AZURE

Azure finally made landfall in St. Lucia after 22 straight days at sea - only one day longer than it took Columbus. The trip totalled 2800+ miles from Lanzarote and over 2600 from La Gomera. We spotted the faint outline of the island in the early morning well before sunrise and arrived in the fuel dock at Marigot Bay around 9:30. The crew was thrilled to be on dry land but generally a little reluctant to see the trip end. (Except for Don - Don was entirely ready to head home and celebrate the holidays at home with his family. Can't really blame him.) After refueling at the fuel dock, the crew made a bee line for the nearest waterfront restaurant for a hearty, fresh cooked breakfast. We then moved Azure to her less temporary home-for-the-next-three-months in the marina and set about making the most of our landfall - namely, long hot showers and rum punches. We checked into the Marigot Bay Hotel and had a great dinner as we recounted the many adventures and stories from our three weeks at sea. We'll spend the next two days cleaning Azure and preparing her for her stay in St. Lucia through March. We fly out on Wed (12/21) and will be back to business as usual on Thurs. It's been a wonderful trip and an amazing experience.

Thanks for following along everyone. We'll see you soon! [Note that our previous blog entries have been updated with photos from the trip and we've added additional pictures to the gallery. And you thought that you'd already received all your Christmas gifts. Merry Christmas from the from crew of Azure.]

About 50 miles from St. Lucia. Should arrive at Marigot Bay between 9 and 10 AM tomorrow. Have been trying multiple sail combinations because of the fluky wind. Currently using the Parasailor. Have sighted several large ships today. At least one was a tanker. Lunch today was toast with eggs provided by Don Mundy. Don and Kevin have done a wonderful job with our meals. We have eaten very well. Have some special chocolates for dessert tonight to celebrate our expected arrival in St. Lucia. This is the last day of 3 straight weeks at sea. Total distance covered from Lanzarote to St. Lucia was 2,830 miles.

The milestones are coming fast and furious on AZURE. After breezing through 500 miles several days ago, we just reached the 200 mile barrier earlier this evening. We expect to reach 100 sometime tomorrow morning and should arrive at Marigot Bay by mid-day Monday. We're all enjoying watching the miles slide by as we get closer to land fall.

It took a while, but we eventually had our "event" for today. Since I have no idea what has been written previously on the blog, I'll run the risk of treading previously plowed ground and provide a little insight into daily life on AZURE by explaining what I mean. For those readers reasonable enough to have avoided participating in a transatlantic sailing adventure (which I assume to be at least most and probably all of them), the days can get a smidge long when you are out in the middle of the open ocean. Here on AZURE, we've determined that we like to have one "event" per day to keep things moving along. An event can be a visit from a dolphin pod, a caught fish, a flying fish landing on deck, a boat sighting or some other occurrence that adds some excitement to the daily routine of changing sails, checking the weather, the current or our location, performing random maintenance (mostly Captain Harold), cleaning and cooking, and just lounging around enjoying the sailing life.

In most cases, Mother Nature provides the event (although we're still waiting on our whale sighting. Any minute now.), but some days we have to come up with our own. Don was heroically up to the task today and made sure that we would not be event-less for the day. Implementing some know-how imparted by his wife Diane, Don baked up two loaves of delicious home-made bread that had us all clamoring for more. From the smell of the bread wafting through the cabin as it cooked to the taste as we wolfed it down with our spaghetti, the bread made for a great afternoon. The crew of AZURE would like to extend a special thanks to Diane for her expert tutelage. The bread was wonderful and we can't wait to eat the second loaf tomorrow.

Thanks everyone for following along. We'll post again soon. And while I have the mike, let me send a quick hi to MM and my family.

St Lucia is on Lat 13.56, and about six days ago we decided to drop south towards 12 degrees because of a low pressure system at 18-20 degrees. Thank heavens we did-yachts north of us had heavy winds and seas, and then 15-20 knots on the nose! We have made steady progress-and on the afternoon of the 14th we set up the (stored) asymmetrical spinnaker with a full mainsail. We flew all afternoon and all through the night-very important for saving fuel also. Doctor Don has been coming up with great brunches of French toast and ham and eggs! Still seeing dolphin, and we have had many flying fish coming aboard for a free ride! We are now past the low, 330 miles to St. Lucia and enjoying a light NE wind, ghosting along. Ipods have been great company for shifts, and all are well rested, and enjoying the lighter conditions. Our worst experience was about six days ago with large swells coming from NE and SE simultaneously, making for very uncomfortable 10-13 ft seas. Now all our thoughts are on Christmas re-unions and holiday cheer! Tony

I have not written for a few days so here goes. Greetings to all our friends and loved ones, especially my grandchildren. Last evening we had an ideal sail. The seas were quite flat and we had wonderful winds from the southeast. The cruising spinnaker was employed and we literally flew toward our St. Lucia destination. Now approximately 470 miles to go. Today with light winds we have been motoring. The forecast tomorrow is for NE winds which are forecast to hold until our arrival hopefully Monday. We are now 2087 miles and finishing our 18th day at sea from La Gomera. A good day, fried eggs sandwiches for lunch, Mahi Mahi burritos for super. We have been eating well. The boat has been performing well and the crew is doing well, no major injuries or illness. We have been watching for whales and turtles but no sightings to date. Surprisingly birds
suddenly appear in the open ocean, visit for a while in our vicinity and then off they go on their journeys. Today another large pod of dolphins came to our bow. We counted 15 doing their hi-jinks. The ocean has been awesome showing us its many facets. Humbling to say the least. Working hard to complete our journey and return to you all. We send our love. Thank you for your prayers.

Under 600 miles to St. Lucia. Currently using light cruising spinnaker and making about 6 knots. Beautiful sailing at present. Winds to get lighter according to forecast. Winds and seas were much higher earlier today. Boat did a lot of rolling. This was very uncomfortable. Fortunately the worst weather should be over. A highlight today was pancakes made by Don Mundy. We put Canadian maple syrup on them. Was terrific. Don also made some muffins for us yesterday. We are definitely going to be several days behind in regard to our flight home. We are currently working with Travel Reservations regarding changes.