Making Memories (part 1)

Billy, Emily, Jordan and Eleanor

My great Aunt Harriet called it “making memories.”  She attributed this mantra to the times when our extended family congregated together in feast, games and songs all aimed at reveling in our collective kinship.  Hour-long matches of Up Jinks and raucous renditions of Turnip Greens were two mainstays of any gathering.

The venue for many of these retreats was The Bullfrog Blues, a rustic log cabin on the banks of the freezing-cold North Saluda River in the mountains of South Carolina.  It had neither electricity nor plumbing.  This fact never seemed to bother anybody even when it entailed a trek to Little Egypt, the infamous outhouse just off the main path from the parking area to the cabin.  The kitchen featured an authentic wood-burning stove and genuine icebox that required the purchase of a 25-lb. block of ice for a weekend. 

Aside from the kitchen, there were three other rooms.  The main room housed enough bunk beds to sleep at least eight people, perfect for a cadre of wiggly children determined to stay up all night amid clandestine muffled laughter.  Two other bedrooms offered some privacy for any grown ups who signed on as lackluster chaperones - the object, of course, was to allow for unadulterated fun.

We used to keep watermelons in the icy creek back behind the Blues and, when they were cold enough, take them down to a huge rock in the river, cut them up and eat all we wanted.  After letting the juice run down all over our bathing suits, we’d jump in the river to wash off.  Many a seed-spitting contest took place on that rock as well. 

I lay this elaborate introduction to underscore the point that these memories play a significant role in my makeup.  Indeed, they are a foundational cornerstone for me and their perpetuation, even if times have changed and The Blues no longer exists, are very important to me. 

The Preparations

That’s why I was absolutely ecstatic when my first cousin, Eleanor Dunlap (Aunt Harriet’s granddaughter), called to say that she wanted to bring her family for a visit with us on our sailboat in Belize.  The family included her husband, Billy, and daughters Jordan (11) and Emily (7).  We don’t often have company on the boat and had never entertained children for more than an afternoon, but the prospect of sharing our cruising experience with the Dunlaps delighted us.

We focused on Easter which fell on March 23.  The girls’ spring break started on Good Friday and continued the following week.  Eleanor determined that a Thursday to Thursday schedule would work the best for them.  We had no time constraints.  The only consideration, as always is our case, was the weather.  Usually by the end of March, the weather in the NW Caribbean becomes more settled.  Winter cold fronts in the States begin to subside thus allowing cruisers more flexibility in moving around.

John and I recommended that we meet up in Placencia, Belize, a small tourist community located on a peninsula at the southern end of the country.  We knew Placencia well, having cruised that area for two years.  Small commuter airlines make it extremely accessible from Belize City and its’ a great place for staging short hops to many of the small cays dotting the area.

For a couple of months, I communicated with Eleanor about her expectations for the trip.  She had definite ideas which made our planning much easier.  First of all, she wanted the girls to experience our typical cruising routine, giving them a taste of what it was like to live on a boat.  She also wanted them to have inland exposure to Belize with some particular time saved for a visit to an ancient Mayan ruin. 

All of it was very feasible.  Belize is a small country with a population of only 250,000.  Even from the coastal position of Placencia, trips to the highlands happen daily.  A week would be plenty of time to both cruise and see some of the country.

As the time approached, John and I focused on logistics.  We sailed into Placencia early enough for a dress rehearsal on getting to anchorages that would both offer protection from the prevailing easterly winds and opportunities to snorkel or swim.  For several days, we moved around, updating our chart plotter with waypoints to Twin Cays, Tobacco Range and North Long Cocoa Cay.  Once we arrived back into Placencia, we priced tour guides and options for our road trip.

Eleanor worked the other end of the plans making sure the girls acquainted themselves with what they would experience.  There were a few setbacks.  The entire idea almost derailed when she pulled up a picture of a Catalina 380 on the internet to show them what our boat looked like.  The shock was instantaneous.  Apparently, Jordan and Emily had envisioned something more along the lines of a cruise ship.  Eleanor had to do some fancy footwork to ramp up their enthusiasm for a 38-foot vessel.

At some point, Emily expressed sincere anxiety about the logistics for the Easter Bunny.  It was, after all, going to be Easter.  Would he know where we were?  Where would we hide eggs?  Do rabbits swim?  Eleanor shared these concerns with me via the internet.  I enlisted some high-powered help.  One of the full-time crew on Up Jinks is our gnome Happy Jinks who’s been with us for four years, goes everywhere with us and sleeps in the bow berth sink.  Come to find out, Happy knew the Easter Bunny and would be glad to contact him personally for arrangements.  We emailed Emily this information and reassured her that the Bunny would have no trouble finding us.  Easter would unfold as usual on the boat.

