Sailing date: November 1-13, 1993 (Oct. 31 stowaway)

I wanted to do something different for my birthday (Nov. 1) this year,

so I thought I'd take a dream vacation. I'd been a Jimmy Buffett fan

(Parrot Head) for years and he was always singing about sailing and the

Caribbean and I decided this was the year. I booked the cruise in

January after finally deciding on the Mandalay as it was a two week

cruise. I made plans and researched and was excited to go on my trip. I

was traveling alone, but that was no problem as I was used to traveling

by myself. The date of the cruise slowly but finally rolled around. I

even missed a Jimmy Buffett concert because he was playing the same time

as the cruise (and it was his fault I was going in the first place!). I

flew down to Miami on Saturday and spent the night with my friend who

lived in Ft. Lauderdale and then all excited, I boarded the plane Sunday

for Grenada. I was finally on my way!!!

I arrived in Florida with others I met on the plane on the way down

around 3P. We were met by a Windjammer person and loaded on buses and

taken down to the pier to get rid of our luggage. We couldn't board

until 5P. When we got to the pier, there she was, out in the bay at St.

Georges...the Mandalay. She was beautiful, awesome, something out of a

dream. We all just stood in awe and stared. Our luggage was taken away

and we were directed to a great floating bar where we shared drinks,

stories while we could still look out on the bay and see her. There

were also some people from the Yankee Clipper there. After 5 we boarded

and the magic was on! The Clipper people came over for the welcome

party and a steel drum band played while we all visited and met our

sailmates. My roommate never showed, so I lucked out and had my cabin

to myself for the entire 2 weeks. It was one of the largest on the ship

and I was quite happy with it.

Monday, we did a tour of Grenada and friendships were already starting.

We watched the Clipper sail out and then it was our turn. We were

guided out by the harbor patrol and then Amazing Grace started and the

sails went up. And off we were sailing towards Carriacou. As soon as

we hit the "open" water, they put on Jimmy Buffett music. (I didn't ask,

I swear.) But there I was...it was November 1, Jimmy Buffett music

playing, a rum swizzle in my hand and I was sailing in the

Caribbean...it was my birthday. I'm not ashamed to say that there were

some tears in my eyes. It was a dream realized. The moment was so

powerful, I still feel it and even now tears come to my eyes. This was

my introduction to Windjammer cruises. I was hooked at that moment and

will be forever.

Tuesday morning, we started the day in Carriacou and explored the town.

The afternoon was spent at Sandy Island nearby. Fun and snorkeling

ensued. The evening was spent at a resort where they had a party for

us. Lot's of dancing and fun.

Wednesday we sailed into Palm Island. This island is leased by an

American from St. Vincent for $1 a year. (even I can afford that) He

has a 99 year lease with an option to renew for another 99. We swam and

played volleyball on the beach. The Clipper joined us there and that

night there was another party thrown for us by John Caldwell. It was

beautiful to see the ships out there in the night side by side. That

night a few of us took a tour on the Clipper and a few things

disappeared from the ship. Like the dinner bell, the lid to the rhum

keg, the ships clapper...but we couldn't find the cannon.

Thursday morning I remember confessing to Capt. Tony that we had been

bad...that a few things had disappeared from the Clipper. Tony said he

didn't want to hear and then said in a conspirative voice, "What did you

get? You didn't get the cannon?" We found out that this was a running

feud between the ships to try and get each others cannons. All in good

fun of course. We sailed later in the morning but not before some old

salts (who had brought along their water balloon slingshot for the

occasion) had bombarded the Clipper with a few good shots. Sailed up to

Mayreau which has more palm trees than people and had another great

beach day. Great snorkeling and boat races on shore. Afraid I got a

little too sunburned on that day. That night was a costume party and

Capt. Tony said he had a little black number to wear and he wasn't

kidding. It was a spandex slip dress complete with heels, hose and

pearls. What a hoot!! And I've never seen so many guys in women's

lingerie in my life. Serious fun was again had.

Friday we were in Bequia. This is a great island with a few tourist

type facilities. The morning I explored the town and shops. Some

people went diving and some spent the day on a catamaran and went to the

island of Mustique. The afternoon was spent checking out the local beer

and we had dinner at Max's where everyone raves about the lobster pizza.

And it was worth raving about. Plus I liked the Passionatas at the

Gingerbread house.

