Paradise?

Waking up to find yourself at an island straight out of a magazine is absolutely the coolest. The fabulous chef, a woman named Yellen, somehow managed to make 3 outstanding meals a day in the tiny, rocking, boat kitchen and waking up to coffee brewing as you gaze at crystal clear water and white sand beaches tugs at the heart strings of even the most avid sailing haters.

That said, no one had slept well the night before. The rocking of a boat under sail is NOT like the romantic "rocking" of a boat at anchor. It is more like active sleeping where you close your eyes and brace yourself against the walls of your bunk so you aren't dumped on the floor ...and call it sleeping. And that was if you could stomach laying down! Most of the guests, including my son, became horribly ill, even with Dramamine. Here is where everyone said a special thank you for those private toilets. Anyway, it made for a disorienting, off morning. And I now stank of my son's vomit.

Excited to explore this Palm tree laden Island spotted with other sailors (and literally wash the stink off of myself), we jumped into the cool water, snorkel gear in place. The short swim to shore offered a chance to see that the water was filled with unpleasant sea snakes and pokey star fish. I learned about how pokey the star fish were by jamming my foot into one as I spastically splashed about choking on sea water through what I had now determined was a broken snorkel.  At that point I decided I'd let my husband and son fight the currents and keep swimming while I found a seat in the warm sand. I blamed the mishap on needing to acclimate.

This palm tree forest of an Island was intriguing, but really worth only a few hours. We were there for close to 2 days. The currents were too strong to make swimming fun, there was nothing of interest to see on the small Island so one stroll around it was all you needed which meant all of us crammed into the cockpit of the boat and wondered loudly how long we'd be there. Our Captain said nothing. It seemed our Captain lived on his private boat anchored there most of the time. He even took this opportunity to do work on his boat and hang out with his friends while the tourists in his charge languished. A strange introduction to our trip for sure.

We finally moved on to Island #2, a short sail away. This Island was worse than the 1st with even less to see...other than the falling down hut and pet pigs the single Island family had. But it did have a hut that our Captain liked to stay in time to time to practice his guitar. Ahhhh...now you are starting to see right?

Our incredibly cool group of co-guests made time on the boat a fun filled, entertaining one, but as time slipped away and our wordless Captain again left us alone wondering what the hell was going on, we all started to grumble. How long would we be there? When and where would we sail to next? What the hell was the plan? And most importantly, where was the bonfire and lobster dinner we were promised from the website description of this trip? We were getting dangerously close to our blue water crossing where land wouldn't be available for such a party.

As the wine poured a little higher in the glasses and the grumbles got a little louder, our Captain climbed into the one and only dingy, started the motor, and said "this is a good island to have a bonfire if you all want to collect wood and do that". Then he sailed to the Island...in the one and only dingy. I'm not sure how we should have accomplished the goal of a bonfire on that Island. Were we to swim to the Island in the dark, find wood...in the dark and chop it to size with our hands? Use sticks to make the fire? Was this a reenactment of the movie "Castaway"? Clearly we decided that we would not take up his offer and said goodbye to the bond fire and lobster idea. But not happily.

This Captain would not be getting a tip.

-Cheers from the Vivác Winery Family!
www.VivacWinery.com