We arrived on the morning of June 14th after the 3 day passage from Florida. We took a berth at the Beaufort Docks Marina. This marked the beginning of our Intracoastal Waterway passage to Norfolk. During our stay we were in the middle of a fishing contest with dozens of sport fishing boats occupying slips in the marina. We were able to fuel Petite Ourse at our slip, a first for us and very convenient.

We rested for a day at the marina and then started the ICW legs early morning on June 16th.

We arrived at Fernandina Beach in north Florida on June 3rd after a 4 day passage from Emerald Bay, Great Exumas Bahamas. As we exited the Gulf Stream south of St. Augustine on the evening of the 2nd we encountered a 45 knot thunderstorm which lasted for 2 hours. The rest of the passage was docile.

We took a mooring at the Fernandina Harbor Marina as the marina itself is badly silted in after a hurricane in 2016. The marina is situated in the old town which has scores of Victorian houses on quiet streets. We had to dinghy in fuel from a gas station on the outskirts of town since the fuel is not available at the marina. The mooring field is situated between two pulp and paper mills but their presence was not obtrusive.

On our second last day in Fernandina, we were swarmed by a breakoff honey bee hive. They pinned us in the cabin for several hours until we were able to get Gordon, a beekeeper on board to vacuum up the swarm and transport them to a new home.



We left Fernandina Beach on June 11th for Beaufort, North Carolina.

Here we are after almost 9 years, over 30,000 miles circling the globe and we cross our path in Emerald Bay. Willy and Glenroy, old friends from the island, came down and greeted us at the marina. It was in 2010, that both of them worked at the marina when it was just opening up. Now, they are into property management and marine tourism.



We have also welcomed Steven and Arlem, friends from Toronto, on board for a cruise through the Exuma cays to Nassau. Unfortunately their first day was under rainy and windy conditions with frequent thunderstorms and squalls.



May 20th. Our plans have changed due to weather and we are still in Emerald Bay.

We arrived at Matthew Town harbour on Great Inagua, Bahamas on April 30th after a good sail from St. Croix - steady winds, no squalls, and no confused seas after the first day. Matthew Harbour sees cruising boats going north, south, east, and west. The main industry here is the Morton Salt company employing the majority of the population of about one thousand. The harbour is used by cruising sail and power boats, Haitian sailing boats, a few local boats and the Bahamas Defence Force boat. The Haitian boats come to trade goods and return frequently. . They bring with them fruit such as mangoes which they sell to the local people and boaters. One boat loaded an old pickup truck in parts to be reassembled back in Haiti. These boats have no engines and if becalmed coming into the harbour they use oars to propel themselves The marina docks are a recent addition having been completed this year.
We did a bird tour with Tarra and a look at the Morton salt operation. There are a reported 60 to 80 thousand flamingoes on the island, the largest in the western hemisphere. We did see hundreds of flamingoes as well as spoonbills, pelicans, and many other shorebirds. In town we saw the indigneous Bahamian parrot, burrowing owls, and a hummingbird, Inagua Woodstar, a specie only found on Great Inagua.
We go next to Emerald Bay, Great Exuma about 225 miles from here where we will finally cross our path and complete our circumnavigation.

We arrived at Green Cay Marina in St Croix on April 4th after an overnight trip from St Kitts. The winds were very light so we motorsailed a good part of the night. Green Cay marina is situated outside of the capital town of Christainsted and is a bit isolated. Unfortunately, after the hurricanes of 2017, sailors must now clear in and out at the St Croix airport which is on the opposite side of the island. The marina dockage fees does provide the opportunity to use the facilities of the Tamarand Reef Resort which is next door.

St Croix is very laid back and quiet compared with St Kitts and other Caribbean islands. No charter fleets and very little in the way of tourism. That being said there are a few nice hotels and resorts, beautiful beaches, many fine old Danish buildings and a well stocked chandelry. There are some beautiful stands of old mahogany trees on the west end of the island. We met again Connie and Dave who we first encountered in Isla Mujeres, Mexico in 2010 when we were headed to Guatemala and they were headed to Florida.

There is still evidence of hurricane damage with an overturned power boat at the marina, some wrecked commercial buildings, and blue tarps on roofs everywhere on the west side of the island. We do have intermittent internet at the marina and some places on the island still do not have communications access. The island has unusual driving on the left side of the road with cars built for the right side.

As usual, we have been waiting for good sailing weather during this Caribbean leg of voyage. Our next stop is Great Inagua in the Bahamas about a 4 or 5 day passage with some decent winds. In the Exumas of Bahamas we will finally cross our path when we set out from there in 2010.

We arrived at Basseterre, St. Kitts late afternoon on Sunday March 25th from Montserrat after one of the best day sails we have had this year. We anticipated a relatively long wait due to contrary winds from the north. The harbourmaster, Charles, found us room at the end of the fuel dock where we remained throughout our stay. A day later, a British sailboast rafted off us due to the lack of space in the marina. When we arrived there were no boats anchored off the marina in the bay but two days later there were 8 sailboats. Nobody was moving north due to the northeast wind which dropped to a near calm on Saturday and then on Easter Sunday there were very light easterly winds.

Basseterre, typically has 2 to 3 cruise boats each day with an increase in traffic this year because of the reduced traffic to St. Marten. In fact Port Zante where the cruise boats dock here is very similar to Phillipsburg with its myriad of shops and duty free stores. We have visited the island by taxi and a tourist train using the old sugar harvest track on mostly on the west side of the island. Fort George and the Brimstone Fortress afforded great views of Eustatius and Saba to the north of St. Kitts. The restored fort provided good background on the life of people in the 17th century on the island.

The difference between Montserrat and St. Kitts was notable with regards to cleaniness of the island. Here we found plastic bottles discarded in ditches and dry creek beds. I would imagine during the wet summer season these bottles could wash out to sea and eventually join the millions that collect around Panama. There does appear to be an effort to be more environmentally conscious with an ecopark at one end of the island.

The sister island, Nevis, was interesting with restored plantations now boutique hotels, one a Relais & Chateaux and one with a great view of Montserrat. Their capital, Charlestown, with its colonial day buildings and no Port Zante cruise terminal is more attractive and unified than Basseterre. Unfortunately the botanical garden did not reflect any of the indigenous vegetation on Nevis and added nothing to our visit. The island itself seems to be in a better state of care than St. Kitts.

On Easter Monday we took a look at the annual greased pole contest at the St. Kitts ferry dock. In one contest a greased horizontal pole is suspended above water with a ham attached in a knotted bag at one end. The objective for the contestant is to reach the ham and undo the knot to retrieve the ham before falling off the pole into the water. The second contest is a vertical greased pole on the beach with a 100 hundred dollar bill on top as a prize.

On Tuesday (April 3rd) we left for St. Croix.