Sailing Antigua, The Lazy Way

I got on a plane the morning of May 2nd and headed from Washington DC to the island of Antigua. In honesty, I didn’t have any knowledge of Antigua nor was there any real draw that made me excited about visiting. It simply is, another beautiful Caribbean island settled nicely among the other beautiful Caribbean islands.

But, once the plane descended over the white sand, rolling hills, and relentless blue water, I realized that I was about to fall in love yet again. You see, it happens, every time I step foot off the plane, every time I am greeted by a friendly islander, every time the salt air and tradewinds tap me on the shoulder and welcome me to what I feel is home, every time, I fall in love again and again.

The island life; the let stress go, worry about nothing, never watch the clock; island life has got to be the best life I have lived.

I spent two days wondering the island and lounging on the beach. It’s what everyone does on vacation. One thing I actually had to do though, was go see a doctor. My sailing school, and working on yachts in general, requires a medical physical called an ENG1. Though there are medical facilities all around the world who can perform a physical, trying to find a location that performs this exam can be rather difficult. In the states, I only found a location in Ft. Lauderdale Florida. Luckily, I’m in Antigua and there just happens to be one doctor on the island that is authorized to conduct the physical. I found out first hand that this is probably the most basic physical you will ever have, so it’s strange that I couldn’t just go to any random family practice doctor. But, lucky or random or whatever, it’s done. It cost me $200 but it’s good for two years. And now, I’m signed off to go sailing!

Though I’m getting ready for sailing school, Antigua was all about vacation and after finishing up the two days on land, I boarded an amazing 60 ft catamaran sailed by a Tradewinds Cruise Club team of two and felt myself instantaneously relax as a beautiful young first mate handed me a cocktail and introduced the four other couples we’d be sailing with.

The first evening we sailed out of Jolly Harbour and anchored in a little cove just across the way. Dinner was served, pork medallions with vegetable side and sweet potato puree. To say it was delicious is an understatement. We woke up the next morning, for me that means 6am on the dot, to a Caribbean sunrise that I’ll challenge California to try and produce better. A bit more sailing to Deep Cove, which oddly enough is only about 9ft deep, where we snorkled a wreck, swam, paddle boarded, and took a hike up to the ruins of a small hilltop fort. Closing the day down, we enjoyed cocktails among new friends. Monday and Tuesday brought with them a continuation of island breezes, swimming, and sailing. We finished off Tuesday evening by meeting our sister ship on shore for a bonfire, sundown cocktails, and making even more new friends. After dinner, that night was the most peaceful sleep I had gotten and it made my 6 am wake up something to look forward to.

I don’t wake up that early by force, my vacation days on the boat gently rock me awake when the sun starts peaking through my window. I put on a sweatshirt and head up to the fly bridge and watch the world slowly come alive. It’s usually around a half hour later that the captain and first mate start performing their morning routine and prepping for the day. At about the same time, if there are other boats anchored by, one by one sleepy eyed sailors, holding their coffee cups, start popping out of their hatches to join each other in their own routines and preparations. As the morning progresses, each boat starts to pull up anchor and head out in their chosen direction to find their next little adventure. Sure beats getting in the car and joining the rush hour commute.

This week on the boat covered seven days and included three dives, plenty of snorkeling and paddle boarding, we enjoyed the sun and sea spray as well as a few sun burns and a bit tanner skin. It was a needed vacation and new memories were made. I hope one day, I’ll be able to be on the flip side, helping others enjoy their sailing vacations as much as I have.

Final Decision

Do you ever have those moments when you look back and you think that something was such a long time ago, but it felt as if only a moment had passed by? It was 2012 that I was sitting in a wood hut in Afghanistan, during a 6 month deployment, thinking about sailing away. Seven years ago, I made up my mind that my future would include sailing and travel. I have a saying that I truly believe in, “it only takes doing for an adventure to start.” So many of us keep dreaming, keep thinking about someday and sometime and next year. I’m still dreaming, but this year is my someday, sometime, this year! It’s official…I’m giving up the traffic and office way of life in Washington DC; this former Marine Corps Captain is heading off to South Africa to become a Sailboat Captain.

