2020 - The Chosen Year

This may mean something to Star Wars fans. Remember when Anakin Skywalker went to the dark side? Obi-Wan Kenobi lamented that he was the chosen one, how could this happen? Reminds me that 2020 was supposed to be the chosen one too. We got an extra day (February 29), July 4th fell on a Saturday making for an easy long weekend, Valentines on a Friday making for a weekend romantic dinner, Cinco de Mayo fell on Tuesday for Taco Tuesday and Christmas is on a Friday making for a nice weekend. I also had some great sailing adventures planned for the year including:

• Trip from St. Thomas to Florida
• Annapolis Boat Show
• Cruising Boat Purchase

Much like Anakin Skywalker turning into Darth Vader, 2020 has turned into the year of covid-19. All our plans have been put on hold. In Star Wars, it all worked out in the end with Darth Vader saving his son and I have no doubt that the year of 2020 will also be able to be put behind us at some point with things turning out for the better.

We did have a great sailing trip to Grenada at the end of 2019. This was our first time checking in and out of Countries and you really need to be patient in the process. We sailed from Grenada up to St. Vincent and the Grenadines with some real highlights along the way. I have a few videos of the trip on YouTube and here are a few pictures of the trip:

One of Many Beautiful Anchorages

Dalmatian on a Boat? Ours hates the water

Flying Saucer or Grill?

Beautiful Water in Grenada, Underwater Sculpture Park is at the Base of the Land

Relaxing on some of the Longer Passages

Pot of Gold

Beautiful Sunsets

I did have one unfortunate circumstance at the end of the trip. We had a beach dinner our next to the last night in Grenada. Beautiful place with having to dinghy ashore and fresh spiny lobster cooked on the grill. Somehow I got a small cut on my hand cracking lobster and it got infected. I did wash my hands before dinner but m theory is a small cut permitted bacteria to enter my hand and then the cut healed quickly trapping the bacteria inside. Here are a few shots of my swollen hand:

The swelling progressed during the end of the trip and by the time I arrived back in the United States, I had a balloon hand. A trip to the hospital and antibiotics did not alleviate the swelling and eventually they had to cut an incision through my hand to get the bacteria and puss out. Cultures showed that I had MRSA and I was put on another dose of heavy antibiotics. Fortunately everything worked out and except for a few small scars I'm none the worse for wear.

Let's hope for better things in 2021 and more sailing adventures! I'm scheduled to sail from Virginia to Bermuda in the spring but the covid-19 needs to be gone before we can go. 

Fair Winds,