It's hard to imagine that it is Feb 6 already. I left Salinas late morning on Feb. 2. Since that might be my last internet access for some time, I had several things to take care of at the Cruiser's Galley. That's a small resturant, internet cafe that caters to the cruisers. They have really good breakfasts that include 15 minutes of internet access.

After getting everything ready to leave, I started to pull in the anchor. The chain had almost no mud on it, a welcome change, but it was covered with barnacles. After some thought, I could see no way to get rid of them so I left them alone and put the chain and barnacles in the chain locker. Sure am glad the locker it isolated from the cabin. After seeing how bad the chain was, I decided to stop outside the harbor and clean the prop. It had only been about a week since I had put the nice shiny prop on after having it reworked so I didn't expect it to be too bad. Wrong! It was almost completly covered with barnacles. They were small, about a 1/4 inch diameter but they covered about 80-90 of the prop surface. I didn't think they would grow so fast. While I was scraping them off, much to the delight of a small yellow fish that was trying to get everyone, there were two large, about 5 foot long, fish floating along side the keel. I don't know what they were but they were bigger than I like to see while I'm in the water.

It was about close to 2:00 pm before I got going again. That wasn't a problem since I had planned an overnight sail. I had the route in the GPS and it was only about 44 miles to Sun Bay, Viequez. Since it was going to be right into the wind, I figured I would make it to Sun Bay mid-morning. It didn't take too long to figure out why people don't like to beat into the wind. It just takes forever to get anywhere. Bella Vita doesn't point too well so you don't make a lot of progress into the wind. I didn't mind since it was a beautiful night and Puerto Rico is lite up like a Christmas tree at night. By morning, I was still not past the SE corner of Puerto Rico, about 25 miles from where I had started, but I had sailed about 60 miles. It's a good thing I like to sail. Once I got past the corner, I was able to tack parallel to the PR coast toward Viequez. I was not able to make Sun Bay on the first tack and had to tack south again for about 8 miles. The winds had been pretty good for the whole trip and the seas would at times get a little uncomfortable, about 6-8 feet but very short and steep. As I was getting close to Sun Bay, I got hit by a squall. I had been watching them on radar and couldn't see this one becuase there was no rain with it, just high winds. The wind went from about 14 knots to about 25 knots. 25 knots is not too bad if you are prepared but I was caught with full sail. A 150% Genoa doesn't like 25 knots. It hit so fast that I didn't have time to change sails so I luffed up and hoped it wouldn't last too long. For the first time, I had the rail significantly under water. I went for several minutes on the edge of control trying to keep moving fast enough to keep steering control but not overstress the rigging. Usually the squalls I've seen, not that I've been in a whole lot, have a very strong leading edge and then slack off fairly quickly. This on did not and I had to set the autopilot and go forward to drop the headsail. I thought that this would be a good time to have a roller furling headsail but then I'm not sure it could be furled in this high a wind. Anyway, I dropped the genoa and got it secured to the lifelines with no major problems. There were a couple of times that the bow took solid water of it while I was up there. Hadn't done that before. About the time I got back to the cockpit, the wind started to drop, along with my adrenaline level, and I had a nice sail to Sun Bay. Of course right as I started to enter Sun Bay, another squall hit. This one had rain but not much wind so it wasn't too bad. The biggest problem I had was that I had to take the PC below to keep it out of the rain and the only chart I had was the ENC on the PC so I had to enter the harbor by memory. I got in and anchored in what looked like a good spot. There was one other boat already there pretty much where I wanted to go but I was glad to get the anchor down.

Sun Bay is a large mostly open bay with a mile long palm lined beach. It was developed by the US navy when they started using the east end of Viequez for a bombing range. I took the dinghy and looked for a place to go ashore so I could get to town. I could not find anywhere where I could land the dinghy and have a reasonably good chance of getting it back through the surf when I wanted to leave.

