On Christmas Day, our family of six adults and five children was fortunate enough to escape the cold and sail Caribbean seas. Step expertly captained our chartered catamaran, after persuading Drew and me that we’d have an awesome nautical adventure. We knew he’d deliver, so we jumped the usual mental hurdles about logistics, price, etc. and made it happen. Looking back, I’m grateful we did – it was a wonderful journey and time well spent, complete with challenges and setbacks - the stuff of great memories.
Captain Step and family
What challenges and setbacks, you ask? Nothing too crazy…a day of swells which left some of us queasier than others, tumultuous waves to navigate (Step masterfully kept us upright), and a vessel which hinted at retirement on more than one occasion. But what would a boat trip be without malfunctioning winches, bathroom and battery issues and a refrigerator door that won’t open? Boring, right…who needs total relaxation anyway?
If you’re wondering whether sailing around the U.S. Virgin Islands is for you, I say “YES,” if you tend to enjoy the following:
75 to 85 degree F days and nights in the low 70s – in late December;
Sailing in warm winds, constantly working on your balance while breathing fresh (and sometimes not so fresh) sea air;
Exploring off-the-beaten-path coves, beaches and nature reserves;
March paddleboarding off St. John - windy day brought me to my knees
Swimming, snorkeling, paddleboarding and kayaking in relatively calm and tepid waters;
Islands rich with green vegetation (it rains a little each day, which also means frequent rainbows), coral and fish under your boat - some so large you wonder if they’re baby sharks;
Seclusion and space while traveling at sea (avoiding crowds);
Encountering sea turtles in the water, and wild deer and lizards on land (on St. John, that is… we saw mostly chickens and cats on St. Thomas).
Leisurely food and beverage service when ashore (definitely check your sense of urgency at the door – you’re on island time), which offers the perfect excuse for playing poker at dinner;
The occasional Painkiller (not an opioid, but a sweet, often strong, rum cocktail with coconut crème and nutmeg) – THE drink of the Virgin Islands, we were told;
Waterproof, grippy Earth Runner grounding sandals were boating essentials, especially when swimming from the boat to shore in rocky or coral-rich waters.
Paying double or triple the usual price for groceries (especially ice cream). Should you have them delivered, you may experience a dilemma: how to transport them from shore to boat.
For us, this meant jumping dinghy into neck-level waves, wading to shore to meet the driver (dripping wet), then holding bags of groceries over our heads as we again entered the ocean to carefully place said groceries (including cases of water) on a paddleboard. We then guided the paddleboard back to the dinghy, which hovered about 20 feet from the shore. Since only a few of us could share that little boat with the groceries, my nephew and I paddle-boarded back to the catamaran. Who knew grocery shopping could be such a workout?
Earth Runner grounding sandals, by the way, proved to be worth their weight in gold for such “next level” shopping, as well as island exploration.
Moored at twilight
I absolutely loved being at sea and, toward the end of the trip, started fantasizing about living on a boat…would it be feasible with two cats and two dogs? Would we sail for a month or few, or even a few years? Likely not, but a girl can dream.
Gentle rocking while drifting off to sleep and when waking is something I could easily get used to. I woke up numerous times each night, though, and wondered if it had to do with not sleeping grounded, which is my habit at home. Luckily I quickly fell back to sleep each time.
Kayaking from catamaran to shore with our youngest traveler
Step says it’s easy to sleep grounded on a boat. He usually brings a grounding sheet, mat or mattress cover for his bed, and attaches it via snap or alligator clip to a ground rod with wire. He then drops the ground rod into the sea through his chamber window.
Rich in minerals, ocean water is a great conductor of Earth energy, making it an ideal medium for grounding. However, Step didn’t have his gear on this trip and I didn’t think to bring any either, so we grounded by swimming or wading in the ocean and taking barefoot strolls on the beach. When on a boat or pier, you can also ground by sitting on the edge and dip your feet in the water (here’s a quick Short we made about it while vacationing).
March, Drew and Todd, grounding at Emerald Beach, St. Thomas
Grounding may actually be the primary reason you feel so good when vacationing at the beach. Yeah, the weather is ideal and you can unwind, but you’re also grounded when your feet are in the sand and when you swim in the ocean (lakes too). Grounding is why you can really relax and restore – it balances your nervous system with parasympathetic activity (also known as “the relaxation response”).
People (we don’t know) watching the sunset on Emerald Beach
All in all, St. Thomas and St. John were amazing places to rest, play and recharge, while communing with nature. With gorgeousness all around us, as well as ideal air and sea temperatures, the Caribbean was Heaven for a while. Looking back – now that I’m home in Massachusetts, I really miss it. Now I face the challenge of being happy where I am.
It’s been 15 to 30 degrees F since we returned, and the sky is often blanketed with gray clouds. Such lack of sun when the days are already so short feels like insult on top of injury. When the wind is strong, the freezing temps feel even colder. Immersing myself in nature, as I try to regularly do for sanity and wellbeing, has proven challenging.
So it’s time for a reframe: embrace the circumstances and BREATHE…BE PRESENT, GRATEFUL, and OPTIMISTIC.
Step and Drew raising the sails
I can daydream about being back on vacation, but that won’t truly help. There is no time to really live except… right NOW.
With less lifespan ahead of me than behind, I’ve come to realize that each moment, each NOW, is an opportunity to be present and feel truly alive. Each moment is a unique opportunity to love and learn, and there will never be another one just like it.
So I tell myself, “breathe deeply regularly, be in my body, be aware of and really utilize my senses…stop checking email so much, turn off the phone for a while, curtail YouTube time, stop escaping or simply going through all the motions in life.
Instead, tune into the people, animals and nature around you, as opposed to what’s in my head or on the screen. Make the most of this blessed…beautiful… precious life…good things are to come.”
Of course, it’s hard to stay on this track and old habitual thought patterns often resurface, especially during triggering situations. With practice though, steering my head to what’s meaningful and real slowly becomes its own habit.
I sketched this concept decades ago - is awesome to finally use it!
On a side note, I highly recommend reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, The Power of Now. It called to me from my father’s bookshelf soon after he passed away a few years ago, so I devoured it in a search for meaning. I learned not what, but when…
Back to returning home to winter…with the reframe comes prioritizing gratitude…for everything, really. It’s time to fall in love once more with the life I’m actually living, as opposed to the one I think I want. It’s time to focus on cultivating joy exactly where I am, rather than looking for it in another time or place. It’s time to engage again with my community with joy, humility and presence. It’s time to see all the good right here and right now….because it exists in infinite amounts. I just have to open my eyes and live from the heart with conviction in my faith.
Now THAT’S what a vacation is supposed to do! A change of scene, a temporary escape, reminds us how to live more fully in our usual, daily lives. And the U.S. Virgin Islands in December is a wonderfully pleasant way to come to that realization. If you need that nudge to get there: go for it! The nature fix alone is worth it!
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