Spent the night at Francis Bay and had dinner with our friends on their boat. Great meal of some of what everyone brought—steak, cheese, salami, curried chicken and salad, followed by brownies. Then on to a couple of games of Wizard before turning in. Today we motored up Current Cut to Waterlemon Cay. Thanks to the Moorings boat for providing internet as there really is no US or BVI signal here. Snorkeled around the Cay and saw some fish and a turtle. Things are coming back. But we did see several big tree limbs in the water and a steel frame from a large Bimini top of a boat.
Very nice and calm in here. Probably go for a hike around sunset

We left St Thimas at our stern for our first night out this season. We will stay out for a couple of days and the. It back to the condo for more stuff and then off for Christmas. We managed to do our usual and have rain when we were getting water at the fuel dock and rain when we were picking up a mooring at Francis Bay on St John. But it is still pretty and nice to be out

Spent 6 frustrating hours at the boat yard trying to get the boat in the water. First we were to show up at 8:30 because they launch boats first thing. But had to go to the office and get a paper saying I paid--even though I have paid every bill for the last 5 years and they have my credit card. Then they couldn't give me the paper because the guy doing the waxing hadn't turned it in. So out to the yard to track him down and get his paperwork. Then out to the lift operator only to find out they weren't done with waxing and needed to move the boat to do this. So another hour later, they move the boat and start. Of course, when they are done, it is lunch time so we were told to come back at 1:00. About 1:30 they start the process but they have to lift the boat to paint the bottom of the keel. Then that has to dry so we finally hit water about 2:30. Put headsail on and got off the dock about 3:15. But joy-oh-joy, she is floating and running again. We had a nice 20 minute motor to our mooring. But we couldn't enjoy it because we had 10 minutes to get to the airport and pick up friends. We will be ailing this weekend

On another positive note, our condo seemed to be coming along nicely

This is really our last entry as tomorrow we bring Andiamo around to the boat yard. We went across the bay to Christmas Cove to have a nice calm spot to take down our Bimini top and solar panels. The boat looks pretty naked without much canvas and tomorrow it will lose its sails. Our friends joined us as we crouched under what little shade was left.

We did see our next boat but will need some help. It’s sailed past us under sail and was gorgeous. We got a picture but doesn’t do it justice. It is a replica of a 1924 sailing vessel out of Massachusetts. It’s for sale. Only $16,900,000. I can front some of this but who can donate the other $16,850,000. Maybe a GoFundMe page or a rich cousin. More pictures on this site. https://iyc.com/yachts/columbia/

Over St Thomas

We picked up a mooring at Henley Cay to snorkel. It was pretty but the current was very strong due to the tidal flow. Lesson learned to only go there when tides aren't flowing. We then went back to Caneel Bay for our last night out. Tomorrow morning we will sail to Christmas Cove and begin to take things down on the boat. Dodger, BBQ, cockpit lights, etc and then store things below for the summer. Sunday we take her around and will take off sails and solar panels. We saw several sailboats this season without a mast so we consider ourselves lucky in that regard. We heard over 400 boats were destroyed in the Virgin Islands alone. See everyone next year