Back on the boat, I opened the bilge to get something and saw water. That is not a good thing! The water is supposed to be outside. I quickly checked the through hull fittings looking for a leak and could not find any. I ran the engine to make sure there wasn't any leaks in the cooling or exhaust systems and couldn't find any. Then I remembered that one time when I went below to get something during the passage, I noticed that the galley sink was about half full of water. The galley sink is along the port side and when on a starborad tack, it is below the waterline. I never had a problem with water backing up into the sink because I had never had it heeled over so far. What happened was that while I was heeled over on a starboard tack, water had backed up through the galley sink drain far enough to overflow and run into the bilge. I had asked the previous owner about this possibility and he said he had never had a problem. Well I never had either until now. It's an easy problem to fix by simply closing the seacock on the drain before going out. That didn't help much now. When the water got into the bilge, it floated some old oil that was in an in-accessable part of the bilge. I knew the oil was there but didn't know how to get it out. Well, it was out and spread all over the bilge and into the lower cabinets. I started pumping out the water, and oil, and filtering it all through an oil absorbant pad before dumping it. For two days I pumped water out with the little electric drill powered pump I bought to change the engine oil. There were 99 gallons of water/oil in the bilge. I have most of it cleaned out now and have gotten most of the stuff cleaned and re-stored. I have one more section to do tomorrow. One good point though. I have always had a problem with a bad odor from the bilge. It appears that it was coming from the section with the oil in it and since I have cleaned that out, the odor seems to be gone.

I have not had much time to enjoy it but Sun Bay is nice. The swimming beach appears to be really well maintained with a large bath house at one end. There has been some swell coming into the harbor so the hazard flags are up and very few people swimming. I'm not sure there is ever very many people swimming since there aren't too many people on the island. Yesterday I saw a sting ray jump into the air. I had never seen that before but it was a good three feet out of the water. The town, Esperanza, looks like a one street town although they do have a couple of dive shops. I will probably move from Sun Bay around the point to the harbor at Esperanza so I can get to the dinghy dock there. I have been out here for three days now and not been ashore. Today there were actually 6 boats anchored here at one time but they have all left except for me. One was a large power yacht. It carried two "dinghies" on top. One looked like it was a ski boat about 18 feet long and the other was at least 20 feet with inboard power and an enclosed cabin. It was painted to match the mother ship. Very classy. The larger lauunch had underwater lights on it. The water glowed around it as it went across the harbor. The mother ship also had the underwater lights. There were several crew, in uniform, working on deck.

The swell gets a little annoying at times. Tonight I built a "flopper stopper," usually called a roll stabilizer, to keep the boat from rocking so much in the swells. It is basically just a large flat plate but is rigged so that it can go down when the boat rolls one way and then be hard to pull back up when the boat rolls the other way. It's simple in concept but geting all the lines in place took some time. It hangs from a halyard and is supported off the beam on a downwind pole. The swell direction is perpendicular to the wind and since the boat aligns into the wind, the swell is on the beam so the boat rocks. I put out the flopper stopper and it does seem to be helping.

Since leaving Salinas, I have sailed 91 miles and gone 8 miles further NORTH!

Feb. 7, 2006

I moved from Sun Bay around Cayo de Tierra to Esperanza harbor today. They have a little reminder of what can happen when you have a problem on a lee shore. I wanted to get my SCUBA tanks filled, check my email and a couple of other things so I went to town. The dive shop can't fill tanks because the owner hasn't shown up for a while and the tank service shop is out of business so I still don't have any air. I did find a couple of internet places and was able to check my email. The closest one doesn't have wireless so you have to use their computers. This is not a problem for email but I couldn't update the web site from there. I'll try to get to the other one and do it before I leave. That is Bella Vita in the middle of the picture and my dinghy is the second one from the end of the dock. The anchorage is not quite as nice and is not as protected but there is a dock where you can tie up your dinghy and go ashore. I wouldn't call it a dinghy dock because you have to climb up to the dock from your dinghy. Getting out wasn't too bad but getting back in to the dinghy was tough. Of course they have the required beautiful sunset here.

This is a nice little town. It is the most "touristy" town I've seen in Puerto Rico with a lot of little shops and resturants along the downtown boardwalk and a very nice little park a couple of blocks from the waterfront. Viequez is less than twenty miles long but about 9,000 people live on the island. Their water is piped in from Culebra, a small island about half way to St Thomas, in a pipeline built by the US Navy. I wanted to fill my tanks but could find any place where I could get to with the boat that had water. I think I have enough to last until I get to St Thomas so it's not a big problem.

I'll probably leave here tomorrow and stop for a night at Puerto Ferro. That is one of two bioluminescent bays on the south side of Vieques. The other one is not deep enough for me to get into but I can just make it into Ferro, I hope. These are supposed to be stongly bioluminescent bays with bright and long lasting effects. The harbor iat Luperon was slightly luninescent. At night it looked like there was a light under your dinghy when crossing the harbor.

