Activity Day
07 January 2009
What a great day yesterday. In my previous blog, I described this wonderful marina/condo/luxury accommodation complex. It strikes us that it is going through very hard times which, while a real shame for the owners, is a boon for us. A number of sailboats have made the crossing before the window closed and we have mostly met and discovered another group of diverse but simpatico people.
So, knowing that we'd be stuck (?) here for a couple of days, I decided to use my innate organizational skills to muster the boaters for some fun. Among the several boats/boaters we met were a father and son on a majestic Gulfstream 60. The son is 16 and being home schooled as they poke their way along the same general track as us. Well, in addition to being a bright, interesting and mature young man, very comfortable in the presence of adults (?) he is also athletic and a track and field runner. So, I arrange with him to go for a run in the morning.
We set out; this 16 year old buck and a broken down 55 year old heading for the nearest village, It's a great run! On the way home, we stop for water at a local bar (Coffee's) and the owner (Coffee - most have nicknames here) gives us drinks. I conjure up that we should come back here for dinner and ask him if he's ready to accommodate a number of boaters for happy hour and dinner if I can muster them. He agrees.
So we finish our run.
Event two is a bike ride; again into the village. Darius and Cathy (recall our boat buddies on Breeze Hunter), Judy and I and Sam the aforementioned running buddy, bike into the village and have a lot of fun teasing some of the local shop owners about their pricing policy. They're somewhat used to celebrities around here (recall my Travolta/Alley stories) and I pretend that I'm an important person trying to fly under the paparazzi radar screen.
We stop at Coffees and firm up the plans for our cruisers' dinner.
We get back and I go from boat to boat asking if folks would like to join us. Well, the response was positive, and immediate and we get 16 people who want to do this. Now, I've got to figure out how to get people there (I've already ran and biked once into the village). Also, I commit to the owner that I'll try to determine people's meal preference in advance (this is a large group for this small bar/restaurant). So I spend some time recruiting attendees and asking them what they want to eat. I arrange with the owner to pick some of us up and drive us. One boat has a rental car and in keeping with "activity day", Darius, Cathy, Sam and I bike in.
While the fare was simple, it was a great experience. Our boating neighbours all turn out to be interesting and engaging people, more than willing to share their stories and experiences and appreciative of my pulling this little event together. We all exchange boat cards and stories. I have three questions (often more) which I ply to cruisers; what's their background; are they more or less happy than their land based contemporaries and are they more or less healthy than their land based contemporaries. The backgrounds are diverse but the reaction to the latter two questions is common - happier and healthier. Now, there's lots of caveats about the drudgery of boat maintenance, the fear from the unknowns, the boredom at times with long passages but it is clear that there are no regrets.
After this delightful evening, back to Sea Sharp; Judy goes to the pool and a couple and their daughter who vacation in one of the condos venture to our boat to see Chopin. We spend a couple of hours exchanging stories, including their rendition of the Jett Travolta tragedy; they were in the neighbouring condo.
What a full and fulfilling day. (I promised Sam that I'd run with him again tomorrow (today) and I'm exhausted from the physical and emotional exertion of the day - hope not to let him down).