This morning we were sitting in Hawksnest Bay, (St. John, USVI), sipping our coffee and watching the sun rise. The conversation went something like this:

"Dave, honey, you hungry?" to which he quickly replied, "I'm starving!"
"What you feeling for? I asked, to which he queried "What do we have?"

"Umm, let's see. You could have cereal. Banana Pancakes. Eggs and Sausages. Or Everything Bagels with cream cheese" I listed off with my fingers...

He thought for a moment and decidedly replied.
"Eggs and sausages please. AND I'll have Bagels and Cream Cheese."

"I think that was an OR question, not an AND series of dishes, honey" I laughed, but totally agreed with his choices. The rumblings of our tummies confirmed that with the combined activities of the last few days, we were decidedly starving. So just what have we been up to the last few days that has us starving??

We last left you in Sint Maarten with WaterMaker issues almost resolved. We visited Dougie in his ElecTec workshop, and he was busy with the removing/installing of the membrane. This was the old one,



a better close up,



of the dirty, dark, ICKY, 9 year old one ! This is what a new one should look like. What a difference n'est ce pas??



We also upgraded from an MPC 3000 to an MPC 5000,



that would give us a few added features, namely the display detailing numerical information instead of bar-graph blocks that have you trying to decipher how many units each block represented.



Reconnected and tested in Lagoon Waters, we found it to be performing decently well,



and we then headed out into Simpson Bay waters where we gave her one more test (in clearer, cleaner, and very ROLLY waters) to see if readings would continue.

With each time we've run her since then, we're happy to note the numbers are improving, especially in GPH product result. Doing some simple math, we've determined that we need to calibrate the system as she's tangibly producing more gallons than what it's showing us.

So, given we were making water, given the winds forecasted for that day, and the complete lack of wind predicted for the next week or so, we literally speedy-gonzalesed our last few errands, in an effort to catch the winds before they died.

We had a bit of a time trying to settle our bill with ElecTec that had almost doubled its prices ("it's the markup" said the Admin Lady), from what Dougie had quoted us, and we were stuck with two delivery charges. Although we were pleased in general with ElecTec and especially with Dougie, we can report that the communication process was lacking just a touch, with the customer service a bit of a jumbled mess of a "not me attitude". However, by the time all was said and done, we did walk away with a bit of a lower price that was closer to what we had originally calculated.

While I got ourselves ready for an overnight passage, Dave checked us out of Sint Maarten, and at precisely 17:30 we weighed anchor and pointed our bow out to face roughly 90 nautical miles to the Virgins.

Several cruise ships left us in their wake.



Facing the big blue ocean ahead, I found myself a bit nervous as the last few passages had us experiencing an adventure each and every time, which, truth be told, seems to have increased my anxiety and stress levels. And had me strangely enough losing confidence in my abilities instead of augmenting them. I was really looking forward to having a "good/fun sail" so I could feel better about sailing instead of raising a cringed eyebrow every time we talked about going somewhere .

The overnight passage was thankfully quiet and quite uneventful. The stars were out along with a sliver of a moon that shone brightly on the dark waters. There was only minor incident where an approaching squall had our speed ramp up considerably just in time for the jib sheet to somehow come unfurled, and the noise alerted us into instant reactive response. A few seconds later, we were back on track, the squall had passed, and we were once again sailing along.

We reached Great Harbour (Peter Island) and had our anchor down by 09:30 a.m. with Distant Shores II anchored right astern of us, just like OLD times,



as this was the very spot we first met The Shard's a little under a year ago and have since spent many great times adventuring together.

We were zombies though, having been awake all night and fell asleep instantly without even bothering with breakfast. Woke up to see nothing had changed,



and fell back asleep again, without lunch. Woke up and went swimming where we marvelled at the beautiful blue waters, and then it was time to enjoy a lovely evening getting caught up with Paul and Sheryl, deliver a part for them, and realizing over dinner that we were also celebrating our almost one year anniversary !! Regretfully we had to say our goodbye's first thing next morning, and make our way across to St John, our intended playground for the next couple of weeks. Given we'd been delayed in Sint Maarten by the WaterMaker issues, which resulted in our missing the Dark'N'Stormy Fungatta (double-darn!), we now had some lost time to make up!

Arriving and anchoring in Cruz Bay just after lunch-time (not an easy place to do so, given the lack of room and very shallow waters), we cleared into the good ole U.S. of A., had a delicious lunch of the best ribs EVER (we shared a plate!),



Dave bought the T-shirt, and we promptly headed back to Banyan, pointed her around the corner, and picked up a mooring ball right beside friends Doug and Wendy (Nahanni River).

Just to change and challenge life up a bit, Dave and I decided to change jobs. I took the helm and drove Banyan to the mooring ball, and it was Dave's challenge to pick up the mooring and bridle us on. Always a good idea to change things up and not get set in routines.

The first order of business the next morning was to bake up some pizza rolls,



while Dave busied himself with inflating would you believe for the first time since Grenada, our Walker Bay Airis Sports Kayaks.

We had given ourselves a year of travelling before purchasing any toys for Banyan, and Dave had spent a good deal of time researching what would work best for us. We've only had a chance to trial them twice so far, and given our lifestyle and intended use, we LOVE them. The WalkerBay Airis Sport Kayaks are light (19 lbs), compact and easy to store in our aft cabin when we're not using them. They were quick and easy to inflate, and the end result is a very rigid and sturdy kayak.



We packed the bag of goodies in the kayak bungees, the snorkel gear on Dave's kayak,



and along with Doug and Wendy, headed out for an afternoon of fun in the sun.



We kayaked around finally stopping in Trunk Bay, one of the most beautiful and scenic areas around here,



where we beached ourselves and our kayaks, enjoyed our pizza rolls and a beer or two, snorkelled the UnderWater park, and then kayaked back.



I'm really not sure what the guys were looking at, but one thing we can tell you, is that the water was as gin clear as the Bahamas. We could see the ripples of sand straight to the bottom. Beyond beautiful.



Along the way somehow it was decided that it would be a good idea, to know how to get back on the kayak, if one were to say, fall off the kayak... And so I tried,



again and again. There is nothing graceful or delicate about trying to do this, but the third time was the charm. Having figured out the process, I did it a few more times, and then promptly lay down with a tired sense of happiness and accomplishment.



"Hey, Capt'N how about a drink??"

And that, dear friends, sums up recent activities of the last few days where we missed a few too many meals and shared a few too many lunches, combined with increased swimming and snorkelling and kayaking, that had us moored in Hawksnest Bay, sipping our coffee early this morning, watching the sun rise,



and realizing how hungry we were. Off to make breakfast !! A double for the Capt'N and me !!

(as always LIKE US on our Sailing Banyan Facebook Page for more photos,