Milestone Birthday Pickleball

St. Lucia

Earlier this month my husband joined me in crossing into a new decade of life. As I thought about how I would like to celebrate him on this occasion, I began to look at pickleball vacations. We have done several of these in the past, so I was looking for something that would be different from the other experiences. I came across one that was headed to St. Lucia, and I was immediately interested in it. At this point in our lives we are trying to go to destinations where we haven't traveled before, and St. Lucia fit the bill. The fact that it was being held at a Sandals with ten dedicated pickleball courts had me looking further into the details.

Elite Pickleball Retreats was offering three plus days of pickleball, with the instruction being done by three professional coaches. Their curriculum was combining skill training with drills, coached game play, film review, yoga, instruction on mastering your mindset, tips from a senior pro pickleball player, and game strategy. It was the most comprehensive pickleball training series that I have come across.

When I registered the two of us to attend, I made it clear that this was a surprise for my husband's birthday. I requested that all correspondence come only to me, and I was assured that would be the case. Jim only knew that he was going on a trip that would require his passport, and to pack for warm weather. I knew once we got to the airport he would see that we were going to St. Lucia, but he wouldn't know we were going to a Sandals or that a pickleball event was involved. Since I knew the resort had pickleball courts, I would have told him to pack his pickleball gear.

Well, a week before the event an email from the organizer went to Jim, and not to me. So much for my surprise! I guess he was surprised, just earlier than I anticipated. As it ends up, he has followed the YouTube channel of one of the coaches for several years, so he was excited to get to meet him in person.

When I booked the trip in January there was no shortage of TSA agents. Nor was there a war going on that involved the United States. So we weren't quite sure what to expect as we traveled outside the U.S. Our flight out was at 6:15 in the morning. We had an Uber pick us up at 4:00 and we were at the airport and through TSA by 4:25. Everything went smoothly at both the Charlotte airport as well as the one in Miami, where we had a connecting flight to St. Lucia. We were the only flight in at that time, so going through customs there was a breeze. We had a short wait in the Sandals lounge before taking their shuttle to the resort. Our shuttle contained only people who would be in our pickleball group, which was fun.

view from our room

There are actually three Sandals Resorts on St. Lucia, and we stayed at the Regency La Toc. It took a little over an hour to get from the airport to this resort. The roads were okay, but there was traffic to be dealt with by the driver. Once there, check in took a little longer than expected, but our room was ready. We were on the 7th floor of a seven story building, and had a wonderful ocean view. The room was huge, airy, and most importantly did not smell like mildew. The air conditioner worked very well.

The first night we all got together for a welcome dinner, and it was nice to get to know some of the participants before we began with the clinic the next morning. As it turned out, all of the other participants were from New Jersey, where the coaches have pickleball facilities. We were the only ones who learned of the retreat online. That was a little off-putting at first, but we were able to work around it. I would say most of the attendees were in their 30s-40s. There were maybe 3 couples in their 50s-60s, but Jim and I were definitely the only ones who were 70. But we didn't let that slow us down!

We learned a lot over three full days of the retreat. I tried to write down as many of the drills and tips that I could remember. But pickleball, like many things in life, is something that you have to do over and over again to commit it to your muscle memory. I hope I can put at least a few of the things I learned into practice.

I added two extra nights to our trip so that we would have some time to actually experience the resort. On Sunday we took a shuttle bus to one of the other Sandals resorts, the Grande. It is situated on a narrow strand of land that has the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, which makes it quite unique. We enjoyed being able to see what that resort has to offer.

Monday we stayed at our resort and finally were able to lounge by the pool and also walked the beach and stuck our feet into the ocean for the first time. It was chilly! We had dinner at the Italian restaurant, which is at the top of a hill and offers beautiful sunset views. It was a fantastic way to spend our last night on St. Lucia.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast before putting our luggage out at 9:00. We had to be out of our room by 10:00, and got the airport shuttle at 10:30. Getting through customs and security at the airport was easy, and our flight to Miami went off without a hitch. The Miami airport was quite busy, and there was no TSA pre-check lane due to the shortage of TSA agents right now. That ate up quite a bit of our 1 1/2 hour layover, but we had just enough time to grab a quick bite in the American lounge before boarding our flight back to Charlotte. We got back to our house around 11:30 p.m. It was another long day of travel, and a reminder to try and take vacations where we can get a direct flight out of Charlotte.

The vacation was great, and Jim was very appreciative of his "surprise" present, but it is really wonderful to be home!

