The Wave (12/18/24)

 Paul and I pretty much got home from St. Lucia right before Thanksgiving, and were greeted by our friends Liz and Randy who were already staying in our yard in their RV.  It was a quiet Thanksgiving, just the 4 of us, which worked out, because all 4 of us were sick- and all with something different- someone had Covid, someone had a cold, someone had a respiratory infection, and someone had a stomach bug. Several trips were made to urgent care. We did have Thanksgiving dinner, but not very enthusiastically, and pretty much at 6 feet apart from everyone.

At this point Paul and I also knew we were on the clock, training for a big hike.  Last year, Paul’s friend Robin (who he has known since Boy Scouts in high school) asked if we were interested in hiking “The Wave” if we could get permits, and we were, so the 4 of us have been applying, trying for whatever months we thought we could get there. Well, Rob won the lottery for December 11,  and we made plans to meet he and Kim in the Page area of AZ, for 4 days of hiking.

The afternoon we arrived,  we met up with them at the trailhead for the Toadstools, a short hike, at 1.4 miles, but with interesting rock formations.

One of the cautions on the federal website for hiking the Wave is that if it has rained recently, the road to get to the trailhead can be impassable, and the weather in December is very iffy, with the potential for rain or even snow.   With that in mind, we all decided to stay at Stateline Campground, a primitive federal campground down the road from the trailhead. Paul and I were in our truck camper, figuring we would provide meals, because Rob and Kim were going to car camp.

We were  planning to get the firepit going and sit outside,  but it was too cold. After hanging out for a while after dinner we said goodnight. Paul told them when they hear the generator in the morning, the coffee will be ready.

Paul and I noticed that it was cold that night, and when we looked at the thermometer in the early AM, we were shocked to see it was actually 13 degrees!. When Rob came in for coffee, he mentioned that Kim was mumbling about taking a bus home. Can’t blame her! I don’t think she signed up for that kind of cold, lol. Anyway, decision was made that since the roads were fine, we could move to an RV park/motel in town for the duration.

We spent the first full day at White Pocket. We have been here before, as has Rob. It’s a beautiful area for hiking, and hard to reach because the “road” requires 4WD, and experience driving in deep sand. It wasn’t difficult for the Bronco and the views here never get old. (some of the pictures I am using belong to Robin and are labeled as such- Thanks Rob!)

                                       

And then it was time for the Wave!

This is a very protected area- only 64 people a day are allowed to hike this trail.  There are two ways that you can apply for the lottery- four months in advance- they allow you to choose 3 days in a given month- you pay $9 and if you “win” the lottery you get to hike it that day.  The other way to do it is to wait until two days before you want to hike it- but then you have to be in that geographical area (location services has to be activated on your mobile device) , apply for the permit, show up for orientation the following day, if you win, and then hike it the third day.  There are actually volunteers at the trailhead that check everyone’s bright pink  permit, which has to be visible at all times.

The trail itself isn’t difficult-it’s 6 miles or so round trip if you don’t wander off to look at other things.

The hardest part is that most of the hike is on rock so it requires a fair amount of map referencing. We were tracking ourselves on two devices and 3 apps. There are no trail markers to speak of.

Once we arrived at the Wave itself, I think we all dropped our backpacks and immediately started taking pictures. Even with all the hype, this place is spectacular.

“The Wave” is actually a small part of the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument. In the monument are several spectacular areas for hiking. The Wave is part of the Coyote Buttes North area.

We also visited White Pocket, and Coyote Buttes South, and Peekaboo Canyon.

Permits for Coyote Buttes North, The Wave, are difficult to get, but another area that also requires permits, is a much easier. Coyote Buttes South. It has the same lottery process, which was actually annoying on this trip.  It’s very easy to win permits but we had to apply the day we got to the area, because if we won, we had to be in their office at 9 am the next day for orientation. We couldn’t have done that on the 11th, the day we hiked the Wave, so we applied on the 11th, went to orientation on the 12th, and hiked it on the 13th.

Kim took a pass on this hike and elected to explore the town of Kanab on her own.

