What a difference 6 weeks makes...

Since my last post, I returned from Texas, came down with some flu thing, went through the holidays, returned to Texas to tend to my mother (pneumonia or worse), returned to Massachusetts and got the same flu thing yet again. I am now dreaming of the Caribbean. I just got an ad from Windjammer Barefoot Cruises for one week for $399. That sounds so good to me now.

I remember my first Windjammer cruise, almost ten years ago. I was terrified. I went with a guy I was newly dating, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. The ship was the Flying Cloud, and held only 67 passengers. There were upper and lower berths in our cabin and the "head" had a shower head over the toilet and sink, guaranteeing that the whole bathroom got soaked. But after a wimpy and pasty white first day, I got into it. There is nothing like sailing on a tall ship built in the 1920s, a squarerigger at that. And we sailed through the British Virgin Islands day after day.

Turquoise water, rum drinks, dancing at bars you had to get to via a "wet" landing. Only yachts could get there. I was hooked. I went on another one, this time on the Polynesia a couple of years later. That ship was similar, but held twice as many people and I went with my friend Leslie. We also made a lifelong buddy, Lucy from the UK. The Polynesia's itinerary included St. Maarten, St. Barts, St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla. Heaven on earth. I need to make a reservation- www.windjammer.com