I left a cold New York City on December 29th and headed south to the West Indies, where winter days are blazing hot and sunny and there is no shortage of palm trees and beaches. I walked out of Customs into the Antiguan island sun and there were two tan dashing young French men waiting for me… a sure sign that this would be the start of an amazing experience!

Greetings from somewhere near 15.52N and 61.35W! I’ve been island hopping in the Caribbean for over a month now and could not dream of doing anything but what I’m doing now. New friends, hot sunny blue sky days, beautiful islands, sailing, interesting conversations and funny stories, the pace, and daily life on a sailboat have all exceeded any expectations I may have had. I’m having the time of my life and at this rate I may never get off the boat…

How did I get here? How did I meet these guys? Where did I find this sailboat? Google! I became part of the “Urios Around” crew after coming across an intriguing posting on the internet. It didn’t seem that outlandish at the time to go off and live/travel with some guys I’d never met in person or talked to more than once. But, looking back on it now, I guess it’s like inviting a stranger to move into your 37 ft apartment for a few months without ever having laid eyes on him/her… which one would probably never do. We laugh about it now and wondered about each other a lot before I stepped on board (especially since all these guys had to work with was a photo of me and Justin Timberlake), but mostly I just consider it serendipity. It’s wonderful how these things sometimes just work out.

“Urios” is a French sailboat that left Brittany in October and is making her way to New Zealand. Her Captain/Owner is Gregory, a consultant from Paris with a passion for sailing and a dream to sail around the world. He quit his job last fall to make that dream come true. Greg is joined by a good college friend and First Mate, Jean-Benoit (aka JB), a Programme Officer for UNICEF, who is on a break from living in war-torn countries and setting up emergency aid for children. His passport is unreal – Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Laos, Kosovo, Nigeria… Hearing JB’s tales makes you realize that stories about job stress and purpose, adventure and adaptability are all relative! There are 4-5 of us crew on board for various legs of the trip and right now there’s an American flag flying on the shroud alongside the French, Belgian, and Holland flags. Petra is a very cool Dutch woman who joined a few weeks ago and we pick up another French guy in Panama. Greg also has friends flying in to visit us along the way and join in on the adventure. There’s no shortage of fun and interesting people!

I finally had a chance to read my previous blog entries, and it’s already obvious to me that this trip is a completely different experience. Where awesome sights defined Part 1 for me, it’s the daily life on a sailboat, interesting conversations, funny moments, and shared experiences with new friends that are making Part 2 what it is. I’ll run out of ways to describe the beautiful scenery from the cockpit of a sailboat, but hopefully my stories of everyday life will be a hint of how happy I am just to be here.

Island hopping in the Caribbean is exactly how you imagine the postcard of it to be. Palm trees, beaches, blue bays, sailboats, bright madras clothing, barefoot children, green hills/mountains, reggae music, stray dogs, roosters, cows and goats roaming the streets, banana trees, small villages and shacks, roosters cockle doodle dooing and cows mooing at all hours of the day. Different islands and cultures, big and small, are just a few miles from each other. We switch between English and French on a regular basis; Eastern Caribbean dollars and Euros, boulangeries and baguettes, Pimm’s and pina coladas! We’ve hit Antigua, Guadeloupe, Mustique, Montserrat, Sainte Lucia, Bequia, Grenadines already. Each island is as beautiful as the last, but they’re all quite different. Mustique was the idyllic island of the rich and famous. A “perfect” Caribbean island was created out of a deserted island replete with manicured lawns and strategically-placed palm trees, golf courses, beautiful villas, brightly-colored buildings, white sand beaches, golf carts and boutiques. No wonder Mick Jagger and David Bowie hang out there. It’s the Disneyland of the Caribbean and lacks a bit of authentic local flavor, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying rum drinks at sunset at the beach bar of its beautiful 5-star resort hotel, Cotton House. Montserrat was a stark contrast. A volcano devastated the entire island about 10 years ago and about only half of the population still lives there. You can see the huge lava trails that wiped out so much of the island from miles away, and the volcano was still spewing smoke as we sailed by. Unbelievable.

The sun could not be hotter or brighter. Sometimes there is just too much hot sun. My tan no longer requires sunscreen and I am going blond. The ocean is every shade of blue and oh so clear. Multiple daily dips in the ocean are standard. Lots of fish. Lots of sailboats. More American yachts here than I saw in the South Pacific, and as always, your typical multitude of English sailors and French sailboats. The sounds of reggae music, “Zouk Love” and the occasional local bongo drumming sessions carry across the water from the shore. The music always makes your hips shake no matter what you’re doing. Then, there’s the food. Yum. Accras de Morue, blood sausages, ti-punch (local rum drink), and Caribe beer with a lime…

So, here are a few snippets/observations from my adventure with Urios thus far. I love finding myself in situations that I could never have before imagined myself in!

