​Current Location:  Ile Fourchue Mooring, St. Barths
Miles Traveled:  3
Weather:  Partly sunny, frequent showers, windy (10-25), high-70s
Highlights: Decided we needed a change of scenery this morning (plus we found out that Columbier has a 7-consecutive days limit), so motored across the channel to Ile Fourchue.  Gusty winds and 6-7 foot seas on the trip over, but fortunately only 2 miles of open water before catching the lee of the island.  Dropped anchor, but the one and only mooring ball opened up shortly after, so we picked up anchor and grabbed the ball.  High winds kicked up just as we arrived, so we had quite an adventure trying to fight the wind and stay over the ball enough to hook it, but once tied on, we had a very relaxing afternoon and evening.  Steaks on the grill with all the fixings while we watched a few episodes of The Good Fight.

Current Location:  Anse de Columbier Mooring, St. Barths
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional showers, windy (15-25), high-70s
Highlights: Happy Valentine's Day to my lovely bride of 37+ years.  Celebrated with a trip into Gustavia today.  Walked up to the lighthouse (couldn't get near it, however, due to construction), then over to Shell Beach for an hour.  Lunch at "Le Select" (cheeseburgers and beers), then picked up some provisions at the AMC grocery before heading back to the boat for relaxing afternoon, then light dinner and a movie before turning in.

​Current Location:  Anse de Columbier Mooring, St. Barths
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional brief showers, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: We've been hanging out here at Anse de Columbier for the past few days enjoying the sheltered, picturesque bay, clear water, and lovely beach.  We're waiting for a break in the weather to continue our trip down through the islands, but it looks like we won't get a break until middle of next week at the earliest.  Waves right now are 6-8 feet, building even higher over the next few days, and our comfort level is 4 feet or less.  In the meantime, we've visited Gustavia a couple of times, and plan to rent a car soon to tour the island and see the sights.  Deb and Dennis are here with us, and we've had dinners and game nights both on our boat as well as theirs.  Also taking time to get some cleaning and laundry done, wrap up some small projects, and finish installing the hardware for the parasailor.  Might be a couple of weeks before the winds and weather are mild enough to fly it, but looking forward to that day immensely.

​Current Location:  Anse de Columbier Mooring, St. Barths
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (5-10), high-70s
Highlights: Took the dinghy to Gustavia this morning to clear in, then find a place for lunch.  Check-in was pretty simple (computerized, friendly, and we pay when we check out), but finding a good restaurant was more of a challenge.  Only 3 places open around the waterfront, two were packed, so we tried the 3rd (Victoria's).  Got a good table, waited 20 minutes for a busboy to clear it, waited another 20 minutes for a waiter, finally went and got our own menus, waited another 10 minutes, then finally gave up and left.  Walked around the waterfront for a bit, hiked up the hill to the old fort (closed for 3 hours for mid-day lunch break), then back to the earlier pub where the crowd had thinned out.  Found a nice table, service was ok, food was so-so (cheeseburger for Terry, mahi-mahi sandwich for Amy, plus a couple of drinks), and the bill was only!! $90.00, including tip.  At these prices, we'll be mostly eating on the boat for the next week or so.

​Current Location:  Ile Fourchue Anchorage, St. Barths
Miles Traveled:  13
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (5-10), high-70s
Highlights: Raised anchor and took the 10:30 outbound bridge opening to Simpson Bay, dropped anchor, and went into the customs office to clear out of SXM.  Paid $81 for 3 weeks of anchoring plus 3 uses of the bridge, then raised anchor at 1PM and headed ESE for St. Barths.  First stop would be Ile Fourchue, about 12 miles away, and with the wind and 2-3 foot seas directly on our nose, we arrived at the anchorage just after 3PM, with XYZZY right behind us.  Dropped anchor, got the water maker going, then had time for a quick nap before dinner of grilled salmon with rice, beans, and salad.  Dennis and Deb came over for desert and cards, and we wrapped things up just after 9PM.  Good to finally be on the move again!

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, calm (0-5), high-70s
Highlights: We finally chased \the gremlin out of our generator this morning, and feeling very relieved.  We brought the service rep from ElecTec out to the boat, and he discovered that the issue was exactly what we had figured.  He found a loose connection in the high-voltage box (which we weren't comfortable with tampering with), so we can finally put that issue to rest once and for all.  Terry went up the mast a couple of times today to install the cell phone antenna signal extender, which should give us better reception (both voice and data) as we make our way down the islands.  Wrapped up just in time for dinner and a couple of episodes of The Ranch before turning in.  We clear out tomorrow - time to start our journey south.  First stop . . . St. Barths!

Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, morning showers, calm (0-5), high-70s
Highlights: We continue to chase down the issue with our generator, as well as work on other projects and chores.  The generator has been running perfectly over the past 2 days, but we know that it could start acting up again at any time, and we still don't know the reason why.  We made an appointment with ElectTec for one of their service guys to come out and look at the issue, and moved the boat back into the lagoon yesterday to make it more convenient for that service call, and also because the swells out in the bay were starting to build from the southerly winds.  Went over to XYZZY tonight for dinner and dominoes with Deb and Dennis, and had a very enjoyable evening.  Hopefully, if tomorrow goes well with the ElecTec rep, we can wrap things up here in Sint Maarten and head for St. Barths on Friday.  Fingers crossed!!

​Current Location:  Simpson Bay Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  1
Weather:  Partly sunny, occasional showers, breezy (5-10), high-70s
Highlights: Moved the boat out to Simpson Bay this morning (after topping off the fuel tanks), with plans to head SE tomorrow to St. Barths.  However, after dropping anchor, we couldn't get the generator to start.  She would crank, and was getting plenty of gas, but wouldn't fire up.  Dennis came over to take a look and help with some diagnostics.  Seems to be a continuation of our issues with the starter switch (shutdown relay).  Anyway, since we depend on the generator to run our watermaker (as well as A/C and to charge up our batteries), we figured St. Marten was the best place to get it fixed, so we'll delay our trip south for a few more days.  Made a trip into the grocery store (Carrefour) for provisions, plus another quick trip to Island Waterworld for some small parts.

Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly cloudy, frequent showers, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: Been wrapping up some projects over the past few days (replace the starboard bilge pump, map out and purchase hardware for the parasailor, etc), and also have gotten in a few trips to the grocery store for provisions.  Picked up the parasail from FedEx on Wednesday - big box to load into the dinghy, but nice to finally have it on the boat!  Now we just need to figure out best way to rig the sheets and guys.  Terry helped Dennis with replacing his radar unit (Dennis went up the mast while Terry handled the lines), and Dennis returned the favor with some good advice on the parasail.  We're also planning to take a month-long to Europe this fall (combination of river cruises and land-based travel), and have been spending lots of time planning the itinerary and booking hotels, air fares, tours, and cruise details.  We've been working with Donia for much of the planning (she runs a travel agency from her Orlando home), and that's helped immensely with the process.  Sint Maarten isn't the most exciting island in the Caribbean, but it's certainly one of the best places to hang out for a few weeks, with sheltered waters, convenient marine stores, and reasonable prices for groceries and marine services.

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional showers, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: Took the boat over to Island Waterworld this morning to load up 100' of anchor chain.  Dock was a bit tricky to get into (bit of a zig-zag into the berth), but managed fine, and chain got linked onto the end of our existing chain and loaded onto the boat with no problems.  Back out to the lagoon to drop anchor again - nice to see some shiny new chain links sliding under the surface!  

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Morning showers, afternoon sunshine, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: Finished installing the genoa tracks today (had to run into the marine hardware store for some additional bolts).  Went out to dinner with Deb and Dennis (Skip Jacks, good food, service, somewhat pricey, 4/5 stars), then over to the Princess Casino for awhile where we contributed our fair share to the local economy.

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly cloudy, frequent showers, windy with gusts (25-35), high-70s
Highlights: Worked on replacing the genoa tracks and cars today.  Fairly straightforward process, and finished everything except putting end caps on the tracks (need to get some special bolts for those tomorrow.  Pleased to finally have that issue behind us - no more worries about damaged sheaves and blocks, and we'll need these when we finally get the parasailor rigged.  Light dinner tonight, then read and got caught up on emails, calls, and blogs before turning in.

Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional showers, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: Decided to see the island today, so shared a rental car with Deb and Dennis from XYZZY.  Started with a walk-around of Fort St. Louis (awesome views), then drove around the French side to Oriental Bay (with a side trip to Anse Marcel), and ate lunch at Le Telegraphe (3/5 stars).  After lunch, we watched the parasailors scoot around the bay, then walked around Phillipsburg.  Back to the boat around 5:30, crashed for the rest of the evening.

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, morning showers, breezy (5-10), high-70s
Highlights: Terry went with Dennis into town to run some errands, then we took the dinghy up to Marigot for lunch at O'Plongeoir (4/5 stars).  Stopped into Digicel to figure out how to make a voice call to the states (need to provide money into our account first - duh!!), then back to the boat for R&R.  Light dinner tonight while watching a couple more episodes of Outlander.

