Sept. 23. Having fun in Puerto La Cruz

OK, OK, OK, we're sorry to have neglected all of you!!! After getting bombarded with all your emails, we realize how many of you are following us daily. That puts a big smile on our faces, thanks. Well, this is what’s been happening here. We’ve been busy scraping months worth of salt crust off the boat, finding our way around in Puerto La Cruz, organizing Sid’s flight to the US and getting settled in.

We love our new home and learn every day something new about this beautiful country. The marina is awesome and our neighbors just wonderful. Every Sunday night we have a BBQ potluck on the dock. Wednesday nights the hotel has a Happy Hour for us with free drinks and waiters walking around with platters full of wonderful appetizers, while a piano player plays soft music in the background, very ritzy.

Sid has left for North Carolina to visit his ailing mom. He arrived a few days ago and saw his Mom. Unfortunately it was a sad visit for him as his Mom did not recognize him anymore. He’ll be in the States for 2 ½ weeks and will visit friends in Knoxville, TN, Ellijay GA, then off to Oriental and New Bern, NC, from there to Wilmington and finally back to Raleigh to catch his flight home on the 4. October. He’s going to be a busy guy, but he will have fun seeing all our friends. While he’s gone I will get to know the area better and find an apartment or house to move in while we’re on the hard getting Paradise painted. Of course shopping is on the list too, as you probably figured out by now that my passion is shopping for food. You’d be amazed how many fruits I’ve found that I’ve never seen before. Each one of them has its unique flavors and are on our menu now daily. Food is fairly cheap here, but then the Government adds a 14% tax to everything and if you eat out in a restaurant an extra 10% service charge is added, which we were told is not the tip for the waiter, but it is still a lot cheaper than in the States or any of the Caribbean islands.

For all of you who are worried about us being in Venezuela, it’s quite safe where we are. We are in a very upscale neighborhood and the marina has 24/7 security staff, they are everywhere. Besides, Isla Margarita and Puerto La Cruz are safe. It’s actually safe to walk around the neighborhood too and the other day when I went downtown it didn’t feel any different than in Mexico. We actually felt less safe on some of the islands than here. As in any big city crime rate is of course higher, you just have to pay attention what’s around you, just as we have to do in US cities. So far we learned not to get money at banks, the exchange rate is very low (2100 to the US dollar). There are plenty of sources where we can exchange money for a rate up to 2600, depending on the amount we want to change. The best about that is we can write personal checks. A few years back the Government forbid the Venezuelans to own US dollars. So for a while it was tough to exchange money here, but they found a way around it, personal checks, as they are easier to get out of the country as cash. Using Credit Cards is a big no-no here as there is a lot of fraud, even when using it in Banks and ATM machines.

The Venezuelans we’ve met have been just wonderful and the majority in this area does not like Chavez and what he does to their country. Amazing how much power he has, the news here is rigged by him, they don’t hear what’s happening today, they get the news the following day and only what Chavez wants them to hear. Rumor has it that the election December 4^th is already rigged. It will be interesting to see the outcome.

Well, we should be here for about four months and I will try to keep the Blogg going once a week, but no promises, besides we don’t want to bore you with the daily life in a marina. In the mean time I’ll be cleaning out all the lockers as Sid is out of my way LOL and keep myself busy so that I don’t miss him too much. Hugs and kisses to all of you

Sept. 7. Mare Mares Marina, Puerto La Cruz

The wind kept howling with 25 knots and gusts up to 30 until well into the afternoon and finally died down by sunset. We checked for holes in our eyelids for a couple of hours and pulled anchor at midnight and brought the last 43 miles behind us. We had a smooth motor trip, sails never had to go up. Had the most spectacular sunrise with dolphins dancing on the water. Approaching Puerto La Cruz was exciting and also somewhat overwhelming to see this huge city. We are in the El Morro Development which has lots of canals and is the home of at least 6 marinas. We were absolutely positively surprised to drive through the narrow canal surrounded by the cutest and most colorful houses, a miniature Venice, actually it reminds us of the Disney ride "it's a small world after all". Can't wait to get the dinghy down and cruise through it taking pictures. The Mare Mares Marina we're in is a five star hotel and marina and we found out that when Chavez comes to visit Puerto La Cruz he stays here and they kick all the boats out during his stay. Not that we want to see him anyway. You should see the pool here, it's huge and absolutely beautiful and every 15 minutes the wave machine comes on. Oh by the way, Doug and Lisa were delayed too, they are waiting for canvas work to be done and may leave tomorrow, so we had a great time catching up with them and enjoying the wonderful buffet here at the restaurant. The marina also has a spa (I think that will be out of my league), gym and a two minute walk away is an awesome mall. There are no slips in the marina, everybody is med moored, which makes it tough for us to get on and off the boat, but they had a solution already and placed huge steps in front of our boat. The best about that is the name "Bird of Paradise is written on it". This marina is top notch and it does not seem like we're in Venezuela at all. The air-conditioner is on, the ice machine is hooked up, all the sunshades are in place and in a couple of days we should be settled in. We'll look for a flight for Sid to finally fly to North Carolina to see his mom, hopefully next week and in the meantime we'll just get the boat cleaned up and check out our new home for the next few months. Also looking for a place to store our boat junk while our boat is in the yard. From what we know it will take at least a couple of months to paint the boat properly. No problem, don't have a schedule and don't have a job. Besides I need to perfect my Spanish and Sid needs to learn to order more than just 10 cervezas or rum. Labor here is so cheap, for 30 bucks a day somebody will spend 8 hours on your boat, washing, waxing, varnishing, polishing, whatever you need. Almost as good as Colombia. An average salary here is 200 bucks a months, not much to live on. Our rent here for the month is 460 including utilities and use of the hotel, the other marinas are cheaper.

Sept. 6. Punta de Escarceo

Red sky in the morning, sailor takes warning. Red sky at night, sailors delight..... and once more it proves to be true. We left before the sun came up and watched the most spectacular sunrise with the shadows of the mountains reflecting in the red clouds. Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning. It was flat calm as we rounded the corner of the island and started to head towards Puerto La Cruz. Around the corner pods of dolphins greeted us and flocks of Pelicans were sitting in the water watching the dolphins herding up some fish. The water was as smooth as a mirror and a cloud cover hovered over us. We had a total of 50 miles to go, the wind was right on the nose and we were motoring with 5 knots through the calm water. About 15 miles down the road the wind started to pick up, the prognoses called for 5 to 10 knots of wind, so no problem. A further couple of minutes later the wind picked up some more and the water turned a bit choppy. Amazing how fast a flat sea can turn into the nastiest churning water. Within minutes we had 5 foot wind chops and we started to pound into them slowing us down to 1.2 knots. It got even worse, so both Paradise and Welsh Rover changed direction and headed to Punta de Escarceo. We're anchored snug but the wind is still howling. We had winds up to 29 knots. We are not sure either how safe this anchorage is, so we're planning to abandon it around midnight and head for Puerto La Cruz. Doug and Lisa on Highland Light we met in New Bern are in Puerto La Cruz and are leaving tomorrow for San Blas, I guess it was not meant to be to see them, what a bummer. In the mean time we're sucking on a tasty Bloody Mary and are waiting for the wind to calm down.

