2nd April

18 21 N
64 45 W

Weather; sunny, wind 10 knots SE, waves 1to 2 feet

WISHING MY FAVOURITE SISTER KAY A VERY HAPPY, IF SOMEWHAT ISOLATED, BIRTHDAY - HOPE THERE ARENT TOO MANY LIKE THIS ONE!

ALSO A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ENGINEER DAVID, I THINK ITS TODAY - IF NOT LET ME KNOW!

So today we had planned to leave the harbor at 10am and head back to Frances Bay, the weather forecast was for great weather and a chance to sail but you can never be sure! We were up fairly early and returned our dinghy to its travelling spot in the davits and put the wheel back into position (we remove it if we are securely anchored or on a mooring as it gives us more space in the cockpit).
At 9.45am Lorie text us to say they were ready and about to leave - 15 minutes early. We grabbed our headsets and started our engine, Gerry took up his position at the bow to haul in the anchor and I took the helm as usual. As we were hauling in the anchor we were getting closer to a catamaran that was anchored nearby and Gerry called out asking them if they would mind moving their boat forward a little as we didn't want to bump into them, they were very obliging and moved about 20 foot so that we could safely haul up our anchor without causing a major incident. Once the anchor was up we turned and headed out of the harbor following in the wake of Gypsy Palace. Gerry readied the main sail as there was a chance we would be able to fly it today and once we had cleared the harbor and were out of the fairway we turned into wind and hoisted the main, not that it was doing much good at this point but we would be changing direction very shortly and hopefully the wind would be coming at us from a position we could sail from. As we turned the wind was only just off our nose so we put the main over the centerline to give us some assistance, then we put up the stay sail and Barber hauled it to windward which then gave us some sail power. As we turned off the wind we put up the jib and eased the stay sail and the main until we were able to sail properly. The engine went off and we were flying along doing 5.5 to 6 knots until we got to the cut by Christmas Cove when we put the engine on idle to make sure we made it through the cut with no issue as the wind has been known to die through there. Once clear of the cut the engine went back off and the wind speed picked up, we chose to go closer to the wind, taking a different path to Gypsy Palace to maximize the apparent wind. Our speed picked up and we hooned along doing up to 7.8 knots (yeah Maz- it wasn't on the nose for a change!) but with an average of 6 knots for the rest of the passage. Once we were in sight of Frances Bay we furled the jib and stay sail, started the engine, turned into wind and dropped the main and motored into the mooring field. As expected there wasn't a single mooring empty, we motored all around just to be certain and Gypsy Palace called us up to say that they were going to try Waterlemon Bay and we chose to follow them. Once again, as expected, Waterlemon Bay was packed to the rafters and not a mooring ball to be had, why didn't we just anchor? Well the water was 50 foot plus deep in the bay and we didn't want to be swinging around on the amount of chain we would have had to drop and we couldn't be sure of the holding there. A quick discussion with Dale and we decided to begin heading back to Charlotte Amalie but agreed to scout out the smaller bays on the way as Gerry thought there were mooring balls in the bays close by. We lead the way out to the closest bay to Frances and Moho and sure enough there were 6 mooring balls and only one had anything on it so we headed in to Cinnamon Bay and picked up a mooring very easily. There is a spectacular little beach in front of us and it is very quiet here, in some ways it's a better choice than Frances and Moho Bays, which we can easily dinghy to if we wish. Once we were securely moored with the engine shut down I went below to have a sleep whilst Gerry replaced the shackle between the swivel and the anchor as the pin in the old one kept coming loose. He also put up the awnings and covers to provide some shade as it was a very hot afternoon.
We both had a cocktail when the clock struck 5 but we chose not to remain on the cockpit as it was still hot. Dinner was a bit later and I've spent the past hour or so typing and posting this blog. Maybe tomorrow is a snorkeling day!