Friday, 06Aug2010: Travel Day (RDU-MIA-SJU-GND): Finally time to head to the Caribbean again to sail on a Tall Ship!! Traveled to Grenada (all day 6am to 9:03pm) and was met by the Island Windjammers driver at the airport. He took us to the Allamanda hotel in St George's. Checked in and meet up with friends, visited for awhile, took a quick walk on the beach, and then headed to room for sleep just after midnight.

Saturday, 07Aug2010: Grenada: Awoke at 7am ready to start my vacation!! Headed to breakfast near hotel then went to grocery store to buy booze. A few went deep sea fishing. Just as we got back to the hotel it started to rain. By 10:30am we were ready to leave the hotel and decided to walk down to Garfield's Beach Bar. We made it to Garfield's just as the rain continued so we were forced to drink Carib and entertain Chester the bartender. Weather finally cleared so we headed to the beach (Grand Anse Beach) and floated in the water, enjoying the Caribbean Sea. At 7:30pm we headed to town to have dinner at the Nutmeg Restaurant. Alison our final team member had arrived while we were at dinner. We visited with her for awhile and then headed to bed about 11:30pm. Sunday, 08Aug2010: Grenada - Board S/V Diamant: What a way to spend my birthday, in the Grenadines getting ready to finally board the S/V Diamant. Woke up about 7:30am and went to Gibson's (again across the street) for a nice breakfast. Bruce and Maryse headed out for an Island tour and the rest of us headed to the beach. About 11am we decided to walk down to Garfield's Beach Bar for a few drinks and a few birthday shots! We headed to Port Louis about 1pm and got our first look at the Diamant. What a beautiful small ship, she is a 101 ft schooner with tons of character. About 4:45pm we headed over to the Diamant. The check in procedure was a breeze and we were all shown our Cabins within an hour of boarding. The cabins were great; each different with their own little touches. There is decent storage space in each but don't bring a lot and don't bring hard sided suitcases (there is no place for them); duffle bags or backpacks are the way to go. You're on a boat so the cabin and bathrooms are small but the layout is great in each. The ship has its own water purification system and the cabins have water bottles for each passenger (that stay with the ship). Near the back of the ship were two coolers that were kept stocked with sodas and BEER (we had Heineken, Carib and Stag) plus you had access to a house red and white wine at all times. Once we all settled in we just walked around the ship, chatted and soaked in the fact that we were back on a Tall Ship. We had dinner around 7:30pm and the crew even had a birthday cake for me! We spend the evening relaxing, talking and drinking beer and cocktails. Monday, 09Aug2010: Grenada - Carriacou - Union Island: Ship set sail about 5am; it was great sleeping to the sway of the ship! Made it to Carriacou about 10am and had our safety drill. We stayed on the ship for the morning, had lunch, and then headed to Anse La Roche Beach for the day. No one else around and no beach bars so the crew brought us a cooler with beer (and other drinks). There was lots of Technical Diving and we drank an insane amount of beer (between all 9 of us). I think by the end of the afternoon there were concerns on beer and ice stock ? Once we were all feeling pretty "happy" a game was created by John - "Redneck Bowling"; this provided us hours of entertainment! And yes we did take all the empties back to the ship, left only footprints. Back to ship around 5pm; we were all tipsy, a little sun burned, and ready for Rum Swizzles and Snacks. Eventually we all cleaned up and had dinner on the ship. We relocated to Chatum Bay near Union Island for the night. Stayed on ship for evening, there were tons of stars out, so amazing. Fell asleep on deck just staring at the stars. Tuesday 10Aug2010: Union Island - Bequia: Woke up at 7am and made my way to the deck for the morning sail. Was wonderful hearing Amazing Grace played while the sails were raised, has been way to long. As we made our way to Bequia we passed Moon Hole. Once we got to the main harbor in Bequia had a nice hot breakfast and then into town around 10am. We went into a few shops, bought t-shirts, and Kim got a really cool map of the Caribbean in one of the book stores, also visited the ATM. Headed over to the Whaleboner bar but they were closed so we had a few beers at the Magnolia bar to cool off. Back to ship around noon for lunch (it is amazing what Boston created in that tiny kitchen). We all stayed on the ship for the afternoon. There was reading, relaxing, journal writing and some drinking of adult beverages. Bruce and John fished off the ship. The ship's entertainment system has a connection for MP3 players so you can play your music thru the ship speakers; we had a Jimmy Buffett type of afternoon. Broke out the rope swing and jumped off the ship for some swimming/floating next to the ship. The Diamant has an awesome ladder for getting back on the