July 3. Back on St. John Island

Well.......!!! after getting together with Welsh Rover the decision with an only 24 hour weather window was to take a shot at St. Croix, with the thought of being 40 miles closer to our destination. Early the following morning we lifted anchor and headed out the calm anchorage and bay into swells of 4 to 6 feet, just what was predicted. A beautiful rainbow was showing in front of a squall to the west in the background of the beautiful island and the wind blew with about 15 knots. Our heading was 196 degrees and placed the wind and swells on our port side beam. We were excited and glad to have found a good weather window and got settled into the wave action. About two miles off shore, finally out of the lee of the island the true wind revealed with a full 20 knots. A nasty squall that snuck up on us confirmed the ugly conditions. The waves all of a sudden were 8 to 10 feet high and only 5 to 6 feet apart and made it impossible to steer the 196 degrees as they now slammed us on our side and as soon as we came back up the next wave would slam us, soaking us to the bones with gallons of water right into the cockpit. Manuela was on the helm while Sid was tending the sails, but no matter how he adjusted the sails Manuela had the hardest time steering the boat. Then a clank noise from the staysail, the cheek block broke. This was not fun and if it isn't fun why do it, so we called Welsh Rover who were struggling behind us that we were turning around that this was a no go. They agreed and we both sailed back into the very beautiful and protected anchorage we left earlier. Sid also found the cheek block of the mainsail broken. Later on we heard the local weather on VHF with small craft warning. So we are once more stuck and playing the waiting game, but we truly are in the most pristine anchorage. Sid took the girls into the Coral Harbor Village around the corner to load up on some produce. There was a really nicely stocked Gourmet Market, but with gourmet also comes the high price, wow. The waiting game has been a pain in the you know what, but we do enjoy our company with Welsh Rover very much, makes time go by much easier and they feel the same way. There is nothing better than good company and between Stacey's and Manuela's cooking the guys are quite happy. Last night they were over on Paradise but the night got cut short by a nasty gust of wind. Later on that night, Welsh Rover hunkered down inside their boat and Sid snoring away in the cockpit, Manuela sat on the bow, looking up into the stars and saw the most incredible shooting star exploding twice and leaving an enormous trail. The area lit up like in a lightning storm. Several more interesting shooting stars were observed but non as incredible as the exploding one. Early the following morning Stacey and Manuela went snorkeling. The water was the clearest it has been and they saw everything from sole, snails, rays, trumpet fish, colorful tropical fish, boxfish a huge puffer and barracuda, but the most exciting was beautiful turtles, it was a great start to a beautiful day. As we are sitting perfectly calm in our anchorage, the waves outside the bay are raging. It is deceptive from here that only the crashing waves on the rocks, 2 miles across the bay reveal how bad it really is.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY