On to the Virgins

January 30...Had a great time last night catching up with a few people and eating Euros, lamb for Peter and zucchini for me.  The best!  So sorry to leave here actually.  We have been here for one month.  Unbelieveable! Yes we are catching that 2 30 bridge and leaving for the US from there.
Latest Caper arrived from the BVIs this morning so will have a chat with Marty and Apple prior to leaving.  Winds are going to be light - 7 to 10 knots, waves 3 - 4 feet.  Hopefully a good passage.  We will meet up with Tarantella, Al and Michelle in Charlotte Amalie.


looking out to our anchorage at Orient Bay - Mistress of the Wind and Second Hand Rose in the distance

kite boarders flying right by the boat. Orient was a haven for them as well as windsurfers

January 29...Well we are not there yet nor are we definite about whether it is the US or British but we have been invited to a Super Bowl party in Charlotte Amalie so I guess you can figure out where we will be.
Plans are to catch the 2:30 bridge opening on the French side tomorrow and head out directly from there.  That is assuming all is well here at Bobby's/Andy's dock.  We are pushing to have the anchor fine tuned.
New post has been started as I could not get back to the St. Martin one....lots of problems in setting up the posting on the table (where I take the pictures and I did take lots in Orient Bay).  Although when I tried to take some of the beach, I was told no pictures.....we happened to be on the nude beach and who would think I would like to take pictures of all those old people....but the beach was lovely!
I had posted on January 27 but I deleted that so basically anchored there for two nights and spent some time with Secondhand Rose, Lou, Lydia and Bug.  It was nice to be away from the mosquitos and noseeums.  The dinghy adventure was fine......it got loose from the painter and I was in the dinghy alone, never really driving it but luckily the key was there and I was able to manoeuvre it back to the boat although it was a bit of a struggle as I forgot about forward.  But all was well.
Below is a picture of Steve Jobs' yacht, Venus,en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus which is at a dock in Simpson Bay.  When we arrived in St. Martin we saw it going out and noticed it was a different shape and wondered about it.  Later we were told it was his.  Poor man, never saw it completed.


Steve Jobs' boat

USVIs and BVIs

April 6...Grrrrrrrr, curses, last night I updated all and must have pressed an incorrect button and all my work for the last two months disappeared.  Had to have a couple of drinks after that one.  But all is well this morning and really it is not my life's work so forging ahead......
Stayed overnight at Crown Bay on the 31st after waiting at the fuel dock for an hour and a half for our slip on C dock.  It ended up that the boat never did leave so we ended up on C dock which is a much shorter dock and it is a good thing that we are all pretty flexible in climbing over the life lines.
Motored to Francis Bay where we spent two nights.  One day was spent at Cinnamon Bay where we rented a paddle board.  On to Salt Pond, motor sail was pretty rough.  Two days were spent there, visited Concordia, Drunk Bay and some snorkeling.  Emily's Go Pro takes fantastic pictures and she followed a turtle while snorkeling.
Last night was spent at Caneel which is not the best anchorage as there are constantly ferries and other traffic going by.  Spent the afternoon at Salomon Beach, next to Honeymoon.  The sand at the beach there is beautiful white and very fine.  Not a very large beach but pleasant.
Today, into Cruz Bay, to check out of the US, and then on to Brewers Bay where we will spend the night. Tomorrow a relatively early start on to Salinas, the south east end of Vieques where we will meet up with Second Hand Rose.

turtle at Salt Pond

Manta at Salomon Bay

Drunk Bay

Drunk Bay

Puerto Rico

view from hotel

Tuesday was laundry day and Emily our DD drove us to find a laundry.  Quite an experience.  Peter stayed back to finished up the boat.

view from the boatyard

 Left the boat yard about 5 p.m. and on to the BestWestern in San Juan.  Out for dinner for Truifongo a local dish, basically a mash of green and sweet plaintain and cassivata|??  Today a walk on the beach outside our hotel and then home.  Last night when I woke up in the middle of the night I experienced the rocking action as if we were on a rolly anchorage.  Guess that will take a while.
On Sunday, took a break and visited the El Yunque rainforest.  The various colours of green were amazing.  Emily and I did a hike down to the main falls where you could swim.  But so many people, everyone else was there as well. So many falls along the way.  The way down was about a half hour walk, swimming in the falls 15 minutes and another half hour back.  Great exercise.

viewing tower constructed in the 60s to replace one construsted in 1937

view from the tower

more empty docks and why is this boat going out

same boat crashing in the waves out to sea

more empty docks

empty docks

The marina is great, clean, nice pool, gorgeous views but just one problem.  The swells come in, bounce off the break wall and bounce back on another one.  This makes for a really rolly night.  The one line has chafed and we feel as if we are being snapped back every once in a while.  Apparently, the engineers are working on it and they promise us it will be corrected on our return.

part of the break wall surrounding the marina and yet the swells stills come in

gorgeous view from the pool

April 12...

entering the marina at Palmas del Mar

marina in the distance

Here I sit at 1 30 in the morning, updating the blog.  We are in the marina, working hard and having trouble with Internet during the day.  Beautiful, large but pretty empty marina.  The entrance was a bit tricky in that there were huge swells at the narrow entrance before the marina.

sun today while working, that's the top of our mast

this was amazing and don't really know what it was

a beach walk over to Wydham Hotel, beach was full of seaweed

other side of the beach, red flags were up, no swimming and a huge turtle nesting area

Emily and I sat in the outdoor lobby, people watching

our friend, Iggy

More pictures of marina, marina wall and swimming pool to come.  The swells come into this marina bounce off a far wall and back and it feels as if we are at an anchorage.  Work this morning, and then off to the rain forest for the afternoon.

All is well, sails down, dinghy motor up and tomorrow is haul out.