Big Swims and Little Whales.
Tuesday started early - really early - and it’s a good thing it did because we could never have fit everything in if we’d started any later.
Back story: Janine is a marathon swimmer. This means she travels around to participate in swims that are 6 miles or more. Most recently she swam the entire length of Lake Tahoe which is 22 miles. She swam for 17 hours. It’s what she does, it’s what she needs. Her motto is “Swim Happy”, which is a beautiful sentiment, but usually means she’s swimming long and through rough water. Janine has been traveling with us for a decade, and I think early on I accompanied her in what had been her longest open water swim at the time. Since then, as her hunger for swimming has grown, her requests for long swims on SwimVacation have gotten a tad more ravenous. So last night she requested a 2 - 3 hour swim.
O. K.
As we are in the business of accommodating people at their distance and at their pace, we put together a morning that included something for everyone. We plotted a nearly 3 mile A to B swim that we would be largely into the wind and current, with only one opportunity for a bail out about 1/3 of the way through. Cynthia, who revealed that her motto for her 60s has been “Frolic”, gamely decided she wanted to join Janine on this rough water journey. Lexi and Marianne opted for “Vacation” with a calm bay bob and scout, respectively.
So alarms went off at 0600, engine on at 0630. Jason motored to our starting point at the southeast corner of Ile de Ronde. We splashed in, with a course that would take us all along the southern shore, around the corner and straight up the western shore to Corn Store Bay where our yacht would be at anchor. There, Zack would guide Marianne and Lex in their morning water experience.
Immediately on jump in, we were caught up in a froth of textured water moving just barely in the direction we wanted to go. A little push! Nice. A southern stingray moved about on the bottom, making movement in any direction look easy. Lucky little ray. Within a few hundred yards, we were swimming squarely against the current. The ladies dug deep and took the effort in stride. A smack of small jellies with iridescent spots flowed past us, little zaps on soft bits of skin here and there. We swam. And swam. More jellies. We took the corner wide to avoid breaking waves. Corners are places where currents collide and we know to expect chaos. We stroked steadily and it seemed we weren’t moving. Janine and Cynthia kept on.
Once we turned the corner, we started to see a little progress but still worked against a steady current. Zap zap a few more jellies. The water was gin clear and we could see reefs and beds of sand below as we swim-clawed our way. We stopped a few times for water breaks and pep talks. Janine, being so experienced, barely needed encouragement, and she was able to help coach Cynthia through. Cynthia was a champ and stayed positive the whole way, even when we could see the boat at anchor but still had over an hour of work ahead. Swim Happy and Frolic, right through to the end.
Just about 2.5 hours after we began, we found ourselves at the back of the yacht, hugging and high- fiving and celebrating an amazing effort. It was a 3 mile swim that swam like 5. We’ve hopefully scratched Janine’s Swim Happy itch for a few days, but WOW Cynthia and her longest ever open water swim. She was a frolicking superstar. I’m so proud of both of these ladies. This was a serious swim and they put their heads down and got the job done.
As we arrived I saw Zack with Marianne and Lex on the black sand beach and I swam a little further to meet up with them. They were happy from their Scout-Bob and we all bobbed a bit more with some trunk fish working on a carrot that had fallen overboard.
Speaking of, we were all starving and Miriam kindly gave us lunch at 10:30.
Satisfied with a high-test start to the day and bellies full, we set sail for Carriacou, thought to be a two hour journey. And it would have been, had it not been for all the whales.
What??
Yes. I said WHALES.
Short fin pilot whales are smaller than orcas but bigger than dolphins and today they came to play around our bobbing boat. The little whales bobbed and blew and finned and teased us for an hour. We all laughed and pointed and Jason played the harmonica to call them and we ran around the boat looking for the best view, while the 10-20 of them made fools of us by popping up exactly where we weren’t. It was thrilling. Whales. A SwimVacation first!
Jason plays the harmonica to beckon the pilot whales and keep them around.
As we got back underway we narrowly escaped an impressive squall as the sky behind us turned to night right in the middle of the day.
A white squall made a portion of the sea look like night in the middle of the day.
Our little yacht finally came to rest just off of Sandy Island near Carriacou. We jumped in for a swim that started with a snorkel and morphed into a beach walk then ended with diving down to look at puffers and a final southern stingray to bookend the day. Uncle.
A short land excursion onto Sandy Island leads to a huge coral wall and a small lagoon.
Grenada has some of the healthiest coral life we have seen in the Caribbean!
The sun set in lovely shades of orange and pink and Jason photographed it for me because I couldn’t take even one more picture.
There’s a breeze tonight that will keep us cool. Some of us are still giddy and wide awake with excitement about the day, and some of us are feeling the fingers of sleep begin to trace lines over lids. I identify with the latter, and so, I bid you, our stellar swimmers, the little whales and all of these Grenadian jewels, goodnight.
Way to Tuesday, Greens.
Heather
Jason shot this lovely photo of sunset tonight. I was too busy editing! - HP