A big hello to all the good people on TTOL. I thought I would share some of the recent adventures aboard the good ship Sophisticated Lady and her travels through the Grenadines on what was a TTOL cruise. This is my first shot at a trip report that's longer than a line or two, so if it drags out a bit, I'm sorry, and I'll try to better the next go around.I'll probably include a bit more detail than I usually would, as I know many people read these trip reports to glean some useful nuggets of info for their own adventures. Just a little background, a few months back we sent a couple of bucks down to Rick when he was in a tough spot, as did many of you, and as a way of saying thanks, he drew some names of the paricipants out of a hat and offered a 6 night cruise in the Grenadines. Well, son of a gun, my wifes name gets drawn. My wife was unable to go for a variety of reasons, but I jumped at the chance, having seen and read some of the other fun voyages aboard this particular vessel. I just couldn't let it pass. I cashed some AA miles and off to Grenada I went. My wife of course is thinking I'm right off my rocker to venture off to the Southern Caribbean and get on a 50' foot boat with a bunch of people I've never met. I couldn't have made a better choice. This cruise started out in Grenada at Clarks Court Marina, where Rick keeps the boat during the Summer. The trip down was uneventful and pretty much on time. A pre arranged overnight at the Allamanda Beach Resort was right on the money. Certainly, it's more than adequate for a night or two pre or post charter. The next morning was a great breakfast, where I had the chance to shoot the breeze with my waiter Allston. Allston was trying to fill me in on what was going in the world of cricket in Grenada. I'm a sports fan here in the US, but I'm way out of my league when it comes to cricket. I'm sure some of my friends in the UK or down in the islands would know what he was talking about. Apparently, Allston is no slouch as an all-arounder and a pretty darn good open hitter. I think I got the open hitter part. The Allamanda sits on Grand Anse beach, a nice stretch of shoreline for sure, but not top ten or anything like that in my eyes. My taxi driver from the night before was at the hotel very promptly to give me a lift over to Clarks Court. Just a passing note, but both my waiter and taxi driver mentioned Hurricane Ivan more than a few times and seemed pretty impressed with level of recovery the island had made. I have to agree, only having seen pics of the post-Ivan destruction, the recovery is more than impressive. Just the fact that they still mention it often to visitors, should serve as a reminder to just how traumatic an event that was to these easy going islanders. Anyway, it's off to Clarks Court and to meeting my shipmates for the next 7 days.
Arrival at the marina is simple and I stroll into what is a combination bar/internet cafe/social club/communication center....wel you get the idea, it's where everyone goes! I tell the guy behind the bar I'm looking for Cap't. Rick aboard Sophisticated Lady. He gladly obliges and tries to reach Rick via VHF. No luck. What have I got myself into? Half a Carib later, in pulls Rick in his dinghy. All apprehension instantly evaporates as Rick and I swap introductions. As Rick does some work on his laptop and I pop a couple more Caribs and in walks David, another guest on the trip. David's an easy going guy from Nashville with a quick smile and more experience sailing than i have. Of course, any overnight sailing is more experience than I have. We load the gear and we're off to the boat. The first of many pleasant surprises reveals itself as Rick mentions that his "sweetie" Lia is on the boat and will be joining us for the cruise. After a nice round of intro's we grab a couple of adult beverages and head over to the next bay for dinghy fuel and a walk over the "hill" to the customs office in Prickley Bay. The great thing about the sailing lifestyle in the islands is that there's always a bar right where you need one. While Rick arranges for dinghy fuel we grab another round and Rick asks for directions to customs the office. The guy says go up dis path until you get to de hole in de fence, 'den you take a right, a left, a right a left and it's right dare on de right, you can't miss it mon. Now mind you we're all standing there with adult bev's in hand, and they're not the first of the day by any stretch, if you get my drift. We look at each other, all with same quizzical grins......only in de ilons do you get directions like dat. The intrepid quartet heads out, low and behold, after a couple of consultations, we arrive. Just like dat. Another beach bar what a surprise! Catching a pattern here? It would be like that for the week. I'm thinking i'm gonna have fun on this one! That nightfall brings us to the Friday night cruisers party, complete with proper English stye fish and chips, cold beer, and a live trio no less. Guitar, keyboard/vocalist,sax. This is shaping up nicely! To be continued.........