It's a pirate's life for The Budget Babe's International Travel Advisor Fifi LaMode (minus the pillaging). —BB
by Fifi LaMode
So now we've experienced a storm at sea, nights under the stars, all sorts of fish, and we're getting quite used to this sailing routine. It's our last day and it's a "free sail" day, which means we're free to sail wherever we want as long as we're in harbor by 5 p.m. We depart Spanish Town and choose a route that's windier than we want, so we turn away from the open sea and enter the Sir Francis Drake Channel.
The sea is much calmer and we can once more take time to enjoy the scenery. I love the names of these places. They evoke adventurous times and hundreds of years of history: Pirates, ships laden with Spanish gold, and, unfortunately, slaves. These islands have many stories to tell. (For an excellent read, get James Michener's "Caribbean" from your local library. Each set of islands has a different history.)
We were about to anchor at a cay with a restaurant and bar (the salt air makes you mighty thirsty - aaarrrrgh) but by now we're quite jaded and more adventurous. No more the naive landlubbers, we. We sail into a nearby lagoon where the water is clear and only two boats are anchored. We make some lunch and then snorkel. The fish are oblivious to our presence and the water is refreshing and clean and salty. We sooo don't want to leave.
After staying longer than we should in this paradise, we motor in to Road Town Harbor, the last ones in, as usual. Our day concludes with a farewell dinner of native fare (bbq chicken, ribs, lobster, lots of fresh fruit and veg). We say our goodbyes to the flotilla crowd and exchange addresses. Hope we can see some of them again on another vacation like this one.
Each day has been better than the one before it and I'm totally hooked on sailing vacations. I just love the Caribbean. So close yet so exotic. Aaarrghh.
Last week's column: Calm waters for Fifi