Circumnavigation of the Saints

The lack of blogs is because I came south from the rain and drizzle of Maine March weather to check in with the captain of the Flash of Beauty and congratulate him on another successful leg of his Atlantic Circle. I am pleased to report that his is quite fine, tanner than I have ever seen him and chilled out, suitable to island living. We decided to focus our 10 days together on sailing around St. Thomas and St. John, two of the US Virgin Islands, with most of the time spent around St. John. Needless to say, the weather is constant sun and breeze with great swimming, snorkeling and sailing. Have met Twig and Bonnie on the Heron from Rockport, ME who are doing day sails out of Maho Bay for their fourth winter. They are headed soon to Puerto Rico to have their boat in a new Johnny Depp movie! Too bad they didn't want the Flash! The life style here is slow and simple - rise late, coffee with hot milk, some sailing, pick up a mooring that belongs to the National Park, snorkel, read, drink and eat, more reading and great sleeping with the breeze and the starry sky. Wildlife has included great tropical fish off Caneel Bay, a mongoose on the trail today hiking to see some petroglyphs (can you believe it!), a big ray, turtle and barracuda yesterday and the very entertaining dive bombing feeding practices of the many pelicans we watched on St. Thomas, Santa Maria Bay (which we had to ourselves). It appears that the crowds of sailing boats are all over the BVI's which we saw as we rounded the corner of Sir Francis Drake Channel - so thick, I thought there was a race from a distance. Meanwhile over here with homeland security we often share a harbor with 3 other boats. Tourism is also down by all reports about 40% and bookings for next year are reported extremely slow. Most o St. John is a National Park and their is very little development. Safe harbors have moorings as anchoring is not allowed to remove the damage to the fragile coral and bottom eco systems. It is really very well done and we have always found plenty available - all for $15 per night! Cooking on board has been our secret recession weapon and we have used up 6 of the remaining cans from the Camden packing. I have made a jar of sprouts to make the canned beets more savory and lots of balsamic vinegar and voila. Last night was the splurge and we went to a terrific little restaurant in Coral Bay on the east end of St. Thomas - Sweet Plantains - run by 2 of Caribbean descent who had been in Brooklyn for years and bring with them some sophistication and great cooking and ambiance. They did rum pairings with the dessert course - we shared, as the price scared Tom! Before I depart tomorrow we are looking forward to meeting Brit, a friend of Alices's who is cooking on the yacht next door to our friend Paul Fagan, on Angel. Brit and Alice (our wonderful eldest) cooked together for a winter on boats down here and we look forward to meeting one of her friends. Then, for me, it's off to see my dad and 2 siblings in DC for Easter with Rachel and maybe Alice. April in Camden will be taken up with the upcoming launch of "Note Worthy", a stationary enterprise of handmade cards, all made by friends in Camden. that will benefit Parters In Health, The new owners of Peter Ott's is making their space available for April 30, May 1 and 2. Then some work and getting ready to welcome Spring and eventually Tom to Camden. His plans are looking like direct to Bermuda, weather waiting and then home, weather permitting. It's been a pleasure joining him on this exploration of the Virgin Islands. The boat looks so terrific in these waters, Sea Foam Green was meant for these turquoise and sapphire waters. I expect it will look good to see it in Camden too.