We are back anchored in beautiful Rodney Bay for a few days while we wait for Angela's Brother to join us. We did a hike up to Fort Rodney just above where our boat is anchored.

We will be heading North towards Martinique next week!

Here is a link to some photos of our short hike at the Fort.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/oVJyZXGs9cso8WHS7

The Boys, Ashley and Angela on the Beach at Keasons bay.

We are headed South to the Grenadines for a few days and stopped overnight at a bay on the West shore of St Vincent. This tropical bay with lush dramatic mountains behind it and black sand beaches was the location for many of the scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean. Many of the props and things from the movie are still there next to the Customs office where we checked in. It feels like a place from an age gone by.

We were anchored in a tiny bay with only two other boats. We were back up to a sheer cliff in crystal clear water. The boys and Ashley took the paddle board to the beach and of course ended up kicking a soccer ball around with some really young local boys. We bought 7 fresh lobsters from a local boat boy to have for dinner tommorow night.

It's again very hard to understand how lush and dramatic the island is from a picture. The eerie beeping of tiny rain frogs every evening and the tropical smells really make you feel like you are in a differant world.

Angela arrived on Saturday, the twins arrived yesterday along with Taylor's girlfriend Ashley. We went to the grocery store this morning to provision and then headed out to finally explore St Lucia.
After a great easy 3 hour sail we arrived at the Pitons of St Lucia. These volcanic formations rise dramatically from the ocean and tower over palm covered tropical beaches. The size and scale of these are hard to capture.
We will spend the night anchored in this tropical cove and then head out tomorrow for a short sail south to St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Watching the sunset from such an incredible location feels like a great way to celebrate a belated Holiday with my family. I really wish Cody could have joined us.

During our Crossing we had a few really spectacular sunsets! This one in particular was quite vivid. It's interesting when you have more time on your hands you begin to look forward to and appreciate things like a sunset.

Some of the things that were harder to capture were the stars at night when you are a thousand miles from any light pollution , or the beauty of seeing bio-luminescence as it glows from the turbulence of your wake in the middle of the night. These things you often witness alone while on watch and everyone else is asleep.

As you travel thru the journey that is life, you need to appreciate these moments. Life is a journey and you need to put yourself out there to experiance things. You may never know exactly what or when these moments will occur, but unless you are open to the unknown you may be missing the beauty of the world that's just around the corner. Sometimes the unexpected isn't always easy or pleasant, but overcoming the challenges and then finding the good side of the unexpected is well worth the risk.

After a little over 12 days at sea we have arrived in St Lucia. We actually slowed down on purpose the last 24 hours so that we would not arrive in the middle of the night. There is an incredibly narrow channel into Rodney Bay and we timed it just right to come thru at about 7 in the morning on Christmas Day.

Overall a very good passage and a really good speed to get here as quickly as we did. Our tanks are still full and the boat did great. No unexpected issues or surprises.

Now to rest up and get ready for my family. I figure it will take me quite a few days to get the boat "Angela Clean" before she arrives at the end of the week.