The rising of the sun is my favorite time to be on watch. Torben fast asleep in his bunk after taking the major part of the night time watch. Lucky for me he likes it! He tells me that anyway. I think it's an opportunity for him to contemplate our next move while snacking and drinking hot cocoa. I know this because of the dropped peanuts now seen on the cockpit sole and the empty coffee mug sitting in the winch handle holder.
We left the BVI's on Wednesday evening heading to St. Martin. The North Easterlies never manifested itself so the 72 mile trip took 20 hours with equal amount of time on both starboard and port tack. We dropped anchor in Simpson Bay next to the Maltese Falcon in hopes they would recognize us!
Needing to get off the boat for a night, we rented a car and drove to the other end of the island, (out of Tivoli's sight) and checked into a very "French" hotel and spa. (never did see the spa). We ate like pigs and .......like bunnies until Torben showed me a white wash cloth he used to clean his face. Talk about killing the moment!
St. Martin is a wonderful place to purchase things inexpensively. The bread, the cheese and of course the French wines are staples for the French islands and are dirt cheap especially if you buy it on the Dutch side. Go figure! We stocked up since we had the car. All this activity took days!
Watching the weather more closely this time, we left yesterday morning after our morning ritual of Downton Abby and three games of solitaire. Fortunately, this time, the wind clocked as promised to a North Easterly and Tivoli took off for Guadalupe like a bat out of hell on a beam reach.
It's wonderful to see flying fish again and the milky way extending from one horizon to the next. Last night, for the first time I saw the Southern Cross! We are almost at Pointe a Pitre, off the southern tip of Guadaloupe. (153 miles in just under 24 hours. That's more like it!) My sister Connie and her husband Steve are meeting us there. Torben is now up, acting hungry, so duty calls.