Tempests and Turtles

Once upon a time, SwimVacation only ran trips in the BVI, and only on one yacht, the Promenade. It was a trimaran that came with a captain, chef, deckhand, and all the food and drink for a week of cruising. It had 6 guest rooms plus another 3 crew cabins. The owners were our partners in the operation, and remain good friends to this day (see Kerry and Bazza in yesterday’s blog). We’d fly a couple of guides down, greet our guests, and go swimming.  The Promenade was lost in an explosion and subsequent fire under suspicious circumstances under a new owner in 2017, and with it, we thought, SwimVacation. 

We got lucky. Around that same time, some yacht charter companies started offering the  6-cabin Lagoon 52 Catamaran. It has 6 cabins (each with their own bathroom) 2 forepeak cabins, a pretty big galley, and lots of deck space. It holds a lot of sail, but also two motors that move us up into the wind pretty quickly. It has air conditioning and a water maker.  These are offered as “bareboats”, that is, they come with only a 6-pack of coke, a bottle of rum, and 3 rolls of toilet paper. No captain or chef or crew, no food, no gear. We quickly had to find the people and the systems for making it work.

The loss of the Promenade, and the hurricane that crippled the BVI shortly after, allowed us to pursue a whole new business model, one that expanded our geography to Greece, the Bahamas, Grenada, the Seychelles, and, in the future, anywhere that we can charter the Lagoon 52. We run a land-based trip in Hawaii. We have a team of captains, chefs, and crew that are the backbone of the business, and we know all of them personally. Heather and I oversee the whole thing, and we have our fingers in every detail of every trip. She’s the pictures and I’m the words. I’m in marketing and she’s in sales. It works.

We finally left the dock this morning and motored then sailed south, into the wind, toward Peter Island. These longer sails allow us to spread out, hydrate, talk, read, play puzzles on our phones. We pulled into Great Harbor and grabbed a mooring ball. Our guests were ready for a swim, so we jumped right in and stroked along the shoreline, planning a 25-minute turnaround. Let's pause for a quick tally of the marine life we’ve seen so far. Southern Stingray (Martina), Green Sea Turtle (Samantha), Squid (Marcus), Trunk Fish (Hopper), Jaw Head Blennies (Myssie) Nurse shark (Marcus), Flamingo Tongues (Heather) and goats bleating on shore (all of us).

I’ve begun going through stroke videos with our guests. It’s one of the parts of my job I enjoy the most, as I get to help people improve their efficiency and avoid injury, and generally help them become more curious about their stroke. I record our session on top of the video that Heather recorded earlier, then email it to each guest immediately after.

Highlights from our Monday swims include a very territorial damsel fish, some synchro swimming with Heather and Miriam and a very delicate moon jellyfish, beautiful and harmless.

Ali produced delicious curried chicken and cous cous salads for lunch. We retreated to shady parts of the yacht to get out of the sun. Later, another swim, gin and tonics, then asian meatballs on fancy rice for dinner, followed by make-your-own ice cream cookie sandwiches with Ben and Jerry’s and yacht-baked cookies for make your own ice cream cookie sandwich night. 

I am writing from the salon, where Fity and I had to retreat  last night after a raging thunderstorm soaked our hammocks. Sometimes I really miss Promenade! 

Hopper