They Came Bearing Gifts

Sv Hermosita

June 15th

No!  Not the three fabled wise men.  Even better.

Childhood friends united after many years

Two separate sets of friends decided to charter sailboats for holiday in the Caribbean.  We were honored when both made us part of their itinerary.  The gifts they came bearing were just icing on the cake to seeing them.  Well not icing.  Something even better......TP.  Yes that's right - Toiliet Paper!  Sv Hermosita gave us all their extra rolls of TP.  They also gave us choclate, wine, spices, napkins and water at the end of their charter.  But the toilet paper was most exciting because we were down to our last roll and had forgotten to buy when we were last ashore. 

Sv Buzzbee

Nazar - protection from the evil eye

The other group (sv Buzzbee) arrived with a pineapple (the traditional welcome gift in many parts of the world), rum and limes - a party in the making.  Brilliant!  Later on their boat they presented us with a Nazar from Turkey for protection on sv Honey Ryder from the evil eye and special lounge pants that are specific to this group.  Lounge pants?  Yes.  You know how a group of friends can develop inside jokes, stories, traditions and in many cases, clothing.....like funny hats, t-shirts, wigs, sunglasses?  Well, this group has these awesome lounge pants made out of paero (the colorful swimsuit wraps that are sold on every tourist beach in the world).  These pants are uber comfortable.

Tom, James and Claire

Cate, Jane, Dan, Mark

Later in Carriacou we met up with both groups again.  Sv Hermosita joined us aboard sv Somewhere (full time cruisers) for a wonderful evening, sharing some of their yummy and fancy provisions.  Sv Buzzbee sailed in a day later.  We were having a lovely dinner aboard sv Ocean Rainbow with sv Freebooter.  The plan was to meet sv Buzzbee ashore later for some music.  But we never heard the music from shore, so we opted for plan B - invade sv Buzzbee for a jam session on their boat.  As proper Brits, Sv Ocean Rainbow and Sv Freebooter were aprehensive about just popping over.  But I assured them it was no worry, stressing the fact that "Their Americans.  They won't care that we invited you along.  The more the merrier."  And it was true.  Sv Buzzbee were thrilled to play hosts to a cruisers jam.  Claire brought her guitar.  Tom took his bongos and various percusion instruments.  Sv Buzzbee had a uekula and traveling guitar.  All twelve of us sang songs at the top of our lungs for all the anchorage to enjoy hear.  Note -We did shut it down around 10pm -only slightly later than "cruisers midnight" (9pm).  It was a total blast.

Steve, Sabrina, Annemarie

Big jam session

We were able to introduce them to other full time cruisers, giving them a glimps into the life of cruisers other than just us.  In exchange, both charter groups shared their bountiful charter provisions at happy hours, boat visits and a pot luck dinner with us and these full time cruisers.  A win-win for everyone.

Claire and Cate fine tune their singing act

Brett, Heather, Tom, James (on the vibraslap) and Claire

*Hint - if you are a charter boat that wants to meet some full time cruisers, tempt them with ice and your fancy charter nibblies.

Mark, Dan and Brett

Thank you to both groups for making us part of your holiday.