Alina, Fitz and I slept in a triangle outside on the top deck last night, which was a tiny bit humid and dewy but also lovely and connective. It’s nice to feel like you’re earning an adventure with friends, and when I looked over at them sleeping soundly, I just felt really glad to be here.

I slept pretty well until that dog decided it had A LOT to say to the rooster at about 0500….!

Jason got us under weigh early and we made our way about an hour up the coast of Grenada Island. We jumped in for a swim that was more about getting in a workout before our long sail than anything else. Water a degree cooler but still hot here, and visibility was poor due to turbid waters. Between the dog and the rooster and the turbidity and traffic, I’m longing to get north to the quiet calm of our favorite bay at the uninhabited island of Isle de Ronde.

So after we climbed aboard, everyone hurried to prepare themselves for a hunker down and we got to sailing. The sailing was lovely and breezy - everyone conversed and laughed and Miriam shared some of her fav songs playlist with me. I just love a good long sail, when there’s not much else to be done but enjoy the ride. I can feel the ease in everyone.

We arrived at Isle de Ronde and ducked in to Corn Store Bay out of the wind. Blessing and curse - we escaped the swell, but WOWZA was it HOT. From the hot galley, Maya gave us a great lunch of pasta, chicken salad on either rolls or lettuce wraps along with a sesame shrimp…yum. I’ll admit despite the tabled goodness I was too hot to eat much. I wasn’t alone because shortly after lunch, one by one we all jumped in the water. Even at 86, it was a relief.

I’ve written many times before about how much we value play on SwimVacation. We often can’t choreograph it or even predict what will trigger it. And so today’s heat did the trick. Like kids performing for Mom, our swimmers started to dive, jump and fling themselves off the bow of the boat for my camera. They’d leap, plunge, drift to the back of the boat (thanks, tidal current!) then climb back aboard, walk to the bow and plunge again. It was fun, it was uplifting and led everyone laugh and let go. After the shenanigans wrapped, I made a few free dives down to about 25 feet where the water was at least 4 degrees cooler. The entire fun splash reset me for the afternoon.

A short but welcome rain cooled things a degree or two, and after we dripped to damp it was time for our afternoon swim! We plotted our course and decided to swim to shore and along the cliffs for 30 mins, turn around and come back. Juuuust before we jumped in the sky got really dark and rolling thunder sounded. Hm. Is it really a thing that we shouldn’t get in the ocean when thunder is present? Whilst we debated, the storm passed clear to our west and we jumped in.

*Pelican on repeat maneuvers allowed us to get a great view of its gorgeous self!*

Swimming and bobbing and chatting with the storm to our south and west….and Debbie got tossed in the waves near the beach which meant sand in her crackers so she de-suited at the end of the swim…!

Our group divided into swimmers and bobbers. Swimmers explored deeper waters and found cooler temps and great visibility. The bobbers discussed important matters such as cooling and grounding sheets, our upcoming trip to Seychelles, and the number of fish a pelican was catching dive after dive just yards away. I did a little bit of bouncing between groups, and on our way back, we were waved down by some folks on a monohull who wanted to know what we were all about. We swam over and got to chatting and wouldn’t you know it, they are from MAINE! South Portland, Westbrook and Bowdoinham specifically, and we could not pass up the opportunity to do a photo of Maine swimmers (me and Alina) and sailers. Small world.

*Alina and I posed with a monohull full of Mainers in Corn Store Bay at Isle de Ronde!*

Happy hour featured veggies and dip and some delicious cheeses and such. Dinner was chicken caesar, chicken sweet potato stew and some balsamic roasted veggies. Dessert capped things off with a cheese cake sort of thing…No leftovers, don’t ask.

The sunset was dramatic as storm clouds mixed with bright skies and rain separated the two on the horizon. I love the view from Isle de Ronde - small islands to our southwest called The Sisters are always silhouetted in dramatic skies.

People are headed off to bed and it just started to rain again, which has Alina, Fitzy and I brainstorming our camping strategy for the night. It’s too bad, because it’s a new moon and we are so remote that the stargazing could be spectacular. Who knows. We will stay open to clear skies and we might be surprised by a window of paradise you can only experience if you get out to where things are wild and unpredictable. Or maybe we’ll just play in the rain.

Love,

Heather

Monday sails.

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