We have been in the Caribbean almost three weeks and it has been quite a while since I crafted a blog. Somehow, after seeing and doing so much in the Med and preparing for the greatest sailing experience of our collective lives, I just didn't have it in me to write. But today, the first day of 2009, gave me the gift of inspiration.

Let's go back a few weeks. We arrived in Rodney Bay, St Lucia after crossing 2800 nm in 20 days. I personally still find it almost unbelievable that we sailed across the ocean. We are now in a very small club of sailors who have shared in this sailing adventure. After a week of ARC celebrations and chilling out, we said good bye to Maris and headed up islands sailing to Antigua. On our first morning out after a rather bumpy evening, Bruce cast the lines with our new fishing lures. Having caught a few fish during the crossing but losing way more, we were determined to improve our success and had invested in lures and hooks. I am assuming that I am the only wife out there that asked her husband for fishing tackle for Christmas. Well, the investments (which arrived before December 25th) paid off and after 30 minutes, we landed a beautiful dorado. Nothing like a fish to start off the day.

We sailed for a total of 36 hours up to Antigua where we spent two days touring the island, meeting up with Johnnie and Kate, a N(not an)ARC boat who left a few days before us from Las Palmas and arrived a day after us in Antigua. Johnnie was transferred by his company in England to Australia and he and his wife are taking the slow route via sail. We also toured Nelson's Dockyard, where my brother was in heaven walking the grounds where Nelson himself made his home.

We left Antigua and sailed overnight to St Maarten, docking on the Dutch side in Simpson Bay where we took advantage of the large ships chandleries and restocked the boat with some much needed parts and reprovisioned our pantry. Along the way we also picked up some last minute Christmas gifts and Aunt Marlene found interesting Channukah gifts. We sailed our last overnighter from St Maarten to the BVI in howling winds on our starboard aft quarter which meant following seas and big winds. With just our genoa up and reefed we averaged 7knts and made great time into the BVI.

It felt like coming home as we came upon the Bitter End in the North Sound. We anchored off Leverick Bay where we spent Christmas Eve and day. The kids were delighted to see that Santa could find us after all this time away from home and dropped off some lovely gifts for the entire crew of Windancer. Taking advantage of the winds we sailed downwind to Cooper Island, again relishing in big winds with our gennaker up and making 8 knots the entire way. We tied up on a mooring ball, snorkeled and settled into a rousing game of Euchre only to be interrupted by a quick bump around 11pm. Running up on deck we were surprised to see that we had beached ourselves. It appears we had chafed through our lines, but Windancer simply turned to shore, glided past three boats, avoided the rocks, stayed clear of the dock and beached herself in the sand. We motored out, reattached a mooring line, threw out an anchor for good measure and returned to our game. The next morning we snorkeled in one of our favourite spots, the rock on the tip of the bay where we saw tremendous sea life including a 4 foot barracuda.

Leaving on the 26th we headed up to St Johns in the USVI, cleared customs, spent the afternoon and then sailed over to Christmas Cove for another afternoon of great snorkeling. We had another first that day, as Bruce landed two fish providing the crew with a sushi snack and fish dinner prepared by Connor in a citrus chilli sauce.

The morning of the 28th we saw off brother Bruce and family and spent the rest of the day cleaning up the boat as we got ready for our friends Dave, Michelle and daughters Caroline (13) and Sabrina (7) who joined us on the 29th. Sailors themselves who also took a sabbatical with their family and sailed the Caribbean for 8 months, we looked forward to sharing time back with them in the BVI. We rang in New Years in the infamous Foxy bar along with 2000 other happy sailors. We returned to the boat with feet smelling, in Connor's words, of urine and reefer (for all readers, please address to comments who will field all questions).

This morning, we brought up the anchor and sailed over to Tortolla. I cast out new lures and happily spied a 5 pound tuna snag on our line (this was the second fish in as many days). After an early morning in Soper's Hole picking up a few groceries we returned to Nanny Cay, the marina Windancer called home for three years while in charter. It was with a heavy heart that we saw B dock entirely empty as the Catamaran Company has temporarily moved up island. We all headed to the pool from where Dave, Connor and I donned our snorkeling gear and headed into the reef outside the marina.

This is where inspiration returned. Snorkelling the reef, we heard shouts and two young boys told us there were dolphins. (It seems John had seen them frolicking off the pier and many of the pool guests had ventured down to the beach to see the four dolphins including mother and baby.) I removed my mask and there, a mere 30ft away, saw the fins crest the water. After calling Connor and Dave, I watched in wonder. Dave, braver than me, snorkeled forward until he was 15 feet from them. They stopped to observe him and then continued on their way. It was unbelievable that we snorkeled with dolphins. I dream of seeing turtles and rays, but seeing dolphins while swimming seems almost inconceivable.

It is a moment I shall not forget and with hope, is a sign of the wonderful year ahead of us.

Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2009, John, Ziggy, Connor and Jenny.