Unexpected Move to St. Lucia

So after a week in Grenada we picked up anchor at St. Georges (the capital) and headed to Sandy Island, Carriacou. The trip was short, and pleasant. The anchorage, not so much.

St. Georges, Grenada

After one failed attempt at anchoring off of Sandy Island, we headed up to Tyrrel Bay. After squeezing into the small space Tyrrel Bay offered, we dove the anchor, only to find a huge, rusty chain caught on it. In a panic, the whole Harper family somehow managed to steer the boat free of this chain and tried one last time to anchor in Carriacou.

Sandy Island, Carriacou

At 9:00pm in a bay lit only by moonlight, the dreaded alarm went off and the family, exhausted and tired, turned back into crew mode. With five unsuccessful anchors, we figured the anchor would never stick in this island, so we took a plung and made the 12 hour trip to Marigot Bay, St. Lucia.

St. Lucia's famous "Pitons"

Marigot Bay, St. Lucia

It's been a long day, but this bay is absolutely beautiful. We're just a short swim away from the island resort and happily moored, with no worries of our anchor drifting.

Journey to Grenada

So, it's about 5:30am on Wednesday morning 12/19/12. My dad's up starting the engine and I hear Larry (a sailor friend we're taking with us) making coffee in the kitchen.

We're finally pulling out of Trinidad!

It should be 12 hours till we reach Grenada and clean water! I'm so excited!

Maps are deceiving- what looks close is actually 12 hours away

Rejoice and Be Glad: Trinidad Xmas Concert

So in the name of Christmas spirit and as an excuse to see more of Trinidad, my mum and I headed out on a "Jessie James" outing to Queen's Hall. We were expecting to get a Christmas concert with a loud steel band and an island twist. What we got was nothing of the sorts.

I'm gonna be honest. I hate Christmas concerts. I those praise the lord, jesus is born type songs are just horrendously hard to listen to. So, when I saw this huge gospel choir walk onto the stage I knew what I was in for.  

Now, don't get me wrong, these singers were amazing. The harmonies were spot on, the solos were absolutely breathtaking, and there were refreshing moments between the gospel songs. But what I really wanted was some island, upbeat, steel drum holiday music! 

Luckily, there were some refreshing moments between all the harmonies and "praise the lord"s. After the first 10 minutes, this man with dreadlocks, jeans, and a tee-shirt walked onto the stage. He sang a few verses of  City and Colour's The Girl:

While I'm off chasing my own dreams 
sailing around the world 
Please know that I'm yours to keep
My beautiful girl

And when you cry a piece of my heart dies
Knowing that I may have been the cause
If you were to leave and fulfill someone else's dreams
I think I might totally be lost

But you don't ask for no diamond rings
No delicate string of pearls 
That's why I wrote this song to sing
My beautiful girl

He then recited one of the most beautiful poems I've ever heard. It was called "One" and it paid a tribute to the poet's mother. I don't remember much of the poem, but I do remember the meaning. He thanked her for being there for him. How his first word, "mama",  and the words after all stemmed from that One love. 

His performance was touching. He left everyone speechless. 

So the first half of the performance went downhill after the poet, but after the first intermission it turned around. They brought on the most talented steel drum player I have ever seen. He went up there solo, his foot thumping with the rhythm of the drums and just banging away. The amazing thing was that you could distinguish the song he was playing, and his transitions between them were impeccably done. He finished the show with "Hallelujah" while the gospel choir and background drummers accompanied him in the background. 

Hiking Chaguaramas National Park

So after an excruciating week doing nothing but studying, I got into quite a "funk". I was tired 24/7, didn't get off the boat, and didn't do anything but eat, sleep, and study. Calculus was just kicking my butt and my parents saw the effects it had on my attitude.

Hence, the hike. My dad's solution to anything and everything hormonally or mentally related is exercise.

After a 10 minute incline and a downpour of rain, we reached our first viewpoint. By then we were all soaking wet (happily so) and muddy.

As we declined, the littered, worn area of the hike shifted to a more dream-like state. Vines grew where ever and however they pleased, ants made tiny trails across the path, and the fresh rain mixing with the lush vegetation created a wonderful, earthy aroma.

We then reached the bamboo forest. It was out of this world beautiful! The bamboo would grow in a lump and jut out in all directions. Like an array of giant, disorganized flowers. 

4.5 miles later and we pop out in a field behind our starting point. All of us were soaking wet, muddy, and delightfully tired. Some of the other hikers set off to the beach, but others (like us) stayed behind and watched the locals "lime". 

All in all the hike was a success. A nice break from the boat and calculus. Trinidad really does have some beauty behind the industry.

Trinidad and Boat Work

So after a long summer vacation, I'm finally back on the boat. It's been 5 months, and I've gotta say, it feels really good to be back. Trinidad is different from what I expected. When my mom described it as industrial, she really meant it. It's not another one of those fluffy, sandy, touristy islands. It's an island mostly driven by oil. It actually reminds me very much of Penang, Malaysia (which I visited just recently). They have lush, green mountains, but the local population consists of mostly poor workers. Much of the island is taken up by power plants or generic shops and grocery stores.

However, the people here are quite friendly and educated. The man we hired to pick us up from the airport was a 10th generation Trinidadian, and he gave us the full rundown on Trinidad and its history. He said, what once used to be an island based on cocoa plants found oil, and turned completely industrial. The population mostly consists of the locals and Indians (brought in as indentured slaves) along with a few from Southeast Asia. He told us of the corrupt government and the crime that's seen here. He saw it turn from this green, lush area into the industrial island that it is today. And this man was a taxi driver! Educated about the island, the government, and all the influences that the immigrants brought with them.

