Sailing Aboard Winifred, St. Thomas

Admit it. I look kind of sexy in this snorkel mask, don’t I? Pretty sure it’s the noodle giving me maximum coolness. I’ll get to that later.

Diana, (the statuesque woman shown below) organized a private sailboat tour for the day our cruise ship was docked in St. Thomas. Six of us who didn’t know each other, or only knew each other on-line prior to the cruise met up and went out on Winifred, a sailboat owned by a young couple named Kenny and Chelsie. Way to go Diana! FYI, Diana is a professional jazz singer from Ithaca NY, not far from my hometown.  

This is St. Thomas from up on a hilltop as we rode from the ship to the docks where Winifred waited for us.

Below are Chelsie and Kenny. This is their living space on the bottom of their sailboat. No mortgage or rent for them! They make a living taking private groups like us out for sails. If “your success is measured by your joy,” I think these two have it down!

Hard not to be joyful looking at this everyday!

And this! Christmas Cove.

You see those rocks? We went snorkeling over there. I’d only snorkeled once before in my life, in Jamaica on our honeymoon, and frankly I wasn’t very good at it. I couldn’t get the breathing right and I kept panicking. This time I did much better. I saw so many gorgeous colorful fish! I saw big fat starfish and even a sting ray. One time I was starting to fret a little, really working hard to swim and to remember the correct breathing, and to clamp my lips tight around the mouthpiece so I wouldn’t suck in salt water, and I saw this huge sea turtle about 14 feet below me. As I struggled, it glided, low and slow, occasionally flapping it’s right arm to propel itself forward. No struggle. No rush. Effortless.

I felt myself relax. The turtle seemed to be saying, “Hey lady! It’s easier if you stop working so hard!”

That visual will stay with me.

I chilled out.

I felt euphoric!

I actually was doing it!

I overcame my fear!

One of the great things about this sailing/snorkeling expedition is Kenny and Chelsie actually get off the boat and into the water with their guests. Kenny was able to point out things we never would have seen on our own(for instance, he steered me in the direction of the turtle). And at the end, when I got really tired, and I looked up and noted the boat was a lot further away than I anticipated? Sweet Kenny actually pulled me back to the boat with the noodle! Embarrassing, but hey, I was just listening to the turtle, man. Why work hard when you don’t have to?

Left to right we have Rebecca, Rich, Mona, me, Jeanine(poor Jeanine got sea sick, but she managed to pull through,we had such a nice conversation on the boat), and Diana.

Mona and Rich are from Iowa. Rich has a grandchild with autism. Many, many autism connections were made on this trip, of course. 

Mona’s son-in-law lives in Florida and he made us all shell necklaces, even though he didn’t know us. Isn’t that sweet? They passed out his necklaces on the sailboat.

Rebecca in the bikini got in the hot seat with Abraham. She asked great questions. Earlier in the week at karoke, she sang a love song for her husband whom she left at home in Colorado!  

Kenny and Chelsea had an open bar, and fed us lunch on the boat. Yum!

It was a great day. Thanks so much to Diana Leigh for making it happen. She also sang for us us all week, and led us in a few laughter yoga sessions. Ho-ho-ha-ha-ha! She is a riot.

If you are blessed to be going to St. Thomas, and you are interested in a private sail, do look up Captains Kenny and Chelsie on the fabulous Winifred. You will be glad you did.

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10 Responses to Sailing Aboard Winifred, St. Thomas

  1. Deb says:

    Oh, I want to be there! Snorkeling is one of my favorite things in the world. Have you been told yet how much you look like your daughter in the top picture? Cool to see. So glad you had this grand adventure.

  2. Jerri says:

    So happy to see your joy. Terrific photos.

  3. Bonnie says:

    This looks wonderful! Unfortunately, I’d be the Jeanine of the trip, getting seasick. I’d also be the one panicking (sp?) as I tried to breathe while I snorkeled. Better for me to just read about someone else doing it.

  4. I feel so refreshed! A little salty and tired and sunburned! And so refreshed! Beautiful vacation!

  5. Carrie Link says:

    “Hey lady! It’s easier if you stop working so hard!”

    Smart turtle!

  6. Kim says:

    That WATER! OMG.

  7. Sally says:

    You met more cool people from IOWA??? Did they invite you to the best state fair ever, like I have? Oh how exciting!

  8. Michelle O'Neil says:

    I mentioned you Sally. Asked them if they knew you. Unbelievably, they didn’t!

  9. Fabulous! Christmas Island, here I come!

  10. amber says:

    Michelle, I am so happy you got to do this! You can see how relaxed and happy you are in the pictures, all over your face. yay!

    🙂

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