We have been watching the weather very carefully these last few days since we plan on sailing from the USVIs to Sint Maarten. It will be an overnight sail with the passage being about 150 nm. The winds have been up (20 to 30 knots) which, in turn, build up the seas (up to eight foot swells. Both the winds and the seas have been coming from the Southeast which is the general direction we need to sail to reach Sint Maarten. All of the above would make for a very uncomfortable passage.

Mary Margaret and I have sailed such conditions many time before so we know that such winds and seas would make for a most uncomfortable sail. That is not what we want for our friends, Joe and Valerie to experience. It is just not fun.

Fortunately, today the winds and seas start diminishing and will continue to do so for the next few days. Thus, after checking the weather this morning we decided that conditions would be reasonable to slog to windward for the 15 nm passage to St. Johns and it beautiful Salt Pond Bay.

With that decision made, Joe and I took the dinghy over to Customs in Charlotte Amelie to get our clearance papers. They appeared to be a bit understaffed but after about 30 minutes we were cleared out of St. Thomas with a departure date from the USVI for tomorrow. Once back on Leu Cat we readied the boat, weighed anchor and were off!

Since our passage was so short, we just motored through the 25 knot winds and 6 foot seas. Joe and Valerie handled the bouncy ride just fine and around 1500 we had made Salt Pond Bay and were tied up to one of the 5 mooring balls there. There was just one other boat in the bay which made it very nice.

I was anxious to go up the mast to fix our mast track problem so soon after arriving, Mary Margaret hauled me up. The waters in the bay were very calm which made using the grinding tool on my Dremel easy, even while dangling 30 feet up in the air.

Once it was done, I tried raising and lowering the main. It went up and down just fine, so I believe we will be able to use the mainsail on our passage to Sint Maarten tomorrow.

Afterwards, Valerie and I went to shore to pay for the mooring ball and upon our return, Joe donned the snorkeling gear and went into the water. The clarity of the water was not the best because of the heavy seas these last few days so that was a bit disappointing.

Mary Margaret made a great dinner of grilled chicken over a big salad, all topped with her homemade blue cheese. Afterwards, she and Joe retired to discuss the political state of the US and its questionable future under President Trump. What a mess!

Tomorrow the winds are supposed to diminish further so it looks like we will be leaving around 1100. It should be a beautiful sail up Drake’s Channel through the BVIs.