North Myrtle Beach Part 2

Tropical Storm Chantal arrived the day after our neighbors went back to Charlotte. It hit in the early hours of July 6th, and I will say the wind and rain blasting the front of the condo were pretty impressive. As our bedroom was ocean front, we definitely were awakened by the storm. By mid-morning Chantal had been downgraded to a tropical depression, leaving only high winds. The rainbow almost made up for the lack of sleep we had gotten the night before.

rainbow

Mid-week some friends from Charlotte came to stay with us for a few days. They are also not ones to just sit on the beach all day, every day, so we filled our time with other activities. They are avid pickleball players, so we got on the courts a few times with them. They enjoyed learning the Shag with us on Tuesday night, and also the Thursday night concert near the condo.

Back at the condo we got caught up while playing card games and Mexican Train. It's so nice to have friends who enjoy the same activities as us, while also being on the same schedules of waking up and going to bed. That is pretty rare!

North Myrtle Beach

The next post will wrap up our visit to North Myrtle Beach.

Visiting North Myrtle Beach

view from the condo

A lady in our community offered her condo in North Myrtle Beach to residents here, and our next door neighbor asked us if we would like to go in with them and rent the condo for the month of July. It is right on the beach, and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The downside is that the unit is on the third floor, and there is no elevator. Despite that and the fact that July is the hottest month in Myrtle Beach, we agreed to the rental.

fireworks on North Myrtle Beach

The four of us spent the first week of July together. Our neighbors then headed home and we stayed there until July 17th. There were pluses and minuses to being at the beach for the 4th of July week. It was incredibly crowded, and the heat was a factor. But it was really amazing to see the Patriotic Flyover, and to be able to put our chairs on the beach for the fireworks was great. We didn't have to drive anywhere, and there were fireworks displays all up and down the beach. As fireworks are legal in South Carolina, that meant lots of amateurs were setting them off all around us. That was somewhat disconcerting, especially when a display fell over and began shooting rockets off into the crowd!

The condo is located in a great area, and you could literally park your car and never have to drive anywhere. Restaurants, bars, shops, and groceries are all within walking distance. We even found a park with pickleball courts that was within walking distance. Also, this beach is the birthplace of Carolina Shag, the official dance of South Carolina. Fat Harold's Beach Club was right around the corner from us, and they off free Shag lessons on Tuesday nights. It was fun to go and watch the dancers there.

Every Thursday night there is a free concert at North MyrtleBeach. We were able to set our chairs up mid afternoon, and head back to the condo. Then we went to Buoys for happy hour, timing it so we could then head to our chairs for the concert. The bands were great, and what a turnout!

We had decided the four of us would go on a dolphin watching cruise, but unfortunately the ocean was too rough as tropical storm Chantal was heading towards the coast. Instead we took a ride on the intracoastal waterway, which was fun as well.

intracoastal waterway

After our friends headed back to Charlotte, we ended our first week at North Myrtle Beach by driving a little north to do some hiking at a preserve. We had the Heritage Shores Preserve to ourselves, and it was nice to enjoy the peace and quiet after all the crowds on the beach and in town.

Heritage Shores Nature Preserve

My next post will cover part 2 of our North Myrtle Beach trip.

one of the beautiful sunsets

 

It Never Rains in California

Manhattan Beach

"It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya..." I thought a lot about the song lyrics to the 1972 song by Albert Hammond while on a recent trip to the Los Angeles area to visit our daughter. Since she lives in a one bedroom unit (as the landlord calls it but it is really a loft with no doors), we decided to rent a two bedroom, two bath home on Manhattan Beach through AirBNB so she could stay with us.

It was a lovely place just one block from the beach with nice ocean views from the large deck. But what I didn't realize was that the whole area would be shrouded in fog all morning the whole week. I had only checked the weather for LA (my bad!) and packed accordingly. It was a good ten degrees cooler in Manhattan Beach, and without benefit of the sun it seemed even cooler. I only had one pair of jeans and a nice pair of slacks with me, so I had to launder those to get by.

Outside of the gray, though, Manhattan Beach was a great place to stay. It's very walkable, with grocery stores and restaurants to choose from. We were lucky in that our house had a garage, so our daughter could park her car there for the days we wanted to head out and play tourist.

We spent time in downtown Los Angeles visiting the museums, went to Huntington Gardens (my favorite place to visit) and sat down for High Tea there, took the ferry to Catalina Island and played some pickleball. It was great to spend a week with our girl and celebrate her birthday. That doesn't happen too often anymore.