Sept. 5. Isla Cubagua

Porlamar where we were anchored is the biggest city on the island of Isla Margarita and we were actually very surprised to find such a big city with hundreds of high rise buildings on an island like this in a third world country. As I mentioned before the shopping here is just amazing. The island is known as the vacation island and since it is duty free everybody from the mainland comes here to shop, especially liquor. All the days we spent here I think I rested only one day the rest was spent in shopping, mainly grocery shopping and I even managed to drag Sid into one of the stores and he was very impressed. The funny thing on that trip was we were sitting in the taxi headed towards a traffic light and witnessed a car blow the red light. On one side of the intersection were two traffic cops on foot. One immediately blew his whistle and pointed at the first car coming across the intersection to pull over, ran to the car, hopped into the passenger seat and made the driver chase after the traffic violator. We sure thought that was funny, but don't know if he ever got to write him a ticket. Our anchorage had the clearest water we've seen in a long time and it was more of a teal color. There were anywhere from 90 to 100 boats anchored and most of them French, German and Swiss and were told that the Americans all go to Puerto La Cruz. Venezuela has it's problems and you have to pull the dinghy up every night, lock it or loose it they say. Sure enough the last night we were there an expensive Boston Whaler with a 40 bhp outboard got snatched. We also were warned to be very careful when using ATM machines or using the credit card and one boat had problems with that as well. They tried to warn the fleet about not using ATM machines, but wouldn't go into the details until they were asked several times. They admitted that when they approached the machine a guy told them the machine was not working and for them to use the machine next to it, where a women was standing. She then told them that they had to swipe the card first in a separate swipe slot and then the ATM slot. Hello, it's a scam!!!!! Well, they got suckered into it. Anyway, we're having a wonderful time and are not letting these stories ruin our stay. We had some wonderful meals in local restaurants and enjoy not having to pay much for gourmet meals. Today we lifted anchor and are finally headed for Puerto La Cruz with an overnight stop at Isla Cubagua. We had to motor the whole way as there was no breeze, but we enjoyed the view as the mountains and clouds were reflecting in the almost mirror like water. The island is pretty barren with red rock lined shores to sandy beaches with cactus in the background. Kind of reminded us of Mexico, we feel right at home.

Sept 1. Still in Margarita

Shop, shop, shop til you drop, that's seems the be the motto here. Ever since we've arrived I've been shopping all day long. Found the biggest fabric store ever, Sid was even impressed. We bought 30 yards of nice Suede for our salon, 10 yards of nagahyde (can anybody tell me how to spell this and what is a naga?) and 4 different fun colored rayon fabrics to make some dresses and the total was 190 bucks. The grocery stores are awesome too and make our biggest grocery stores look like mini markets and offer the most incredible gourmet foods. Rattan has 4 isles with just chocolates, most of them Swiss chocolates so I felt right at home. The thinnest T-bone steak I could find was 1 1/2 inches thick and cost each 3 bucks, now it can't get any better than that. The restaurants are wonderful and incredibly cheap. Unfortunately we're told that in Puerto La Cruz everything is a lot more expensive, booze can be almost double the price. So we will load up here. Getting money in Venezuela can be tricky, they want the US dollar but will only exchange 20 to 100 dollar bills, forget the tens and fives. Best ist to exchange the money on the black market as the banks don't give the real value. One also has to be very careful to use credit cards or ATM as there are a lot of scams. On the mainland we will be able to use our personal checks and are the safest way to make payments. This is the place to shop for bottom paint for the boat too as it is a lot cheaper than on the mainland. So we'll be here a couple extra days to do all the shopping. By the way the position report is down for the moment and couldn't be repaired due to Ernesto, so not sure when it will be fixed. If you like to find out where we are go on Google Earth and find our position there, we are at 10'56'94' N and 063'49'69' W.

August 28. Yeah, we're finally in Venezuel

Yeah, we're finally out of the hurricane belt and it feels good. We had the best sail ever, we left Prickly Bay yesterday morning at 9:30 and as soon as were out of the channel we pulled the sails up and turned the engine off. From the get go we had a half to one knot current with us that lasted almost all trip long. Our speed was anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5 and we even saw an 8 on the meter. As we left the lee of the island it was spinnaker perfect and we sailed with full spinnaker all day long and didn't take it down until sunset. The wind calmed down a bit during the night and when the jib started flopping around, Sid attached the whisker pool to it and we averaged 5 to 6 knots all night long. Getting in to the Los Testigos Islands we sailed through a weird current which tossed us around for a couple of hours. Then it was smooth sailing again. In the morning the wind finally died down but we didn't give up yet, pulled the spinnaker up again and waited about 20 minutes and wouldn't you know in no time we were up to 5 plus knots again and sailed all the way into the anchorage in Isla Margarita. You should have seen the starry night, the milky way lit up the sky, we saw lots of shooting stars and the water was sparkling with phosphorescence as well. This was by far the most stars we've ever seen and the best sail ever. Just a perfect passage in and on Paradise and Sid said: "that's why I bought a sail boat for!"
Welsh Rover and Maja left Grenada 3 hours after we did and said they didn't get the wind conditions we had, so they motor sailed all the way. Neos and Lyoness, both catamarans left last night at 6 and they arrived a couple hours after us. So as tired as we are, in a few minutes at 5 we all are going ashore for Happy Hour, cheers!

