Well, how does one describe a week of utter bliss in paradise?  Poorly at best, I'm afraid, but I'll make a feeble attempt at documenting our week-long vacation aboard Free Radical.   

Nancy and I are planning to begin cruising two to three years from now, and thought that spending a week with veteran cruisers aboard their boat would be a very good step to take this early in the planning phase.  We had no idea how good an idea this would turn out to be.  Cruising is a term that refers to the lifestyle of someone who lives aboard a boat and cruises around from place to place (there are people who live aboard a boat, but the boat never leaves one particular place, and they may even have a permanent job ashore, but these are called "liveaboards" and should not be confused with "cruisers").  Cruisers are what Nancy and I want to be when we grow up.

Free Radical is a 44-foot Cartwright Cutter sailboat.  We first heard of Free Radical because Nancy and I have been reading the cruising logs of as many cruising boats as we can find.  Ed and Julie, who own Free Radical, have done a much better job than most to keep their website (www.svfreeradical.com <http://www.svfreeradical.com/>) current, as well as providing a wealth of information beyond the cruising log itself.  Ed and Julie began the cruising life in 1999 and have since circumnavigated the world aboard Free Radical.  They have recently decided to allow wannabe cruisers to visit them aboard Free Radical for a week or two and get a taste of cruising and learn a lot of the tips and techniques. 

After several email exchanges, we arranged to meet up with Ed and Julie in St. Martin, an island in the Leeward Island chain of the Caribbean.  I will give a brief itinerary below, with some of the highlights, but first I'll just describe the trip in general. 

We have had some great vacations in the past, such as backpacking in the Rocky Mountains and the canyon lands of New Mexico, mountain biking on the Continental Divide Trail, and visiting William in Japan.  At the end of each vacation, though, I have always been ready to return home.  This vacation was dramatically different for me.  I'm not saying the other vacations have paled in comparison, they are still some of my most treasured memories, but this trip didn't really feel like a vacation, it felt like I was Home, capital H Home.  I pretty much knew I would enjoy it, and I pretty much knew I would like Ed and Julie, but all of my expectations were so far exceeded, I feel rather awe-struck.  Ed asked me to critique the trip so they could further refine the experience for future guests.  I have been wracking my brain since we got back trying to find some constructive criticism to offer, but I honestly cannot think of a single thing that could have been improved upon.   

I think I would have enjoyed a week on a sailboat in the Caribbean under any circumstance, but it was Ed and Julie that really made this trip so special. 

They are, I think, the consummate cruising couple.  They have a very apparent joie de vivre that is infectious.  Between the two of them, they are incredibly competent at every aspect of living on, sailing and maintaining a boat.  I took pages of notes on all kinds of arcane and esoteric subject matter pertaining to cruising.  If you think about spending a week, on a 44' boat, with two people you've never met before, you'll realize how special Ed and Julie must be for it to have been such a wonderful all-around experience.  The food was great, the conversation was great, the scenery was great, the sailing was great, and I got to take things apart and put them back together.  It just doesn't get any better than that. 

We flew into St. Martin on Monday, Jan 2, 2006.  Ed was waiting for us at the airport.  He loaded us and our luggage aboard the Sea Calf (Free Radical's dingy) and took us out to the Free Radical anchored in Simpson Lagoon.  Julie was waiting for us aboard with, wonder of wonders, a cold Guinness.  Ed and Julie, being the consummate hosts they are, had laid in a supply of Guinness for us.  They also had a good supply of Presidente (a local beer), Heineken, rum, and other essential provisions.  We spent that evening lounging in Free Radical's cockpit sipping (OK, I might have guzzled a few) refreshing beverages and discussing boats, sailing, cruising and cursing the evil corporate rat race I'm trying to escape from.  It was an excellent way to unwind and transition into the fluid and unstructured cruising mode.  Julie made an excellent spaghetti and meatball dinner for us. 

Tuesday morning, after pancakes for breakfast, Ed and Julie took us for a spin around Simpson Lagoon in Sea Calf and we ogled all the mega-yachts and other sailboats.  Ed took a trip up the mast in the bosun's chair to clean and lube the sail track prior to getting underway.  We weighed anchor and sailed along the coast of St. Martin to Marigot, where we anchored in the bay to spend the night and took the dingy into town the next morning for some shopping.  Nancy was in hog heaven amidst all the colorful little stalls selling all manner of touristy knick-knacks and t-shirts. 

Wednesday afternoon we sailed a little further along the coast of St. Martin to Friar's Bay and anchored.  Ed cleaned barnacles off the prop and we did some snorkeling in the reefs around the bay. 

Thursday we sailed around the north end of St. Martin to the small island of Tintamarre for more snorkeling and spent the night anchored there. 

Friday we sailed to Oyster Pond to fill Free Radical's tanks with fresh water, then on to Anse des Colombier on the island of St. Barthelemy.  It was so nice here we stayed two nights anchored in the bay.  The snorkeling here was really good, the beach was really pretty and could only be accessed by boat or a hiking trail from the other side of the island.  

Saturday we took the dingy ashore and hiked over the island to the little town of Flamands, where we bought baguettes.  Ed showed me how to change the fuel filters on the diesel engine and bleed the injector lines. 

Sunday we sailed back to Simpson Bay and into the lagoon.  While we were waiting for the drawbridge to open so we could enter the lagoon, Billy stopped by in his dingy.  Billy is another cruiser and he invited all of us to his boat that evening.  We went to Shrimpy's Bar for happy hour and to watch the mega-yachts enter the lagoon at the 5:30 bridge opening and met Geronimo and Mick.  Geronimo is a sailmaker who works at the local sail loft and Mick is his roommate.  After happy hour was over, we went to Billy's boat for more beverages and met MJ and her sister, Ann Marie.  MJ lives in a house on Simpson Bay and her sister had flown down to visit.   

Monday we took the dingy ashore and caught a bus to Phillipsburg for more shopping and lunch.  We ate lunch at a little beach bar run by an ex-pat Canadian and sampled a culinary delicacy known as poutine.  Poutine is basically French fries covered with cheese and gravy.  In Canada, where it originates, the cheese would be fresh cheese curds and the gravy is a rich brown gravy.  It is really very good, and you can almost hear your arteries snap, crackle and pop as you eat it.  I had a mushroom Swiss burger and a few Presidente beers to accompany it and really didn't need to eat the rest of the day (although I did). 

Tuesday was kind of a gloomy day, knowing we had to leave paradise and Ed and Julie's company and return to the land of Oz.  Even the weather was it turned gusty and rainy. 

For more info, visit the links below:

Free Radical home page: 

http://www.svfreeradical.com/

Poutine: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine 

Info about St. Martin: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Maarten 

Map of St. Martin: 

http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/sm/smmap.shtml 

Map of St. Barth: 

http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/sb/sbmap.shtml 

Here is a map you can zoom in and see St. Martin, St. Barth, Tintamarre and

Anguilla, or zoom out and see the entire Caribbean: 

http://maps.msn.com/(v4zlnm55025ay4uyxarm5f45)/map.aspx?C=18.06%2c-63.08

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