Jack and I just lucked out on a glorious window in this wicked winter and were able to get to the airport at Indy, to Atlanta, San Juan and board a ship for the Caribbean to visit islands we’d never seen.
Last October, at “Tip a V.I.P.” a fundraiser for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate), our friend, Gigi, former CEO, found out about our winter adventure. she now lives on St. Thomas but decided she’d take the seaplane across to St. Croix and show us her “birthisland”. Her father and grandfather were the only doctors on the island. There wasn’t even a vet, so not only did they deliver babies, treat the sick and do annual check-ups, they also treated pigs, delivered calves and foals, and set broken animal legs. They were paid in produce, cash, prepared food and some even offered land.
Our tour began with an almost 2-hour Mass at Christiansted’s Holy Cross Church. Gigi told us we could wear just about anything to Mass. The apparel ranged from long gowns and suits to sundresses and khakis, spiked heels to sandals, mantillas to feathered hats to French knots. Every time the itinerant priest from Toma (St. Thomas) heard a song he liked, he wanted us all to continue it in any language we knew. He celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and the Mass. Sure made St. Matt’s Masses seem short!
After hiking through forts and towns, we stopped at Point Udall, the Easternmost point of the USA. There, a huge monument is dedicated to US Congressman Morris Udall, who worked so hard to prevent stripmining, to preserve Alaska’s wilderness and to make Buck Island a National Park. What a legacy!
Our next adventure was boarding Gigi’s Whaler for a crossing to Buck Island for a day of swimming, picnicing and beachcombing. About halfway through the crossing, I wished we were in our own cruiser, Sidebar II, a much larger craft, but then, our high profile would have made anchoring a challenge in the Caribbean winds.
We got back to our ship in time to watch the Bears-Packers game with an evenly divided group of fans.(Should have stayed on Buck Island!)
After a week of snorkeling, hiking, swimming, Funcatting, sightseeing and shopping on St. Kitts (the sugarcane train brokedown THREE times in the mountains), Dominica, Grenada and Tobago/Trinidad, winter was waiting for us again in Illinois, with a vengeance.
Hurry Summer!