The Good Work.
Swimming has been good to me. It gave me some much needed confidence as a skinny young kid, got me into college and even paid for some of it, has kept me relatively fit and healthy through the decades, and led to me starting up SwimVacation. The swimming part of SwimVacation, however, plays a distant second to the satisfaction I get from working with my guides and crew. Many of them were personal friends of mine before joining SwimVacation, and the rest quickly became my close friends. I can’t stress enough what special, talented people these are. Think about meeting a new client for the first time, then living with them for a week. They all do this with grace and selflessness. My guides and crew have qualities that can’t easily be learned. They’re what makes every trip a life-changer for so many of our guests, and what allows them to come back better.
Friday morning found us anchored off Ile de Ronde, east of Grenada. We eat a continental style breakfast on SwimVacation, with some swimmers preferring to eat before the morning swim, some after, and some a little of both. Chef Miriam has been making grilled, buttered cinnamon toast onto which we’ve been spreading local nutmeg jam. Delicious.
Jason offered to drop us off in the next bay over for a swim there, but considering the strength of guests Melinda and Miriam, I suggested we swim around the point to get into the bay, instead. It added about ½ mile to our planned 1 mile, and included a good deal of swimming against the current. As is often the case towards the end of the week, our guests donned fins for a little extra help. After swimming through a little bit of everything: wind, current, chop, we employed the conga line once again and arrived at the Antares, now anchored at our destination, tired but satisfied.
With a big sail ahead of us, we chose to brunch instead of lunch. Chef Miriam put out some pulled chicken, bacon, and veggie pizza thingies and they were gone pretty quick. The 2-hour downwind sail was a smooth, fast delight. We pulled into a little spot next to Dragon Bay and grabbed a mooring ball. We did more of a snorkel than a swim, exploring the steep cliff that extends about 60’ underwater. We spotted another swimmer here, from our neighboring yacht. It was a rare but welcome encounter, and we traded stories of our favorite swimming holes.
Heather’s busiest day on SwimVacation is Friday, when she does photographic swimmer portraits of our guests and assembles the slide show for the evening. Things were bustling aboard Antares as 3 of us took video covid tests for our return to the U.S. and chef Miriam put out a lovely quiche as we made yet another pitcher of sangria disappear. The slide show was a big hit as always, but also a little sad as this trip comes to an end.
We owe thanks to our guests Miriam and Melinda for toughing out some adventurous swims, all of which were new to us. Their tenacity will pave the way for future SwimVacationers to enjoy these islands to the fullest.
I'll be handing over blogging duties to Heather and my guide position here will be filled by my old pal Tim “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick. Along with the rest of the crew, they’ll make sure next week's guests come back better, too.
Hopper
