It was our fourth season of sailing. The three previous seasons we’d joined a boat club and had access to a 23′ sloop that we sailed on a fairly regular basis on the St. Croix River. This year we spent a wonderful week sailing in the BVI and we’d captained “Clear Air” in July, but we hadn’t been sailing since then. It appeared that our sailing season might be short this year.

Then, in mid-August, Michael received an email from Superior Charters, alerting us to a short notice discount on “Chat Eau,” a 2010 38′ Lagoon 380 catamaran. With only a month to find crew, we booked it.

We posted a blanket invitation on Facebook and sent an invitation to everyone on a family reunion email list. One of Michaels’ co-workers, Jen, signed up. We also received a reply from the family email list from a woman named Jodi. I sent a text to Michael and asked him if he knew who this person was (he is into genealogy so I knew he could look it up). Turns out she’s a distant cousin. After exchanging a couple of emails, Jodi was on board as well. We heard from many other folks (“ask us again”), but none were available that weekend. We were delighted to have two crew members!

As you know, sailing trips can be made or broken depending on how well everyone on board gets along. We were fortunate that the four of us got along swimmingly; in fact, we hope to sail together again.

Day Zero (Friday): We drove to the boat together Friday afternoon. When we got to the boat and unloaded our gear, the food and . . . the booze, we realized that we had enough alcohol to completely satisfy the four of us for about three weeks. It was a four-day sail! We had our work cut out for us.

Day One (Saturday): The winds were light so we had to motor a portion of the way to Devil’s Island for some sightseeing and cliff jumping.

Michael stayed with the boat at anchor while the three women took the dinghy to the island. Before going to the island, we explored the caves. They are stunningly beautiful! If you’ve never been there, we highly recommend that you visit. After exploring the caves, we motored to the island. We attached the painter to a rock, stripped to our bathing suits and walked the short distance to the cliffs. I’d jumped off the cliffs in July so I knew the water was cold enough to take one’s breath away. Once in the water it was okay; but that initial dunk was pretty chilly. Continue reading →