Early Wednesday evening (Oct 22)  we thought we had it all figured out.  We told our friends and family that on Friday (October 25) we would be heading to St Martin and would fly back to the States from there for Christmas.  That was our third plan as our first plan had us flying out of Trinidad, and our second plan had us flying out of Grenada.  Well…………

Another boating family, Salt and Light, said “Hey. We’re going to Venezuela, then to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), why don’t you guys come too?”

Hmm.  Cheap airfare from Aruba, be there well in time for Thanksgiving.  Why not?  Let’s go,  So tonight at 11pm we leave for Los Testigos.

This is actually stranger than it sounds.  Sailing plans are notoriously carved in jello.  They have to be.  We have always been very good at not planning too far ahead and just going with what feels right.  It felt right to come to Grenada, but as for after that, nothing felt right.  It was getting very frustrating, what to do next.  We talked about going to Trinidad, but the dirty water, the unfriendliness of the islanders put us off, even though the airfare was cheap.  Then we were going to stay and fly from Grenada.  We talked about Venezuela.  It really intrigued us, even with all the talks of “pirate attacks”.  What didn’t intrigue me, was where do you go when you leave Venezuela?  ABC islands are the choice then onto Columbia, an area that scares most cruisers off due to security concerns.  I would love to go to Cartagena Columbia,  but security didn’t concern me as much as the rough passage from Aruba to Cartagena  We decided against Venezuela.  But it still intrigued us.  Instead we planned on staying in Grenada, and watched other boating families head to Venezuela.   Then we heard about cheap airfares from St Martin.  Ok, let’s fly from St Martin.  Not the best choice but CHEAP airfare.  So reluctantly that was our new path.  We told everyone.  Again.

Salt and Light, a family of 5, recently returned from Washington, and was looking for boats to head to Venezuela with them.  We talked to them briefly but we were going to St Martin.  Then, I guess that timing was right because on Burger Night,  Wednesday night, they mentioned it again and Dan and I were in total agreement.  It sounded perfect.  Why it made so much sense now, I have no idea.  But it did, and it does, and in a few hours we will be on our way.  We have redefined the word flexible.