I sailed 1.4 nautical miles today, well I actually motored, but ended up at about the same latitude.

Feb. 9, 2006

I left Esperanza yesterday heading for Puerto Ferro. It was only a few miles up the coast, into the wind, so I motored. No problems except when I got to Puerto Ferro, a very small anchorage, the only good deep draft anchorage was full. I decided not to stop and contined on to Isla Chiva. This is another beach that was developed by the Navy but with only picnic shelters, no water or power. Of course the beach is nice. It's strange because from the water, the beach looks very lush with lots of tropical vegitation. Once ashore, most of the vegitation is scrub and catii. It seems that almost all of the southern side of Viequez is beach with a few rocky points thrown in to seperate the beaches. The next bay to the east is Ensenada Honda and it has another nice beach but also has a mangrove lined harbor for a hurricane hole. Isla Chiva is a mostly open anchorage except the eastern edge which is protected by a small reef. I tucked up into the area behind that reef and it was pretty comfortable. There was still a little swell coming 90 degrees from the wind so I rigged a "swell bridle" to turn the bow around closer to the wind. It worked quite well and I got a good nights sleep. I was the only boat in the anchorage until late this morning. One other boat came in and anchored close to me. They apparently thought the swell was too bad and left in a few hours. I snorkeled the reef and went ashore and waklked around a bit picking up a nice coconut that I have yet to open.

I sailied, motored, 6.2 nautical today and went 1 nautical mile north.

Feb. 11, 2006

Up early yesterday to get an early start for St Thomas. I was under way at 7:20 motoring out of the anchorage. I got the genoa, main and mizzen up and was soon sailing without the motor. SO nice. Today was one of those days that make the three days cleaning the bilge worthwhile. It was warm, normal mid 80's, with a 10-15 knot wind and 2-4 foot seas. The wind was still from the east so I was on a beat. I thought I could make Charlotte Amalie before dark on one tack so I took off toward St Croix. Pretty soon the mountains of St Croix popped through the haze and I thought about going there instead. The harbor entrance at Christiansted is narrow and contorted so I didn't want to take a chance entering it in the dark so I tacked toward St. Thomas. Shortly after noon the wind let off some and my speed dropped. I didn't want to enter Charlotte Amalie in the dark either so I motorsailed on and off during the day. Checking he charts I saw a small anchorage on the north-west corner of St Thomas called Botany Bay. It looked like it should give good protection from the easterlies and would be easy to enter in the dark if necessary. I changed course for it and was able to sail on a reach for a while. A beautiful sail and I reached Botany Bay well before dark. I dropped the anchor in about 8 feet of water. There was not enough wind to keep the boat aligned, even with the mizzen up as a riding sail, so I tried to set it under power. This was the first time I could not get the 55 pound Delta to set. It finally hooked on something and was holding well. As I sat on deck and watched the bottom, the most beautiful patch of sea bottom I have ever seen, I realized that as the boat shifted during the night, my chain would be dragging across that bottom and destroying part of it. It was also likely that the anchor would come loose during the night and drag across the bottom before snagging on something else. The bottom here is covered with healty coral, sea fans and misc. other bright and colorful plants and the water is clear enough that you can see them from the deck. I knew I would not be able to sleep thinking about that so I pulled up the anchor and moved out toward the middle of the bay. I anchored in about twenty feet and it seemed to hold well and I slept well.

I sailed 40.2 nautical miles yesterday and went nearly 15 miles north.

Feb 11, 2006

I headed for Charolette Amalie this morning. The forecast was for 12-17 knots and med seas. As soon as I rounded the west endof St Thomas, I was into 20+ knots. A couple of miles from the west harbor entrance, I got hit by another squall. I dropped the head sail again, although not until it was well over 20 knots. Pretty exciting. I continued on to the West Gregerie Channel and the winds were still strong and also shifting as they went around the hills. I was not comfortable going into a busy harbor under those conditions so I turned around and went to Brewers Bay for the day. Brewers Bay is right beside the St Thomas airport and is well protected from the seas by the runway extension. I think the planes will stop coming and going early enough that the noise won't be a problem tonight. Actually the planes taking off sound a lot like my wind generator when it's cranking out the amps. Other than the runway, this is a really nice harbor with a swimming beach along one end. I'll check the weather but will probably getup early and go over to Charolette Amalie in the morning while the winds are still light.