Scenes from Los Angeles

Sailing Away - 8

Saturday and Sunday were both sea days, and we wondered if we would be bored. As it ended up, there was plenty to keep us busy - and not just eating. We played a lot of trivia games, listened to different music and entertainment, went swimming (yay for the adults only pool!) and got in some pickleball games. It was fun to meet other players from around the United States, and the waves and winds added an additional degree of difficulty to the game. It was quite fun, and made for some good laughs.

Princess Pickleball

Sunday morning we ordered room service and enjoyed donning our Princess robes and sitting on the balcony to eat. That night the four of us had dinner at the Princess Grille in celebration of Jim's upcoming birthday and our friend's 40th wedding anniversary which is coming up this summer.

miscellaneous ship pictures

Then it was back to the stateroom to pack and put out our large suitcases in preparation for disembarkation the next morning. When we were done, Jim and I went to a few venues listening to music, and had one final fru fru drink to toast another wonderful vacation.

We arrived back in Port Everglades at 7:00 a.m. on Monday, February 25th. Disembarkation and customs went very smoothly, and before we knew it we were back at the airport to come home. I highly recommend this cruise!

Sailing Away - 7

sunrise in Curacao

Friday, February 22nd found us cruising into our last port of call, Willemstad, Curacao. I had never heard of this island until one of the HGTV international house hunting shows aired. Pronounced cure-a-sow, it is the "C" of the ABC islands. This independent country has a population of 160,000 and is 38 miles long and 9 miles wide. It, too, is a fairly flat island.

We had heard much about the town of Willemstad, and how its Dutch heritage as illustrated in its architecture has been infused with the colors of the Caribbean. The four of us decided to do our own walking tour of the area so we could drink it all in. We had arrived in port at 7:00 a.m., so the day was still pretty young when we got off the ship.

The boardwalk along the sea is very nicely done, and it is for sure a walkable community. We enjoyed all the little bridges, and the fact that they had taken the old fort and retrofitted it for commercial and residential use instead of just letting it fall into disrepair.

Rif Fort

The vegetable and fruit market was interesting in that boats bring the produce to market as opposed to trucks. The boats are tied up behind the tents.

produce market

The colors did not disappoint, and we very much enjoyed our day in Willemstad. It was great to be able to spend the day walking around, as we knew the next two would be spent at sea as we made our way back north. We left Curacao at 4:30 p.m.

leaving Curacao 

Sailing Away - 6

sunrise

Thursday, February 21st we arrived at Kralendijk, Bonaire at 12:00 p.m. As usual, Jim and I were awake early and were able to take in the sun rising over the horizon. The "B" of the ABC islands, Bonaire is a Dutch island that is 24 miles long and 9 miles wide, with a population of 19,400.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

The first thing we noticed was how flat the island was compared to the other ones we had visited so far. The second thing was how pretty the water in the harbor looked. The colorful tents along the walkway added to the festiveness of our arrival.

Bonaire is an island that prides itself on nature preservation, and has been active in preserving its reefs. They don't want to sacrifice their environment for the sake of tourism, which is commendable. About 60% of the island is a national park or protected area. For that, and other reasons, Jim and I decided to do the Mangrove Eco-Cruise by kayak.

Because our excursion did not begin until the afternoon, we had time for a leisurely lunch before making our way to the dock where our group was meeting. We boarded a van for a 20 minute drive to the eco-center, pausing to admire a cactus fence as well as a group of flamingos, which is called a "pat".

flamingos on Bonaire

They gave a short presentation about the mangroves before we headed out to our two-person kayaks. Mangroves are trees or shrubs that grow in coastal intertidal zones. They have tangled roots above ground and form dense thickets. Lac Bay Mangrove forest is about 850 years old and is one of the best preserved groupings of mangroves in the Caribbean. Three different species of mangroves exist here - red mangrove, black mangrove, and white mangrove.

Jim and I have always been in single kayaks in the past, but this was great as I could feel free to snap away with my waterproof camera.We paddled narrow channels through the trees as well as open water. It was a beautiful experience, and our guide was excellent.

mangrove kayak tour

We had time to catch a quick beer at a bar that offered free Wifi before we needed to walk back to the ship. We got a kick out of the flamingo made of recycled items pulled from the ocean.

Bonaire 

Our ship sailed off into the sunset at 6:30 p.m.

sunset

Sailing Away - 5

St. George's Grenada

Grenada was the next port of call, and we arrived at St. George's at 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday, February 20th. Located in the southeastern Caribbean sea, Grenada has a population of 110,000. It is 21 miles long and 12 miles wide. On this island all four of us agreed on a snorkeling excursion to an underwater sculpture park on the ocean floor of Molinere Bay. There are 68 sculptures in this park, but we only saw a handful of them.

underwater sculpture park

From there we got back on the catamaran and motored to Grand Anse Beach, where we could swim in the most beautiful-colored water I have ever seen. The rum punch added to the party atmosphere for sure.