A little back story may be in order. About 13 years ago, I stepped foot on a sailboat for the first time. I was in San Carlos, Mexico with Jessica, my best friend and the woman I would later marry. She introduced me to something she loved, and I immediately fell in love with it as well. Fast forward to 2012, sitting in that wood hut in Afghanistan, while surfing the internet, I found the amazing logs of a boat called Ithaka on the Boat US website and got lost in the stories of a couple who sailed the Caribbean for about 6 years. After reading all the boatlogs and corresponding with the woman who wrote them, and who happened to be working for Boat US, I ended up writing an article for the magazine. I was so excited to write about something I enjoyed so much. I was also very scared that putting those words out there would somehow hold me accountable for starting my adventure and that I’d just be another dreamer if I didn’t follow through with what I wrote. For the record, I am just another dreamer, and dreamers are an important part of our world. Dreamers who can put those dreams into action, create change and change is good.

Over the years, I’ve owned a boat, took some basic courses in sailing, done some day and weekend trips, and have gone on some amazing charter vacations to locations that I hope to one day see again.  No where on earth do I feel more relaxed, more at peace, and more in tune with who I am than when I am on a sailboat.  It just feels right.

So, after years of dreaming, continuing to work, and coming to the realization that plans don’t always work out the way you…well…planned, I’m in the position to actualize my saying and start my adventure by dropping everything and doing.

When I first started thinking about how I could make full-time sailing a reality, I came up with several different possibilities.  1) Use my 401k and military retirement to buy a boat and finance my adventure, 2) Find a position as a Charter Captain, 3) Win the lottery, 4) Sail while finding odd jobs here and there (maybe writing?) 5) Join a crew.  As the planning started, I flushed out which options I could actually do. As stated before, things don’t always work out the way you think they will.  Along the way, Jessica and I were blessed with the adoption of a wonderful young man (Michael) who has and will, for the better, continue to change our lives forever.  As I write this, he is 17 and a few months away from turning 18.  He is an amazing person and is working hard to find his way in life.  On the flip side, Jessica and I also split up last year.  It was amicable and we continue to be the best of friends.  Though, now I can’t get her to go sailing with me.  With the financial responsibilities of those events, the first option of buying a boat and running off isn’t feasible.  Option 3, winning the lottery, well…I’ll keep wishing on that one.  For stability sake, that really only leaves the options of finding a position as a skipper or joining a crew.    Either way, a bit more formal education is in order.

Throughout the past six years, I have researched various schools and what the different certifications entail, which is more accepted throughout the industry, and what the difficulty in obtaining those certifications buys you.  My understanding is,that the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), Yacht Master Certification is more accepted worldwide for sailing than going through the individual courses of American Sailing Association(ASA) and then getting signed off by the US Coast Guard.  One individual made it very clear in my mind when he pointed out that the US Coat Guard Captain’s license is for a boat.  A person could have a Captain’s license and never have sailed a day in his/her life.  With that in mind, I looked at RYA Yacht Master Fast Track schools and primarily focused on three locations: Spain, South Africa, and St Maarten.  There are plenty more locations out there, I was just drawn to these three over others in places like Australia, Britain, Amsterdam, etc.

Though it would be cool to spend 3-4 months in the Caribbean and get to sail around St Maarten again, this is where the difficulty of the course comes into play. The tidal range in the Caribbean is basically zero. That means that the requirement of mileage building in tidal waters that RYA requires would be rather difficult to meet. The hard choice came down to Spain and South Africa. There were a lot of contributing factors(reputation, length, language, cool accents, etc), and both seem to have amazing all-inclusive schools. The major difference is the exchange rate between the American Dollar (USD), Euro (EUR), and South African Rand (ZAR). USD to ZAR is currently at .072, which saves a few thousand dollars and is hard to overlook when a Fast Track course is going to set a person back $8k – $12k USD. And hey, if you can sail Cape Agulhas, you can sail anywhere…right?

With my choice made and decision set, I have signed up with Sail Due South out of Langebaan South Africa.  Not only do they have the all-inclusive education along with room and board, they also came highly recommended by an excellent captain I had come to know and sail with.   I will be heading down to Langebaan in September to start my adventure and I don’t think I could be more excited.  Until then, I need to finish working on my travel visa, find and buy some solid wet weather gear, figure out where I am going to live when my lease is up in June, and o’yeah…go on a sailing vacation with Jessica to Antigua.