so here i am, in st lucia. placed quite graciously by the wind between the two pitons (beautiful mountain landmarks of the island). locals eagerly welcome us ashore with, " hello, welcome to paradise, isn't it nice here". i seem to be stuck in a strange place though. despite being surrounded by such natural beauty, being around this resort, where we are anchored, sours my absorbing this paradise. the resort's beach is made of trucked in white sand. but at the same time, it is places like these that contribute greatly to employment on the island. here i am again trying to understand things a bit too out of my reach. and instead of getting off my bum and exploring i am sitting here writing, so i think i am already started off on the wrong foot.

well, anyway, while i have this cyber space here for the moment let me describe some positive points.

We sailed down from Antigua with a lovely Italian couple from Firenze. they made for excellent company. eager to lend a hand and share with us their travels of antigua and the world. with them, on our sail down from antigua we made some flipper friends. Ciara, one of the Italians, was sure that her whistling called the dolphins over. I think she may have been on to something because three times groups of dolphins came to play off our bow. megan was explaining how the dolphins get propelled forward by the current created as the bow moves through the water. i bet it's fun.
soon after these dolphins left the bow we rounded the bend and caught the first sight of the small piton as a rainbow sprang up over Soufrière. borderline Lisa Frank style - it was beautiful.

yesterday, we had a full afternoon of sailing while Alison took photos and video of us underway. it was an excellent round of catalog style poses and good sailing. i even wore a polo. trygve had megan and i in stitches with his commands in german and his cues to stare up at the sails, yelling, "holy dacron!' quite the scene we set.


here are some photos of the boat to give you an idea of the kind of operation we are running... big love.

photos thanks to jason. much love.

oh wow. it has been a crazy past few days working on the sincerity. i have been doing all the little cleaning and preparing things down below. sweat and vinegar pretty well sums it up.
up on deck Megan, my first mate, Jon, our engineer, and an excellent crew of Antiguans (Aleco, Junior, and America) have been working on repainting the hull. She is going to look spectacular when all is said and done, but for right now we are engulfed in a dust cloud of sanded paint.

Apart from the ginormous motor yachts, Antigua is quite beautiful. Megan, Jason, Jonathan, and I took a hike over to Pigeon Beach. The hiking trail is a goat path, and the lil trail-blazers kept popping out of the bush to say hello. We hiked along the hill-top catching little hermit crabs and avoiding the goat poo. It was and excellent change from living in small quarters with no space to roam.

Today I went grocery shopping and almost had a melt down in the aisles. It is so frustrating to buy Canadian grown celery or cantaloupe from the United States when you know the same could be grown around here. I guess part of the issue is that islands have limited space. Maybe there is not enough space to meet demand. Any ideas? I need help understanding.  It feels strange living in this yachting world that is so apart from the real world, but creates the Antiguan economy in many ways. oo baby i have a long way to go.

Well, before i sign off let me leave with you some photos. On board during the passage we had a little extra time on our hands, go figure! We decided that as we floated along on our own lil country, the Sincerity, we should designate holidays. On November 23rd we celebrated make your own super hero day. I made an appearance as Miss Calamity Noisybuckets, a name I had been dubbed earlier for fairly obvious reasons. Jason dressed up as No AIS man, the evil superhero who had been constantly ruining our AIS system. And, fortunately unfeatured in the photo, Jonathan was the Naked Navigator. It did the trick in displacing a certain hint of cabin fever. enjoy!
THe other crew shot is of Jonathan, me, Greg, Megan , and Jason. Megan is my firstmate and the rest of the guys are al delivery crew.

sending much love, as always! 

i must have done something right in this world or in a past time because I feel like I must be the luckiest person in the world. We have arrived after salty two week passage in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua. After a sweaty day of cleaning yesterday, swimming in the turquoise water at sunset was a gracious thank you. granted, being dockside in a marina full of enormous motor yachts does not create the most pristine swimming situation, but i'll take what i can get.

the passage was a fairly good test of patience and ability to walk side ways. the first day out we were all crawling for the puke bucket as we tried not to get blown over in the heart 15 or so knots. a couple days later we were all laughing and recovered from bouts of sea sickness. we decided that a 95-foot, in-less-than-perfect-condition yacht and crew full of salty dogs would have been the perfect setting for a reality tv show. as the days wore on i felt more and more like it was the perfect idea. luckily though we made an excellent crew, and the drama required for such a "reality" tv show was lacking. phew. haha

I am starting to do some menu planning for the charters coming up. I have been feeling fairly overwhelmed, thinking about timing and preparation, but have decided to let my optimism override self-doubt and persevere. everyone was quite pleased with the meals on the way down, so i'll ride into the charter cooking with that momentum.

on night watch, looking up every night to a blanket of stars felt just as good as being home.

sending big love, and hopefully next time some photos.
celeste