As I begin writing this message to you from the marina in Le Marin, Martinique while enjoying the cool of the morning, the dawn is breaking, the ubiquitous Caribbean roosters are crowing and the boats around us glow with new light and fresh dew. Although I have been privileged to witness hundreds of sunrises from the deck of Taka Trois over the course of more than a decade, the wonder and beauty of the lastest one never fails to take my breath away, and I am filled with gratitude for the miracle that, by God’s grace, I am alive to enjoy another day.
Our arrival here last Saturday heralded the successful conclusion of part two of our float plan; that is, to get from Grenada to Martinique via Carriacou, Union, Bequia and St. Lucia before the end of January (part 1 of the plan was getting from Trinidad to Grenada by December 7th). As most sailors know, being able to adhere to a schedule is nothing short of a miracle.
Equally amazing, is that we were able to stick to the plans we had made to host three sets of 'guest crew' over the past two months. It was truly a joy to have them onboard, and we count it as no small blessing that there were no problems to speak of, with the exception of the inevitable insect bites and boat bruises (a cruising friend in Grenada calls them ‘boat kisses’) and, it appears that they are all still speaking to us despite spending a significant amount of time with us in very close quarters—a miracle indeed!
We’ve had several queries about our children recently as there was no mention of them in our annual Christmas greetings in my last post here. Rest assured, both girls are well: Claire-Elise is currently working at an early stage tech start-up in the environmental engineering industry in Southampton, England; and Carly works in educational technology product management for a publishing company in Manhatten and lives in Chinatown. We were thrilled that the girls, along with Carly’s boyfriend Eugene, were able to join us over New Year’s for a much needed, long overdue and truly wonderful family vacation in Grenada.
Our arrival here last Saturday heralded the successful conclusion of part two of our float plan; that is, to get from Grenada to Martinique via Carriacou, Union, Bequia and St. Lucia before the end of January (part 1 of the plan was getting from Trinidad to Grenada by December 7th). As most sailors know, being able to adhere to a schedule is nothing short of a miracle.
Equally amazing, is that we were able to stick to the plans we had made to host three sets of 'guest crew' over the past two months. It was truly a joy to have them onboard, and we count it as no small blessing that there were no problems to speak of, with the exception of the inevitable insect bites and boat bruises (a cruising friend in Grenada calls them ‘boat kisses’) and, it appears that they are all still speaking to us despite spending a significant amount of time with us in very close quarters—a miracle indeed!
We’ve had several queries about our children recently as there was no mention of them in our annual Christmas greetings in my last post here. Rest assured, both girls are well: Claire-Elise is currently working at an early stage tech start-up in the environmental engineering industry in Southampton, England; and Carly works in educational technology product management for a publishing company in Manhatten and lives in Chinatown. We were thrilled that the girls, along with Carly’s boyfriend Eugene, were able to join us over New Year’s for a much needed, long overdue and truly wonderful family vacation in Grenada.
An account of our month-long stay in Grenada--an island, which has become very dear to us-- is in the works, but it merits more time than I can actually give right now. However, I wanted to post a brief update today (the last day of this month), in order to squeeze in a very sincere Bonne Année to you before it's to late: It is customary and even obligatory in France to send new year's greetings and thankfully we have a generous grace period until the end of January to do so. Also, since the title of this post is about miracles, I can’t resist sharing the story of a little miracle that warmed my heart and gave me a big boost of encouragement at a time when I really needed one:
The day we moved back onboard T3 last November, I was recovering from a terrible bout of flu and was feeling truly miserable. By no means did I feel up to the mammoth task of getting through the long list of repairs, chores and preparations that needed to be done within the coming three weeks. Moreover, we were disheartened over some the work that had not been done properly on the boat, and in some cases, not done at all. And I was disgusted by how filthy the boat was after her time on the hard. Nevertheless, I braced myself for what what I had to do and prepared myself to just get on with it. However, when we arrived onboard with a cartful of groceries and realized that the fridge was not working, I came undone.
Patrice valiantly tried to find someone to fix it, and was told that a certain Brendon was purportedly the “best fridge guy in Chaguaramas,” albeit somewhat difficult to reach and unreliable (and that’s saying a lot in the Caribbean where unreliability is the status quo). At that point it was already Friday afternoon, the beginning of the week-end, so there was little hope of reaching him let alone getting him to come out to us before the following work week. However, by some miracle, Patrice did manage to reach him, and he said he would try to come the next day. "Ha! On a Saturday? Fat chance," I scoffed.
That night I slept very badly and in between contemplating mutiny, I asked God for help. I know, I know, He's got much bigger problems in the world than my little boat fridge, but I was at a very low point and needed something. The next morning, Patrice checked in with Brendon again, who assured us that he would come that afternoon. We hardly dared to believe him, but sure enough, he arrived that same afternoon. Even more astonishing, he quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed it!
But here's the amazing thing; while he was working on the fridge, Brendon casually asked Patrice if we pray. Patrice answered that, yes, we pray every day. Brendon then looked at him with a big beautiful smile and said: "Well, you should know that God woke me up out of a sound sleep at 3 o'clock this morning and told me to come to your boat and fix your fridge." I kid you not—as if I could even make that up!
I hope that warms your heart as much has it did mine. With that in mind, Patrice joins me sending you our best wishes for a very happy new year. May it filled with an abundance of God's blessings, miracles and beautiful sunrises to encourage you along the way.
The day we moved back onboard T3 last November, I was recovering from a terrible bout of flu and was feeling truly miserable. By no means did I feel up to the mammoth task of getting through the long list of repairs, chores and preparations that needed to be done within the coming three weeks. Moreover, we were disheartened over some the work that had not been done properly on the boat, and in some cases, not done at all. And I was disgusted by how filthy the boat was after her time on the hard. Nevertheless, I braced myself for what what I had to do and prepared myself to just get on with it. However, when we arrived onboard with a cartful of groceries and realized that the fridge was not working, I came undone.
Patrice valiantly tried to find someone to fix it, and was told that a certain Brendon was purportedly the “best fridge guy in Chaguaramas,” albeit somewhat difficult to reach and unreliable (and that’s saying a lot in the Caribbean where unreliability is the status quo). At that point it was already Friday afternoon, the beginning of the week-end, so there was little hope of reaching him let alone getting him to come out to us before the following work week. However, by some miracle, Patrice did manage to reach him, and he said he would try to come the next day. "Ha! On a Saturday? Fat chance," I scoffed.
That night I slept very badly and in between contemplating mutiny, I asked God for help. I know, I know, He's got much bigger problems in the world than my little boat fridge, but I was at a very low point and needed something. The next morning, Patrice checked in with Brendon again, who assured us that he would come that afternoon. We hardly dared to believe him, but sure enough, he arrived that same afternoon. Even more astonishing, he quickly diagnosed the problem and fixed it!
But here's the amazing thing; while he was working on the fridge, Brendon casually asked Patrice if we pray. Patrice answered that, yes, we pray every day. Brendon then looked at him with a big beautiful smile and said: "Well, you should know that God woke me up out of a sound sleep at 3 o'clock this morning and told me to come to your boat and fix your fridge." I kid you not—as if I could even make that up!
I hope that warms your heart as much has it did mine. With that in mind, Patrice joins me sending you our best wishes for a very happy new year. May it filled with an abundance of God's blessings, miracles and beautiful sunrises to encourage you along the way.
An assortment of Carribean sunrises from this recent trip up from Trinidad
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