Obviously different from Coyote Buttes North but we all enjoyed our day at Coyote Buttes South.

This last one is called Witches Hat, and it’s not hard to see why….

Our last day in the area was spent exploring Peekaboo (Red) Canyon. There are actually two Peekaboo Canyons.

This is the one north of Kanab.

Like White Pocket, it requires 4WD. 

The Bronco had no problems, and Paul got to use “sand mode’ on the Bronco.

I think this “road” was a little worse than White Pocket, but I kept thinking that all 4 of us know how to push a vehicle.

Once we walked into the slot canyon, we realized how cold it was.

It was still worth the views, and the fun hiking...

And once we finished this hike, it was time to head home for Christmas- but we love this area and would go back in a heartbeat.

Vacation trip to St. Lucia (11/30/24)

 Once we arrived home from our summer trip, we almost immediately started packing for our trip to St. Lucia.

Paul and I love the Caribbean, and haven’t been able to get there the last few years, so we essentially booked two vacations in one trip.

As soon as our plane started flying over the Caribbean ,  I started to get excited. The colors are stunning.

We spent one week at an all inclusive Sandals Resort on St. Lucia, and spent another week on a small sailing cruise. 

So here is how our two weeks went:

There is really nothing I didn’t like about the Sandals experience.  This is an all inclusive resort, which included liquor.   The refrigerator in our room was stocked with beer and wine. It happened to be a red wine, which I don’t care for,  so a quick note to the concierge got the red changed out to white for the rest of the trip.

The bar was open essentially from sun up to long after we were in bed. Every drink imaginable was available, or they were happy to concoct whatever we wanted. ALL the staff were extremely friendly and helpful.  Paul made a great delivery person when we were hanging out in the water:

As a side note, the sailboat in the background is the one we spent our second week on. We saw her many times that first week, since she is berthed nearby.

Food wise, there were about a dozen restaurants on site, and another dozen at the other Sandals resorts on St. Lucia (there is a shuttle to take to get there). Some restaurants require reservations, and some do not accept them. We did a mix of both. We had sushi at Soy, Japanese cuisine at Kimonos, and seafood at Gordons.

Most of the restaurants are resort casual or no dress code at all, but several require men to wear slacks and closed toed shoes etc.

One frustration was the night we went to the “fancy” Italian restaurant, Tuscany’s. It was hot and humid and we asked them in person, did Paul need to wear slacks and closed toed shoes and they said yes- so he did. When we got there, no joke, every other man was wearing shorts and flip flops.

The weather definitely wasn’t perfect all week- there were many times that the coconut at the weather station was wet.

Paul and I both like a good storm so the rain didn’t bother us too much. We had a great balcony where we started each morning and evening, many times watching the rain.

Our days were pretty much spent taking advantage of all the fun and relaxing things to do…

We hung out in the pool, and the ocean, and took advantage of the kayaks and Hobie Cats…

One of the other included activities was snorkeling- it was one of the few disappointments of the week. The water was so murky I was happy we didn’t pay extra for it.

We both love snorkeling, so we were thrilled that the following week the snorkeling was much better.

There are add on excursions that are not included in the base price at Sandals, but there weren’t too many things we felt the need to add on. We booked a hike to Fort Rodney, on nearby Pigeon Island, but I wasn’t feeling great so Paul went on his own.

Our other excursion that we splurged for was a romantic sunset cruise for two. We made friends with one of the young adults working the beachfront area, and he highly recommended the cruise, so we thought, why not. He assured us he would be taking care of us and  have delicious finger foods for our delight, and any drink of our choice ( but not Margaritas- Paul had to bring his own Margaritas).

We arrived at the dock to discover that our romantic cruise was aboard the dive boat. There aren’t even any comfortable seats, just a metal bench. We already had decided we were going to have a great time regardless.

We were at least allowed up onto the fly bridge for this voyage, unlike when we were on the boat the day before, to go snorkeling.

Once Alex, our deck hand, had us seated with a drink, he sat down next to us and decided he needed to know our life story.  He was so hard working and cute though.