August 26. Tropical Wave over Grenada

We knew that the tropical wave we've were waiting for was going to be a strong system and prepared accordingly for it. It was a huge system and we knew that we would have bad weather for a couple of days so we also did some provisioning. I think everybody else in the anchorage did the same. Then the report came that the system split in two, just before it arrived in Grenada. One part went south and dissipated and the other went slightly to the north and over the day started strengthening and as soon as it was passed Grenada built into Tropical Depression 5 and later the same day into Tropical Strom Ernesto. As it now was slightly north from us it brought us wind out of the direction we really didn't want to get it, out of the S and SW as our anchorage is not protected from that direction. As the direction of the wind started changing to the SW our boat started swinging towards shore and we finally had 6 feet of water left behind the rudder and had to pull anchor fast not to go aground. A couple hours prior several boats left to find a more protected anchorage and left us plenty room to re-anchor with nobody even remotely around. The flopper-stopper was in position and we were ready for the incoming swells which were now around 3 feet and later grew to 4 with an occasional 5 footer. As Depression 5 was strengthening it kept the wind coming in from the SW and chances of the swells for the night to slow down was slim to none, even though towards the afternoon the wind started to turn back to the E, the swells still came in and as the boats started to swing back to the E the swells hit the boats on the beam. I tell you the flopper-stopper is an incredible tool to have, it breaks the rolling motion of the boat and makes it more comfortable. We had one roller big enough to make some noise down below, so Sid immediately jumped into the dinghy, I lowered the stern anchor down to him, he set it and we were facing again into the swells and had a comfortable night. We had a good night sleep while everybody else in the anchorage was being tossed wildly around in the swells, poor guys. The swell kept coming in the following day as well and still everybody was bobbing around very uncomfortably. Even Welsh Rover which is a 50 footer rolled from ear to ear, Toni finally called Sid to help him set a stern anchor before sunset. After that was set they help Maja do the same as they all started to feel a bit seasick. This morning all was back to normal and every boat was comfortably resting in calm water in this beautiful anchorage as nothing ever happened, except for the very exhausted sailors. While Ernesto is headed for Jamaica still strengthening, we will pull anchor tomorrow, Sunday and finally sail to Isla Margarita in Venezuela. The forecast has 12 to 15 knots of wind out of the E for us, we should have a comfortable sail. It shows how powerful mother nature can be and how fast she can turn against you, we consider ourselves very lucky that it did not strengthen into a stronger system before it came across Grenada.

August 23. Still in Prickley Bay, Grenada

Where does time go, we've been almost one month in Grenada and it's been so relaxing that we simply forgot to update our Blogg and position report, sorry about that. We attempted to leave several times already but every time another tropical wave stops us from doing so. In the mean time Carnival has passed, which we and most other cruisers missed. We had many reason for missing it:

1. The music known as Soca, a dance music which is a mix of Trinidad's calypso and Indian music and rhythms, as is often said, a fusion of soul and calypso, unfortunately with modern age turned into a nerve wracking reggae rap and is blaring on every bus, so that by the time Carnival came around we had enough of it and didn't want to listen to one more tune of it.

2. All the locals we talked to stay away from Carnival as people drink themselves silly, have fights and is not anymore what it used to be. They even told us to actually see the Trinidad Carnival instead, which is a lot better.

3. The parade we really wanted to see involved a group called the Chub Chub which grease themselves down with black motor oil and hug anybody in sight ruining their cloths. Some cruisers went and were actually very disappointed in the parade itself, they even mentioned that it is not what it used to be.

4. and last, we were too relaxed to even think of leaving the boat. There you have it our reasons for not going, besides we'll be coming back to the island again and will have another chance to see it.

We also took a tour around the island and are most impressed. This is yet the prettiest island and is recovering well from hurricanes Emily and Ivan, even though there is still a lot of destruction to see. The west side of the island is steep to and overgrown with a lush jungle. To which a question pops up: What's the difference between a weed and a house plant? Simple! The house plant costs a lot of money as it grows here all wild. Some of the potted little, colorful plants sitting in our living rooms are here giant lush trees. On the west side also is the Nutmeg Farm, which really took a beating with the hurricanes, as they nearly whipped out all the nutmeg farms and they slowly are growing back and it will take at least another 6 years to fully recover. The good thing about that is, they are growing a new type of nutmeg tree they say will withstand hurricanes. The Nutmeg Farm mainly runs for tourism now until it is back to normal. Walking through the farm filled your nostrils with the pleasant aroma of nutmeg and it was interesting to know the history of how it is farmed, dried, packaged and finally shipped around the world. Of course we loaded up on some too, as it is a wonderful spice to use especially for soups.

The north sides vegetation is more on the dry side, but has the most spectacular view to the islands to the north and on a very clear day St. Vincent can be seen. The east side is more populated and has a beautiful charm. The south side where we are is low lying land and is the home of expensive homes and resorts. On our tour around the island we also visited the River Rum distillery, which is the only one left running with a water wheel. It was an interesting tour and of course afterwards we got to try the rum. Then we visited the chocolate factory, which was a bit disappointing as we hoped to see the coco plants and beans and the process of it, well we learned the making of chocolate bars instead and of course bought some too.

Not just are the locals here very friendly but there is a lot to do here and the cruisers organize many fun activities as potlucks with karaoke. As many of you know Sid is not a very good singer and couldn't carry a tune in a wheel barrel and would NEVER step up to a microphone to sing a song. He even told us on our way to the potluck that there is not enough rum on this island to get him up there and sing. WELLLLLL, you have to know that the rum here is a bit more potent than anywhere else. The Grenadians believe that the stronger the rum is the better it is, the rum here is actually so strong that when you take a sip it evaporates immediately in your mouth. So with 79 % = 158 proof rum Sid was one of the first in front of that microphone singing away. We had so much fun and since we're stuck another week due to weather, I think he will sing again. The boys also had a day to themselves and participated in Hash House Harrier. For those who don't know (like me) what that is:

The Hash House Harriers is a more social version of Hare and Hounds, where you join the pack of hounds (runners) to chase down the trail set by the hare or hares (other runners), then gather together for a bit of social activity known as the On In or Down Down with refreshment, humorous camaraderie, song and sometimes a feast. (http://www.gthhh.com/) . He liked it so much he'll participate again this coming Saturday. I've had my fair share of fun as I love to go to the local fresh market shopping for the most tropical fruits and every time I go I find something new. In the mean time I can tell we've been here too long as all the locals at the market know me by my name now and there is always a friendly welcome for me and most of them throw something extra into my shopping bag.

Since we left the Dominican Republic I've been trying to get a banana flower (burgundy tear drop looking flower hanging below the growing bananas) without any success. Finally within 2 days I ended up with 4 banana flowers. The banana flower makes a wonderful salad, so I brought each one who gave me one a sample along with the recipe and added a new food source to their table as they throw the banana flower away.

It's easy to prepare:

BANANA FLOWER SALAD

Slice flower and soak in salt water at least one hour. Drain.

Cover with salt water and boil 5 minutes. Drain and cool.

Mix 1 cup each soy sauce, oil and vinegar with crushed red peppers and garlic. Heat.

Mix flower with 1 chopped onion.

Pour on warm dressing. Stand one hour. Chill and serve with sliced bread or crackers. Holds well in refrigerator

Hopefully we'll catch good weather this weekend so that we can finally head to Venezuela. One more waves is headed out way and may turn into a Tropical Depression but is not expected to build stronger than that until it passes us. In the mean time we'll be relaxing some more and we'll try not to forget to keep you posted on what's going on.

