It was way back in May 2010 when we received our first blog comment from Michael commenting on our blog and asking a sailing technique question. At that time, we were literally in the middle of the South Pacific, still a few days from making landfall in the Marquesas in French Polynesia. Since that time, we have emailed each other close to 70 times. Whew! Thus, we feel that we have known each other very well. Michael is the proud owner of a Lagoon 440. His boat is only a year younger than ours. As you can see, we have a lot in common.

Well, today, we finally hooked up as he, his lovely wife Sara Lee, his daughter Larissa, and their good friends from Texas, Robin and Keven, came to our boat. They had just arrived up in Simpson Bay this morning. Once cleared in and tied up at the Simson Bay Marina, they rented a car and drove to find us. How great is that!

After introductions and a brief stay on Leu Cat we all walked over to The Green House to have lunch that Michael was gracious enough to insist on treating all of us to a lunch/dinner. We swapped stories and share views and just had a wonderful time. We so enjoyed each other that we ended up staying at our table until almost 1730. At that time, we then walked over to the boardwalk and find a gelato shop. As we spooned down our frozen goodness we continued to learn more about each of us and so enjoyed what we learned. By the time we finally said goodbye it close to 1900 and it was like saying farewell to friends that we had known forever. What a great day and wonderful friends.

Tomorrow, we sail off to St Croix. It is just about 95 nm and will be an overnight sail. The winds are predicted to be light so we might end up motoring most of the way. Once there, we will be greeted by Rick, another blog reader friend. He and his wife have kindly invited us to spend a few days with them and have offered us their guest house. They used to own a Lagoon 500 and we can hardly wait to meet them and listen to the stories that they can share with us regarding their cruising days.

If you have kept up with our blog, you know that it has led us to meeting all kinds of great people from all around the world and we are so fortunate to have that opportunity.