Perspective of a newbie on board Cotinga .....
Tuesday 28 Nov 2023
Today, Pete, Jo and Simon fly out to Miami to spend the remaining couple of weeks of their trip in Florida. It has been great having them visit us. Gloria and I are going to try to beat our way eastwards to St Martin. It’s about 100 nm and the easterly trade winds are not as light as we had hope they would be, but it’s still the best window for the next week or so. We’ll let you know how that pans out in due course …! Here is Jo's blog entry ...
I’m Jo, wife of Pete one of the ‘novice sailors’ who did the passage. Waving him off into the unknown was a completely new experience for me, as well as him. Having only done some inshore/inland dinghy sailing myself in the past I had no real idea of what they would face on a long passage, but my overall feeling was one of confidence in the ability and huge amount of planning that I knew Mike, as skipper, had already done. They would be fine!
We had made tentative arrangements months ago about meeting up, although I was told to be prepared to be flexible! I flew out of Heathrow to Miami as planned, stayed over, flew out to the USVI as planned and enjoyed luxury in a hotel for a couple of nights. I am therefore absolutely amazed that by simply tracking Cotinga via Predict and the odd email exchange I was able to walk down to the waterfront just as they were arriving in the dinghy! What are the chances?Was great to see them even though they were all trying to find their landlegs in those first moments back on terra firma and Pete was slightly disoriented!
My first dinghy ride over to Cotinga was a little bumpy but unbelievably I spotted my first ever sea turtle in the harbour. I hoped that was a good omen for the rest of the cruising that was planned. It was.
Getting used to the inner workings of the boat was fine but I had to ask precise questions as they assumed it was all straightforward having been living on the boat for at least 2 weeks. It’s way more complicated than our VW campervan, particularly the head initially, but very homely and everything has its own place which I love.
Cruising the islands of St Thomas and St John, swimming and snorkelling off the boat and simply living on Cotinga has been an amazing experience. I have swum with a couple of spotted eagle rays; ordered tacos in Coral Bay from a floating restaurant; been rained on by tropical showers; learnt more of the history of these islands and slavery; seen amazing wildlife both in the air and water yet have never tired in my 12 days onboard of the thrill of spotting a sea turtle! Just sad I didn’t manage to snorkel with one.
This has been an experience/adventure that I feel so privileged to have been able to have. It is obvious how important teamwork and communication are on a boat to the smooth running of everything from sailing, sleeping, eating and regular daily chores. I offer a huge thank you to Mike & Gloria for giving me the chance to share part of their bigger adventure - and for the amazing food whilst on board!
Thank you.
Jo
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