look like they were doing something important.
6. sunset clouds over Rodney Bay
7. Nick and Audrey showcasing a palm fish
8. Cora, Nick, Finn, Issy, and Lomax admiring the sunset and a magnificent square-rigger
9. Jaycee
10. Smash saddened by a faulty wiring job
11. Anna and Alissa presenting the chicken!
12. Anna, Alissa, Tolo, Audrey, Annika, Cora, Teagan