Always excited when we get visitors from our home town of Austin, TX!  We thought Matt (big Matt) and Diana were kidding when emailed in December saying they wanted to come visit over NYE (being that it was short notice and we had not really talked about it) – but to our surprise they pulled off a miracle, arranged for sitters, bought tickets, and met us in Antigua just after Christmas!  As experienced travelers, they arrived with two small, soft, water proof bags and 18 bottles of Rosé!  Now, I am proud to say that these are our friends!  Welcome to Sugar Shack!

Adding them to the boat was fun. The eSeaClear website wanted positions for the new crew, so we had a swab and stewardess – you pick which was which.

This blog will be “G” rated partly because we were all high on Rosé most of the time, partly because I just plum don’t remember, and partly because “what happens on the shack stays on the shack.”
After everyone got settled, we discussed options for destinations, durations of sale etc, and settled on the whirlwind tour and headed off to Barbuda – one of our favorite places to do absolutely nothing.  It is a pretty quiet island offering lots of solitude, few tourist, and a 7 mile beach. Pulled in a small tuna on the way over. The boys went snorkeling and introduced our dinghy prop to some coral heads (yep, our new outboard prop has an easily identifiable chunk missing from a blade) and the girls went for a walk / selfie photo shoot.  We’d walk for a few minutes and then Diana would stop and say “wait…let’s take a photo” took me several photo shoots to catch on that she really didn’t want to walk – but we did get some great shots!

After we claimed Barbuda for an afternoon as our own island, we headed to see what a billion dollars looks like in St. Barth’s. On the way, landed a small another tuna for more some more of big Matt’s awesome sashimi.  It is where all the biggest and best boats go to be seen (not necessarily the owners, but the boats).  Of course, the mega, mega yachts are all out in the bay while the small yachts (200′ or less are in the marina slips).   We had fun showing them around this fanciful island, admiring the airport runway, and beautiful boutiques, then we came back to the boat to take naps as we anticipated a late night ashore.  We arrived to the dock in time to welcome 2017 and see the spectacular fireworks show before heading to Shell Beach.  Of course, everything was booked and private until Diana took charge.  She managed to get us a fabulous spot on the beach for my Matt (or little Matt) to nap, which always seems to happen after a little Rosé, while the rest of us to drank, danced, and enjoyed the craziness until the wee hours of the morning.  Somewhere in there, little Matt almost drowned laughing as he fell into the St Barts harbor, Big Matt and I get lost, the dinghy key is misplaced, and we get towed to our big boat around 5 in the morning.

Luckily, there were no serious injuries, dinghy keys were found in the dinghy that had tossed lil Matt overboard into the drink and we started all over again at Nikki Beach on NY Day!  More Rosé, crazy good saxophone player, scantily dressed women, and I think a mysterious pizza made an appearance just before we left. Only one thing lost on New Years day – besides brain cells of course – so we are improving.

Big Matt and Dianan fit right into the boat life, cranked on the lines, cooked gourmet meals on our 3 burner stove, and drove the dinghy while our captain became the worse back seat driver ever.  Some how they managed to have fun and said they are willing to come back – we sure hope so!

Lazy slow sail back to St. Maarten where we would find an anchor spot, and await the departure – not with out visiting sunset beach bar of course to watch the planes land and take off, and of course a round of Rosé for departure. 45mins to flight time a taxi was hailed and just as soon as they got here they were gone, 4 islands in 4 days. Very Very Fun times.

Photo taken under sail entering Bequia with crew Jamie and Wayne

Here is our sailing track from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia to St. David, Grenada

Hauling out is always sad and scary.  Intrusting  your boat to be squeezed into a large metal lift with inches on either side is a bit daunting – but Grenada Marine always seems to handle it with ease.  I hopped off early and to check in with the boat yard and start the laundry.  As the sheets and clothes were tumbling I grabbed some wifi and worked for a few hours (not bad office space overlooking the bay).  The boys took down the main, jib, sail bag and lazy jacks.  by the time I returned, they were ready for beer – it’s hot and we have no breeze in the back of the yard.  They continued to hurricane proof and clean the exterior as I finished up the interior cleaning.  We have done this so many times we almost finished everything in one day – we are amazing!  We called it a day around 430p and headed to the bar where we were getting picked up.  We met Vince who is on Flight Plan, a retired gent on a super clean cat!

We headed off to La Sagesse Nature Preserve where a warm shower and hot meal awaited us. Always a pleasure to see Mike and Nancy who run the place as they welcome you with open arms.  We enjoyed a fabulous meal and went to bed exhausted.  Early the next morning, we decided to walk to the yard as nothing was open yet and we wanted to finish up the storage of the boat.  It is a 3 mile walk across 2 beaches, up and down a few hills and over 2 bays. Super pretty.  We managed to finish both the interior and exterior and had some time to chat it up with Mike and Rebecca from ZTC (Zero to Cruising).  Matt has been following their blog for years, back when they first started abut 8-9 years ago (I believe).  They were so nice!  They are selling their PDQ and buying a new boat to continue their sailing adventures.  We met Vince for a drink and headed back to La Sagesse for a hardy meal and good nights rest.

Flight home was a bit crazy as the computers were down in Grenada so they had to do everything by hand which delayed the departure by 45 minutes (cut down our connection time and clearance into the country0, but somehow we all made it on time in Miami.  Then that 2nd flight had an unruly passenger who caused such a stir that the pilot turned around and brought us back to the gate to deboard the miserable man.  Another delay.  And yet, Matt and I were able to barely get our butts on the last flight and finally made home 🙂  Sweet and sad all at the same time…until next time.

Some fun pics