Wind, wandering, water and pie.

Woke to a blowin’ sea at Ille de Ronde, so we set sail for the big island of Grenada. Along the way, we checked out some little bays along the northwest coast, but the waves were wrapping around into them, so we kept heading south. It rained. The wind blew some more. I started to worry that our final day of this trip was becoming unrecoverable. And then…..We sailed into North Halifax Harbor, and the wind stopped, and the sun shone. You don’t realize how noisy the wind is until you manage to get out of it. We welcomed the calm and relaxed into a new level of comfort.

On to a calm and delicious lunch. To report that we had leftovers for lunch wouldn’t do the meal justice. How lou lou can turn everything left in the fridge into a carefully curated new meal is beyond me. We all ate it all.

While everyone else digested, I dropped the SUP in for the first time this trip for a scouting mission to the north end of the bay, where we’ve never swum. I liked what I saw from atop this tippy board. 

Five of us jumped in for a swim and were immediately met with 30 feet of gin-clear water, vibrant corals fanning beneath us and colorful parrotfish darting around. We swam to the edge of the bay, where waves crashed in a frothy, noisy rush.

As with most SwimVacations at this point in the trip, our swim turned to play. Heather took some smooth swimmer portraits, and we took turns on the tippy SUP. Judy was hell-bent on standing up on it, and she did, for a second. Photograph proves it! Laughs all around. Look! Cocktail hour!

Heather took a little time with both Natalie and Judy to celebrate their water-selves.

Gin and Tonics on the back deck washed down some yummy fishy bites that Lisa put out. Captain Richie fired up the grill with some local charcoal that smells great, and finished off several racks of ribs that were eventually served with big sweet potato wedges and a salad. It’s Zack’s Birthday!!!! He blew out a homemade candle and we all toasted him and ate a chocolate cream cheese marmalade pie. 

Heather did a fabulous job with the slideshow, which included a brand new song for us, Sting’s Rushing Water. 

I mentioned to Heather that this trip felt a bit Tiger-By-The-Tail and she reminded me that they all feel like that. Tomorrow we swap boats for a bigger one but keep the same awesome crew. We’ll provision, get laundry done, a million things. We’ll add a guide on Sunday with the arrival of John. 

Natalie and Judy have been all in this week, keeping flexible and fun while being the strong swimmers they were long before we had the pleasure of guiding them. It’s hard saying goodbye to friends like family. I’m grateful for the distraction of another week of this good, salty work ahead.

Hopper