August 11. Chilling in Prickley Bay, Grenada

We're just chilling in Prickley Bay, Grenada and never made it back to the lagoon in St. George as it is know for thievery. Especially at carnival time and this year the boats were even warned by the locals not to be in the lagoon for Carnival. We had left by then already. There are still boats in there that don't take the warning seriously. We all monitor Channel 68 on VHF and leave it on at night for safety. Two nights after we had left the lagoon a distress call came over the radio at 2:15 in the morning. Sudiki had a boarder on board and needed help. Sid called the Coast Guard for them, but by the time they finally arrived at Sudiki the intruder had managed to jump over board and escape. They did take a photo of him though and had his empty lute bag on board. Sudiki was anchored around the corner from the lagoon and still some boats don't take it serious and are still in the lagoon.
We still had our propane tanks at the Grenada Yacht Club and mail waiting for us as well and decided to take the bus to pick it all up. I tell you taking the buses here is a hoot and worth experiencing. The buses all are mini vans and I believe they work on commission as they honk at any person walking and fill the bus to the rim. It can get pretty cozy and tight in them and sweaty as they don't have AC, sardines in a can comes to my mind. Each bus has loud local music blaring which is controlled by remote, depending on the phone calls the drivers receive. The ride costs 2 $EC(75 US cents) no matter where you go and for an extra $EC 5 they will drop you off in front of your house, so we got to see some neighborhoods we would have never seen otherwise. The buses now and then come to a screeching halt, put the transmission in reverse and race a couple hundred yards backward to pick somebody up and that on a road with frequent traffic, an adventure I tell you. When you need a bus and one honks at you, even if driving the opposite direction, get on it, eventually you will end up at your destination. Everything and everybody here is on island time, so don't expect to get service at the counter right away, they will get with you when they are food and ready. That is GMT = Grenada Maybe Time.
Carnival has started this week and the biggest event is this coming weekend with parade on Monday and Tuesday. After talking to all the locals, especially the bus drivers, we're not sure we want to get even close to it as they stay away from it themselves. Crime rate is up, too many drunks and fights and we cruisers are sticking out like a sore thumb and are therefore targets. One Soca group everybody tries to avoid is covered with black motor oil grease and hug anybody in sight and will ruin your cloths, no thank you. So far what we heard of the local music, which is blaring in every bus, it's not what we would listen too, type Raggea rapp, so I think we'll just stay in our quite little anchorage, put some Jimmy Buffet on, grill some yummy ribs and relax.
It's been really wonderful to chill for a change, instead of having to keep an eye on the weather and beating into it. Although we still are not in the clear as we still are in a hurricane area. Yesterday for instants a tropical wave appeared from nowhere. Martinique got hit by tropical storm winds, we had a big squall with 30 knots and hurricane season ist just starting. Welsh Rove is still in Martinique but are leaving for Grenada tomorrow. We'll be waiting for them but are leaving with next good weather window to Venezuela.
In the mean time we keep enjoying ourself with our daily noodeling cool offs in the water in the afternoon, toasting sunsets with a cocktail and oh yeah, tonight watching the meteor shower.
Our toes are mending just fine and for those who don't know what happened: Poor Sid broke his left middle toe the other day and I felt such sympathy and love for him I broke the same toe three days later. Now I know why they say love hurts.

August 4. Prickley Bay, Grenada

We're are having such a relaxing time, we even forgot to place our new position report. We spent 3 days in the lagoon in St. George and mainly relaxed. We have use of the showers at the Yacht Club Marina for not even 50 cents a person and the drinks at the bar are not bad wither and the view over the lagoon, which by the way is an underwater crater, is magical. The laundry is another thing, a washer load costs EC$ 8(US$ 3) and dryer costs 12 EC$ ($US 4.50). I had 4 loads of washer and 3 dryer and paid over 25 bucks and had to do my own laundry, ouch that is expensive.
The town itself is very charming and the shopping is fun if you go down town to the vegetable market, I found all kind of exotic stuff and even came home with some cashew fruits, we learned of in El Salvador. The fragrances of nutmeg, saffron, turmeric, vanilla, mace, paprika, curry and others are wide spread in town. I went through four grocery stores and wasn't all too happy on what I found, especially in the meat department, all is frozen, nothing fresh and meats are cut into unrecognizable pieces, so it looks like we'll be living of chicken legs, which by the way are almost the size of turkey legs, and baby back ribs, those are really good, had them twice already. Vegetables are scares too and not all too fresh. We have to get used to the local currency as the change rate is 2.67 to 1 $US, so a calculator come in handy. Yesterday I took the bus over to Grand Ans and checked out the Food Fair but not much better, but the Spice Market is a far better store and actually has some fresh beef to a very high price so it's going to be chicken and ribs. As I was back at the dock I called Sid on VHF to pick me up and somebody else answered and wanted to know if that was the Paradise with Sid and Manuela on it. Ed and Linda on Dreamtime were two years ago in the Ortega Yacht Club Marina with us. So since there was a potluck on Friday at Hog Island which is just a bay before Prickley were they staid we sailed around and stopped to see them. So nice to finally run into cruisers we know. We never made it to Hog Island for the potluck, I wasn't feeling well all day long and so we just relaxed where we were. Saturday we'll head back to the lagoon in St. George. Carnival is just around the corner, which we decided to stay, so we're going to head back to the Lagoon before everybody else does. Something I keep forgetting to mention is that we're amazed about how cool and pleasant the evenings and nights here in the Caribbean are. If the weather holds up we'll we be able to be here for Carnival. There is a low building across the Atlantic, which could be our next hurricane, so we'll keep a close eye on it and if it decides to grow into a storm, we'll leave with or without Carnival and sail straight to Venezuela.

July 31. St. George, Grenada

We had a great time in Grand Ans D'Arlet and really enjoyed the most spectacular view. Although it rained every 20 or so minutes it still was a very pretty place. We also had the most incredible snorkel around the corner. The water was so clear we could see at least 60 feet and the whole underwater scene reminded us of a nursery with flower pots every where, as soon as you got to the flour pot it turned into a sponge. Sponges are an abundance here but we saw lots of other beautiful creatures as well. An eel, sea snake, sculpin, weird tube like worm about 12 inches long and see-through, cuttlefish, trumpet fish changing color according to background, a white albino sole and lots and lots of just perfect lobsters, although in traps. In my last report I mentioned a weird weather system showed up. Chris Parker told us that if it should turn into a storm that he would come up on the radio at 7 am and 7 pm on Sunday, which is usually his day off. He didn't come up in the morning, so we pulled anchor and left for Baquia, 90 miles further south. He did come up though in the evening and told us that there was a potential for the system to turn into a tropical depression and it would hit St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Martinique. Did we feel lucky we left and decided to continue as far as we could get, Grenada, 156 miles. We finally had a chance to sail, 15 to 20 knots of wind on the beam and 5 to 8 foot seas. It was like a dream come true, WE WERE SAILING!!! We sailed between 5.5 and 7 knots and had to slow the boat down for comfort. We took full advantage of the lee of all the islands which made the seas calmer, the wind a little different but better traveling, but we did have to turn the engine on to get us through the lee. We sailed pretty much the whole time between the islands and use the motor about 1/3 of the time in the lees. Every time we left an island we had an adverse current for about and 1 1/2 hrs. West of Baquia we had the worst of the currents for about one hour, but as soon as we got into the lee of the next island all the swell dropped to about 4 to 5 feet and less. In all we had from 1/2 knot to 1 knot of current with us most of the way. We had a wonderful trip and are glad we left. Glad we're here and feel a bit saver knowing to be further south and out of hurricanes harm, well almost, if it wasn't for the last two years.