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional showers, windy with gusts (20-25), high-70s
Highlights: Terry took the dinghy over to Island Waterworld for a couple of items for the boat, then over to the FedEx store to get info on shipping the parasail to us here in Sint Maarten.  Wind picked up throughout the day, with higher gusts expected over the weekend, so we set our 2nd anchor out just to be sure we don't drag.  Heike and Juergen came over at 5 for sundowners and a tour of our boat, and as they were ready to leave, we noticed their boat sliding towards us as their anchor had given way.  Quick trip back to their boat to start up the engines and reset the anchor, but a restless night for everyone in the lagoon as the winds gusted throughout the night.  Fortunately, no more boats dragged, we stayed put, and dawn found all the boats in their rightful places.

Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, occasional showers, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: We took the dinghies over to Marigot (French side of the lagoon) today, had brunch at a waterfront bakery, then walked around the downtown market area.  Stopped into a Digicel store to purchase a SIMM card, which is supposed to work on most of the islands, spent some time trying to activate it, but couldn't get it to work in either our phones or the MiFi.  Went over to Lagoonies for happy hour and burgers with Heiki and Juergen from Valentine, a 2018 Leopard 40.  Enjoyed meeting them, discussing boat similarities and upgrades, and chatting about sailing plans and experiences.

​Current Location:  Siimpson Bay Lagoon Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  1
Weather:  Mostly sunny, windy (15-20), high-70s
Highlights: Winds were going to be picking up later in the week, so decided to move into the "Lagoon", which is a large protected body of water shared between the Dutch and French sides of the island.  The channel and bridge leading into the lagoon from the south (Dutch) side is very narrow, and only opens for one-way traffic.  Ideally, boats line up in a queue and proceed in an orderly fashion, but in reality, there's a lot of jockeying for position before the bridge opens, followed by a mad dash to get a position, then (of course) the ones that get in front proceed through the bridge as if they were driving Miss Daisy to her hair appointment, while those behind are revving engines to hurry them along.  Lunch at the SXM yacht club (The Oar House), then dinner on XYZZY with Deb and Dennis.

​Current Location:  Simpson Bay Anchorage, Sint Maarten
Miles Traveled:  98
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: We left Maho Bay with XYZZY (our buddy boat) at noon on Sunday, and motored through the Drake Passage, out through the channel between Peter and Salt Islands, and east into the Anegada Passage and the open Caribbean.  Winds were on the nose most of the way (we raised the jib twice for a short time only), and we had 4-5 foot waves on our port bow the entire trip.  We had planned to average about 5.5 knots in order to arrive after sunrise the next morning, so we used one engine most of the way, and arrived pretty much on schedule, dropping anchor just after 7AM (19 hours).  Grabbed a couple hours of sleep, then went into customs office to clear in.  After paying the fees ($27.00) and getting an unsolicited lecture about how the US needs to provide departure papers, we were finally legal in Sint Maarten.  Took a quick tour of the inner lagoon, stopping at Budget Marine to introduce our selves to Jovyon, who is setting up a corporate account for us, it was back to the boat to relax and nap for the rest of the day.  Black beans and rice for dinner tonight while watching a beautiful sun set, then some research and itinerary planning for the rest of our trip before turning in for the night.

​Current Location:  Maho Bay Mooring, St. John, USVI
Miles Traveled:  6
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (10-15), high-70s
Highlights: Dropped the mooring lines around 10:30 this morning, and motored over to Maho Bay, picking up a mooring there just before noon.  This is our last full day in the Virgin Islands, and it seems fitting that our time here should end where it all began for us over 30 years ago.  Back in the mid-80s, we booked a week-long scuba charter on the Cuan Law, which at the time was the largest trimaran in the world at 105 feet.  We spent a week in the BVI's with friends from work, but before we started the charter, we booked a few days at Maho Bay campground, which at the time was an eco-friendly (and also budget-friendly) camping resort.  We spent 3 idyllic days soaking in the sun, snorkeling in the bay, and falling in love with each other and also with St. John.  The love has continued through the passage of time and in spite of all the changes, and we will be sorry to say goodbye, but the next phase of our journey starts tomorrow as we begin our trek down through the windward islands.  We are excited, a bit apprehensive, but well-prepared, and can't wait to get started!  Wish us fair winds and calm seas for tomorrow night!

