Thursday, 9/14/00 0746

Goooooood Mooooooorrrniiiing Eeeevryboooodyyyy!  

 This Windjammer stuff doesn't suck at all!

Thursday 8/31 around midnight I set out for a Windjammer Barefoot Cruise to Grenada and Venezuela.  It was a singles cruise, set up by Ed Rudd of travelpackage,com.  There were about 60 of us on a 180 foot 1927 sailboat, and boy was it great!

My camera broke (probably because I dropped it) on Monday 9/4, but I was having such a good time I didn't care!  I got some good shots before that, though, and Bob Fife got some all through the trip with his Nikon 800.  On the left are my photos, and Bob's. as well.

Here's a summary of my itinerary:

Friday 9/1
Fly all day, starting at 12:30 AM. I flew from San Francisco to Dallas, then Dallas to Puerto Rico, then Puerto Rico to Grenada, which is way the hell down there near South America.  Got in about 7:30 PM local, and started partying in the Coyaba hotel pool right away.  Swam in the pool, drank in the pool bar, swam in the Caribbean, and stayed up 'til 5am drinking rum with a friendly Brit on the porch outside my room.

Saturday 9/2
Sleep in 'til noon.  Miss the Seven Falls hike.  It's raining.  Stops in an hour.  Rains once later.  Drives  the lizards up the wall in the outside dining room.  Beach, pool, 20-course dinner at Patrick's, beach party, skinny dipping, 

Sunday 9/3
Up in time to catch Mandoo's Island Tour, which is great.  Crazy, left-handed island drivers.  We move from the hotel to the boat (which is the Yankee Clipper, not the Mandalay, since Fox snagged it to shoot some survivor-type program).  Live band on the boat, open bar.  Much dancing and drinking.

Monday 9/4
In the morning the captain has the first "story time", tells us what's in store for the day, and introduces the crew.  We walk to beautiful downtown Grenada (two blocks), sightsee, and go back to the boat for lunch.  My camera breaks.  In the afternoon we set sail!  Volunteers help the crew raise sail to the strains of "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes!  We sail the afternoon and into the night.  Pajama (silk and lace) party on deck.

Tuesday 9/5
Los Testigos is the perfect desert isle.  Sand, palm trees, warm clear water.  We anchor, take launches to shore, and spend the day there.  I snorkel, read, fly a kite and give it to the island kids (the place isn't quite deserted.  About eight people live there to fish)  A perfect day.  We set sail.

Wednesday 9/6
Margarita  Island, in Mochima National Park.  Good sized island with an airport.  A group of us get into two small planes and go to Angel Falls in Canaimo National Park in southern Venezuela.  Truly one of the seven wonders of the world.  We see the falls after some tricky flying, and land at a bush resort downstream.  There, we take a truck, a canoe, and a hike through the jungle to get to a waterfall about 100 yards wide that you can actually go under!  Very wet.  Fabulous.  Amazing.  Wonderful.  Wow.

Other people back at Margarita Island did boring things like ultralight flying or horseback riding.

PPP party on the boat.  Dress up as a Pimp, Prostitute, or Pirate - or anything else beginning with P.  Really amazing.  Did I mention there was an open bar for the whole trip?

Thursday 9/7
New, more "beachy" part of Margarita island.  Decided to bail on the rafting trip and do the beach.  Really great, not deserted beach.  Beach chairs, gorgeous Venezuelan tourists, Island bar/restaurants on the beach, really great.  Snorkeled, swam, rode a giant banana behind crazy Venezuelan boat drivers   Barbequeue on the beach, more skinny-dipping.  Venezuelan music. Dancing.

Friday 9/8
Half day at a small island with iguanas.  Snorkeling, beach boys who shuck oysters.  Ate some, bought some pearls,  Then (sigh) back to civilization at the industrial- looking town of Puerto La Cruz.  Dirty place, but masses of happy people celebrating the "Festival of the Virgin of the Valley"  Ate great food at the flaming (yes really) sea bass place.  Back to the boat.

Saturday 9/9
Our last breakfast on board, our last Story Time.  Packed. Left. Sad.. Moved to the hotel "Hesperian" which was really nice 24 years ago.  Still pretty good.  Hung out at the pool.  Ate a fabulous Sirloin Steak dinner at the Brasos Grill in towm.  Bought a fabulous mask. Traipsed trough the back streets looking for a particular brand of rum.  Goodbyes and a couple drinks at the hotel bar and it's time for bed.

Sunday 9/10
Up at 5:30 when my roommate leaves for his flight.  Shower, dress, pack slowly.  7:00 van to the airport in Caracas.  Long slow process at each airport.  Caracas to Aruba.  Aruba to Miami.  Miami to San Francisco.  In at 10:30 PM local with trinkets, pearls, a mask, and five bottles of rum.  Sam picks me up.  Thanks, Sam.  Here's some rum.