Being on a French sailboat with French men speaking in French means that I’m practically in France. I don’t understand most of what they say in French (everyone is fluent in English though), but every once in a while when I hear “Judy,” I know that they’re either talking about me, or else it’s Thursday (jeudi). The French lifestyle is rubbing off on me – I love that daily meals are communal events and real butter is the only way to go. Having cheese and baguettes for breakfast is as normal as having cassoulet and Belgian potatoes for dinner. Thanks to Greg, JB and their various friends who have come bearing gifts, I’ve also developed an appreciation for fine French cheese, foie gras and wine. I’ve been spoiled – French food and French men that can really cook!

Bonne Annee! Happy New Year! 2004 came three times for us, which meant lots of champagne toasts as we celebrated once for France, then again for Guadeloupe, and then again for the US. We were anchored in Baie Mahault and dining on a feast of duck confit, French cheese and bread, and champagne as fireworks from all the little villages across the island went off around us. You’d never have guessed I barely knew these guys at this point considering how much I laughed and how little French I understood… It was such a hoot and such a great beginning to a new year. We sang along and danced to French music, opened gag gifts, and drank more wine. For someone who usually thinks that New Year’s Eve is over-rated, this one may make me change my mind.

Max is the star of one of the stories that I will tell over and over again… After a long day of sailing, Greg, JB, Vincent, and I were all ready for a night out on the town in Antigua. We passed on yachtie Falmouth Harbor for more local flavor in St. John’s, and Max, the bartender at the harbor bar, moonlighted as our guide/taxi for the night. We figured a hip Jamaican Rastafarian who’d lived there for years and played great tunes at the bar would be able to point us in the right direction of the fun we were looking for. So off we went, 4 tourists and a Rasta, crammed into a little red car that had seen better days. The 15km ride into town can only be described as harrowing. I’m sure he knew the road like the back of his hand, but it felt like we were in one of those video arcade games where you steer a race car on an obstacle course… except this one was called “Death on a Dark Caribbean Highway.” No street lights, narrow roads with no shoulders, no signs, pitch black darkness, stray cows and dogs, randomly placed speed bumps, potholes, and lots of cars coming towards us at high speeds flashing their lights and swerving. It was kind of fun for the first 5 minutes, and then I really started wondering, “Are we there yet?!” Dinner was at a place with decidedly little authentic local flavor and lots of tourists. I’m sure Max got a commission for bringing us there, which should have been a first sign of how the night would evolve. We left the restaurant for “The Club” with higher hopes for our late night activities. Whatever The Club was, it’d be interesting. So off we went again, crammed into the small red car, maneuvering through the dark empty streets. Suddenly in the middle of a very dark and deserted alley in the middle of who knows where, the car started sputtering and the lights started flickering. Then, the car completely died. After the initial shock, my imagination went into overdrive. This could either be a completely random breakdown or else this was one of those urban legend stories you hear of tourists being set up and robbed. The fact that Max got out of the car and wandered off without a word, leaving us just sitting in the car smack dab in the middle of a road was not comforting. Neither were the lone figures wandering by in the dark staring at the four of us, who obviously did not belong where we were. We all got out of the car and stood in the street wondering how to extract ourselves from the situation. Back came Max. His persistent “Chill out,” “You’re not in the ghetto,” “I’m not going to rob you,” “Don’t freak out,” “There are no killers here,” were not as reassuring as they could have been, even though we actually did run out of gas and this was just an unfortunate coincidence. Soon we were on our way again. Forget “The Club,” we all just wanted to get home as soon as possible. Max knew it too but he had one last stop to make. The night was just about to become even more laughable. Before we knew it, we found ourselves parked on the side of the road on a particularly dark deserted street in front of a bunch of concrete shacks, littered with garbage and plastered with graffiti. It looked like it we were in the middle of a bombed war zone. The lonely figures lurking in the corners muttering “ganja” repeatedly under their breaths didn’t make us feel any better, but it was pretty obvious what Max was after! When we finally made it back to Nelson’s Dockyard after a fragrant roller coaster ride home, we didn’t know whether to thank Max for his efforts or ask for our money back!

