Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season

“Different day, different bay” is the mantra on the SomewhereHot. We are anchored in one of the prettiest spots in the Virgin Islands on the last full day of our trip. Our mission is to eat all the remaining food and drink everything remaining in the cooler. Why did we buy so much alcohol?

We were different people a week ago when we made that provisioning run, an energetic mix of cousins, an old friend, and a friend of the old friend. It would have been hard to conceive of the bonds that would be formed when we first climbed aboard. We’ve had the islands all to ourselves as the less intrepid boaters head south during hurricane season. The weather is near-perfect for us.

We checked all the boxes: drinking painkillers at the Soggy Dollar Bar, kicking back at Ivan’s Stress-Free Bar, exploring The Baths, snorkeling the Wreck of the Rhone, jumping naked off the upper deck of the Willy T, diving the Indians, doing a fly-by of Jeffery Epstein’s former island, hanging with the locals at Woody’s, and nightly sing-a-longs on the flybridge. There always seemed to be the perfect playlist accompanying each activity.

The conditions were so favorable that we even made a run down to St. Croix just to have dinner and drinks on the island that time seems to have forgotten. It is a bit out the way but well worth the trip.

For those of you who have never done the boat thing, the SomewhereHot is calling you. I feel genuinely sorry for the people we meet who are staying in the local resorts. They have no idea what they are missing. The freedom to plot your own course and pull up anchor anytime is addicting.

My guests are tired as we pull into the marina for that sad ride to the airport. I can see them swaying a little as they adjust to walking on a surface that doesn’t move. We’ve done it right. The boat is about new friends, old relationships, and memories that will last a lifetime. It has its own magic.  

And now I must confess that I can use some rest.