I held my hat & took off my jacket... I knew I would come back to the South Eastern Caribbean.

My next sailing adventure of note was being asked to go sail the Caribbean with my University Finance Professor a few years after graduating. Charles Priester sent a select email asking for adventurers, I was onboard right away. Having sailed only in the Pacific Northwest I did not know what sailing in the tropics was going to be like :-) Charles said bring a few tee shirts, shorts and swimsuits. I asked that's all? Having been born in Vancouver B.C., summer jackets are a clothing item I am familiar with. I was not prepared for what 20- 25 knots of warm wind felt like. When I poked my head out of the bombardier turbo prop plane that brought us to St. Lucia, I understood why the Caribbean is a popular cruising destination.

The first night, I established myself as chef for the boat. Having worked in the restaurant industry through College I was very capable of putting together meals. The benefit: I had no other chores to do other than cook and shop. During the bartering in the open air market I even taught my Professor some lessons about bargaining. After a few days I asked if there were other cooks on the boat, they all suggested I did not need to get up to make breakfast if I would continue with shopping, lunch and dinner :-) This worked great for me and I like to have a happy crew.

As I was traveling from port to port what struck me was how different our experience was from those on the cruise ships. When the port that is being visited has a small population, a cruise ship with 2,000 passengers can seem like a horde of locusts buying all of the trinkets in sight. Sailing on a 45 ft sailboat with 8 people into port is a gentle way of watching the local population doing their own thing. After seeing all of the impressive mansions money can buy, the overall sense I came away with was how happy local people can be with less. Socializing and connecting with those around you is their goal.

I was able to experience this part of the Caribbean due to the local knowledge of my captain. Charles, an experienced salt had been to the area 10 times before. The knowledge he had was invaluable knowing which restaurant to pick, sights to see and ports to go.