We had a rough motor from Frenchtown to Francis Bay, St. John, on Wednesday March 23. Tom had checked the wind forecast, and while on the 23rd at 8:00 am it was to blow 10 knots, it would be 20 knots at 8:00 am on the 24th. So we left on the 23rd, but unfortunately we didn't leave until almost noon, and by that time the wind had piped up to about 25 knots, right on the nose. We had been land-bound for three weeks, and my sea legs had turned to jelly, so it was an uncomfortable ride on very lumpy seas. We’d planned to go back to Leinster Bay, the scene of Tom’s two ER-worthy medical events, but instead stopped at Francis, shortening the trip—and my discomfort—by twenty minutes or so.

It felt so good to be back on a mooring, pointed right into the breeze (ok, strong gusty wind) and not surrounded by boats and people on a busy dock. We decided we needed a few days of decompression after Tom’s extended illness, so we increased our reading & relaxing to work ratio. We noticed a couple other Salty Dawg boats and some OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) boats, and a couple of them dinghied over to meet us. Morello, the Salty Dawg trimaran, came in from St. Croix (where they're now living), so we had them over for a long cocktail visit. We swapped stories--Tom's medical adventure and Larry’s adventures working for a boatbuilder in St. Croix.

When the harbor hosts (many USVI National Park harbors have volunteer hosts to keep an eye on things, welcome boaters, and hand out payment envelopes as a reminder to pay for the moorings) invited us to a Saturday potluck on the beach, we decided to go. We met more nice people and had an assortment of delicious food. Now the anchorage feels like a friendly neighborhood, and we're reluctant to leave. But we expect delivery of a part to fix the hot water heater tomorrow, at Frenchtown Marina (thanks for buying and sending it, Galen!), so we'll head back there in the morning. Tonight, one more cocktail hour(s) with new friends.

Now it's Sunday, April 3, and we’ve accomplished a lot while we’ve been at Frenchtown. The plumbing part arrived, the water heater is fixed, we did a big grocery provisioning at Pueblo, got miscellaneous items at Budget Marine, filled up with diesel, water, and gas for the outboard at Crown Bay Marina (where we ran into Matt Doudera at the fuel dock—see Photo Gallery), endured a day of absolutely pouring rain, and learned more about the route of the safari bus (in a You Can't Get There From Here sort of moment, although we did). Today we're finally heading to Culebra, part of the Spanish Virgins, which we’ve been looking forward to revisiting since our arrival in November. We’re feeling the end of our time here drawing closer, although we still have five weeks left!