Saturday, we were in St. Lucia. Soufriere which means sulfur. Went on a

tour of the volcano (extinct) and the botanical gardens. There was a

great view of the Mandy from atop the hill. We then sailed up the

island to Castries. This was one of two places we had a gangplank and

could go on and off the ship when we wanted instead of waiting for the

launch. Went into town and explored a bit. Then we went up to Rodney

Bay where they had a nice little club.

Sunday morning the ship headed up to Rodney Bay. We take on water there.

This was the only day we had some rain. We spent some time on shore

having with Capt. Tony and got to know him a bit better. It was kind of

a quiet day. Halfway through the cruise and everyone was taking a bit

of a rest to gear up for the second half.

2nd week....

Monday we came upon Martinique. Fort du France. A wonderful little

town. Lots of shops and bars. Very French. Now that I've visited New

Orleans, I can sure see the similarities. Unfortunately for us, the bus

drivers were on strike and when they go on strike they park the buses

across the roads in and out of town so people cannot leave or enter Fort

du France. So we didn't get a chance to explore the rest of the island.

But we had fun checking out all the local beers and did a little

souvenir shopping. This was wine and cheese night, so we all picked up

a bottle of wine and back on ship we got to sample all the different

wines and cheeses. It was great.

Tuesday we were in Dominica. They have a great flag. Green with stripes

and a parrot in the middle of it. Some people went to visit Trafalgar

falls, but the group of "friends" I had made went into town to visit.

The taxi drivers couldn't believe we wanted to walk the mile into town.

But we wanted the exercise. Exploring the town we came upon a real hole

in the wall bar. My bathroom is bigger. The bar could only hold 3

people standing side by side and there were no tables or anything. It

was a hoot. We then discovered a little larger place with tables and a

bartender from the states and had a great time listening to his stories.

Later that afternoon we went up to a resort called Rodney's Rock where

we snorkeled and then dinner and a party at the resort. Like has been

mentioned before, these bands play 45 minute songs. When you ask someone

to dance, you're going to be there awhile. Everyone trades partners

during dancing.

Wednesday we sailed into Isles des Saintes, another French island. We

rented motorscooters and traveled the one road from one side of the

island to the other. We went up and saw an old fort and then the

lookout from the other side of the island. Checked out the Atlantic

ocean on one side of the island and the Caribbean on the other. There

was a retired doctor on the island whose home was right on the bay and

it was designed to look like a ship. When you first saw it, it looked

like a ship was sailing right out of the island.

Thursday, we had a photo shoot in the morning where the launch took us

around the ship to take pictures. Then we went to Guadaloupe. This was

a beach day. The water was pretty rough this day, so it was great for

body surfing. This is the first time I've ever done this. We had a

"talent" show that evening. Everybody was goofing around and it was

fun. The "Tequila Kid" (who showed how to drink tequila shots) was a

definite favorite.

Friday, we were making our last voyage into Antigua. This was a

bittersweet trip for most of us. After 2 weeks, we definitely felt like

family. A lot of friendships were made (I'm still in touch with a few

of those people). We were able to dock at a pier again here. It was

fun because we were next to a large cruise ship (about 12 stories). They

towered over us, but I think the people were in awe of us. We were

laughing and dancing and music was coming from the ship. People were

coming up the pier and they would just stop and watch us. That night

was the Captains dinner.

Saturday morning, things were very quiet. Everybody was getting ready

to leave and there were more than a few tears. On the sound system

"Lovely Cruise" by Jimmy Buffett was playing ("So drink it up, this

one's for you. It's been a lovely cruise") I was sad to leave but I was

meeting my friend from Ft. Lauderdale that afternoon and we were

spending another week on Antigua.

Sunday through Friday was spent in a condo on the Atlantic side of

Antigua. I would recommend the Caribbean side to anyone going there

unless they wanted seclusion. Besides, the condos blew away in a

hurricane a couple of years ago and I don't know if they're rebuilt yet.

But we went up to jump-up at Shirley Heights on Sunday which I highly

recommend. Several people from the ship stayed till Monday to hit

jump-up. We were to go home Friday, but AA went on strike and we

couldn't leave till Sunday. I wish they had gone on strike for a week.

What a great place to be stranded during a strike. They pay all your

expenses. But finally I had to go home. But I would be back....