July 28. Grand Ans D'Arlet

Heavy rain woke us up as a squall with up to 29 knots of wind blasted us. We had one squall after another and were not sure yet if we were able to leave. Sid managed to wave his white flag to the ferry driver and wouldn't you know from then on he came in three boat lengths from us instead of just a half one and a lot slower. The weather wasn't so good, but the window for Sunday stands still open. There is a weird system out there, which they can't explain, but at least we know that if it should turn into something, it's going to happen north of us. After at least 6 squalls we finally lifted anchor and sailed, I said SAILED the 5 miles to Grand Ans D'Arlet. Wow what a rare thing to actually pull the jib out and sail 5 knots with jib only, can't remember when we did that last time. We made it just on time to our new anchorage, the anchor set, Sid had enough time to get back into the cockpit and a heavy downpour of rain swept over us again. This anchorage is really beautiful with water as clear as in a swimming pool. Later in the afternoon we cleaned the bottom of the boat and also looked at the anchor how it was set and we saw the weirdest creatures, fish with wings, lots of them. They were hanging around the chain amongst dozens of baby sole. If the flying fish have their wings closed they somewhat resemble a huge fat grasshopper and change the appearance completely when opening the wings which are now surrounded by a glowing bleu color. As we cleaned the bottom of the boat I also noticed little tiny shrimp eating off the hull, they could have not been bigger than one millimeter. Here we are again in another beautiful tropical anchorage enjoying the view and waiting for the next weather window.

PS: found frozen blue crab in the store, already cleaned, 17 crab for under 10 bucks from Cuba! This is going to be a yummy dinner tonight.

July 27. Rum Tasting

OK, here it is the rum tasting result. The first day we played tourists in L'Ans Mitan, we hit a couple of restaurants had the best Pizza in a long time, the very thin crust you can only get in Italy and of course Sid ordered each time a different local rum. The first impression was not very good as the rum was probably the worst we've ever tasted. It's so strong you can instantly pickle your liver. The result was the same with each rum he tasted, they didn't even have a rum flavor, just pure alcohol. So when we rented a car to drive around the island we stopped at 3 distilleries, which was really interesting to see how rum is produced. We of course didn't taste the cheapo rum but went straight for the aged rums, which nobody seems to carry in the restaurant. We did end up finding 3 very good bottles of rum, each aged for 10 years, the oldest rum we could find anywhere and of course paid a price, but it was worth buying them. We even broke down and bought snifters, which probably will break the first time of use. We had a wonderful time driving around the island, which is 75 miles long and 30 miles wide. Rich in rivers and springs, the island is covered by contrasting vegetation and was know as "Madinina", the flowery island. The southern part is a large plain with close to sea-level hills, that mangrove swamp lines in the east and the west many coves, capes and bays. The beaches lined with white sand, coconut palm and turquoise blue sea and lots of islands. The road then took us along the eastern or windward side of the island, with tall mountains which gradually decline to the beaches all overgrown with banana plantations. The coast was more rugged and waves crashing onto the shore. At one view point we pulled out we witnessed rip currents heading out to sea, very interesting. Most of the windward side is surrounded by churning reefs. In the north are the highest peaks of Mont Pelee, Macouba hills, the Lacroix peak and the Carbet peaks. Here is the territory of the big, humid, luxuriant and virgin in places tropical forest, wherein rivers, waterfalls and cliffs are mixed. We drove up to the top of Mont Pelee to view the crater. We were just amazed when we drove up that lush mountain with no sign of any lava streams or volcanic rocks, nothing hinted to a volcano which exploded just 100 years ago, killing a whole village of 30 000 people. Since it is overgrown with a lush rain forest it builds its own weather and the top was totally fogged in, we couldn't even see a crater if there was one. Well, there is but is also overgrown with lush tropical vegetation. Driving down the steep Mont Pelee took us by the Depaz distillery, which is built right on the foot of the volcano and includes a most beautiful castle overlooking the Caribbean waters and the northern islands. Which by the way was re-built by the soul survivor of the Mount Pelee disaster, the only survivor of the Depaz family. We stopped in St. Pierre and had a wonderful Creole lunch. The sand on the northern beaches is mainly black as a result of the volcano. The Leeward side is very steep and not as soft looking as the Windward side. We had a great time exploring the island and planed was to leave the island for Baquia the following day. With a predicted 20 knots of wind and 7 to 8 foot seas, we decided it was not a good enough weather window for us and remained in the anchorage. Good thing too as the weather was worse and we would have had the ride from hell. Although we have the anchorage from hell at times. There is a ferry dock ashore and every 20 minutes one or two will drive by. Yellow buoys divide the ferry channel with the anchorage. We are anchored at least 100 yards away from the yellow buoy. I don't know what it is but they sure are picking on us, maybe because we are the only boat flying the American flag in the anchorage. There are two ferry drivers that every time they come in, they don't use the channel but instead drive right through the anchorage and about 1/2 boat length next to us leaving us a 4 foot wake, which will toss everything on the floor if it wasn't secured. One time the two came in at the same time and sandwiched us, which by the way was very dangerous, one on either side a boat lengths away with now the double wake for us and there is nothing we can do, other than give up and leave. Tried to do that but the fuel dock was closed on Tuesday, no fuel and no checking out, so we were stuck. We've dealt with the ferries for the many days now but yesterday for some reason every single ferry slowed down before coming in the channel and non ever came through the anchorage. We have no idea what happened we assume somebody complained. Today a different story again as they come blasting by. Sid made a white flag out of a rag and a pool and the next one blasting by he'll be standing on deck flying it, wonder if they get the hint. We wanted to leave today but weather is not allowing it yet, so hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to head the 4 miles around he corner to Grande Anse D'Arlet, where there are no ferries we hope. Another two waves have come by and one more is underway, hopefully right after this one we'll have a chance to head further south. Last night we had the most spectacular lightning show with cloud lightning, at times the lightning looked like it came out of the mountain peak like firework shooting up into the sky, really neat.