Current Location:  Christmas Cove Mooring, St. Thomas, USVI
Miles Traveled:  4
Weather:  Partly cloudy, calm breeze (5-10), frequent showers, low-80s
Highlights: We've been planning to jump over to St. Martin as soon as we get a good weather window, and it looks like one might open up for us this coming Sunday night.  We have some final preparations to make, and got started by going into Cruz Bay first thing for groceries and to fill our empty propane tank.  After lunch and a couple of rain showers, we dashed across the channel to Red Hook to top of the diesel tanks at American Yacht Harbor marina.  Decided we were tired of all the rolling and wakes at Honeymoon, so ducked back down to Christmas Cove and grabbed the last mooring ball.  Got settled in by 3PM, with plenty of time for a nap and reading before dinner and a movie.  We'll stay here for a couple of days, then move up to Maho Bay on Saturday as a good starting point for our trip over.

​Current Location:  Honeymoon Bay Mooring, St. John, USVI
Miles Traveled:  3
Weather:  Partly sunny, breezy (10-15), frequent showers, low-80s
Highlights: Decided to check out the snorkeling this morning, and glad we did.  Saw 2 eagle rays, 1 giant turtle, schools of tangs, grunts, and yellow tails, and a host of other colorful fish.  Back to the boat around 11, got dried off, then a quick dash across the channel to Honeymoon Bay.  We had agreed to host our friends from Twocan and XYZZY for a New Year's Eve party, and they were already at Honeymoon.  Everybody gathered over at 7PM for a lovely dinner of ribs, baked beans, slaw, and all the fixings, then we played dominoes and farkle before welcoming in the New Year.  Party wrapped up shortly after, and we were asleep long before our east coast friends and family rang in the New Year 1 hour later.  Happy New Year, everyone!!

​Current Location:  Christmas Cove Mooring, St. Thomas, USVI
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Partly sunny, breezy, occasional showers, low-80s
Highlights: We've had on our "to-do" list for some time now a courtesy flag line.  Whenever we check into a new country, we lower the current flag, raise the Q flag, check in, then lower the Q flag and raise the new country's courtesy flag.  Currently, we use zip-ties to attached to one of the mast stays, but it's a bit of a pain, and with our upcoming trip through the windward and leeward islands, we figured it was time to rig a simpler system.  Amy hoisted me up the mast to the yardarm (about 40 feet up), and I attached a pulley to the underside, then ran a line back down to the deck.  Had to hang on for dear life during a few rolling wake periods, but no problems otherwise.  Back down on deck, attach a few snap hooks, raise the flag, and we're all set!  Project done, time for a well-deserved nap and sundowners!

Current Location:  Christmas Cove Mooring, St. Thomas, USVI
Miles Traveled:  11
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (10-15), low-80s
Highlights: Last few days we've been catching up on chores, small projects, and reading, but finally decided it was time to depart our noisy anchorage and start working our way east.  Motor-sailed out of the harbor and over to Buck Island to check out snorkeling and lobster possibilities (great snorkeling on southwest end of the island, but no lobster), then motored into building seas and headwinds over to Christmas Cove.  Grabbed the last mooring ball around 3PM, got the boat squared away, then settled down for naps and relaxing rest of the day.  Great sunset tonight - this cove is one of the best places  in the islands.

Current Location:  Charlotte Amalie Harbor Anchorage, St. Thomas, USVI
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Mostly sunny, breezy (10-20), low-80s
Highlights: It's Christmas, and we were woken at 5AM by island music blaring out over the waterfront.  Apparently, an early morning Christmas concert is a tradition around here.  Earlier this week, we were treated to about 4 hours of truck horns in celebration of trucker's pride day.  Something about this town and their boisterous celebrations!  Anyway, the early morning concert ended around 8, and we went back to sleep for a few more hours.  Neal from Twocan came over around noon to help with the generator problem (electric issues have been fixed, but couldn't get the fuel lines bled), which we finally diagnosed as the fuel pump installed backwards (yes, my mistake!), and from that point it was an easy fix.  Went into town mid-afternoon with Elizabeth and Neal and had a lovely dinner of seafood appetizers (mussels, calamari, octopus, etc) at the Amalia Cafe, then back to our boat for desert and dominoes.  Altogether, an interesting and enjoyable Christmas celebration in paradise.

​Current Location:  Charlotte Amalie Harbor Anchorage, St. Thomas, USVI
Miles Traveled:  0
Weather:  Partly sunny, breezy, frequent showers, low-80s
Highlights: Took Jennifer in the dinghy over to the taxi stand this morning, hugs and goodbyes said, then she was off to the airport and headed back to the real world.  Back to the boat for us, where we spent the rest of the day running the watermaker and getting laundry done.  Leftovers for dinner tonight, then watched a few episodes of Longmire before turning in for the night.