Well, the Blue Planet Odyssey is done. Tonight we had our completion/celebration with Jimmy Cornell (and his wife Gwenda, and a dozen or so boats in his Caribbean Odyssey that just arrived from the Canary Islands). We came away with Mount Gay Rum hats, and a brand new BPO flag (our old one is in tatters). It was fun to drink rum punches and talk with some of the other sailors. But it hit me when Carol (on Maggie) said: If we don’t see you again… Yikes! It’s hard to imagine not rendezvousing again with Maggie and Tahawus. We’ve sailed around the world together!! Oh well, we will stay in touch, but it is a sad thought that after all we’ve been through we are sailing our separate ways. I’m feeling sad about the other friends we made along the way, too — the many crews who turned back or wanted to stay in the South Pacific or had health issues or shipped their boat home or…whatever. We had a bond, and I wish they (and Luc and Jackie!) could have been here to acknowledge the completion and swap tales.

Tomorrow we depart for Grenada. Of course I will be very happy to be sailing again. Twelve days here has been a bit long. Tim and Josh changed their flights and left as quickly as they could. Tim says his knee is healing well. Josh got to fly home on his birthday, which was important to him, plus he got to attend his son’s basketball game (also important to him, and something that used to be an important factor to me).

I remained in the downtown Careenage, partly because it is convenient to have electricity and water available; partly because it makes it easier for my three new crew (Bill, Nora and Bill’s friend Harry) to come and go as they please. They haven’t “gone” much, except to a tour/tasting at the Mount Gay distillery. We’ve done some satisfying work on the boat, fixing various things that have gone bad over the past months.

I arranged an island tour for myself and the other two crews. It was pretty bad. We asked for a history lesson, but our two drivers didn’t really know the history, plus one spoke with such an accent that it was extremely difficult to understand her. And many of the places they took us had additional admission fees, which I had not expected. The people here are friendly and the area seems pretty safe, but I can’t say that the island itself is very notable. It’s all about servicing the tourists from the huge cruise ships, and second homes for rich people. One of the things I enjoyed most was going to a cricket match ($5). Barbados crushed Guyana, although I only watched Barbados bat, because I’d had enough after two hours.

We are cleared out. We are pretty well stocked (lots more marlin even after giving hunks away to the other boats). We have a destination in mind (an overnight sail away). The bridge is scheduled to open at noon to let us out. Time to start island hopping in the gorgeous Caribbean.

And finally we have the completion/celebration/farewell party for the Blue Planet Odyssey. Lots of rum punch (with not much food…) at the Yacht Club, a pleasant mile walk along a beautiful beach. A little more about it on the Cornell Sailing web site: http://cornellsailing.com/2017/02/blue-planet-odyssey-comes-to-a-successful-end-in-barbados/