St.Martin to Nevis and back

Well what have been up to since the last update. We headed out to St. Martin in the company of Laima (Beni & Rick from Tremblant) and Tonica (from Nashville, Tenn.). We left in the middle of the night to ensure a daytime arrival in St. Martin. On the way we had a pod of about 20 porpoises frolicking around the boat for a little while. We entered St. Martin on the French side but the swell in the anchorage caused us to move to the Dutch side the next morning and enter the lagoon later. We have seen the occasional mega yacht up to now but what we saw at St. Martin was just incredible. There were somewhere between 20-30 yachts in the 150-200 foot range and a number of sailboats of the same size. We didn’t like St. Martin as it wasn’t easy to get to the beaches and we definitely did not want to go swimming in the lagoon.

We parted company with Rick & Beni in St. Martin. They were still waiting for a part to come in and also they wanted to renew acquaintances from previous years. We headed out by ourselves for Nevis and St. Kitts where friends on Unchained had agreed to meet us. On the way we were treated by the sight of two whales at the surface smacking their huge flukes and creating splashes that were a sight to see. Nevis had a nice town but the anchorages were not great. We could do very little water activities. The volcano on Montserrat was active and blowing ash into the sky and some of it was falling out on our boat. What had been a clean boat up to now got pretty grungy. Also air quality was the pits. After a few days we decided to head back to the Virgins where the water is great and we can get off the boat at any time.

We left Nevis, checked out at St. Kitts, as the two islands use the same customs officers, and headed northwest to the mountainous island of Saba. We overnighted there regretting that we couldn’t spend more time exploring. There was a forecast for a north swell with 12 foot seas and the anchorage we were in was unprotected from this. We left before sun up and we crossed under motor in some of the flattest seas we have ever seen. Again we had porpoises playing around the boat. We arrived back in St. John in the early evening into a bay we were quite familiar with. The only hiccup was that the mooring balls were all taken and we had to anchor overnight before proceeding on the next morning to clear in with US customs.

We will be hanging around the Virgins now for the next couple of months with still plenty of bays and areas to explore. Hello to everybody we hope you are all well.

Hanging Around the Virgins

So there is very little to say as we have been hanging around the Virgin Islands; Spanish, US and British. We have had some great day sails and only had the opportunity to fish a couple of times. We caught a couple of tunnys (small albacore tuna) that were maybe 2 pounds each and gave them away to the Marina people at Crown Bay. Here are some of the pictures we have taken and we hope you enjoy them.
















On Laima having a gourmet supper at New Years.

Doing a 360 in the dinghy to slow down before chatting with Benita and Rick on Laima.

Staghorn coral in the BVI

Menno and Rick having an important meeting on the beach in Culebra

Liz enjoying a day on the beach at Culebrita

Culebra & Culebrita

The Spanish Virgins re-visited

Well the last month or so has been interesting; the recovery from the gall bladder surgery has taken much longer than expected. Just after Christmas an infection set in and we were able to get an appointment with a doctor in St. Thomas. Antibiotics knocked it down and the recovery started to progress nicely again.

We had just about grown roots in Lamshur Bay in St. John USVI and we finally decided to move on. Apart from a couple of short sails south of St. John in order to try and catch some fish we had not moved. On one of those sails we had Benita and Rick on board and we really gave the boat a work out. Winds were 15-25 knots with seas running 6-10 feet in height. The boat handled it beautifully and we saw speeds of nearly 9 knots at one point. That’s humming along nicely thank you very much. We did not see any fish and the only fish we have eaten has been store bought.

Early into the New Year we headed west to Culebra to spend some time in one of our favourite anchorages. Almodovar Bay is located behind a coral reef and when the wind blows out of the east, as it does most days, the water behind the reef is like a mill pond. Liz talks about the cupboard door test; the doors can remain open without them slamming shut or banging. From here we make small excursions to our favourite snorkeling spot on Culebrita and probably the most beautiful beach in the islands. Next week we will head east again to do some cruising in the BVI before trying to head out to St. Marteen and some of the smaller islands in the area.