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There is a lot one can say about this sailing lifestyle. It can be breathtaking, scary, frustrating, inspiring and, yes, downright crazy at times. For us, one thing it has never been is boring. There is always something new or interesting that pops up, usually out of nowhere. This week it was a Ladies Tea Party. Huh? I never thought I would have to be searching about the boat, looking for the perfect tea party outfit, especially not once we got to the Caribbean. But, yup, that is exactly what I was doing earlier this week. Lisa from the boat “HaHaLua” had organized a tea party on Tuesday for 30 of her friends at the grand Tower Estates in St. Paul’s, about 30 minutes from our anchorage. But this was no ordinary tea party. No, the theme was “blue” in honour of the Blue Pea Butterfly Flower tea that we would be tasting at the Tower Estates. I was very intrigued. The morning of the tea party, all 30 of us ladies and girls piled into four air-conditioned vans and headed to the estate. Air-conditioning? Oh, wow, today we were getting spoiled and it could not have started off better being that the day was targeted to top off at 34 degrees Celsius with absolutely no breeze. As our van rounded the top of the hill leading to the estate, the beautiful Tower Estates building came into full view. Built in the early 1900s, the estate features a Great House on five acres of land filled with gorgeous fruit and spice trees, as well as stunning flowering plants of all colours. Speaking of colour, our “blue” theme was definitely in full bloom. Every attendee wore blue from head to toe, the estate was decorated in blue and our event organizer Lisa even handed each of us a pretty blue fan to complete our outfits. All this blue was incredibly decadent!
After a quick meet and greet, we were treated to an interesting and breath-taking 45-minute tour of the estate grounds. On a less hot day, it was easy to imagine lingering about the scented trees, watching the birds and butterflies flit amongst the bright foliage. But not today! We were happy to escape the heat outside and to start our tea party within the fan-cooled spaces of the Great House.
Back inside, all the ladies were seated in the main dining room at one very long table. Ladies in summer dresses with their hair coiffed, sitting prim and lovely in front of a proper tea party table setting. My, my. It was quite the culture shock for us merry band of sailors! We are more usually found in our natural habitat: sitting in a salt-caked cockpit with sweat soaked shorts and tank tops and hair thrown messily in a top knot while eating directly out of a plastic mixing bowl. Yes, sailing is this fancy! To start things off, we had a few fun “get to know ya” games organized by Lisa, and then it was tea time. Of course, there were a few nibblies – cucumber and cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs and really melt-in-your-mouth sweets but it was that Blue Pea Butterfly Flower tea that really hit the spot. It was delicious and, yes, very blue! The star attraction did not disappoint! Our day at the Estate ended in the mid-afternoon and we were all back at our boats by early evening. It was a wonderful break from the boat, from boat-y life and also a really great chance to connect with all these other female sailors, some of whom I knew well, others I had met just a few times and several who I had the opportunity to meet for the first time. It was a delightful day with just the gals!
And what was Mike doing while I was living my high society day? He and Barry were on Wild Horses installing our new high-powered solar charge controller, replacing the three smaller (less powered) ones we had added to Wild Horses just three years ago. Our old charge controllers were working okay but we were losing a little bit of power through their set up. Having one big controller (instead of three smaller ones) means more efficiency but also the ability for us to expand our solar array in the future. More power is never a bad thing on a boat!
Besides tea parties and improving our boat’s power grid, we are trying to stay cool. This past week has been a hot one (34 degrees C every day) with very little wind to cool things off. Thankfully, we are able to sleep at night with the temperature dropping to a tolerable 27 degrees C. During the day, we rest in the shade and cool off in the water. Oh and a cold beer (or two) at the end of the day helps a little bit too 😉.
Click the buttons below to see where we are today and where we plan to sail next winter!
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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March 2025
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