July 21. Anse Mitan, Martinique

We left the marina as planned and when we started motor sailing along the lee of St. Kitts instead of calm seas we encountered a swell against us making us do the Caribbean two step all over again, two forward one back. Knowing that the wind would die down later on the day and even change direction from 110 to 90 we went the 2 miles to Ballast Bay and anchored. We enjoyed lunch, awed at the beautiful scenery and Sid watched two Barracudas swim under the boat. One was really huge and then we heard this splash and saw the back of the big barracuda cutting through the water like a rocket and the little one chasing behind him. He would get back under the boat, but a few minutes later again would make a wild dash away from the boat with the little guy in hot pursuit. That's when we noticed again that his whole back was out of the water, he was not doing well and the little one knew that and saw dinner. We decided that this was not a good idea to go swimming at this time. It was quite interesting to watch the ordeal. After relaxing till the afternoon we noticed the seas had settled as per the prediction so pulled the anchor and continued our adventure south. This time motor sailing along the lee shore was calm but as soon as we came to the end of the island the water turned into a washing machine (they call it a katarac sea, it's current against swell and wind = nasty, nasty). This lasted about 2 miles and not just that I noticed some fishing buoys and when we checked on the chart on the depths we noticed that we were on a shelf. Since we didn't want to run over a trap again, we immediately changed direction due west, pulled all our sails out, turned the engine off and sailed a couple of miles and off the shelf into deep water where its normally too deep to place traps. From there it was smooth sailing for a long while. Wind was 12 to 15 Knots and swells 4 to occasional 5 feet, a pleasant motor sail. We past the island of Nevis which was definitely prettier than St. Kitts and a bit more tropical looking. The next island was Montserrat, where the Soufriere Hills Volcano is very, very active at this point. He first erupted in 1995, destroying the capital Plymouth. Two years ago scientists expected that the volcano would quiet down. However, the volcano just won't go away. Last May another major eruption showed that the mountain is still very alive and unsafe. There is both land and a maritime exclusion zone and extends 2 miles from shore around the southern half of the island. In times of bad eruptions and dome collapses the flow of hot ash has been seen to travel in a volcanic cloud at least a mile and half out to sea. The hot ash could burn wholes into sails making them look like Swiss cheese. The best to avoid the effect of the volcano is to sail around the east side of the island. By that time the wind and sea conditioned had worsened a bit and in order to sail around Montserrat due east would have been a long 8 to 10 hour pounding, Caribbean two step trip as we would have to sail into the weather. Too long of a trip to be miserable and decided to take the chance and sail around Montserrat on the western side. Our thought for taking this chance was, if it was our time to check out yet, might as well go out with a big glow, but if time was not yet here Montserrat will behave and he did, although he did let us know that he was there by the punched odor of sulfur and the gritty feel of dust and we were 7 miles west of the island. We were not alone, three other boats were out here taking the chance. There were several more islands (Guadaloupe, The Saintes and Dominica)we sailed by and every time just before we got into the lee of the island we could feel the Katarac effect again for a couple of miles. Sloppy but doable. All in all it was pretty comfy and the boat wanted to sail with 6 knots badly but every time she did that we had buckets of water spray over the boat, half way up the sails, into the cockpit and over the dodger and bimini and of course all over us, so we had to slow down and slow down again by a half knot and you wouldn't believe the difference in comfort by just a half knot of speed. Since we departed from Ballast Bay a bit later our estimated arrival time in St. Lucia would have been around 5 pm. Not just that the next tropical wave was underway and we did not want to get into it, so we decided to make it as far as Martinique. We arrived at the north end just around midnight and since St. Pierre is a very easy anchorage to arrive in the middle of the night we parked the boat there, got a deserved 3 hour sleep, alarm was set for 6.30 and after we indulged in Sid's super morning coffee we headed the rest to Port de France. Saint Pierre was worth the stop and is definitely on our plan next season when heading up into the Caribbean islands to explore, it was the most breathtaking view to see the French looking houses along the beach, with lush hills in the background and in the near distance the towering Mont Pelee Volcano, which erupted and destroyed the whole village including all inhabitants in 1902. Many ruins still remain. Post-disaster buildings have been built onto old structures, so many new buildings share at least one wall with the past. Just outside of the anchorage a school of juvenile dolphins surrounded Paradise. They were a happy bunch as they fully jumped out of the water, while some waved their tails, while others played tag with the bow. At one point 15 dolphins surfaced next to each other in front of the boat, looked almost like a ballet, it was beautiful.
In Chris Doyle's boating guide of the Wayward Islands he wrote that the customs office in Port the France closes at 12.30, he also wrote that the chandlery in town will check boats out and may be able to check them in in the near future. I jumped ship right away to catch the fairy across into town to check in before they close the office, but headed first to the chandlery. Indeed can we check in there now as the customs office moved some 10 miles out of town. Not just that boaters can check in and out at the Internet Cafe and in Pointe du Bount, where we are. It was easy, just had to fill out a form with our info and there was no fees attached either. Then of course I went exploring the city. I found a great supermarket right around the corner from the chandlery and thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The store is filled with European goodies I haven't seen in years and the wine prices are the best I've ever seen anywhere. You can buy good French wines from E$ 2.80 and up. Rum is pretty cheep too and they had a better goat cheese variety than we have in Switzerland and sausages and salamis, just the best of the best. I will have such a great time to provision here. We also found out that there are a lot of rum distilleries on the island and since we're going to be stuck in yet another tropical wave, actually two, we're going to rent a car and go rum tasting, sound fun doesn't it.
On another note, we think that Tika is thinking about shooting us soon. It's not been easy on her at all with all the pounding into the weather ever since we left the Dominican Republic. One of the main problems for her is not being able to use her litter box in the bathroom. We found pee on the floor next to the box, then one time she peed on the bed. Along Vieques, I guess she had to go really bad, she walked right by us, hopped up on deck, placed herself in front of the dodger where she was in full view of us. We wondered why the heck she would go up there in this chop until she hunched down and rolled a couple of fresh turds down the icing glass. That gave us a clue how difficult it really was for her. From then on we had an extra litter box in the cockpit, which she started using too, with our help holding on to the pan. On our trip here, she stepped into the litter box and was balanced a bit oddly on the rim, we couldn't get to her on time and the box tipped over and interrupted her business. But only for just a couple of seconds as she threw us a dirty look and then pooped right in the middle of the companion way. We had to tell her too what a good kitty she was, poor little thing. Sid just told me to add that Manuela tried to catch each single turd as it came out. Tika might have been embarrassed but she sure had a smile on her face.
Oh by the way Welsh Rover arrived in St. Kitts and is weathering the next few tropical waves there.

