No matter what time of year, my wife and I live for the days when we can escape to our ocean front home on Cape Cod. In fact, we’re just about to load up the car so we can celebrate Thanksgiving down there again this year. We love having the time to eat way too much turkey and take stock of all that we have to be grateful for. We love gathering with the members of our tight little community to “compete” in the annual “Turkey Trot.” And we love the warmth of connecting with family and friends that Thanksgiving means to us. But needless to say, nobody really loves the cold or the darkness that descends upon the northeast in late November.
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I shot this “saltwater selfie” when we first fell in love with Barbuda in 2007
That’s why escaping to the Caribbean is such yearly ritual for many of us in the Northeast—and why the vicious Hurricanes that ripped through the region earlier this year—have felt so personal. Our hearts broke for the devastated the locals on the most damaged islands. And we’re grateful to know that relief funds that have been established to help seem to be getting to those who need it most.
But for Caroline and I, the utter devastation on Barbuda (the small island north of Antigua where nearly every building was severely destroyed) is even more heartbreaking. We’ve sailed there many times, we’ve formed friendships with the special people who live there, and most importantly (to us anyway) we got married there (at the Coco Point Lodge that was totally destroyed).
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A 58-foot Moorings 5800 will be our 5-star resort while were anchored off Barbuda’s pink sand beaches.
So, when it came time to decide what exclusive vacation destination to focus on for our February-March issue, the Caribbean was more than just the logical choice—it was the emotional choice for me too. And since there may be no better way to experience the special beauty of the Caribbean than aboard a crewed yacht, we’re heading down to Antigua shortly after Thanksgiving to not only revel in the warm Caribbean sunshine, but we’re also going to sail the 35 miles from Antigua to Barbuda aboard a crewed 58-foot-catamaran from The Moorings to bring supplies and support to hopefully help the locals of Barbuda like Paster Moses (pictured in yellow below) who married us 10-years ago.
Pastor Moses (in yellow) married us. His smiling daughter sang!
Please check oceanhomemag.com often! Tourism is the lifeblood of the Caribbean, so I’ll be posting regular updates from our upcoming sailing trip to show just how open for business many areas in the Caribbean already are and how you can help!
These posts will also include insider info on many of the cool harbors in Antigua and photos of beaches that most people never get to see, and since we’ll be spending a few days that the ultra-lux Curtain Bluff Resort pictured below after the sailing trip, I’ll be sharing Caroline’s real-time reports from the massage table as well. And of course, we’ll be running all sorts of detailed reports in our Feb-March issue and online.
Curtain Bluff awaits.
Please come along for the ride on Instagram, too!
Image Credits: Bill Springer.