Caribbean Compass Yachting Magazine - December 2019

december 2019 CARIBBEAN COMPAss pAGE 24
Cruiser Christmas
in Martinique —
Why it’s the Best!
by David Carey
When we were living on land, before our young family moved onto a boat in the
Caribbean, I wondered what a cruiser Christmas would be like. Back home in Australia,
We tagged along on the Caribbean
Sailing Santa’s visit to an orphanage.
this holiday usually involved a fair bit of anxiety and stress. Figuring out whose turn it
was to host the day, how the Secret Santa was going to work, who was bringing the
prawns, the pavlova, and the lamingtons, were all important details that had to be sorted.
Trying to hold a conversation with relatives you hadn’t seen since the year before, while
they told you it was too dangerous to live on a boat with young kids, was not my idea of
a merry Christmas. I was actually looking forward to a change of scenery last year.
As we ventured up the island chain from Grenada to Martinique over the summer
months, we had met many other “kid boats” and made some really good friends. There
is definitely a strong bond between people who have gone against the norm, purchased
a boat and uprooted
their lives to live on the
water. We were all out
there working through
the same challenges
with boat repairs, home
schooling, relationship
stress, injuries and
mishaps. We had made
it through a tumultuous
season of sailing
and were ready to enjoy
the festive season.
Our three young
boys had taken to boat
life well, but my wife
and I were acutely
aware of the relationship
between kid-onkid
interaction and
morale aboard. We felt
a little guilty that we
had taken them away
from their cousins and
grandparents, flown
them halfway around
the world, and were
not able to provide the
usual traditions that
made the holiday season
so special.
Thankfully, on
Christmas Day 2018
there would be more
kids around than
there were at home,
with some 20-odd
children from various
boats agreeing to meet
up at Ste. Anne in
Martinique. Also, there
The plan for Christmas Day
was simple: a pot luck
on the beach.
were new-to-us traditions to be experienced, such as helping others less fortunate.
I’m a little ashamed to say that my family and I have never done any sort of charity
work at Christmas time. However, last year we were lucky enough to meet Mark and
Tracey Duckett, who run the Caribbean Sailing Santa charity (www.sailingsanta.com).
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