Jean & Dave's Website

Saturday

Fresh whole wheat bread and bacon this morning (the eggs are gone).  The cold front has dug in.  We snorkel at Shark Alley, but find no sharks.  We do see several HUGE rays. 

After motoring through the reefs along Cay Caulker, Denise and I beat up to San Pedro in a final sail over 9 knots.

Meanwhile, Jean and Kyle are goofing off on the steps on the transom.

We pull into the dock at TMM and make a large spread from the leftover provisions.  Claudio and Elias gather the leftover provisions (yes, provisions for four were more than enough) and about 50 lbs of barracuda.  They’ll trade the fish for other groceries and feed the whole family for a month.  Claudio also has lobster and conch packages for the TMM staff.  We take a water tour of San Pedro with Claudio.  The TMM managers live in a mansion on the beach while   Claudio shows us his home destroyed in last year’s hurricane.   He lived there for three days.  He now rents a large apartment for himself, his wife, his three sons, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

We spend the afternoon getting waited on by Ernie at B.C.’s.  Claudio is there with several TMM crew.  Drinking and smoking for the first time this week.  It’s Claudio’s treatment for seasickness, meaning he is sick to get back to the sea…So are we, Claudio, so are we.

In conclusion, this was a truly unique vacation.  We paid for a sailing charter with skipper and received a ‘fully crewed’ charter, plus diving with far more attention than any dive boat, plus deep-sea fishing, plus fresh lobster, conch and snapper almost every day.  I’m sure the sailing would be better if we stayed on a beam reach in shallow water inside the barrier reef (which bare boaters must do).  But that opportunity will always be there.  A vacation with Claudio may be once in a lifetime. 

Dave
October 2001