Grand Anse Beach

Our visit to this island was short, and we sailed out of St. George's at 1:30 p.m. I was pleased to capture yet another pretty sunset off of our balcony.

sunset

Sailing Away - 4

February 19th's stop was at the island of Dominica (pronounced doe-min-ee-ka, and not to be confused with the Dominican Republic). Founded by Christopher Columbus in November 3, 1493, the island was and still is inhabited by the Caribe tribe. Its land mass is 29 miles long and 16 miles wide.

We arrived at the port of Roseau at 9:00 a.m. A full rainbow greeted us when we woke up, and the pretty morning sky highlighted the hills of the island.

Roseau, Dominica

Our friends went scuba diving and we elected to do the Champagne Reef Snorkel. The snorkel site was located at Soufriere-Scott's Head Marina Reserve. Located on the edge of a submerged volcano, you can actually feel the hot water venting from the earth's core. We swam through tiny, crystal-like bubbles which escape from the volcanic fissures on the seabed. It was rather like being inside a glass of champagne.

Champagne snorkel trip

We bid Dominica adieu as the Crown Princess left port at 5:30.

leaving Roseau

Sailing Away - 3

St. Thomas at sunrise

Sunday was a day at sea, and we arrived in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, February 18th. Now one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas was founded by the Danish in the 1600s.

We were in the first group of passengers getting off the ship as our excursion began at 8:30. The four of us decided to try the BOSS Underwater Scooter Adventure. That stands for Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter, and we had never heard of them until now.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little nervous about this one since I have never gone scuba diving and like the sense of control I have with a mask and snorkel. In this, you stick your head inside a bubble, hop on your scooter, and they lower you 8 feet below the surface of the water. In the meantime, you hold your nose and keeping blowing out to pop your ears as you go down. But once we got going, it was so much fun! We were allowed to ride for 30 minutes, but it felt like only 10. Due to the size of the group - there were 38 of us, I believe - we went down in groups. We were allowed to snorkel after our turn on the scooters.

BOSS

After cleaning up and having lunch, we had some time to do some exploring of Charlotte Amalie. You could see that some areas are still recovering from the hurricanes of 2017, but a lot of buildings look remarkable intact.

Charlotte Amalie

The ship pulled away from the port in St. Thomas at 4:30 p.m. It was another beautiful day.

leaving St. Thomas

Vacation Was All We Ever Wanted

Some friends from college invited us to join them at the Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach (PBSB) in Cabo San Lucas last week. They and a couple other family members own time shares at the resort. We have been to Cabo only one other time, and that was a day stop on a cruise of the Mexican Riviera that we took a couple years ago. As we went on a snorkeling excursion at that time, we saw little of Cabo other than the marina.

To be fair, PBSB is not actually in Cabo, but is instead perched on the side of a hill west of town on the Pacific Ocean, about a 20 minute cab ride from the center of Cabo. We flew early February 27th to Phoenix, and from there to Los Cabos International Airport in San Jose del Cabo. The airport is about 30 minutes north of Cabo. Everything went smoothly, and we waited at one of the bars outside the terminal for our friends to arrive. Their flight was scheduled to land an hour after ours, so that gave us time for our first margarita.

San Jose del Cabo Airport, Mexico

The taxi ride to the resort took about an hour, and we arrived early enough in the afternoon to see the sweeping views of the ocean and the lush landscaping on the immense property. It is absolutely gorgeous! We were both put in rooms in building 26, us on the fifth floor and them on the sixth. Our friend's dad and his wife were already there, and they were on the second floor of our building. We had easy access to the pool outside our building, and though the walk to the lobby, market and restaurants was all up hill, it was doable. Golf carts were always available if you were going farther or just didn't want to walk.

Our room was huge with a galley kitchen and a lovely balcony. All rooms face the ocean, so you are guaranteed a view. It was one of the nicest rooms we have ever stayed in. We did not select the all inclusive package, but it is offered. We wanted the flexibility to be able to eat in town or on the road. With several restaurants and a market, there is no need to leave the resort if one doesn't want to, however. Though the resort has a beach and is on the Pacific, there is absolutely no swimming in the ocean. The riptides there are very dangerous, and the water drops off quickly. While that meant whales would come swimming very close to shore, and boats hovered close for fishing, it was a bit of a bummer not to be able to enter the water and snorkel or swim.

