It used to be Hazzell Island when this was Danish territory, connected to St Thomas Island and so not really an island itself at all. The Danes dredged a channel to separate the peninsula. Now it is known as Hassel Island. The U.S. took over this part of the West Indies in the olden days and it became the American Virgin Islands, early in the twentieth century. None of this may be true, but that's the story I have been told. And why am I telling you this story? Because today David, Portia and I (Steve) dinghied to Hassel Island to hike and explore. Another interesting fact that no one else will find interesting is that Portia and I use my brother's address as our mailing address in the U.S. He lives on Hessel Avenue. Is this a coincidence? Or were we meant by fate to find ourselves on Hassel Island?

We landed on a small rocky beach not far from Leu Cat, pulled the dinghy ashore, tied her up to a not so stout tree and contemplated how to get from there to the trails that our research told us were located on the island. We were not too sure about the wisdom of this landing as another dinghy was tied up to the same tree. It's pontoons had deflated long ago and it was full of rocks, presumably washed into it by months or years of tides. But we are intrepid adventurers so we pushed on up the hill. For some time we found no trail, and were attacked by any number of different local flora with sharp thorns and sticky bark. Letting Portia find a way, David and I followed her lead. She made it fine up the hill to the ruins of an army barracks from the 1800s. David and I were bleeding from multiple small wounds by the time we arrived and found Portia and the trail. From there we explored the lower half of the island. Remains of stone barracks, the Hazzell cemetery (we decided not to rob the graves) and an old trash heap in which David found some interesting shards of old pottery. At the top of the hill on the southern end of the island, we found the old battery which has a commanding view of St Thomas and the sea. This battery served as protection for the islands and later as a signal point into the 1960s. We made our way back to the dinghy with only a few more punctures on the way, made a quick trip to the local grocery for bananas, bread and cookies, then headed back to Leu Cat for lunch and a well-deserved nap.

Later Mary Margaret made delicious spaghetti with her homemade sauce, David added pork chops for him and me, and we all enjoyed a fine dinner with red wine.

Then disaster struck. David said yesterday that I nearly always win our Mexican Train games, as I should. Tonight they all ganged up on me and I was out of the running by the second of thirteen rounds. For the others, the game was close right up to the end, with David taking home the victory in the last round. Congratulations to David for a hard fought victory! I'll get him tomorrow.

Oh, by the way, tomorrow we head out in the morning for St John, a voyage of some 15 or 16 nautical miles. We expect heads winds, so we will probably be motoring all the way. At least we'll keep the batteries charged that way.