Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Even a Powerboater can Enjoy This.

    It is no secret that I am very much a powerboater, but boating is truly what I love.    I got the opportunity to spend a really fun day on Morningstar, a 40 foot Choy Lee sailboat, while in the Virgin Islands.  This was an experience that was I won't forget soon or the experience the very peacefulness of the day.    This is a great way to see the Sir Francis Drake Channel while traveling over to St. John and Honeymoon Bay.   The two hour sail over to St. John from Water Bay on the east coast of St. Thomas, is just plain relaxing and the silence of the boat making way across the water is totally relaxing.    This is my idea of what sailing is really about, as a powerboater, when I want to travel somewhere it is time to start the diesels and get underway and head to the destination in a relatively straight line and getting there is the most important part of the trip.    Sailing is for excursions where the trip is the most important part of the experience.

     Two hours later we were anchored in Honeymoon Bay off of St. John and swimming in the azure blue waters.    It was beach time while the crew was cooking our lunch, grilled chicken and all of the island fixin's would be ready in about an hour.   Meanwhile, it was swimming and sun bathing under the beautiful sunny sky's of the midday on the white sand beach.   As usual I could not just sit there on the beach so I took my obligatory walk down the beach to see what things the beach had experienced in the time before I arrived.   This is something that I always enjoy, seeing what the sea and the lands meeting place could tell me about the past.

    The beach time had to quickly passed and we were swimming back to the boat to enjoy an impeccably prepared and served lunch.   There was a nice breeze that allowed the hull to slip through the water smoothly and quickly all of the way over.   We would be tacking back and forth on the way back to port.   So we finished up lunch and cleaned up the dishes, weighed anchor and got underway for home.

    The trip back took a bit longer than the trip over to St. John, but that was fine, after all what else was I going to do but relax and enjoy the moment.   As we approached the Water Bay, the rumble of the diesel motor was heard followed by the furling of the main sail and we were  headed for the mooring ball and the end of our journey for the day.   What a wonderful experience that I would not have missed for anything.   I don't care what people say about the difference between power and sail boaters, for me the boating is the most important part.  Being out on the water and enjoying the sun sea and land.   Don't worry about what you are getting out on the water aboard, just get out there and experience the thrill.

    The bar on the dock at the end of the day made a wonderful bushwhacker to conclude the day in a wooden chair and the failing light of the early evening.   ;o)