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Christmas on the Water
by Carolyn Corbett
Christmas morning dawned bright and warm over the sailboats
anchored at Royal Island. Our holiday flag flew proudly
from Godspede's rigging. Calls of "Merry Christmas,
Mate!" and "Brilliant day, Luv!" rang
across the water as other crews hoisted the Union Jack
and Southern Cross.
Dave and I were the only Americans in a harbor where
half a dozen world cruisers had gathered for a Yuletide
reunion. No phones, no shopping, no commercialism, no
settlement. As European Christmas carols drifted on
the breeze, fourteen adults and three children dinghied
from one cockpit to the next, sharing champagne, feasting
on treats, and toasting our hometowns in Austria, Australia,
Germany, England, and Minnesota.
Cruising Christmases ~ poinsettias grow wild, tiny artificial
trees appear from hiding places in lazarettes, and traditional
family recipes are prepared. Silent nights are broken
by boaters tooting carols on conch horns and Junkanoo
drums beating out their ancient rhythm.
Do we miss snow, towering Christmas trees, our parents,
our children? You bet we do. Dave's t-shirt is just
beginning to dry from the tears shed by a young cruiser
sobbing out her loneliness last Christmas Eve. But first
thing the next morning, Jennifer in her bikini and her
newlywed husband in his wetsuit roared off in search
of elusive crustaceans. That evening they held hands
and watched fireworks under a full moon. This December
Jennifer is back in the post-sabbatical, work-a-day
world, fully aware that 120 years will pass before a
full moon once again shines in the Christmas sky.
The magic is in the memories.
Micki and Dick Beberman reminisce about a Christmas
potluck in the Dominican Republic with barbecued chicken
and roast pig. The pork was delicious, but the chickens
were apparently the losers in the Saturday night cock
fight!
Donald and Ruth Bates have marked the holidays with
the accapella choirs of the Solomons and the Bells of
Cochin in India during their eleven years of sailing
around the world.
Single-hander John Duncker shared Christmas duck with
orange sauce in Gran Canaria with six other sailors
who had never before crossed the Atlantic.
Dave and I cherish the disparity each Yuletide brings....peeling
potatoes for a potluck dinner with 182 fellow boaters....decking
the decks with causerina boughs ~ for three days until
they shed a trillion needles....opening a card on December
24th to learn Lisa would soon become our daughter-in-law....opening
cards in mid-February when they caught up with us several
hundred miles down island....listening to C130 aircraft
departing Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, NC,
delivering troops to Desert Storm....listening to church
bells ring out "Silent Night" as dusk embraced
Hope Town's candy cane lighthouse....swinging on a mooring
in Green Turtle Cay, watching party guests arrive at
a gaily decorated house via water taxi, singing along
to their music drifting across the harbor....learning
from rap music that Santa doesn't get milk and cookies
in the Abacos: Cracked conch, peas & rice, a couple
of grouper would be nice!
Cruisers cast off shoreside methods of merrymaking and
develop more appropriate means of celebrating. Crews
don festive red t-shirts, horde mail to open on Christmas
Eve, and search for small local churches in which to
worship. After eleven months of being crushed in a crowded
locker, artificial evergreens are reshaped and trimmed
with shells, sand dollars, and beach glass. Parrots
in palms replace partridges in pear trees. Dolphins
pull Santa's dinghy to each boat where he slides down
the mast with his bag full of gifts. Evenings are spent
watching for the green flash in the west and the shining
star in the east.
Our first year on the water, Dave stumbled on a lobster
glory hole just a few days before St. Nick was due.
He promptly issued a decree. The newest Corbett Cruising
Tradition would be Christmas breakfast consisting of
lobster, bacon, eggs, grits, freshly squeezed Bahamian
orange juice and champagne. Who was I to argue with
such sentimentality, such insight, such decadence?
Gifts among cruisers are inexpensive, informal, and
cherished ~ an aloe plant from Down Under, homemade
papaya chutney, hand crafted projects. Dave and I prepare
the gifts we'll share months before the holidays. Wooden
Merry Christmas from Bifrost ornaments, pickle relish
and salsa from our garden in Minnesota, ingredients
for cookies and candy ~ all are packed aboard as August
heat beats down on our hull.
Green Turtle Cay drew us back again for Christmas last
year. Everyone in the anchorage gathered for "dock"tails
and decorating at the Other Shore Club. We hung twinkling
lights, danced on the pier to Barefoot Man singing "Santa
Got a Sunburn," and turned pilings into candy canes
with wide red ribbons.
The first-grade teacher in me sought out the school
program under swaying palms, where Minnesota memories
of 6-year-old shepherds and wisemen came alive as tiny
Bahamian angels in starched white gowns heralded the
birth of the Babe. Then it was off to Uncle Bert's Bar
for the traditional post-pageant partying.
Yes, Virginia, there is Christmas on the water ~ in
the Caribbean, the South Pacific, the Med ~ wherever
cruisers gather as December grows to a close. Holiday
attitudes defy warm latitudes and Christmas is easily
stowed in the heart.
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