I sailed 13 nautical miles today and made it 4 nautical miles further south.

Feb. 12, 2006

No sailing today. The forcast was for winds in the twentys. I decided to go ashore here at the beach and see what this part of town is like. I setup the dinghy and went ashore at the end of the swimming beach. I drug the dinghy up and chained it to to a tree hoping it would still be there when I got back.

I've heard that the Univ. of the Virgin Islands is right here at Brewer Bay. I thought that I maight be able to find some internet access at the university so I wanted to find it. There was a large building that looked like it belonged to a university across the road and about a 1/4 mile up the driveway. I walked up to see what it was and it was a large, and very nice, outdoor theather. It was all locked up so I couldn't see too much of it but it looked like a really nice facility. Back down the driveway and I headed toward town. I found the university right over the next little hill and asked a security guard where the library was and if it was open. He said it was at the top of the hill and he thought it opened at 10:00. Since it was then about 11:00, I started up the hill. About halfway up, I saw the same guard making his rounds and he stopped to give me directions to the library. I think he felt sorry for the old man and he then offered me a ride up. I don't normally get in cars with strange guys, but it was hot and it was a long ways up. He took me to the library where I saw that it didn't open until 1:00. They sure had a nice view up there. I had two hours to kill so I walked back down and started toward town. "Town" is Charlotte Amalie and is about three miles away. I wanted to see Crown Bay Marina since I needed to get water and that sounded like the best place. It was only about 1 1/2 miles away so I decided to go there. Unfortunately, I missed it and by the time I realized I missed it I was into the McDonalds, KFC, and Wendy's area. In other words, in the cruise ship part of town or downtown Charolette Amalie. There were three ships parked there and a lot of people milling around. The harbor didn't look like a very nice place to anchor with all the cruise ships, ferrys, tour boats, etc. But at least I saw where I would have to go so I'm more prepared if I do decide to move.

It didn't take long for the throngs to get to me so I headed back to UVI. It was getting hot so I stopped at the local Pueblo supermarket, well maybe just a market, for a water. I'll probably go back there for provisions but I didn't want to carry groceries up the hill to the library today. I did find the Crown Bay Marina on the way back. It is a big operation and looks to be really well setup and run. I don't really like staying in marinas and much prefer to be at anchor in a nice quite bay. (I just realized that since I left Gibson Island, MD, I have spent one night at a marina. I stayed at Coinjock, NC, on the ICW because I was meeting a friend there for the trip to the Bahamas. Every night has been at anchor or sailing. Moorings are not much better. We had a bit of blow in Salinas while I was there and only one boat drug and he was on a mooring. He drug that ball a good quarter mile before he got his anchor out.) Iwas getting a bit tired by now and saw a bus stop and a bus coming so I decided to take the bus back to UVI. I still had to walk up the hill again but the library was open, and air conditioned, and they had a nice computer lab and allowed me to use it. I was able to catch up on email but not the web site since I didn't have my computer with me. Maybe tomrrow I'll go back up. The university campus is really nice as was the library. I could see Bella Vita, Brewers Bay and the airport from up there. Back down the hill and to the beach to see if the dinghy was still there. It was and there was a nice local couple sitting by it with a very unfriendly little dog. They were very amused by the design and seemed a little surprised that there is a company making such a strange looking craft. They were sure I had designed and built it.

Feb 16, 2006

Not much new here. I'm still in Brewer's Bay doing misc small jobs on the boat. I drug out the 110 generator yesterday and fired it up to run the vacumm cleaner and power tools. I'm building some additional storage in the engine compartment and a place to secure the SCUBA tanks. The generator still has a problem from when it was stored for several years with gas in the tank. I need to pull the tank and clean it thoughly. I did the carb but not the tank. The generator is handy to have at times.

I still need to go to the marina to get fuel and water and am looking for a realtively calm day. Haven't had one for a while. I get lots of exercise walking to the store. I usally walk to the grocery, about two miles, and then take a bus or a "safari" back to the beach. The safari is basically a pickup truck with a open bus section on the back. They run frequently, every five minutes or so, and will pickup and drop off anywhere along their route. Unfortunately, the beach is about a quarter mile past the end of the route so I still need to carry stuff a little ways.

I did add a bunch of pictures to the Photo page if you're interested.

