California

It's great to be back in San Luis Obispo. Our goals are to spend some 'quality time' with our kids and to paint the exterior of our house. The weather's been terrific - sunny and warm with a welcome chill in the evenings. Bruce pulled his laser out of storage and sailed in a regatta where he was beat by our daughter, Maren. Laura went to a cooking class and will try out some new recipes at the St. Thomas Boat Show in November. Our son, Connor, surprised us with news that, in addition to surfing and working, he's enrolled in college classes.

We've been hiking, dining out, watching movies, seeing friends and generally having a wonderful time. We're even enjoying painting the house! But as soon as the noon temperature drops below 70, we'll be ready to run back to the islands.

Maine - August 10-18, 2009

Since we live where most people dream of taking a vacation, we are often asked where we go for a vacation. This year we decided to spend a week in Maine. As newlyweds in 1985, we sailed a Baltic 51 from the USVI to Camden Maine for the summer charter season. This was our 'working' honeymoon and we fell in love with the area. The summer season was short - Fourth of July until Labor Day - and we managed to squeeze in 6 charters. We were told that the summer of '85 was the best in ten years - only one day fogged in! So we figured we shouldn't push our luck and waited 24 years before returning. We had heard that Maine had been dreary and cold all spring and summer. We told friends that we'd bring the Caribbean sunshine with us. We flew into Boston and spent our first day in Newport, RI. Sunny and 90 degrees! We had excellent weather our entire visit. We left as Hurricane Bill approached.

What makes Maine so special for us is the maritime history of the Northeast and the beautiful classic boats that can still be found in New England. The great thing about being part of a sailing community is that sailors are drawn to areas where there is good sailing (duh!) and chances are you will cross paths with someone you know. We stayed with friends who had cruised the Caribbean in 1980 and became friends because we both had classic boats, as beautiful as they were impractical. When Laura's back went out, we found a masseuse in Rockland who is a winter St. John resident. Also in Rockland, we saw the Schooner Heron that day sails out of Maho Bay, St. John in the winter months. We were able to visit other friends from VI who opened their houses to us and made us feel at home. It was a much needed respite from the steamy boatyard - we hope to reciprocate this winter when our friends in Maine can revisit the VI aboard AMARYLLIS.

Grenada Marine - It's a hard life on the hard

What can I say? We love Grenada. The people are wonderful and the mangoes abundant. We choose to haul the boat in Grenada because it is considered below the hurricane belt (never mind about Janet and Ivan). But it is hot, hot, hot. It is also the rainy season which creates mud and mosquitoes. This is the time of year when we have no income and work the hardest (which really makes sense because you couldn't pay me enough to do some of the jobs that need to be done in the boatyard). What makes it all bearable is the camaraderie with other boaters also stranded on the hard. There are the two guys from Fiji getting a long-neglected catamaran ready for the 8,000 mile trip home. There's the couple from South Africa who left a career with a top multi-national company to sail around the world. There are cruisers from Canada who's paths we have crossed in the Grenadines and the VI over the past year and who will certainly be friends for life. Plus, this year we are taking a vacation which will break up our time in the boat yard. It's all good!