In a world of highways, planes and fast cars, it’s easy to take distance and time for granted. Sailing changes your perspective because you depend on weather and Mother Nature, and only go about 7 miles per hour. Forty miles to the next island could easily be 30 minutes in a car or 9 minutes in a plane but it becomes an all-day affair on a sailboat. Just sit back and enjoy the journey. You never know what you’re going to get and sometimes you get it more than once in a 6-hour period – rainstorms, lots of wind, no wind, fish for dinner, waves, hot sun. But, I feel more like a sailor now. I have bruises all over my legs to show for it, salt crystals on my skin, and muscles where I never had muscles before. I guess winching a sail at 20 knots or hoisting the mainsail will do that for you… Taking the helm has been fun and exhilarating. Driving a car will never be as fun as steering a boat and dodging waves with 20 knots of wind coming right at you. Sailing at night may seem scary but is actually a real treat. The night sky gives you the moon, the stars and a serene mood, even when the wind is howling and the boat is heeling and you have water in your face. Learning how to navigate is the real challenge and a real achievement when you’ve figured it out what all the flashing lights and buoys mean and how to read a nautical chart/map. I’ve got lots more ropes to pull, sails to winch, and things to learn before I’m even close to be a true sailor, but it’s such a wonderful learning process…

As for Mother Nature, we’ve been spoiled. Rainbows are everyday occurances. After a particularly wet miserable cold downpour in the gusting wind and big waves on a late night watch with JB, we witnessed a truly amazing sight that I did not think was possible. I looked at the horizon and there was a full colorful rainbow in the dark night sky courtesy of a bright shining full moon! Amazing. And, in addition to the vibrant beautiful sunsets and sunrises, I’ve discovered another cool phenomenon – “Le Rayon Vert,” “the Green Ray.” The last light the sun gives off as it sinks just below the horizon is a green ray of light. You can only see it when there is a “perfect” sunset without clouds obstructing the sun or horizon as it dips out of sight. We’re lucky to catch them and it’s awesome to see. Six so far and counting!

I also feel so lucky when in the massive scheme of things you come across “small” things like whales and turtles and dolphins in the vast ocean. A huge whale swam right near us the other day as we passed Dominica, spewing water from its spout every few minutes. I watched in awe. My first whale sighting! It just so happened to cruise by Urios as she sailed her 10,000th mile at sea with Gregory. What a special way to commemorate a pretty significant milestone. And, no matter how many times dolphins come to play with us/the boat, I always run up to the bow.

For the laid back life we’re leading, every day is full and busy and we all go to bed each night pooped. Sometimes staying up past 10pm is a real effort. It’s amazing how much sightseeing and exploring you can do on foot or with a mask, snorkel and a pair of fins. There are always the everyday chores and boat maintenance that needs to be done. I learned how to rivet the other day, have sewed sailbags, and have scrubbed the hull of algae and barnacles in many anchorages. Sometimes you're lucky and everything just comes together to make chores easier. With a hot sun, a marina dock, a dinghy full of fresh water and a hose the other day, it was perfect chance to get some much-needed laundry done. I washed piles of laundry by hand and there were clothes and sheets and towels and everything shrewn all over the boat, hanging from every line. Clean clothes dried in the hot sun was going to be such a treat. But of course, then the clouds appeared. And it rained. It poured. All night! It’s all relative. Sometimes almost dry is dry enough. Card games are a nightly group activity we all look forward to with our rum cocktails – I never knew UNO could be so much fun and soooo competitive at age 32. My yoga sessions up on the bow are a practical form of exercise, but always a hoot. A swaying boat with little/no flat space does a lot to challenge any balance you’re trying to achieve. Cooking on a boat is always inventive and involves a bit of fusion philosophy with spices and ingredients from ports of call in Portugal, France, Spain, etc. You can’t imagine how tasty a can of sardines and haricot verts can be. 37 feet of space is small living quarters for 4 people but sailboats are surprisingly so efficient – cans of food under your bed, supplies under the floorboards. It also doesn’t take long before you become a little bit like family and know everyone pretty well in terms of how they take their tea, who is in a bad mood or a goofy one, who doesn’t eat eggs, who is a morning person, and who talks in their sleep. Wonderful human dynamics and relationships at work! Dinghy transportation, salt water baths, safety harnesses, bilges, chart tables, toolboxes, and hatches are now everyday things and I have a feeling that my life will get a lot simpler when I get back to the real world…

I never thought I’d be sitting around smoking apple tobacco from a hookah from Iran. Or that I’d be doing it while listening to Arabic pop songs and discussing George W. I never thought that I’d develop a penchant for French music and singing along to Michel Sardu, even though I have no idea what the lyrics mean. I never thought that that a fresh water shower or a clothes dryer would be total luxuries. I never thought that one pair of shorts and a bathing suit was all you needed. But, here I am, and that’s my world. Serendipity!

We leave the Caribbean next week and start making our way to Panama. Sailing through the Panama Canal will no doubt to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, as will sailing into the Galapagos Islands. I just decided this week to cross the Pacific Ocean with Urios so am headed back to the South Pacific! I want to know what it will be like to spend 25+ days at sea and have Tahiti as the first landfall. I can’t help but keep thinking back to that Crosby Stills and Nash song, “Southern Cross” that kind of started me on this sailor path, and it will be surreal when I am literally experiencing the lyrics firsthand. Voila! How life surprises us...