Janine was still suffering following her fall on the St Kitts railway. So rather than subject her to 5 days at sea to Curacao, she became the advance party for the summer visit to family in the UK.
Andy & Derek took the boat to Curacao for our hurricane escape maneuver.

Hire car and tour the island.
Betty's Hope was our first call. An old plantation named for the rich Englishman's sister. Unfortunately closed on weekends!
Still more to see and do. On to the south coast and Nelson's Dockyard. Not really all down to him, but he did serve here as a junior officer and of course he became very famous.
Given the other history there it is well worth the visit. Also the Dow's Hill museum based in the old gun battery overlooking the anchorage.

We still had to overcome an electronics issue that we were struggling to resolve.
BVI Raymarine people want US$130 per hour just to look at it. See previous thoughts on BVI and prices, so .... (insert raspberry).
St Kitts took care of the hull leak, but had no electronic expertise. So Antigua is the answer.
We arrived into Jolly Harbour and the local guy working with us quickly found a junction block with corrosion in one of the sockets. BINGO! Once replaced, no more blown fuses. Then disconnecting the upstairs radio control box from the databus system restored full function to all our complex systems.
No wonder we had struggled to resolve these ourselves. 🤷🏻‍♂️

So with the USA out of our plans we started to wander back south to clear the hurricane risk area by the end of may.
St Kitts was our first stop.
Small but friendly island with British colonial history.
We toured the island a little. Highlights are the fort at Brimstone Hill with museum. Very interesting and in remarkably good condition/restoration. Also super terrace cafe.
The fort was first utilised for British artillary to capture the French fort below on the coast. Seems a little remiss of the French to allow the enemy such advantage. Having conquered the French part of what was then a shared island, the British set about fortifying the volcanic peak that granted the victory. It became known as the "Gibraltar" of the Caribbean.
Next is the railway. Yes St Kitts has a railway. They have repurposed the old narrow gauge railway that was built to circle the island collecting up all the sugar for processing back at the capital Basseterre.
The track no longer completes the full circle, the missing track is substituted with road coaches.
On the drive north we passed Bloody Point. Here the French and British collaborated to massacre the previously welcoming natives.
Onto the train and a great day out with lovely views around the island.
Loved our time at St Kitts.

We traced the LH engine compartment leak to debond of the sugar scoop upper and lower mouldings.
We can only speculate, but previous 'knocks' weakening the joint and the final straw probably the vibration caused by the propellor blade loss.
We looked around and found prices less than half in St Kitts.
25 hours later we were much closer to our budget. Got the boat hauled and repair done for nearly the cost of lift in BVI.
Hard to say we were not disappointed with the BVI.
Yes they have had a double whammy of hurricane and covid, but business needs a longer term plan than making good losses so quickly.
St Kitts doesn't offer a great deal, (but enough) but it is very friendly and has much more competitive prices in general.

Can't really come all the way to BVI and not visit such beach bar legends as Foxys or Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke island.
Another historical pirate stronghold.
Having 'spread the wealth' previously in White bay, we hiked over the hill into Great Harbour. Hot steep sweaty walk, but good views.
This is the island "capital". So when you look at the cover photo of their "high st." please bear in mind the island permanent population is around 250 with additional seasonal 'off island' helpers.
Really just a beach bar holiday island with a few exclusive resorts and prices to match.
It has been nice to rub shoulders with the rich, but we like prices more in-line with our pocket. Pretty though we think you will agree from the gallery pics.