Week One:
We arrived back to TMM (base) on Tortola on December 27, 2014 with our first set of visitors. Jim and Kelly and Reid and Doreen. We left base on Sunday and went to St. Thomas to pick up Reid and Doreen. We anchored in Red Hook, it was not a pleasant night as the shuttle boats were running til late at night kicking up a pretty good wake.

Jim and Reid helped Curt with many projects including hoisting Curt up the mast (70 ft) to change the light bulb and also to install the Bad Boy antenna.

We enjoyed a couple of easy sails from St. Thomas back to Tortola to Norman Island then to Virgin Gorda to enjoy Micheal Beans pirate show then to the Bitter End Yacht Club. Probably one of all of our favorite spots in the BVI. We stayed for New Years there, then headed back up to Marina Cay for a night, then back to Soper's Hole to drop our first guests off. It was a awesome week with GREAT friends!!

Week Two:
Debbie and Jill arrived in Soper's Hole for a fun week of sailing. The Christmas Winds finally arrived. Winds up to 20 knots. We had to head back to base for a couple of days so we could have our new outside cushions installed. They are beautiful! We will probably have the same fabric put in the galley next year.

We had some BIG waves due to the Christmas Winds and Jill fully enjoyed be splashed by the salt water while sitting/laying on the trap up front. This was the first trip to the Caribbean for both Deb and Jill and they had a great time!.

Curt was able to put our new name decals on the bow this week and they look great. It's nice to have our own name on our boat now.

Week Three:
Brian and Jeanine arrive to the BVI! It was kind of groundhogs day for Curt and I as we visited the same spots for three weeks with different people.

It was so nice to have at least one of our boys join us this year. The other two have full time jobs and were not able to get the time off to join us. Maybe next year when we come back up the Caribbean chain.

We had many laughs with Jeanine and Brian, the week went way to quickly.

Week Four:
After dropping Brian and Jeanine off in Soper's Hole, we went back to Bitter End on Virgin Gorda to get ready to make the crossing from the BVI's to St. Martin and the Leeward Islands.

We left on Tuesday morning at 4am, it would be a long 12 hour sail, well not really. We had 4 knot winds coming at us the whole way so we had to motor the entire distance. It was eirey traveling in pitch blackness leaving VG. On week one Curt had driven the course through the channel out of VG and saved it on the IPad so when we left he just had to stay on his saved course. Unfortunetly I steered him off course and we landed in some very shallow waters. Fortunetly, we did not hit bottom and were able to get back on course before we damaged anything.

We made it to Anguilla at 4:20 in the afternoon safely. We stayed on Anguilla for two days, and enjoyed a very relaxing very lazy day on Sandy Island just off of Anguilla. It was nice to have one day of no travel, white sandy beaches and NO worries! The island is small and has a reef pretty much surrounding it so no boats other than dingys or shuttle boats were allowed near shore. There were a couple of Mega Yachts anchored out from shore. We met a group of people that were dingyed in from one of the big yachts. We met the part owner of Apogee, a gentleman by the name of Logan who plays professional Baseball for a team in Dallas. He was very nice and loved the story of our adventure of cursing the Caribbean until April. I was very temped to ask for a tour of his small 200 ft yacht, but didn't. We also met a captain of a big sailboat, and he was very informative about places to stop at and places to cruise by on our travels. People LOVE to talk about their boats and their travels. The information is very valuable!

On Thursday we headed out to Simpson Bay, St. Martin.

I had read that Simpson Bay on the Dutch side of St. Martin had expanded their Mega Yacht docks, but we had no idea how much. When we entered the lagoon we were stunned to see the amount of Mega Yachts in this lagoon. It was a beautiful sight, big shiny yachts some as long as 225 ft!!

We had a couple of days to explore the bay and town before our next set of guests arrived.

Week Five:
Jerry and Kathy Burns and Mike and Jan Rygh arrive to sail the Leeward Islands.

The winds and weather were perfect for our week in the Leewards. We enjoyed great food, great company and even learned a new dice game. Kathy and Jerry had been to St. Barts 30 years ago, so it was fun for them to take a walk down memory lane. Much of the island had changed due to hurricanes and progress, but some of the landmarks still remained. It was really fun to watch them reminisce. My favorite island is still St. Kitts, but Curt and I will visit Saba and Nevis before we leave the Leewards and I may change my mind.

On our last night together we enjoyed a delicious steak dinner on the boat. (We had our son Brian bring us a loaf of beef tenderloin from MN.) Curt made the comment that when new people travel together is small quarters, you can have two results. One, to discover that you never want to travel with those people again, or Two, that you become better friends. We are now better friends!!

Thanks to all our guests for first weeks of our travels!! We have had a blast, and the jokes and laughter never stopped. Thanks Reid for having the giant hot dog!!! Brian's "sweaty meat". Jim's constant laughter. All the girls who were constantly helping me with galley chores. And for Jan who now knows that we are not traveling on a Hobi Cat, but a real catamaran with running water, a galley, and full size beds!!

Curt and I are truly blessed to have you all in our lives!!

Now on to our next adventure to explore islands that we have never seen. Seven islands to see before our next guests arrive in three weeks. Can't wait to see Kathy and Joey!!