Sailors who dream of distant lands---and who dream of adventuring in their 70s---will appreciate this snippet from an article by Lee Tolliver in Pilotonline.com today:
When the Norfolk native [John Martin} left port for a sail around South America, he was 74. When he pulled back into Willoughby Spit's Rebel Marina this summer, he had left approximately 20,000 miles and six years in his wake.
"Wasn't in much of a hurry," the 80-year-old said this week with a wry smile. "And I never even thought about the age thing."
Looking for more adventure after retiring, the two [John and his wife Ruth] decided to give South America a try.
The sail would take them from Georgia to the Panama Canal and on to ports and anchorages in Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Venezuela - then hip-hopping the eastern Caribbean islands before returning up the coast to Norfolk.
When they grew fond of a place, they'd sometimes wind up staying for months. They were especially happy in Los Roques, just off the coast of Venezuela, and in Bonaire, where Ruth spent countless hours snorkeling and supplying the dinner table with langosta - a warm-water lobster with no claws that is especially tasty dipped in garlic butter and cooked over an open flame on the beach.
Fishing supplied some food, but their 53-foot French-built Amel sailboat - Moon Dog - stayed well-equipped....
