Well finally found the right boat. Fontaine pajot belize. Had to get boat back to ingleside Texas from Fort Lauderdale very quickly. Good reason, my father was very sick and really wanted to get our new boat back so he could see it at the end of the pier. We purchased the boat February 2nd and after a nine day sail from fort lauderdale we made it back in time. My father passed away one month later, but was able see sandy feet at the end of the doc. A proud papa and he loved to sail. Will complete later date.

Well, we did it. Our first trip to the BVI on a bareboat. I celebrated my 50th birthday on a leopard 47 and HAD THE BEST TIME OF MY LIFE! Oh my gosh! It was awesome! Laura and i had the pleasure of spending a week on Smoke and Roses with some great friends. I cant even begin to tell you about how this trip made me feel. It was absolutely beautiful! If you havent gone sailing in the bvi's, you have to go asap. I have been all over the caribbean, but have never seen the islands from 6 to 8 knots in 90 feet of champagne water! I just thought i had the bug before. I am obsessed now! I have water on the brain and cant get it out of my head.
I have lived a piece of my life that i thought would never come true. I skippered a beautiful catamaran in some of the most beautiful waters in the world. We had the best time and it wouldnt have been the same if it were not for some of our great friends that came with us. I am just a little excited! It has been over a week since we have gotten back and i still get excited thinking about this great trip. Laura handled the boat very well and only felt a little queezy once or twice. We ran into a squall one day and the seas kicked up a little. That was short lived and the weather cleared for the rest of the week. I will be back in the hunt for a catamaran sometime this fall. We have just purchased another home in the Port Aransas, texas area and will be getting closer the salt air in the next couple of months. I am tired of taking the little baby steps to get a cat and after this last trip, I am ready to take the leap!. Patience my boy Patience! I know, I know.
I will be posting a few pics from our trip this weekend and keep all updated on our progress. In the mean time, Get your sails unfurled!

Yep, getting close now. For those of you who dont know, I will be celebrating my 50th birthday on the 24th of April! Half a century! WOW! I never thought and noone else ever thought i would make it. I will be celebrating the big one in the British Virgin Islands on a 47 foot catamaran with some great friends. Yes, I will be sailing for one week in some of the most beautiful waters in the world. Do I deserve it? Absolutely NOT!, but i have a great wife that I have faked out all these years thinking i am an ok guy. I get to play in the BVI on a catamaran for a week. Something that i have been dreaming about for quite some time now. This will be the prelude for our sabbatical we(I) wish to take in the near future. I look forward to running away for at least a week and forgetting about the pressures of work for just a little while. Our itenerary is fast and furious but didnt start out that way. We were going to just take it one day at a time, but the more we researched, the more we wanted to see. So instead of just taking it one day at a time, we will be slamming two weeks of points of interest into one week! Just kidding, we will be taking it easy but want to see as much as possible in that short amount of time. We will be taking our time when we bring our own sailboat to the BVI's in the near future. I have a few sailing friends that are already on their sabbaticals that i will be trying to get in touch with while we are in the islands. Needless to say, I am very excited and will be doing some youtube videos while on this vacation. You can see them at cnealstew. Just type that in on the search part of youtube. I will try to put a few on my post as well. Happy sailing