Part 1
as i mentioned in my last post a new and exciting adventure was awaiting me over the next wave. i shall recap.
monday morning we made our way over to roatan, one of the bay islands, to meet with our captain bill, discover our ship and sort out our immigration papers. at 6:30 am a catamaran arrived at our dock to take us to our neighbouring island. the seas were calm and the ride was delightful. lying on the net with the sun warming us while watching the water race below us. what could make a better picture? why dolphins of course and dolphins there were. the journey was not without incident, what ever is? one of our prospective crew was "brought to her knees" with the rocking of the cat. concern for the days ahead lay in her face but she was not deterred, committed and excited she was and forward we proceeded.
arriving on roatan we met our captain bill, a 60 plus american with a long white beard. we had heard many a warning with regards to the captain and the boat. there are many a drunks and just plain miserable people on the water as there are on land and to be cooped up with one for days on end in a confined space...no good. the boat as well. there are boast of all shapes and sizes in all sort of conditions and we had been scared to believe that the sailboat would either be in disrepair or super tiny barely fitting one let alone 5!
one of our first questions upon realizing that the captain was a kind, quiet and thoughtful man was "tell us, what is the size of your sailboat?" we had taken bets on the size and the guess ranged from 32 foot to 42 foot. bill responded with a bashful pride, "56 foot". our collective jaws dropped. wow.
with our large bags, mine larger than the others well at least heavier, we boarded the little inflatable with an 8 hp outboard in two shifts to ferry to our new home for the next 5 days. me and neil were the first two to witness the majesty of "second summit" our 56 foot, double mast one of a kind floating home. we were both unequivocally blown away. it was beautiful, it was visible with every detail that this was a work of love. we learned later the bill had spent the past two years bringing the boat back to its original splendor and then some (that is a personal opinion, i as i never saw the ship before). while in rio dolce he refitted the entire ship with teak from the local jungle creating a stunning look and feel. our fears were dissolving and our and our excitement was growing.
after two days in roatan (not on as we were living on the boat) we woke a touch before dawn to head out on our way. the journey began.
we were expected to operated in teams and the teams in shifts. what i mean is that neil and i, a team, were expected to have 3 hours on the helm while the other teammate was on "watch". this means that a team was on for 6 hours then off for 6 hours while the other team was on duty. as we started off this was a none issue. clear skies and simple seas, it was fun, it was easy (that is once we got the hang of handling a 56 foot sailboat). neil and i were took the first shift and it was great, exciting, simply amazing. mark and eileen were up next and as with us after a bit of learning curve (mark more than the rest of us, he was literally doing doughnuts!)
end of part 1