Feb 18, 2006

Still here in Brewer's Bay. I did go into Crown Bay Marina yesterday for fuel and water. Singlehanded sailing is not that difficult except for manuvering in crowded areas and docking. Crown Bay is a very crowded area just west of the Charlotte Amalie harbor. It is lined with private moorings along the south side and it seems a steady stream of traffic coming and going. There is a cruise ship dock next to the Crown Bay Marina and other commercial docks along the bay. To put this in scale, the "small" boat right in front of the cruise ship is a 120 foot yacht. This was a US Navy sub base for a long time. They moved out and misc commercial ventures moved in. (Most of the office facilities seem to be occupied by local government offices.) Getting through the traffic was really not that bad. You just need to watch carefully and get used to big boats getting close to you. Docking is still not fun. It is somewhat easier to dock on the port side since the reverse prop walk is to port and you can use that to bring the aft end close to the dock. Yesterday I had to dock on the starboard side and there was a ferry at the end just leaving. As I was coming to the dock behind the ferry, he sarted to go and his prop wash was pushing me along the dock. I was going slow and had no steering control. I ended up at the far end of the dock but managed to get tied up with no major problem. This is a self serve dock. The dock atttendent said "The green hose is diesel and the water hose is there." and went back inside. But I got my water tanks filled, at $0.14 per gallon, and the diesel tanks filled, at $3.34 per gallon, and was on my way.

The Crown Bay marina is a top line marina with really good facilites and services. The marine store and grocery store were both well stocked and most of the price weren't that bad. They had a nice laundramat and since I hadn't done laundry for a long time, it seemed like a good time to do it. There was no place at the marina to tie up Bella Vita, it was full, so I thought I would anchor in Crown Bay and dinghy back to Crown Bay Marina. They do have a free dinghy dock. I went back out into the bay looking for a place to anchor. There are so many moorings there that it is nearly impossible to anchor. By the time you let out enough scope to be secure, you would be swinging through several moorings. So I motored back to Brewer's Bay to bask in the peace and quiet, well at least quiet between the planes coming and going. I got my laundry together and dinghied ashore, walked to the road and waited for a safari to come along. In about 5 minutes, one that was parked there taking a break left and picked me up. She took me right to the Crown Bay Marina and since she was off duty, didn't even charge me. The laundry process proceed smoothly, after figuring out that ou need to load the washer coin slot three times per load to get the required $4.50 per load into it. Another safari ride back to the beach, or almost to the beach, and I was done. It seems that the end of the safari route is at the UVI parking lot. I had to walk the last half mile or so back to my dinghy carrying my laundry. Not fun but I made it.

I do like Brewer's Bay. The protection is good and there is lots of room. I think the closeness of the runway scares off most of the boats. A Benateau from Canada was here for a couple of days but they left yesterday. I would much rather be here than in Crown Bay or Long Bay, the harbor at Charlotte Amalie harbor.

I motored 8.3 nautical miles toda and ended up where I started.

Feb 21, 2006

Steve Applegate arrived yesterday afternoon for a weeks sailing. We just hung out around the boat yesterday afternoon and went up to the UVI Computer Lab to update email since we might not have access for a while.

We got up this morning and decided to go to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. This is about a 20 mile trip east along the south coast of St Thomas, up the channel between St Thomas and St John and then through the Windward Passage and over to Jost Van Dyke. The wind was out of the east so most of the trip was a beat into the wind. We tacked south of St Thomas toward St Croix and then back up through Current Cut into Pillsbury Sound. Current Cut is named for the very strong tidal currents that flow through it, up to 4 knots. We caught it a slack time and didn't really notice the current. The cut is very narrow with a large rock in the middle and other rocks in the channel leading up to it. We motorsailed through with no problem thanks to Steve's excellent navigation and some help from Garmin.

Arrival in Great Harbor in JVD was too late for Customs so we put up the quarantine flag and went ashore to Foxie's for dinner. As we sat down, I noticed Paul and Mary from Paldemar sitting at the next table. Paldemar was in the slip next to me in the boat yard in Gibson Island in Maryland and I hadn't seen them since I left there. They took the Bermuda route while I poked around the Bahamas, DR and Puerto Rico. We had a nice chat over dinner.

Great Harbor is a pretty large harbor and holds a lot of boats. There was even a small cruise ship that anchored there. Foxie's appears to have gone more upscale in order to attract the cruise ships. The meal was very good but the old ambiance of a small beach bar is gone.

