N17.42.095; W 61.53.319 Saturday February 14, 2015 �- Happy Valentines! Cedar Tree Point - Barbuda Well, we have been moving around a bit. After Marigot Bay St. Martin we did a sail around the island and spent a couple of days at Orient Beach on the east side. We had the weather window to do so. If there is a strong east or north east wind you would not want to be there. We cleared out of St. Martin on the Sunday February 8th for St. Kitts. We sailed past the countries of St. Barts, Saba and St. Eustatius on the way arriving at Sandy Point on the Northwest side of the island. It was a pretty rolly night; the whole west side of the island is exposed so is best visited when there is an east wind. It switched to the south east and the waves started wrapping around the island. In the morning we headed down to the Capitol, Basseterre and checked in with Customs. Again, it was a rolly anchorage. We set out a stern anchor to point us into the swell and it worked well. We were set to do an island tour in the morning but when we got up the swell started coming in from the swell and we found ourselves in 4 foot rollers. We decided we needed to leave and in fact, the rollers kept building to the point where we could not raise the dinghy safely. We ended up towing it for about an hour and pulled into the lee of a point before we raised it up on the arch. There really is not any protected anchorages here unless you go into the very small and tight marina. We try to stay out of those! We headed down to Nevis and arrived at noon at Oualie Beach Resort where we were fairly protected from the swells. We took the dinghy to shore to check things out and buy lunch; something we rarely do �- eat out. Once ashore I found that they had an active diving facility so I went back to the boat and grabbed my tank to get it filled. That was handy! The wind is scheduled to switch to the west and around the clock for the next few days so we decided to return to tour the islands here at a later date before we head further south. In the morning we left to head back to Barbuda after getting �"special permission�" to clear in there. Normally you are required to clear in Antigua first. It was a great sail! We held 8.5 to 9 knots or more for the first ½ of the trip with a max speed of 10. We arrived in Barbuda in just 6 hours; so we averaged about 8 kts. We took the dinghy in do the formalities (customs, immigration and port authority for the cruising permit). I also picked up a new SIM card from Digicel so we could have a cheaper means of data and phone. So we have a new phone number. That is about it, we are going around to Spanish Point this morning and will be heady to Jolly Harbour on Sunday or Monday. Will be posting photos once we get there - free WIFI.... The photo above is us having lunch at Oulie Beach - Nevis.