Forgive me. \u00a0I digress…<\/p>\n
Yesterday afternoon I happened to remark to Brenda that it seemed to me that we had not done much socializing on Pandora with other couples this season when compared to last winter in the Bahamas. \u00a0Meeting up with like minded folks is one of the best parts of the cruising lifestyle and I was feeling a bit “under-exposed”.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, less than ten minutes later a dink pulled up to Pandora and there was Jerry, the friend and crew member of yet another Jerry, a guy that we had met on our way south in the fall of 2012, in Oriental NC.<\/p>\n
When we met “Oriental” Jerry over a year ago, he was planning to fly to the Canary Islands, off of Africa, to look at a boat that he was thinking of purchasing. \u00a0Well, Jerry ultimately did purchase that boat and he, along with the “other” or “new” Jerry, who had stopped by to say HI, \u00a0took delivery of his new boat, a catamaran, and sailed it to the Caribbean and recently up to the Bahamas.<\/p>\n
So, last evening we found ourselves in the same harbor with Jerry who we haven’t seen for over a year. \u00a0What a small world it is.<\/p>\n
When “friend” Jerry, as opposed to “Oriental NC” Jerry stopped by, we were comparing notes about a small boat that had sailed into the anchorage earlier in the afternoon and anchored, all without turning on their engine. \u00a0 Most folks, including me and Brenda, pull our sails down before we get into a crowded anchorage. \u00a0No need to complicate things in a tight field, by our way of thinking.<\/p>\n
So, to see a boat with two young people wind their way, under sail, through the other anchored boats and confidently drop their hook, was something we all noticed. \u00a0I expect that’s why they did it, actually. \u00a0A bit of hotdogging. \u00a0And done well, I should add.<\/p>\n
It turns out that the “hotdoggers” were none other than a young couple we had spent time with in Rum Cay last winter. \u00a0Rainbow Connection, a Bayfield 35, is owned by Jamel and Tania who are probably in their early 30s. Tania was born (literally born, I think) aboard and grew up on a sailboat as her parents sailed here and there, I believe around the world at least once. \u00a0 It seems that they are on their way to hook up with her parents who are still sailing around and are currently in Staniel Cay not far from here.<\/p>\n
Here’s Tania working the foredeck and looking right at home.\u00a0 I couldn’t resist and took the dink over to say HI and invite them to visit us for drinks. \u00a0 We also had Jerry and Jerry visit too. \u00a0It was a lovely time.<\/p>\n And, as the sun set, Brenda did a terrific job of saluting the sunset by blowing the conch. \u00a0And that was particularly fitting as we had acquired that conch when we were in Rum Cay with Jamal and Tanya last winter.<\/p>\n I have written before about the “community” of cruisers and how they enter, leave and re-enter our lives, sometimes at the least expected moments. \u00a0I’d say that yesterday was about as perfect an example of how this works as we have encountered yet.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/3-23-14a-003.jpg\" "\\"OLYMPUS")
<\/a>And Jamal at the helm.<\/a>Looking very comfortable winding their way through the anchorage. \u00a0<\/a>Jamal and Tania spend winters sailing aboard their boat and summers working on a commercial salmon fishing boat in Alaska. \u00a0 \u00a0Now, that’s not a combination that we see every day. \u00a0Most couples we meet are retired or are taking a year off from work. However, we almost never see young folks who have managed to find a way to cruise and work in a way that seems sustainable. \u00a0 What these two have done is pretty neat.<\/span><\/p>\n