We got to the VI's in mid Nov and have been island hopping since then. The holidays were a little strange in the tropics. On Xmas eve we hooked up with about 30 other rubber dinks and floated about Francis Bay passing hor d’oeuvres, having drinks and singing xmas carols to the accompaniment of a trumpet and electronic keyboard. We regularly snorkel, SCUBA and work on boat projects. We read lots of books. (A friend of ours keeps a spreadsheet and has read over 600 books.) We have made lots of friends and get together for a newly found game of dominos or we join in for a regular event called, "sundowners" (drinks and food - everybody brings something - replaces dinner).
We had a late January visit from my son Cory and his girlfriend, Carrie. Visited the US and BVI islands.
In late February, we had wonderful guests aboard from NJ. We enjoyed great weather, food, snorkeling, sailing and relaxing. We enjoyed their company and welcome them any time.
We saw an exciting event three days ago on route from St James Island to St John about one mile off shore. Terry said “look over there, lots of splashes.” We got the binoculars and he said looks like some water activity going on. We made a 180 turn and headed for the splash. Apparently, one of the many goats on the islands had fallen into the water and drowned (hide your eyes for a sentence of so). As we got there, a large (8')shark was munching on it. We got very close in time for Terry to see the shark swallow the hindquarter with one bite. Needless to say, we did not plan to snorkel that day.
Before provisioning the boat, we plan to leave the VIs in early May, sail to Bermuda (850 nautical miles [nm]), re-provision the boat and make any repairs needed (hopefully non) and then leave for the Azores (1800nm). We will cruise the Azores for several weeks and then head for Portugal (900nm). After that, we will sail to Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean.
We are currently in St Croix for a few days to head back to either St John or St Thomas. Before we leave, we will undoubtedly anchor off of famous Buck Island east of St Croix for the evening and for some daytime snorkeling.
Stay well, please check into the guest book; we truly enjoy reading them.
We have been busy getting ready for two significant passages, St Thomas to Bermuda and then Bermuda to the Azores, a group of islands off the coast of Portugal. Besides the food shopping/provisioning, we have completed some pending small projects and improvements on the boat. Zelda is in great shape and ready to go. We have enjoyed our winter here in the US and British VIs, but we are now ready to go. Islands that we visited included Jost VanDyke, Tortola, Virgin Gorda, St Croix, St James, St John, St Thomas. Sailing to these islands also took us along some other smaller islands that all have names. The snorkeling was great; our largest underwater sighting was a 4-5 foot barracuda and while onboard Zelda one evening, had the company of a 6 foot dolphin that swan around Zelda continuously for 30 minutes. A swimmer snorkeled around it trying to get a ride, but the dolphin would have no part in it.
During our upcoming passages, two confident sailors from RYC will be flying into St Thomas on May 5 to sail with us to Bermuda (about 850 nm, about 8.5 days offshore). We will leave St Thomas on May 6 if we have a good weather window. Once we arrive in Bermuda, we will spend a week or two there and change crew with two new confident sailors who will join us for the transatlantic crossing (about 1800 nm, about 14 days offshore). This segment of our trip will be the longest, continuous offshore trip for both Terry and me. For both passages, we will setup somewhat typical watches with two members on watch while the other two are off. Of course, there is cooking, cleanup chores, etc. to share in. We are planning to spend a bit of time sailing the various Azores islands before we make the 800-900 nm trip from the Azores to Portugal.