Pueblo Bonito at Sunset Beach

The day of our arrival we hung around the pool for awhile before having dinner at the resort. The next morning we walked up to the market for breakfast, then explored the resort for a bit before heading to the pool. The water was a bit too cool for me, so I enjoyed reading my book under an umbrella. Later we took a shuttle to the Pueblo Bonito Rose resort, which was also beautiful. From there we could walk on Medano Beach to the more touristy area of Cabo. We found a fun restaurant called The Office, where you can have your feet buried in the sand while you dine under their blue umbrellas. When we were finished we grabbed a cab and had the driver wait for us while we picked up provisions at a massive grocery store.

Medano Beach, Cabo

By Thursday I had connected with a man I met online (and doesn't that just sound wrong!), and Jim and I joined two couples for a few pickleball games. They were way out of our league, but were very kind in letting us play with them. The couple from San Diego was leaving the next day, but the couple from Seattle was staying until Monday, so we managed to play with them two additional times. It was so great, and we appreciated their gentle instruction on how to improve our games.

That night we took a cab into San Jose del Cabo for an Art Walk. It was colorful and fun, with many galleries open and serving wine and traditional music and dance going on in the town square. Our driver took us to a favorite restaurant of his for dinner, and we had a great evening.

Friday was Jim's birthday, and we celebrated at the resort as we could not get reservations for a sunset catamaran cruise until the following night. We played pickleball in the morning, and hung around the pool in the afternoon. While the temperature was in the 70's the whole time we were there, the pool water did not warm up enough for me to get in until Friday. It was very pleasant from then on.

We had dinner at The Bistro on site, sitting outside at a lovely table overlooking the ocean. While it was dark and we couldn't see the water, it was lovely to hear the waves crashing down below us. The wait staff brought Jim a piece of celebratory cheesecake, and sang happy birthday to him. He was only missing a sombrero. Ha!

Saturday we finally made the trek down to the beach. The sand is not as fine as Jamaica, and I found myself being thankful I had my flip flops on to protect my feet. In all fairness, I'm not sure what the sand was like before the hurricane took away the beach several years ago. They had to replace the beaches in the area. From there we made our way to the pool before getting ready for yet another cab ride into Cabo. Once we arrived at the marina we had some time to kill while waiting in line for the sunset cruise, so Jim and I walked the boardwalk to get some pictures.

Marina Cabo San Lucas

The cruise itself was very fun, with drinks and snacks served on board. We saw an amazing show put on by a couple of whales, who seemed to think it was their job to provide entertainment for the boats. I've never seen them so active. The sunset somehow seemed anticlimactic, but it was beautiful as well.

sunset catamaran cruise

We began Sunday with a light breakfast followed by an hour and a half of pickleball. The rest of the day was spent around the resort. Late in the afternoon we all took a cab into Cabo to have dinner at a nice restaurant called Alexanders. We were celebrating the birthday of our friend's dad.

Monday was our last full day, and we took a private tour vehicle that our friends had used before. Our driver Daniel picked us up at the resort, and took us first to a glass blowing factory in Cabo so we could watch the artisans work.

Glass Factory

From there we headed north along the coast, with our final destination being Todos Santos. Along the way we found the Blanket Factory, where blankets, rugs and other items are woven on site. The colors are just magnificent!

Blanket Factory

Our next stop was at Playa Los Cerritos, a well-known surf spot south of Todos Santos. It was fun to watch the surfers trying to catch a wave, though I suspect the surf was pretty tame the day we visited.

Playa Los Cerritos

Finally we arrived at Todos Santos, an artsy community on the Pacific Ocean. The driver gave us a tour of the town, and then we stopped at the Tequila Sunrise restaurant for a late lunch. As we had to wait for a table, we popped across the street to visit the Hotel California. While it is actually not the inspiration for the song of the same name by the Eagles, it was still an interesting place to explore. Jim and I thought our meal at the Tequila Sunrise was the best we had in Mexico, with the exception of the steak and lobster dinner at Alexanders in Cabo.

Todos Santos

After lunch we headed back to our resort. All in all, it was a fabulous day and we appreciated being able to see a little more of Mexico than the touristy spots we had been to so far.

Tuesday was our travel day, and we got a shuttle back to the airport at 10:20. We arrived with enough time to catch an earlier flight back to Phoenix. As we originally had a short one hour window in which to go through customs and catch our next flight, we appreciated having the additional time in Phoenix.

And so the sun sets on another wonderful vacation. Adios, Mexico!