July 18. Basseterre, Saint Kitts, Leeward Islands

We are definitely not marina people but we really enjoyed our stay at the Moorings and have to admit that we would stay at any Moorings Marina again. It's like checking into a hotel, actually easier, they didn't even want a credit card info when we checked in. There is 24 hour staff on hand and whenever we placed a bag of garbage on the dock, a minute later the staff took it. On the weekend the dock were swamped with people, some leaving, new ones coming and the working crew getting boats ready for the newcomers. We met some nice people and all squeezed everything out of us about cruising, of course we love to talk about our life. One group was 8 American Airline pilots, chartering a catamaran, the other 16 neighbors from Atlanta, GA chartering two cats (I would move into their neighborhood, they were like a big family). We were busy talking that's for sure and just had a blast.
When Chris told us that we had a two day weather window we jumped right on it, provisioned, checked out and couldn't head faster out of there. Unfortunately Welsh Rover decided it was not time yet to leave and we parted. We had such a great time with them over the last two months but the good side is, they are heading south too and so our paths will cross again, the latest in Venezuela. We sure will miss them. We left Sunday at 11 am, the wind was blowing 12 knots and increased to 15. We did have to tack our way across the Sir Francis Bay to Round Rock where we finally headed into the open sea. We were really anxious to see what awaited us out there. We had a fairly strong current out the cut but then it was easy motor sailing. The seas were 5 to 6 feet and the wind blew mostly 12 to 15 knots, a comfortable ride. Later on at night the wind increased a few times to 18 but that was about it. Our plan was to sail the 80 miles to St. Martin, but the wind and waves came out of that direction and we had such a good motor sail SE that we decided to head for Guadalupe instead. The trip was a piece of cake, although a pound cake that is, as the night crawled along it got a bit bumpier but still comfortable enough. Considering what we've endured the last months this was just a walk in the park. We actually had to slow down as we started to jump the waves and came crashing down a couple of times, slowing the boat down a half knot made the difference. And of course a crossing is not perfect unless something or two things break. We had two glitches, the Autopilot refused to work again, so we had to manually steer the boat the entire 126 miles to Basseterre, Saint Kitts. Then the wind gen. came loose from the base and started swinging around madly, Sid grabbed it and the solar panel bracket that also came loose woke me up out of a dead sleep, plus some &(%#@! words out of Sid. I grabbed the wheel as Sid was fighting the darn thing for 45 minutes before it was securely tied down again, while the seas were at it's worst. Luckily Sid caught it before it destroyed itself and the solar panels. Poor Sid was sore the next day and had know clue why, until I brought up the fact that he was wrestling a wind gen. during high seas. Due to that we decided to head for St. Kitts instead for repairs. Good thing too, because the two day window we had closed after a day. And wouldn't you know right after the gen. was tide down again, the sea got calmer again too. As daylight approached the water got a bit more churned up again but it still was very tolerable. As a matter of fact whenever the seas got churned up Sid would check on the depth finder to find some sea shelf that disturbed the surface. By sunrise we closed in on Isla Saba and were just flabbergasted by the humongous rock formation of an island. The huge island shoots out of the ocean with steep walls, a huge mountain in the deep blue water with no beaches anywhere, just a rugged coastline around the island. On the SW side is something like an anchorage but I bet the water stays deep until it hits the rocky shore, as all the boats were sitting on a mooring. Then there was this steep, steep road heading 3/4 up the mountain and all the way up there are villages to see. House were built way up the mountain and right next to the most horrifying cliffs, with probably the most spectacular view over the other islands. It's a very bizarre looking island, but pretty neat at the same time. Two islands further south was Saint Kitts, what a beautiful island to approach.
You have no idea how good we feel to finally be in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, from here on the weather will be easier to travel than what we had to deal with so far. The tropical wave that is underway now, has the potential to build into something stronger, which is good and bad, the good thing is, it will give us a bigger weather window to head further south. We were some 25 hours underway and of course as tired as we were we had to check in with the authorities first. Then it was relaxing time and that we did. Our plan to sail another 10 miles to a very pretty anchorage but Sid noticed the cap to our water tank on deck was open, he forgot to close it when we left. Result, our drinking water was all salty. Since he still had to fix the wind gen. and autopilot we decided to head into the marina here where it is calm to do the repairs. It's not the most modern marina, but water was included and we paid only 50 cents a foot. Sid fixed the gen. and the autopilot and we filled up with fresh water which is just as good as the water maker as a result of daily rain here in the mountains. This morning we also found out that the weather is going to cooperate and we can leave sooner than we thought so we checked out today and will leave early tomorrow and have plotted a 225 mile sail to Saint Lucia, hope the weather window will stay open for the 48 hours it takes to get there. If not we can stop at any other island before that. Keep your fingers crossed.
Probome checking in!!!!

July 13. Road Harbor, Tortola BVI

It shows again how small the world is, on our last day in Coral Bay a family showed up on the beach and a bit later swam out to us. We talked for a few minutes when we found out that they were out of San Diego. As we told them that we were out of Marina del Rey, she said that her father is a life guard in LA, since 50 years already. "No way, what's his name?" was Sid's reply and sure enough Sid knows her dad. Here is a photo of the family of Dick Ellerson swimming by our boat. Hope to hear from them when they get back from their vacation.

Can you all believe we moved a whole 12 miles further east because a tropical wave was headed our way (what's new), that was trying to become a low pressure system and since we were so close to a well protected marina we decided to take advantage of it and be safe. It should have been a very short and easy trip to Road Harbor as the Francis Passage we sailed across is surrounded by small islands and protected from the Atlantic swell, kind of being on a lake. But with the blow of 18 to 28 knots of wind we endured it turned this usually calm stretch into a churned up wild ride with white caps all around. In the middle of the stretch is a counter current and oh boy, did it get uncomfortable there. The bow dug into the waves, water sprayed over the dodger into the cockpit and the boat slowed down to 2.3 knots.
Customs in the BVI are very strict and you have to check in right away and only in Road Harbor if you have pets on board, which both of us have. You are not allowed to enter a marina before checking in either and have to anchor in a horrible anchorage, the only one here which is right in front of the customs building. The anchorage was full of mooring buoys all occupied with boats, surrounded by yellow cones stating no anchoring here leaving us barley any room. Right next to us was the busy ferry dock and we were right on the edge of the fairway and got the wake of each boat that came by. Check in was short and sweet, then we headed to the Mooring Marina to weather out another approaching wave. The weather has just been unbelievable, a lot of boats are still stuck between the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and here, just as we are. The positive side is, if it wasn't for the weather we would have not seen much of the Virgin Islands which are really too beautiful to miss. Almost forgot to mention, while in St. John no matter where we went people kept greeting Sid, some took photos of him, some gave him hugs, most wanted to shake his hand and we still want to know who they think he is. We'll see if the reaction is the same here.

