We stopped in at Christmas Cove on our way out Thursday as it was getting late and we didn't think we could make it all the way back to Maho Bay on St. John. We had 44 boats in the small anchorage with us and it was really packed. Many on mooring and many shoved in between on anchors. We stayed out past the island in nice safe territory where no boats were near us. The problem that we faced as did all the boats there was that the winds had shifted and swells were coming in from the south making it quite rollie just like Charlotte Amalie. Not a pleasant place to park your boat for the night if you wanted a peaceful night sleep. I wasn't bad but Tracy had a bad night.
We were both up early(Friday) and pulled up the anchor chain and headed out ahead of the pack for Maho. Only about 7 miles but into the wind and with swells hitting us from the side making us roll about. We were in and on a mooring ball by 1000. Tracy took off for the stern bunk and a nice nap to try and catch up. I picked up here and there and made lunch when she got up, about 1230. As I started doing dishes, the water pump sounded strange so I stopped what I was doing and checked the tanks--three of four were either empty or darn close. The forward tank that we'd shut off since it had a bad valve was still full but the pump would draw from the empty tanks first(least resistance) before the full tank even if I opened it. We were a boat with no water!!! I'd not checked the tanks as we can normally go about two months where we fill them and we had when we were at Saba Rock on February 23. It had only been one month but there were three of us instead of the normal two and that had taken most of our water. How to solve it? We had a choice--go back to Charlotte Amalie(14 miles each way plus time in the anchorage, of head for the closest place where we could get water and that was back at Saba Rock, about 25 miles northwest of here(in BVI). We didn't want to back track so we dropped the mooring lines and headed out trying to figure where we would stop for the night as we knew we wouldn't reach Saba before nightfall as the winds and waves and rain were still fighting us. Yes, Mother Nature was back at it again. We'd gotten up the a completely overcast day with lots of rain in the clouds. It rained on and off through the day, especially when I was on the front deck pulling up the anchor, or when I was grabbing the mooring ball in Maho Bay. One thing we did do was fire up the water maker and made about 5 gallons into one of our spare tanks as the tank the water maker water goes into(you guessed it) is the tank that we've closed off. At least we have plenty of water for the night.
We finally settled on Benure Bay where we have been several times. It's about 1/3 of the way there. We made plans for Saturday that will take us east(into the winds again) for a short time till we pass Peter Island where we turn left and will have good wind for sailing up to Virgin Gorda's north sound and Saba Rock. They give 250 gallons of water to anyone that takes a mooring ball and that will fill our tanks. It's another 25 miles the way we are going(maybe more)but we should be able to sail which will be nice for a change. Stay tuned.

It's now Saturday evening and we are mooring at Saba Rock after and rousing trip northeast. We were up before 0700 and on our way at 0700 leaving in nasty clouds and weather. Winds were coming out of the southeast blowing down the channel we had to go through to get where we could actually sail for a while. It took about 6 miles and lots of work by the engine before we could pass the south end of Peter Island and turn more northerly. Out came the genoa and off we went finally turning off the engine. Our speed jumped to over 6 knots and we were making good time. It's just over 20 miles from where we were to Virgin Gorda's North Sound and Saba Rock. At times, we had too much sail out and we were heeling like mad but it was a great time being under canvas again. Squalls came and went as did boats heading the opposite way. We rounded the entry way to the sound just as 9 boats were heading out. A traffic jam but we finally made it to GunCreek were we checked into BVI again. It was a nice easy check in and we were off for Saba dragging our dinghy as we had to go in and check in and it's just a mile between the two. Another boat had been behind us as we checked in at Gun Creek when we left but they hurried to get in front of us to get a better mooring. We ended coming in at the same time with them just ahead of us. Their problem was that they didn't have their mooring lines out and they blew the approach. After trying a second time and blowing that, we floated over and I had no problem snatching the line to the mooring and getting it tied. In the meantime, the other boat was still having problems with theirs and the wife had left the deck after an "intense" discussion with her husband. We were all set and about to have lunch when they got settled. After a nice nap, we jumped in Puff and went ashore(still there) and paid our $30 for the night. We'll pick up our water tomorrow and hope the weather is better tomorrow.