Goodbye BVI

Home in my own bed after two busy crazy wonderful weeks aboard Promenade. I'm always amazed how I can wake up in one part of the world and go to bed that night in another - perhaps the transition is made a little easier by knowing that the Caribbean isn't all that far away. Yesterday morning we saw off our week 2 guests. One by one, they filtered back into the world and their every day lives. It's always a good sign everyone had a great trip when the e mails start flying around within 12 hours of leaving the boat. There were comments about special swims, expectations exceeded, gratitude for a week of liberating time in the water. We know - it's why we do this thing.

Hopper grabbed this shot of our plane from Tortola to San Juan

Hopper and I said our goodbyes to Felix, Lindsey, Kerry & Bazz, and of course Promenade (me, with tears, as usual) but left having scheduled our next three trips. Good to have my return date on the calendar. We headed to San Juan where we planned to crash for the night before heading back home to Maine. We stayed at a funky little resort with cool retro flair and a man made lagoon partitioned off from the sea. The place had a great vibe, but I found being around so many people again a little overwhelming. So we unpacked our suits and escaped to the water. There was a little floating dock in the lagoon - we headed straight for it and just hopped on - a little boat booster shot. Having been on the Promenade for so long, I feel a little unbalanced on solid ground, and the float gave me a gentle rocking I kind of needed. Call it a half way house to life on land.

We had a fun dinner in Old San Juan and talked mostly about SwimVacation and the 15 clients we just hosted in the last two weeks. Each of them came for different reasons, all of them left feeling recharged, having reached a part of themselves they don't have access to in their every day lives. This is clear when I'm editing the week's photographs. I see the change in their faces from Day 1 to Day 5. They are lighter, with easy smiles. I hope they'll hang on to their sea-swimming selves for a while, carrying that ease and confidence back home with them.

      

 

Week One guests Mary, Carter, Trudi, Dan, Jori, Debbie, Walt & Janine, Guides Elaine & Fitzy

      

 

Week Two guests Yafa, Amy, Carol, Hank, Mark, Janie & Carol, Guides Dave & Hopper

Good to travel and make this transition with my buddy Hopper, who delivered me right to my door and into the arms of husband and son. Tonight I'm grateful for my warm cozy home in Maine, but also for the time I get to spend each year on a boat in a blue sea, with a bunch of people who come to swim. As I said to one of our guests, a side effect of what we do is often re-establishing balance in your life. If the water is where you do that, we're here to help you dive in.

Sleep well all, welcome home. Don't forget what you looked like on Day 5. That's the real you, awake and ready to face whatever next week holds for you.

- Heather

PS. Thanks so much to Kerry, for all of the amazing pics she made of ME in the last two weeks (like the one at left). As a person who is always behind the camera, I never have pictures of myself. You make images that show how comfortable I am in the sea. I'm so grateful to have them..