Quote:
Originally Posted by jerrypeters
FWIW, I agree/sympathize with most of the comments above. But ... as far as your itinerary ... the Caribbean is lovely and vast. You have left many phenomenal places off your short list. You'll find magic in many places. But your short list??? Jamaica and Haiti are both borderline hostile although beautiful in their own right. Unfortunately, Venezuela is truly "no go".
Good luck and much fun. |
Yeah, the more I look the more I will probably pass on
Haiti. Pity I really wanted to spend some time there. At one point they were the richest colony in the entire world...well they weren't rich, all the
money went back to
France. As a Haitian friend told me, 'without Haiti there would be no modern France'.
Jamaica will be a careful choice. Been there many times and as long as it's not the election season and I stay out of Kingston, everything is fine. Friendliest people this side of
Ireland. But in some places people live on less than $5 a day. Desperate people do desperate things.
I was fortunate enough to be in Caracas implementing
software for a large multinational corp when Hugo Chavez ran and won the presidency for the first time. One hell of a party after he won. Three days of
music, booze/weed, and
food in the streets of Caracas. Had a senior executive take me to some of Chavez's rallies. It was definitely a high
water mark for hope. Regrettably I may have to give it a pass. Not sure I'd get a friendly
reception. But there is Margarita Island...that might
work.
I only have one long distance goal, Buenos Aires. Did a six month
project there and loved it. But that will take at least a couple of years before the skill level is close enough to give it a try. Will try to hook up with some better sailors for the trip.
As for the approach to sailing, as a
project manager, I learned that the perfect anything is not a cost effective approach. The difference between a 95% effective boat choice and a 99% choice is only 4 percent. However, you remember those functions in
school where the line get's close to the Y axis but never touches it? The X axis is effectiveness but the Y axis is effort and it's a lot more than 4% more effort, sometimes it can be 100% more or worse. So I'll get everything 'close enough'. The boat, the skills, enough to get started, then go.
The moment I retired my perspective of time unexpectedly changed. I now see it not as time, but as time remaining and I'm in a
race to stuff in as much as I can.
Escaped from
Mississippi to
Australia as a child and I've been nomadic ever since. But with
retirement came a return to the US and the end of corporate sponsorship. Sailing was the logical choice to continue the adventure.
32 countries and counting.
As for destinations, as long as nobody is shooting at me, I'm good.
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