Other Destinations – Caribbean & Guatemala!

Our travels have been primarily in the USA by RV and in Mexico by sailboat (with inland travels by bus). However, we have veered off those routes a few times.

CARIBBEAN

In December of 2009, we put our trailer in storage and flew to the island of Grenada in the southern Caribbean, to take a three month jaunt through the Grenadine islands. Part of our mission was to get away from the intensive sailboat search we had undertaken in California. In the preceding few months, we had put four offers in on four different boats with hopes of scoring a deal due to the growing fall-out from the financial meltdown of 2008. However, the California used boat market is a cut-throat and very nasty business, and we had exhausted ourselves and our good humor in the process of trying to buy a boat.

Another part of our mission was to explore the southern Caribbean and the Grenadines, considered by some to be the best cruising grounds in the Caribbean. Rather than focusing on which boat to sail, we wanted to decide which waters to sail in. We were torn whether we should start our prospective sailing cruise in the Caribbean, which we knew a little about from many weeks of sailboat charters over two decades, or whether we should begin our sailing adventures in Mexico, which neither of us knew at all. If we fell in love with the Caribbean on this trip, we would switch our sailboat search to the east coast. I knew an awesome boat broker in Massachusetts who was fair and honest in all his dealings, unlike the California brokers.

Our travels were cut short when we snuck a peek online at the sailboat market in San Diego and saw our dream boat for sale as a foreclosure. Entering a ridiculously low offer online, we were shocked when it was accepted by the bank within 30 minutes. Ironically, the broker was from Virginia and turned out in the end to be extremely honest. The following day we flew home after just three weeks in the Grenadines. Within two weeks, we found ourselves living aboard Groovy and starting a new adventure and new phase of life.

  • Grenada – Escape to the Tropics January 5, 2010 December, 2009 – We escaped winter’s cold and flew off to beautiful Grenada in the southeastern Caribbean.
  • Grenada – Caribbean Delights January 12, 2010 Decmeber 2009 – After exploring Grenada, a pretty island with a bustling city, we took a ferry to Carriacou and arrived in Paradise.
  • Carriacou – Paradise Found January 15, 2010 December, 2009 – Carriacou is a delightful little Grenadine island full of friendly people and Caribbean charm.
  • Carriacou – A stroll around a beautiful Caribbean island January 16, 2010 December, 2009 – Christmas Eve was a rollicking all-night party on this lively Grenadine island, and Christmas Day was full of warmth.
  • Union Island – Christmas Day Fun! January 18, 2010 Christmas, 2009 – A rickety ferry ride from Carriacou to Union Island delivered us to an ideal tropical island for Christmas.
  • Bequia – Dreamy No Longer January 20, 2010 December, 2009 – Bequia was once a dreamy Caribbean island, but on this visit we were shocked by how it’s changed.

Groovy — How We Came to Own a Sailboat January 25, 2010
January, 2010 – Our lives were changed forever when Fate stepped in and handed us our dream boat while we were in The Grenadines

 

GUATEMALA

In late February, 2012, while our boat Groovy was safely tucked away in Marina Chiapas, we took a day-long bus ride to Antigua, Guatemala, and stayed a few days. We had planned to do a homestay for a week as part of an immersion Spanish class, but we were so unnerved by the warnings we were hearing from long-time ex-pats about the dangers of this town that we left right away. We did our Spanish immersion class in beautiful San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico instead.