The most serious hurdle for Eleanor proved to be her husband Billy’s penchant for seasickness.  The only time he had ever been out on the open ocean for an extended period of time, he had returned so green at the gills it took him two weeks to recover.  Since I have the same problem on occasion, I offered encouragement with the fact that we would never be in big water.  All of our destinations were short hops with depths of no more than 50 feet.  I conjured up verbal visions of Caribbean blue water so clear and serene you could see the ripples of sand from the bow of the boat.  As a precaution, I also suggested Scopolamine patches which I use occasionally when we make overnight passages.  Finally, if the weather deteriorated to the extent that the boat was too uncomfortable for them, there were plenty of rooms for rent in Placencia.

As the time drew near, with all obstacles overcome, we began making final preparations.  John and I combed the somewhat limited shopping to provision.  Besides food, we purchased tee-shirts, beach towels, art supplies and games to make welcome packages for the girls.  My serious challenge was to make good on the commitment about Easter which entailed an intense search for baskets, grass, candy and dye.  We lucked out on the first two, even finding some plastic eggs.  I had some candy donated by one of my cruising friends, but dye was nowhere to be had so I enlisted Eleanor to sneak it into her suitcase.

Back in the States, she finalized everything for the family.  An adequate supply of tee-shirts, shorts and bathing suits were packed along with rain gear and hiking clothes.  Everybody was outfitted for snorkeling gear.  Eleanor even arranged for Jordan to receive extra credit for an essay on Belize.  All systems were on go.

The Arrival

The night before the Dunlaps were to arrive, we anchored out behind Placencia Cay, a small barrier some few hundred feet east from the shoreline of the community.  It buffers a rather large bay from the prevailing winds and normally provides a comfortable place for lots of boats to hang the hook.  Sometime after midnight, the wind shifted coming from the west, an aberration which left the entire anchorage exposed to not only the blow itself but also the fetch created across the water.  I awoke to Up Jinks bucking back and forth like an impatient race horse waiting for the gate to open.  As the morning wore on, my anxiety antennae spiked miserably for fear that our guests’ introduction to the boat would be so unpleasant it could ruin the whole trip.

We assessed the situation after breakfast and noticed that a few boats were pulling up anchor to move to the smaller bay on the other side of the peninsula.  Although this spot features a white sandy beach with restaurants and hotels, it’s normally a foul anchorage because of the exposure to easterly winds.  But for the moment, it made sense.  We followed suit and moved no more than a quarter mile to find calm water even with the wind raging above.

Eleanor, Billy and the girls were due to arrive around 2:00 that afternoon.  We had instructed them to catch a cab at the airport and go to the fuel dock on the big bay side.  Most of the cabs use VHF radios, so we had told them to get the cabbie to call us on Up Jinks and we would come get them in the dinghy.  That plan had imploded with the change of the wind.  The dock jutted out into the exposed bay side and the water was so churned up, a dinghy ride was totally unfeasible.  Instead, we motored over to the beach so that John could walk into town in the hopes of intercepting them. 

He found them at the dock, looking somewhat shell shocked from the bumpy, windy ride in the puddle jumper from Belize City.  They bewilderedly stared out into the roiling anchorage. Billy looked especially queasy as he watched the masts of the remaining sailboats sway back and forth like metronomes.  Fortunately, before they bolted back into the cab, John caught up and quickly maneuvered them in the other direction.

They hadn’t had any lunch, so we grabbed some hamburgers at a beach bar.  Up Jinks bobbed lazily offshore and everybody seemed much relieved that tranquility prevailed in her current spot. 

It took two shifts in the dinghy to get people and luggage to the boat.  Once on board, we introduced the girls to Happy Jinks who posed jauntily in the middle of their welcome gifts.  We tackled logistics, like where everybody would sleep.  Billy is well over six feet tall and the bow berth would be a little cramped for him.  It worked out that he and Emily shared the salon bed.  Eleanor and Jordan bunked in the bow berth. 

We went through “head” instruction, teaching how to work the toilet and where to put the toilet paper.  John demonstrated how to use the shower and identified the shower pump lever on the navigation station control panel.  We discussed how to move their luggage around during the day and night to maximize the limited space that we had.  I was amazed that the girls adapted to the concept without any whining or consternation.  Eleanor and Billy had either prepared them beautifully for a grand adventure or threatened them with their lives if they complained.

By this time, the sun began to set.  I started dinner and we gathered in the cockpit for drinks and discussion about how the week would unfold.  John‘s latest weather check indicated the best opportunity to cruise would be the first three days.  By the fourth day, a cold front was predicted which meant we should retreat back to Placencia and take the inland tour.  He charted us to Twin Cay on Friday where we would stay the night and see how conditions unfolded to move on from there.  Our effort at “making memories” was about to begin.

To be continued……….

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