After a one hour drive from the Island's capital, Port-au-Spain to Chaguaramas, I reunited with my dad and dog, and got to see the new work we've just done. The change is amazing! The outside is a nice, 'moonshine' , creamy color, and the inside is 10 times more usable. Instead of the TV that would go down into the storage place, we have it hanging above the bar. We then replaced the leftover space with a sofa (which is still being finished so no photos yet).

 

Our backyard

New boat color

The Hilarious People You Hear on the Morning Radio

So I'm gonna be honest here....the boating community is full of weirdos. Yeah, I'm weird, but when I say weirdos, I mean just...crazy. It's usually the salty old sailors with kind intentions but sort of brain dead minds that come off as dopes. Lovable, kind, caring, and well-intentioned dopes. But now that I'm in Trinidad I've noticed that there are far stranger people out there.

Take the morning radio show for instance. Every morning around 8:00 there's a radio show on the boater's channel (when I say radio I mean like "Buccaneer over and out" type radio) that goes through the events of the day. Some people want to sell stuff, others want to complain, etc. Here's a list I made of the stranger participants:

• 'Tiff': The complainer. All she does is come on with her prim and proper english accent and complain about too much noise or people not showering in the pool. She carries neon parasols matching high heels and pants to match. Wrestled a woman over an umbrella (true story).

• Waltz von Zurben: The pushy one. Goes on the radio everyday for 4 months trying to sell the same thing...Never realizes that it isn't going to happen.

• Jack: The troll. A 50 something year old with too much time on his hands and no tolerance for the stupidity heard on the radio. Constantly interrupts Tiff's complaints with monkey noises.

• Collin: The blunt one. Interrupts rants and stupidity with coarse, short, and usually true statements. Says what everyone is too afraid to say.

and last but not least,

• Willy: Now this guy deserves respect. I heard him just now (it's about 12:00 in the afternoon) singing on the radio. This guy deserves his name on the internet, simply because he is so outrageously fun to laugh at. He's everyone's daily entertainment. He'll come on randomly and sing a sailor worthy tune, with slurs and burps. The whole thing. Gets interrupted by Collin saying, "He's a just a drunk bloke."

*Note: these are just names I came up with on my own. I chose whatever felt right for them.

Now, I love strange people. They provide entertainment for everyone living boring, lack luster lives. Frankly, if it weren't for these guys on the radio, I'd be bored out of my mind. So here's a thank you to all those out there who are a little different. Keep being the way you are. We drones appreciate it.

Playing Catch Up

It's sad to say, but it's been five years since we moved onto the boat, and this is the first time I've actually recorded my thoughts/travels on paper (or the internet in this case). Five years of procrastination seems pretty bad, but in my defense i was just a kid. A twelve-year-old with the writing skills of a 7th grader.

Thinking back I regret not appreciating the boating life more, but I've been given a second change at it and there's no way I'm going to make the same mistake twice! But before I begin on what's happening now, I'd like to write about what's happened over the past 5 years *queue cool flashback music*:

We're originally from Boulder, Colorado, which is known for it's great skiing and beautiful mountain scenery, so I'm not quite sure when the idea of a boat came into the picture.  We started this adventure off as a one year, cruise around the Caribbean- starting in the Bahamas and making our way down. Whenever I say that to people I always get "wows" or "incredibles"! But I can't even begin to explain to you how it feels to have your life be completely turned around like that. Don't get me wrong, it was incredible, and it is something I appreciate the most in my life, but to a 12 year old, prepubescent  tween, it came as a shock.I didn't make a big fuss over it, or throw a tantrum. I knew that it'd be something I'd appreciate in the end, but the idea of leaving everything behind- school, teachers, and friends included- scared me. 

Boulder, Colorado

However, when we finally packed up and migrated down to a life sun, fun, and beaches my views changed. We started our journey in Harbour Island, Bahamas and worked our way down. Spent 3 EXCRUCIATING months in Treasure Cay, Abacos, Bahamas for hurricane season and headed down south.  After making it to Saint Eustatius, a very small island with gorgeous diving sites and a little past Saint Barts, we moved on up to Puerto Rico.

Treasure Cay, Bahamas...Population 1,000
2 restaurants and 1 grocery store 

We heard of Palmas del Mar from a couple boating friends we met in a bar in Vieques. They told us of the new marina, the school, and the little community called "The Bubble" of Puerto Rico. I ended up taking the first three years of high school there.

Palmas Del Mar Yacht Club. A.K.A home for 3 years

For my last year, though, we pulled out and headed back out into the ocean. My parents took the boat down to Grenada on a 72 hour haul while I had an internship in Shanghai, China.

After five months in Asia I finally came back to the boat, which is now in Trinidad with a new color, new interior, and shiny new bottom. Now we just have to wait for the boat work to finish and hopefully we'll be in a new island for Christmas!

About Me

In 2008 we packed up and left our house in Boulder, Colorado to begin a lifestyle of salt, sand, and nothing but islands in the sun. The catch? We opted for a motor yacht as our means of shelter; moving from place to place- island to island. I was 12 years old.

5 years later, and I’m a high school senior embracing the life on “The Buccaneer”.

*This blog is for anyone who wants to keep up with where we are, what we’re doing, etc. But mostly, it’s to record memories. It’s my last hoorah before heading off to college, and the real world. Enjoy 

P.S- The pictures seen on this blog are all original (no google image reposts on this blog!)

Home is where the boat is