The winds are changing.
We are currently in St. Barts and are planning our next move. Linda and I have decided to head back to Florida for the summer. It's time to spend some time with family and especially Linda's mother. Age is catching up with her and it would be a shame to miss this valuable time. So, we are going to amble back to the states over the next two months. After the Easter holiday we are headed to the island nation of SABA for a few days then a nonstop sail to St Croix. Even after all the time we have spent in the Virgin island we have never been to St Croix which is about 45 miles south of the main Virgin islands. After that stop we will sail to Colebra in the Spanish Virgins.
Soon we will have lived on the boat for 2 years and believe it or not neither one of us is ready to give it up. Sometimes you have to make allowances for other things then your dreams. Right now our only plan is to be in Florida till then end of the hurricane season. At that time we will take stock of life and decide when to head out again. We both know that there will be another trip but the exact date escapes us.
I know it has been hard for people to travel to the Caribbean to meat us. Hope fully when we are in Florida you will all come and visit us. We will still be living on the boat and taking small trips to the keys and the Bahamas. Hope to see you soon.
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Comments [0]
03/14/2009, leeward Islands
Saw the most exciting thing yesterday that I have seen in the 2 years we've been out here. As we were parked at my favorite spot, shell beach, someone from behind the boat swimming said, "did you see the whales?"." They were right behind your boat!!!" I thought she was joking....she said they were migrating. Well rick and I looked a little further out from the anchorage and saw a bunch of boats congregating and all of a sudden we saw water blow up in the air..the whales blow whole. So we jumped in the dingy with max and the camera. Headed out for some whale watching. What a site! There were two or more. You could see though the water and tell they had white belly's. The only kind I know like that are killer whales. What do you think? When we go to shore I will send the video I got. Just amazing watching them in their natural habitat. An experience I'll never forget.
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03/12/2009, Leeward Islands
St Barths
We have been in St Barths for a week now and just signed up for another week. We left the BVI after going back and forth about the weather. We had decided to scrap our trip and wait for another weather window to cross the Annegada Channel. Its about 80 miles and the channel can be very rough at times. Kind of like crossing the Gulf Stream because are always right into the wind and waves which can build very quickly.
Suddenly I said to Linda, let's go and if it's too rough we can turn back to the BVI. AS you can see we went all the way across in only 6 to 8 foot waves in about 21 hours. It wasn't a bad ride but slow because the wind was too strong and we had to make some long tacks away from the wind to get here.
St. Barts is our favorite place and we are happy to relax here. We are anchored right off Shell Beach which I think is the place Linda wants to be buried. The shells are piled a foot thick on the beach and you can find Linda searching through them for hours. She looks like a kid in a sand box. The boat is getting too heavy from all the shells.
Life is expensive here if you want to eat out every day. I guess that is the same in all the islands. Living on the anchor and eating on the boat is the way to go. We are eating a lot of baguettes (90 cents each). The grocery has fresh bread every day and the prices there aren't too bad except for fresh produce. Meat is very reasonable as is the wine.
There is not one place on this island to get an air tank filled for diving. You are not allowed to dive with out a local dive master with you. I wanted to use mine to clean the bottom of the boat and remove a rope from an engine but they won't fill it. I hope they will in St. Martin.
The water here is so perfectly clear and blue. The water temp is a little bit chilly but we are still enjoying it. 78 degrees. The days are very warm and the wind is always blowing. Not bad for winter.
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