Sea Cloud!

I woke up and glanced out of the windows to the balcony and gasped.  Then I got a huge smile and turned back and woke up Frank.  You HAVE to see this!  I may have had tears in my eyes, too – she is that wondrous.

This is our 3^rd sighting of Sea Cloud.  We first saw her in Dubrovnik, Croatia when we were sailing there.  I was awestruck. 

Then we saw her anchored out off Taormina, Sicily – I could see her from our window.  She was just as magical.

Sea Cloud was built in 1931 by E.F. Hutton, for his wife, Marjorie Merriweather Post (of the Post cereal fame – also the woman who built Mar-a-Lago).  Sea Cloud was her personal yacht with a crew of 72. 

And what a history Sea Cloud has had!  She was even painted grey and used in World War II as a weather ship.  After the war, Marjorie brought her back to her regal state and continued to sail in her.  Eventually, at age 85, Marjorie sold Sea Cloud.  The yacht went through a few hands before falling into disrepair, all but forgotten under a different name in a boatyard in Panama. 

But a group of investors from Hamburg who loved classic ships remembered her, bought her, and made her seaworthy enough to get to Europe to return her to her former glory.  She sailed across the Atlantic and finally had to be towed into Hamburg Harbour, where she was greeted by thousands. 

Now she is a very elegant small cruise ship.  It is my dream to sail in her someday.

But for now – we settled for sitting on the balcony just gazing at her.  I took lots of pictures as she swung around her anchor. 

Then we saw a tender come in right to the little ferry dock by our apartment.  So I ran to the window to see what people who sail on Sea Cloud look like!  Just like us!  : )

Maybe someday . . . .

If you want to read more about Sea Cloud’s history – here’s a link: https://www.seacloud.com/en/sea-cloud-history/

This week we celebrated Frank’s birthday – 86!

We kicked off the celebration high up on the ridgeline overlooking Marigot Bay at a very nice restaurant called “The Villa.”  They drove down and picked us up in a golf cart and spirited to the top, where we had a table waiting with balloons. 

And a 5-course tasting menu.

We continued the celebration by Zooming with the family back home. 

And then Frank spent the week engaging in his favorite activity – fishing.  He has been putting out feelers on his daily walks about good bait and the best place for a nibble.  He visited the restaurant across the street, which gave him fresh fish for bait (which he came home and cut up and put in our freezer – this is why I bring zip loc bags on our trips!). 

And then he set out.  He fished at the beach bar.  He fished at the waterfront restaurant.  He even got permission from the snazzy hotel to fish from their dock by the big fancy yachts (he got to be friends with the guard who is also a fisherman and looked out for him).  Alas, no prize catches.  But the fun part is sharing fish stories anyway.

After all that fishing – the best end to the celebration?

A beautiful sunset with a cold Piton beer on our balcony.

Happy Birthday Frank!  We love you!

Some of you have asked for more details about our apartment.  We rented through VRBO and live in the Marina Village at the Marigot Bay Yacht Haven.  This is our building – we are around the side.

This is our street – looking left and right.  The building with the blue roof is the police station.  The water taxi to the beach and restaurants is a few steps away. 

There is a Hyatt resort next door, but they are very picky about who goes there.  But that’s ok – our goal is to live like locals, not be tourists.  And we love the local hang-outs.  (We can spot the hotel guests because they have to wear a wristband and look a little scared to leave their compound.) 

Frank is the man about town and knows all the taxi drivers, gate guards, and dock guys – they all share fishing stories.  When I go out with him, they all wave and greet “Mr. Frank.”

There is a lot of action in the Bay.  New boats anchor every night.  We also get a steady stream of cruise ship guests heading to shore excursions, which is fun.  A few times a day big catamarans playing music do a twirl through the Bay for the cruise ship guests to take pictures of what they say is the most beautiful bay in the Caribbean (we agree!).

Now for a tour of the apartment . . .

We have a spacious lounge and well-equipped kitchen.  Plus 3 bathrooms and laundry.

We have two bedrooms, so we can spread out and I can use one as an office (I am still working remotely after all). 

But the best is the balcony.  It is deep and fully covered, so we can sit out here even in the rain. 

I am writing this blog as the sun goes down.

We have rented a VRBO apartment in Marigot Bay on the Island of St. Lucia.  We looked all around and thought this looked like the perfect place for two sailors.  Marigot Bay is a sheltered harbor with a marina, boat moorings, and a few small resorts.  It is away from the hustle and bustle of the big resorts and cruise ships. 

We rented the “apartment above the store” in the Marina Village (above) and can sit on our balcony and watch the boats come in all day long. 

There are seasoned cruisers who have sailed in from all over the world, bareboat charter groups, and even jaw-dropping mega yachts – more on that later.  Something is always going on in Marigot Bay.

There are 4 restaurants – two only accessible by water taxi or dinghy. 

The red boat below goes to Doolittles, across the way.

Then there is the general ferry, which can take you to the beach, other restaurants around the bay, or to your boat.

The big nightly action is at Chateau Mygo (below). They have live music most nights – from reggae bands to a steel drum guy, who will move his drum around and play at your table – he played “Fly Me To The Moon” for us. Dinghies tie up all along the edge.

Crocs are perfectly acceptable attire everywhere, and everyone trades boating stories. 

So we will leave the nightlife to the big resorts and sip a rum with the sailors as we watch the sun go down in Marigot Bay. 

Cheers!

The Two Fools are back – after some bumps in the road.  We decided to head to warmer weather for the month of February and rented an apartment in St. Lucia!

But – the night before we were to leave, Frank tested positive for COVID.

We have been very careful the last three years and don’t know where Frank picked it up. There is no good time for COVID, but within hours of our international flight seemed like a double whammy!  Plus Frank felt pretty bad.  It was our first time dealing with COVID, so things were a little scary the first few days. 

Fortunately, during the start of COVID when things were even scarier, we had drafted a quarantine plan – this is what you do when you’re married to a NASA engineer!  So we pulled that back out and retreated to our assigned spaces for 11 days.  We slept and ate in different rooms and wore masks if we were in the same vicinity.  I tested each day and continued to be negative. 

Finally, Frank was cleared to travel so we re-packed our bags, re-booked our flights, and got on the road. 

Our time in St. Lucia may be a little shorter – but it is a whole lot sweeter as we think about what might have been and how lucky we were compared to those who experienced COVID before vaccines and treatment.  We will savor this trip all the more.

And . . .  we will celebrate Frank’s 86^th birthday and our 8^th wedding anniversary!  Come along with us as go from this frosty scene . . .

To This One!