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American Spirit II - Day 461; Last Full Day in St. Lucia and a Great Farewell Dinner with our Closest Friends; Sunday, April 12, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 99; Sail Magazine Video, Day Trip Across the Lagoon, Swimming with Sharks (Again) and 'Visiting' the Aquarium; Saturday, April 12, 2014. Joel's wife, Darlene, sent Joel a link from Sail Magazine Video of Nexus, us and II Audeacious going thru the Panama Canal locks at the end of January. The reporter spent 2 or 3 days (at least?) on Nexus, a large 58 foot catamaran, but his video footage captured American Spirit II and II Audeacious, also. On American Spirit II Paul Fox seems to have had the most footage taken of him, since he spent more time on the foredeck during 'locking.' When we went thru the Panama Canal locks, all three boats were rafted (tied) together, with Nexus providing the primary propulsion and steerage in positioning our boats in the locks."

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Joel up at 9:00 AM; and Darlene and I are up at 9:30 AM.

Breakfast at 10:21 AM consists of bacon, 3 eggs, potato and bananas.

After breakfast Joel visits a number of boats to have them sign our Rally posters; boat name and crew, with different colored magic marker pens. I stop by Civetta II and have a nice coffee with him, Lupo and a crew member, name unknown, from Polaris.

Michael from Polaris, and his wife, Peggy, and daughter Annie and son Aaron; plus his best friend, Rico, leave for the airport around noon. Hugs and hand shakes all around. They are the first to leave. The Rally is really over now. At 1:05 PM Alpheratz pulls out of their slip and departs for the US Virgin Islands, then to Bermuda and finally to Maine.

With our group breaking up the reality of the Rally's end is weighing heavily upon me. My heart is saddened by the process, which will only get worse when we leave tomorrow.

After Alpheratz departs Vlado, his wife Viola, Darlene and me take a taxi to a local shopping center. There Darlene and I each buy a T-Shirt; and then some groceries for some final provisioning. While we're away Joel fixes the electrical transformer on our boat. One I get back I go to Customs and Immigration and clear us out of St. Lucia. The cost to do so is 100 EC.

I stop by NDS Darwin and say good-bye to Alejandro, Jo, Lucia and Tomas. They are from Argentina and I hope to visit there, and them, one day. Cameron of Avocet is there visiting Lucia. I give him my card as he lives in Tampa. Small world. Jo gives me a small gift before I depart. Perhaps the nicest lady in the fleet. What a great family! Paul from Rally control stops by and gives Alejandro a package. I walk with Paul on the dock as he heads for his taxi and the airport. Like myself, Paul is choked up with his experiences of dealing with Rally's like ours coming to an end. He is leaving the World Cruising Club to seek other employment after 6 years.

Sigi from Nexus departs on a ferry at 3:00 PM. I take his picture as the ferry pulls away from the dock. I'll have to email the picture to him when I get home. He's waving both arms as he departs. He knows how to 'pose' for a picture.

Later I jump in the pool while Joel naps and Darlene reads from her Nook.

Eric from Nexus departs for the airport at 6:00 PM. I say good-bye to him earlier at around 4:45 PM. He is French and lives in Germany. We spent a fair amount of time touring with Eric and eating dinners with him.

At 6:30 PM we join Civetta II (Vlado, Viola, Lupo and Russell); Merlyn of Poole (Jonathan and Jenny); Nexus (Russ and Laurie); and Folie a Deux (Tim, Tracey, Brian and Lucy) for dinner at the Tapas Restaurant. We sit at two tables of 8 each. Joel and I, as hosts, are each at one of the two tables. We 'bounce' back and forth between the two tables visiting our friends during the dinner. It is safe to say that our closest friends of the Rally are at these two tables. It is a great night. We're back at the marina by 10:10 PM. We say our good-byes to Jonathan and Jenny, who are staying at a hotel. We won't see them in the morning. We'll see the crew of Civetta II and Nexus in the morning before we depart at 9:00 AM.

Once back at the boat Joel downloads a GRIB weather file; Darlene reads from her Nook; and I type this log.

Tomorrow we leave for the British Virgin Islands 350 miles away. It will take 2 1/2 days to get there. The horse (American Spirit II) is getting ready to head to the barn.

Brian Fox



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