It took about 5 minutes for Paul to leave his seat and start talking to the captain. They immediately bonded over engines, RPMs, manufacturers, props, etc.

The cruise took us out to the ocean, and along the shore into the nearby bay, where we learned a lot about the economy and people of the island. Both of us being lifelong boaters, we had smiles on our faces, just because we were back on the water.

“Dinner” was eventually served, on a towel, on the seat.

Anyway, the seas were calm, and the sunset was pretty- we had an awesome time.

It was actually hilarious. Not romantic, but a blast nonetheless.

Every night there was entertainment of some sort. Many times there were multiple things going on- dancing, dueling pianos, etc.  One evening, there was an awesome water show in the main pool.

What peaked our interest one night was something called a silent headphone dance party. Having no idea what it was, we decided to check it out. Turns out there are dueling DJs. Everyone dances with headphones on, and can choose to listen to the “green” DJ or the “blue” DJ and their headphones lit up, indicating their choice of the moment. It was actually really fun to dance, knowing that other people were dancing to a different song.

And then, suddenly, it was time to move on to the second part of our vacation.  The type of cruise we took is called a Barefoot cruise.  We had been seeing the ship, Vela, all week long it seemed.

The company, this time, is called Island Windjammer. Before Paul and I were even married we went on our first barefoot cruise together- and loved it.

The ships are small, usually under 100 passengers, usually sail boats, and they sail to small islands where the big cruise ships don’t fit.  Back then the company was called Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. We took 3 cruises with them before they went bankrupt.  The owners of this new cruise line were patrons of the old Windjammer.

Some things are similar to the old days and some are totally different.  In previous cruises we helped raise the sails and in 2024 we did the same:

There are several relaxing things about a barefoot cruise- as the name implies, there is no “dressing” for dinner.

Barefoot is always fine, as is a swimsuit. Which islands you cruise to usually depends on the wind and the seas.  Its all about the relaxing, meeting new people, snorkeling, exploring and going with the flow.

This boat is a little smaller even than the other barefoot cruises we have been on- just 22 passengers. There were several groups, which made me nervous because they can tend to stick together- but they didn’t- they were there to reach out and have fun with everyone.

This ship, the Vela, is based in St. Lucia at this time of year. Our itinerary involved tooling around St. Lucia, and the nearby island of Martinique. We had never been to either, so were happy with wherever the wind took us. Actually, Paul and his brother Tom went to Martinique to a Club Med many years ago, as single men, and Tom met his future wife while they were there.

Each morning the Story Board would show what the plan was for the day. Our activities director, Debbie, answered any and all questions as best she could. This was similar to the story board of the old Windjammer:

Having very few passengers, there were also very few crew members. The most impressive thing during our entire week was how hard these crew members worked to make everything as perfect as possible.

We did not eat lousy food- the food was expertly prepared, and delicious.

Table settings were beyond what you would expect on a small ship.

One evening we had a wine tasting- each cabin bought a bottle of wine from a store on Martinique, and the crew provided the appetizers to go with the wine.

My favorite part was that they clearly knew where the good snorkeling is. We snorkeled in several locations, all of them excellent!

We spent a couple of days exploring and snorkeling near Martinique.  Essentially no one there speaks English, so sign language becomes the mutually spoken tongue. Paul and I did meet and talk with a shop owner, and spent so much time with him learning about his craft and also his family, that we bought one of the custom model boats that he makes.

After our conversation, we walked the town and had lunch in a local restaurant.

Our final night on the ship was spent anchored just of the town of Gros Islet, St. Lucia.  At Sandals we had the option of booking an excursion to the Friday night Street Party in Gros Islet- but then we realized that Vela was parked there Friday night, so we rightly assumed the passengers would go to the party(without paying extra for it.)  So our last night aboard Vela we all went into shore for the party.

Please don’t try to count life vests on this dinghy because I am very sure there were not enough.

Once ashore we all enjoyed the loud music, dance, food, and drink that makes up this Friday night party.

Although we enjoyed our week on Vela, it wasn’t the same as the old Windjammer, so, I am thinking our Windjammer days are over. WindSTAR could be a different thing though.