It has been too long since our last post and a lot has happened, all good. First our internet connectivity has been from poor to spotty to non-existent over the last few weeks. Please bear with us on posting, we should now have adequate connectivity though the Caribbean. Even as I write this, I am able to post the text, but our connection is not good enough to upload pictures. We will get those up as soon as we can.

We are currently at anchor off Jost Van Dyke in the BVI, but lets back up for some more detail.

We sailed the south cost of Puerto Rico, from Boquerón to Ponce, where we anchored during a salsa festival, a very interesting and crowded time. We were also able to get to a Sam's Club and did a major re-provisioning, mostly frozen meats and dry goods. Our next stop was Puerto Patellas, which was uneventful, except that we caught up with our friends, Phil and Andrea on Anastasia, who we had not seen since Luperon, DR. The next day we sailed to Culebra, the Spanish virgin islands and anchored off Dakity reef.

In Cuelbra I needed to find a couple of parts for the generator, which had stopped pumping cooling water, and was lucky to get that accomplished and had the water pumping before days end. That may sound trivial, but when your out and need specific parts and no car, don't speak Spanish and get the job done in one day, your a lucky guy!

During that passage we past Point Tuna, which is considered in the "Gentlemen's Guide to Passages South", where you have earned your windward sailing merit badge. We had covered almost 400 miles nto the wind and waves and now we can look forward to the rewards of the Virgins.

After our stay in Culebra we moved on to Culebrita, a small island just off Culebra. It had picturesque little anchorage, just what you think of for the Caribbean. We had beautiful clear warm water and white sand beach. Lily went nuts!!

Next stop St Thomas and USVI about an 8 mile sail. We anchored in Charlotte Amalie harbor and then spent a couple of nights at Honeymoon Bay, which had a nice beach for Lisa and Lily.

Then on to ST John and Caneel Bay, all of sails now are under 7-8 miles. Caneel bay is beautiful and almost all of St John is part of a US National Park. That means no anchoring and we had use moorings. The next day we moved over to Maho Bay, a more protected anchorage. We spent a few days exploring and snorkeling, the under water sights are incredible. The variety of fish and coral is amazing, it is sad that some of the coral is dying and much of it is under pressure. It just reinforces how we must pay attention to our impact on these special places.

Phil on Anastasia is a true English football fan and we had to find a TV for the World Cup. We ended up taking a taxi to Cruz Bay and watch the UK fall to Italy. The next day, I did a hike to see the petroglyphs. These were done by the Taino Indians from South America, the first inhabitants of the islands. They were very interesting and learned a lot about the danes who settled St John and early surgar plantations.

We then moved on to Soper's Hole on Tortola and cleared into the BVI. WE had anticipated that this might be complicated for Lily from what we had seen and read, but it went off without a hitch. While at customs, I bumped into Krow, Niels and Rowena, an Australian couple we had spent time with in the DR. We will be seeing them through the islands as they are also heading down to Grenada.

We only spent a few hours in Soper's Hole, but did see about 6-8 boats from the Action Quest Sailing Camp leaving the base at the harbor. Brian our son, and Nick our nephew, both did the sailing camp and it was fun to see all the excited young faces as they motored by us.

We then set off for Little Jost Van Dyke and anchored for the night. We set off for the bubble pool, which was a neat little excursion. The waves come in across the rocks into a small pool and create a bubbling pool. Its like soaking in club soda. We then moved over to Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke, to the world famous "Foxy's" beach bar to watch the UK fall to Uruguay in the World Cup. Looks like that will be the end of the road for the UK unless there is a mathematical miracle.

That brings us up to today, where we plan a little snorkeling and beach run for Lily and then a move or the Cane Bay Gardens for the night. We will be in the BVI's until we meet Alex our nice in St Martin on the 7th. We are looking forward to slowing down and smelling the Virgin flowers.

More to come.