Our last night in the BVI was Saturday, January 28th and we departed Sopers Hole, West End, Tortola on Sunday AM. We made the long passage over to Maho Bay, St John - I think it took all of about 45 minutes! We spent three nights on a mooring in Maho Bay and enjoyed the beach and clear water. On the beach next door at Francis Bay, we met the "Crusiiteers" from Persephone and Salacious. We have seen these boats in different harbors and heard them on the radio for months and finally met them on a beach in the USVI. Unfortunately, we are heading West and they are heading down the chain again so we will not see them again this trip. I regret we did not get to spend more time getting to know more of the fun and interesting people we have seen along the way. As we move through the islands on our way back to the mainland US, each stop is "our last night" somewhere. Some of these harbors we have visited numerous times and others, like Maho, we are seeing for the first time. It is sad to say goodbye to the islands and the people. Jim Grant hailed us on the radio today to say fairwell and safe sailing. We will certainly miss our little slice of "E-dock" in the BVI. What good times we have had with them no matter where we drop the hook!

We are heading to Crown Bay Marina in St Thomas today and Kevin's brother, Brian, is flying in for a visit. Weather permitting, the plan is to sail to Culebra on Friday or Saturday and watch the Super Bowl there in the Spanish Virgins. It is only 20 miles away and a downwind sail so it should only take 3 to 4 hours - did I say weather permitting? We hope to see Dean and Liz Clemmer in Vieques sometime next week - we bought Chameleon from Dean in 2003 and it is always fun to see them. We are looking forward to having Brian on board again and seeing some new islands.