I had a delivery to do a few years ago, over Christmas. A nice, 54-foot expedition sloop in Antigua needed to be in Martinique by the end of January.
“I’m coming!” My daughter announced from her dorm room at Maine Maritime Academy. I admitted that I would enjoy having the help. It’s only 200 miles as the shearwater flies, a 24-hour jaunt, start to finish. I could do it solo, but why hurry things?
On my first trip to the Caribbean, a burly West Indian dockmaster at a Virgin Gorda marina had admonished me: “Slow down, mon. You go too fast.” It’s a mantra I’ve had to repeat to myself throughout my life in the West Indies, and that I remembered as my son chimed in next.
“Can we visit the islands on the way?” he messaged me via WhatsApp. He was in England at Southampton Solent University studying marine engineering and yacht design. “Last time the family was on a boat for Christmas in the Caribbean was 10 years ago,” he added. “Can we not rush it this time?”
He was right. We had the time. Why not spend it?
The kids had five weeks off from school. Their mother had just finished working on a film in the UK. All three of them made plans to meet me in English Harbour, Antigua, in mid-December.
A week later, we were anchored in the delightful harbor of Deshaies on the northwestern tip of Guadeloupe for Christmas morning.
When the crew awoke and wandered into the salon, we found that Santa Mom had been there. Julie takes her Christmases seriously. Being on a boat, at anchor in a strange harbor, does not deter her from making memories. Ten years earlier, on our 57-foot Bowman ketch, Searcher, we’d enjoyed a similar experience. We had anchored off Lower Bay in Bequia for Christmas, the mizzen mast all lit up with strings of colored lights. Then, too, there was a Christmas tree on the varnished table. Presents cascaded three deep.
Well, fine: The tree was not a real tree. Julie used a pineapple, but she topped it with a string of battery-operated lights. The presents were wrapped in what was available, too: brown paper grocery bags.
Absolutely glorious.
