Winter Break
After a few years of living in the holy land, my sailor’s mouth was almost gone, but the extreme cultural differences were taking their toll on me, so I saved my money and bought a nice sailboat in the Caribbean to live on for a while. I flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico to visit the temple I once helped start and to revisit the island. My goal was to visit the marina, make a few friends and get some help buying the right boat. It was a good plan. I met a nice guy who was both a sailor and a surveyor, so he helped me pick out a nice Catalina 30 with a diesel engine. I was familiar with this boat as I sailed on one with the Women’s Sailing Association out of Marina Del Rey, CA. The inside was roomy and the engine was quiet.
I worked on it for three weeks, installing solar panels, a wind generator and radar. My thought was to take a long cruise, hopping from island to island, stopping at every port along the way, until I reached Trinidad and Tobago. I was in no hurry, being happily retired. My solar panels were working beautifully, so the only expenses were a cell phone service for emergencies and children , diesel fuel, a new battery if needed, a few meds for what ailed me and food. The wind generator kept my engine powered, so I was ready to go.
I started my journey on November 27th, from San Juan. My sails were full as I was getting good wind and I headed towards the US Virgin Islands. I was so happy to be out on the water again but a little nervous taking a long journey by myself. I prepared as much as possible before I left with equipment and supplies and I felt pretty safe. Besides, I bought a great long-distance vhf radio for any emergency.
My water maker took the salt water, removed the salt and gave me fresh clear water. I filled up my jugs with filtered water when I was in port. I flavored some of my water with peppermint leaves given to me by a friend for a refreshing drink. To conserve, I washed in salt water and then wiped down with purified water. If I ran out of shampoo, I washed my hair with clean sand and peppermint water and it worked quite well. I was already accustomed to using sand paper for an emory board to file my nails down and keep my feet free from the crust naturally occurring from living in sandals. Ugh. I learned that one in India. I kept my sunglasses on a tight cord around my neck because without them I would have surely gone blind. I only kept a few articles of clothing for summer, two sundresses, one jacket to match both, two pairs of shorts, one skirt, two pairs of long pants and four tops. When sailing you always need a sweater and a windbreaker with some waterproof pants and jacket. I kept a broad-brimmed hat on my head with a chin strap to keep the wind from blowing it away. One must be careful with getting too much sun in the twenty-first century as our ozone is still somewhat depleted.
Since I was in the caribbean, there weren't many cool days, only when a rain storm passed through. The warm air did good things for my arthritis and I hunkered in on cool evenings to read a book. Watching the stars from the ocean was a gift from God. After a whole life of not knowing what was above me, I was now beginning to learn the constellations and stars in the sky. I hoped to get a good telescope soon, or one day, but for now I was using a small one from a Marine store in the states. The skies are so free from pollution when you are away from land, you can see everything!
When pulling into port I took my dingy and paddled into the local restaurant area to set up a small table with a colorful umbrella to sell gemstone earrings I made along the way. (Auto pilot helped so I could have my hands free.) I bought all silver fixings with stones like garnet, lapis lazuli, tiger eye, amethyst, rose quartz and crystal. I only accepted donations and didn’t charge a fixed price, convinced Krishna would give me what I needed. He did. The people I met were kind and generous and always curious to hear my stories. I told them about sailing, about my experience with my gurus and about India. They laughed at the stories of the monkeys and were sad about the Dead Dog.
Gradually, I made my way down south meeting an old sailor in the Virgin Islands named Santoz who was as free as a bird. He expressed his desire to sail with me to St. Kitts and I agreed, as it’s a long sail from the Virgin Islands. I made him some basmati rice, spiced with fresh ground coriander, and filled with peanuts, raisins and coconut. A little coconut oil enhanced the flavor and a touch of raw sugar balanced the yin/yang. We laughed and traded stories as we moved slowly through the caribbean waters.
Santoz told a story one evening leaving me laughing into the night. Seems he was hired to deliver a brand new 64 foot yacht from Los Cabos to San Diego. He took a buddy with him for his crew while the owners stayed in the main cabin below as the evening grew dark. In the middle of the night, near the entrance to a port, they saw some crew unloading huge timbers to be ground into pulp. “Hey!” shouted Santoz, “can we get that timber from you? We can sell it at the next port and make some good money for ourselves.” The guys agreed and Santoz and his buddy pulled up alongside the barge and unloaded The next morning, the owners came up and said, “What happened? Where did all the timber come from?” “You didn’t feel those huge swells? It was all we could do to keep the ship under control. Things were flying everywhere! Don’t worry, we’ll get rid of them for you, no problem.” There was a little damage to the deck of the boat, but, he said, “The owners blew it off, we put a thousand dollars in our pocket and headed on up to San Diego.”
Ethical or not, it’s a real trip to hear the stories of pirate sailors, and all lifetime sailors are pirates of some sort! When we reached St. Kitts, we pulled into port and I bought him a shuttle ticket back to his home. All was good. The boat was still in good shape! Sails were still strong and it was great to have some company.