July 2, 2005

Independence is on vacation! Actually, she is being our own personal cruise ship as Pieter and I are enjoying a few weeks of vacation exploring the Grenadines and catching up with some old friends.

The winter season of day sailing was busy and showed us the power of the Internet. We booked more charters through our website and referrals from our much more computer literate friends in the Red Hook day sail fleet than ever before. Cruise ship passengers visiting St. Thomas have found their way to us this way as well and we have had great fun hearing about big ships, and sharing our love of sailing, snorkeling and the islands with them.

The big event in our life this year was the wedding of our daughter, Hillary, to Brian Murphy on June 17th. It was a bringing together of twp wonderful families and a great time was had by all. When I figure out how to send pictures, or more probably just carry the discs to Summer, our long suffering website designer, we will share them. Suffice it to say, Hillary was a beautiful and very happy bride, only a few minutes late so no worries in the runaway department! Coral World was the site of the big event, with the actual ceremony taking place in the signal flag decorated dome out over the water. The dining and dancing and toasting was under the stars in the pavilion, surrounded by small ponds of various kinds of fish and marine life. The tables were decorated with model boats all named for vessels that have meant a lot to us including Independence, One Love - son Paul's little racing sloop, Danger Mouse - named for our beloved cat Mouse, and True Love - where the bride and groom were seated, of course!

Friends and family came from all over the States and Canada. The party started days before the wedding and went on for days after. The rehearsal dinner was a pig roast on the beach at Bonnie's By The Sea. The Murphy family chartered our friend's big catamaran Daydreamer and Independence tagged along for a fun filled afternoon sail. That was the day after the bachelor party ... we heard something about hack sawing the groom out of a ball and chain barely in time to make the sail!! I know they didn't get much sleep that whole week, ahh youth!

The day of the wedding saw a raiding party in a bright red rental car denuding the east end of the island of bougainvillea - thanks Charlie and Peter - the flowers were essential to the table decorations and we would have bailed you out ... really! So many friends helped us make this a day to remember. It was supposed to be a potluck wedding on the beach but it grew too big for that! A small-wedding spirit pervaded the reception and, in keeping with the potluck tradition, we had a small, traditional wedding cake on the top tier of a 3 tiered table. Friends brought delicious, home made cakes, petit fours and truffles, cheese cakes and flowers to fill up the lower part of the table. The whole thing was gorgeous and there were nothing but crumbs left at the end of the evening!

We have pictures, digital ones on CD, and prints and video all thanks to our friends, especially Stacey. She specializes in underwater photography but her dry land stuff is amazing too ... Thanks to her we have the 'getting dressed' shots of our Hillary in makeup and a fancy hairdo! As you can tell this was a very big deal for the Stoeken family, we had a ball and are so glad to add a wonderful son-in-law and his family to ours!

A week after the festivities were over, Independence left St. Thomas bound for Bequia and a few weeks of rest and relaxation. Thanks go to son Paul for rushing to the rescue by delivering a few forgotten necessities ... like the rudder for the self steering gear, for example. Oh well, I guess we really do need that break! The passage down was easy, three and a half days with fairly pleasant weather and a dawn arrival in Bequia. We will spend a few weeks here and in the Grenadines just exploring and pottering on the boat, there are always projects to do on a boat! Our plan is to leave from St. Vincent around the 18th of July and be back in St. Thomas ready for our July 26th charter. Sending and receiving emails until we get back to St. thomas will be hit or miss but we'd love to hear from you and if you are interested in sailing with us I promise quick response once we return to home base.

Fair winds and following seas - Pat and Pieter