ship after swimming, very easy to navigate and. We had a great relaxing afternoon with no agenda which was so nice. After swim we had Rum Swizzles, Wine, and Cheese; Boston also cooked up the Tuna that Bruce brought on board. We cleaned up, watched an awesome sunset, and then headed to Mac's Pizzeria for Dinner. Back to ship about 9:30pm. Some to bed early, others up front star gazing. Wednesday, 11Aug2010: Bequia - Tobago Cays - Mayreau: Early sail to Tobago Cays for a day on the beach. Another beautiful, sunny day and the Tobago Cays are breathtaking. We ended up anchoring near one of the many beautiful small islands and then took the dingy to a great little beach with picnic tables. Spent morning walking beach, taking pictures, laying out to perfect the tan, and working on our "technical diving" skills with our well stocked cooler. The crew brought us a picnic lunch ashore that was delicious. About 1:30pm we headed back to ship and then several of us headed over to Turtle Island to swim/snorkel with the Turtles (the ship provides snorkel gear for use at the beginning of the week, no extra charge). Some did a walk on the island and saw several big iguanas and land turtles. Headed back to ship for Rum Swizzles and Snacks and a few headed to "Johnny Depp" island which is where one of the scenes from the first movies was filmed. Once everyone back on ship we sailed to Mayreau. Had dinner and then we all changed into our "TGDT" shirts that Ester made and Kim provided glow-stick necklaces and bracelets. This was so we could keep track of the group during our "cultural walk" of Mayrue. Headed into town about 8:30pm and walked up the long steep hill to the top. Our plan was to "drink" our way down. We ended up visiting 3 bars with the final one being "Dennis's Hideaway". Back to ship about 11:30pm. Another great day!!

Thursday, 12Aug2010: Mayreau- Salt Whistle Bay - Union Island - Happy Island - Carriacou: After breakfast picked up anchor and moved to other side of island to visit Salt Whistle Bay, which is a beautiful beach. We spent the morning on the beach just relaxing and floating on the blue rafts. Some hiked around and a few passengers walked over the hill to town. Back to ship for lunch then we sailed to Union Island. We went into town for quick look around and to visit the ATM. The entire group ended up at the dock at the same time to catch the dingy around 2pm. Instead of heading back to the ship we went straight to "Happy Island". They serve food if his wife is around, otherwise you just receive drinks. The rum punch on Happy Island is AWESOME and will make you very happy! Around 4:30pm we were not ready to leave, so the crew brought snacks to us and we continued to party on the island. We had so much fun! Rain clouds were around and there were a few rainbows (it could not get any more perfect). Somewhere around 6pm we all decided to head back to the ship as it looked like serious rain was coming. We packed the passengers and crew on the dingy for the very short ride back to the ship and wouldn't you know it, the heavens opened up and it started to rain in earnest. Once back on the ship we headed into the indoor saloon area, Kim attached her iPod to the stereo and became our DJ for the night. Eventually all the passengers and all the crew were on deck dancing to disco music. I can't tell you how much fun we had joking around and dancing in the rain. We eventually dressed for our "tacky Hawaiian shirt" night which we planned ahead of time. At some point (time blurs some) we did a quick move to Carriacou to anchor for the nigh. All through dinner (and after) the music, singing and dancing continued. Eventually people headed to bed but there may have been some late night swimming off the side of the ship ? What an absolutely wonderful day and night. Friday, 13Aug2010: Carriacou - Sandy Island - Grenada: Up around 8am. Most of us stayed on the ship to recover and napped through the morning. I believe Bruce and Maryse were the only ones who went over to Sandy Island. After lunch we started the trip back to Grenada. On the way back the Capt. shut off the engines and we truly sailed for about 2 hours. It was absolutely amazing. Bruch continued to fish and we just hung on the back on the ship just enjoying the sail. Brandon made his special "drink" for Snacks (think pina colada). Just to let you know how much fun we had, we were planning our next trip before we even docked and were e-mailing Island Windjammers about available dates. We ended up docking in Grenada about 5:30-6pm. Once docked, we cleaned up and proceeded with our "Pirate themed" night; which included eye patches, bandanas and tattoos. We did a quick check out with Natalie to settle our ship accounts and they provided us with a map of our weeks sail with the route plotted and signatures from all the crew. We had a nice Captains' dinner and all the crew came out so we could take pictures with them. We eventually ended up drinking (trying to finish off the booze we brought aboard) and playing stupid drinking games Read more