July 10. Still stuck and playing the waiting game

We're still stuck and playing the waiting game. Even according to Chris Parker this has been a very unusual year for this kind of weather. He has never seen such strong trade winds to last as long as this year. They usually are also five days apart from each other, not this year as we get one every 3 days not giving a chance for the sea and wind to settle and leaving us stranded instead. Unless we want to stick our necks out into "Small Craft Warnings". So we played tourists once more and rented a car for three days. Three days of driving didn't even put a dent into the tank as the island is even smaller as St. Thomas and also a lot more pristine with breathtaking views. The driving is also more exciting as the roads literally turn into a roller coaster ride. The roads are very narrow, of course they seem a lot more narrow when driving on the left side and go over every steep hill there is. As the car slowly grinds it's way up, up, up and up and come to the top all you see is blue sky, until the car drives over the hump and goes down, down, down and believe me it gives you the willies when you look down that steep narrow road. Some are as steep as 60 degrees and wayyyyyy down the hill the road disappears, I mean gone as in no more road until you just get to the end and you realize it sharply turns to either left of right and up, up, up you go again. I you sit in the back seat all you see is asphalt on the downhill run as it is so steep that the roof of the car is blocking your view. It was quite exciting and made for a few screams from the girls in the back seat, more so the first day as we slowly got used to it by the third day. At every curve there is a sign saying "Stay Left", even though the curve turns right, but it will keep you alive driving in the left lane. Some occasional wild goats and donkeys help the excitement as they like sharing the road. It was quite an adventure and we really enjoyed the magnificent views of all four sides with all the little islands of the Virgin's in the background no matter where we looked, especially the view over the BVI. The beaches we followed around the island are just as you dream them to be. We also had the change to watch Italy win in the soccer finals.
Last night we had another strong wave blasting us with heavy winds and lots of rain and another one is already on it's way leaving us little time to move, not enough to head to the Leeward Islands yet. Tomorrow we'll sail to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands and from there to Virgin Gorda, where we hope to finally catch a ride south towards St. Martin and finally our destination Venezuela, before the tropical waves decide to turn for the worse.

July 7. Invisible husbands ................ found

As we are waiting for another two tropical waves to pass, the guys decided that we girls deserve to have lunch ashore and took us 2 miles across the bay to "Skinny Legs" in Coral Harbor, a favorite hang out. We're in the land of the 10 dollar burger but we all admitted it was one of the better ones we've eaten. After lunch came the shopping as there are 5 little tourist stores attached to the restaurant. So Stacey and Manuela went shopping, and after 5 minutes we came back to see the guys, but they were not at the table anymore, "oh well, we'll just go into the next store". A few minutes later, we returned to the restaurant, but no Sid, Toni or Sailor the dog. So off into another store. After this one, we checked again, but still no Sid, Toni or Sailor. So we walked down to the dinghy dock to see if they were there but again no Sid, Toni or Sailor. We were done shopping and so we decided to have a drink at the bar while waiting for the boys to return. We sat on two tall bar stools by the guard rail next to the steps that lead from the open patio down to the horse shoe pit and sat there for at least thirty minutes waiting for our husbands. Still no Sid, Toni, nor sailor. We came to the conclusion that the boys went to get gas for the dinghy and not wanting to order another drink, we decided to walk towards them. The question now was, which path to take, the one leading along the water or the road. Since the one along the water was not paved we figured they would have to come back via road, to be able to pull the cart with heavy gas jug. So we walked in the heat and humidity and were sure that we probably would miss them as thy walked the other path. Of course we asked everybody who passed us if they had seen two guys, a dog pulling a cart with a red gas jug. Nope, nobody had seen our boys. Neither did the kid working at the gas station. From there we spotted a little Mini Market and since we came this far we decided to get some groceries before turning back, this time on the small path, again hoping to run into the boys. Nope, still no boys. Back at the restaurant again, Stacey walked down to the dinghy dock, I went back into the restaurant and checked out every table twice, and even walked over to the bar and looked at every customer twice, but no Sid, Toni or Sailor. Stacey came back and we're wondering where they could have gone. We didn't want to drink another drink, so Stacey saw a video store across the street and headed over there. While she went browsing in the store I stood guard on the terrace which was overlooking the restaurant, all 5 little stores, the dinghy dock and half a mile of the road, but still no sign of Sid, Toni and Sailor. Where could they be? It's been almost 2 hours since we've been looking for them and they couldn't just disappear. By now our feet were smoking and we were soaked from the humidity. Once more we go into the restaurant and this time I told Stacey to help me look. No Sid, Toni or Sailor as we walked from table to table and bar, then we approached the stairs, where we sat earlier, the one leading to the horse shoe pit and I discovered a table hidden right under the porch and who was sitting there? Sid, Toni and Sailor and had been sitting there all this time. They never believed us that we were done shopping after 10 minutes and had been looking for them for the last two hours. What happened was as we were in the first store, they were told that they had to leave the table as dogs are not allowed in the restaurant and so they moved downstairs, not telling us. But they enjoyed the all too many rum punches they HAD to drink while we girls shopped for the last 2 hours. Oh,yeah, they even saw us go by (our third store) and never let us know they were there. Obviously the rum punches made them invisible, while we were forced to shop!!!

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

July 1. Immer noch in St. John

A strong tropical wave over the last couple of days has finally past and this morning we were anxiously waiting to listen to Chris Parker's weather prediction. And he confirmed our fear. It's a no go again as heavy and gusty winds are sweeping through our area, which is caused by a high pressure and low pressure system working against each other. Therefore the sea state has no chance to settle and knowing we have to plow right into the weather would be a very miserable trip. So the question is, do we want to get beat up across the Anegada Passage and Saba Banks, which is roughly a 24 hours trip, or do we just sit tight in our protected anchorage and wait out the next tropical wave. Tomorrow the weather should be OK for just one day, but not enough for us to do the crossing to St. Kitts, so we have two other options to sail to either Tortola, the British Virgin Islands, which is just around the corner or head to St. Croix which would give us a bad angle again to head towards the Leeward islands. Last night as we had pizza and movie night on Welsh Rover we were discussing the Thorny Passage and if we would do it again. We all simultaneously came to the conclusion that we would NEVER sail this stretch again, it's just too rough and unenjoyable, not to mention the wear and tear on boat and crew. We are meeting with Welsh Rover in an hour to make new war plans, lets see what we will come up with. To be continued........