Feb. 22, 2006

We cleared into and out of the BVI at customs in JVD and headed out for a short trip to Cane Garden Bay on the west end of Tortola. The wind was still from the east and we were going directly into it so we motored the 5 miles. This took us past Sandy Cay off the east end of Jost van Dyke. This is the typical little sandy tropical island with lots of palms that everyone dreams of. There are no facilities there but the sand is soft and the snorkling is good so it get pretty crowded. Cane Garden Bay is another really pretty bay with lots of photo op's although it seems much busier than the last time I was there. We got there early enough to get a nice anchoring spot and have time for a nap and a trip ashore before dinner. I had been to the Callwood rum distillery a few years ago so we walked up to see if they were still in operation. It is a low budget operation that is in an OLD barn but they were still there and very little had changed.

There were several new shops and resturants so we checked them out before stopping for dinner. We sat on the beach and were properly entertained by a beautiful sunset and the waves breaking on the shore at our feet.

Feb 23, 2006

Up pretty early today to get an early start a we head for Trellis Bay. Trellis Bay is on the east end of Tortola so we went up the north side of Tortola. The wind was still on our nose so the motor was on for the third day in a row. The nice part of sailing on thenorth side of Tortola is that there is not a lot of traffic. Most of the sailing in Tortola is charters and most of them stay in the Sir Francis Drake Channel on the south side of Tortola. There are no good anchorages on the north side of Tortola and it is pretty rugged. It was another beautiful day and we were anchored in Trellis Bay about 3.5 hours after we left Cane Garden Bay. After a quick lunch, we went ashore so Steve could rent a Laser for some real sailing. The wind was strong, 15 to 20 knots, and the Laser was not in the best of shape so he reefed it and sailed around the anchorage and mooring fields. An hour of sailing had him sufficently tired out and we explored the little area around Trellis Bay looking for a good place to eat dinner. The power was off so the choices were somewhat limited.

Trellis Bay is located at the end of the Tortola airport and there is not much room there so there aren't many places to choose from to start with. We decided on a the place that had the fire balls. These are about 4 foot diameter steel balls that have island designs cut into them. They are used for the monthly full moon party where they are filled with wood and burnt. They had some pictures there and the effect was quite nice.

The power was still off at dinner time so they had to make some adjustments but we had a good dinner by lantern light.

Feb 24, 2006

Today we started to reap some of the benefits of the three days of motoring as we sailed west down the Sir Frances Drake Channel with the engine off. It was a great day for sailing and we went to the wreck of the Rhone for some snorkling. The Rhone is a mail ship that sank in 1867 during a hurricane. The wreckage is partly in very shallow water where you can see it while snorkling. There is not too much left but the main drive shaft, propeller and rudder stock are clearly visible. The water was great and we had a good snorkle.

After our snorkle, we dropped the mooring line and sailed over to Norman Island into The Bight. The Bight is a large, but deep, anchorage on the west end of the island. It offers good protection fo the seas but seems to accelerate the wind through the hills. It is enclosed by high hills on three sides. We climbed one of the hills to check out the view but the brush was so thick on top that the view of the channel and Tortola was not real good. At least it was some good exercise. There are two resturants there. One is a floating one that was not particularly good the last time I ate there so we decided to try the one on the beach. We had an excellent meal there and later someone told us that this is considered to be one of the best resturants in the BVI.

Feb 25, 2006

Today we head back to the US Virgin Islands. We are going to Cruz Bay to clear customs and then go back to Lameshur Bay for the night. Cruz Bay is the largest town on St John and is located at the western end of the island. We were east of St John so we sailed the entire south coast and then up to Cruz Bay. The differnece in the sailing between this area and the BVI was remarkable. There were no charter boats on the south side of St John. Most of the Virgin Island charters start in the BVI and few will go to the USVI and even fewer go to the south side of St John. We saw few boats until we approached the west end of St John. There were several sail boats in the channel between St John and St Thomas as well as a steady flow of ferries and comercial boats of various types. We made it into the harbor and anchored while we went ashore to clear customs. This was actually a relatively pleasant experience. The people were friendly and helpful. After customs we headed back toward Lameshur Bay. The winds were again on the nose so we motorsailed and motored back. Most of the south side of St John is a National Park with tightly contolled access. Anchoring is not allowed to avoid the damage to the sea bed you see most places. This means that you have to use the park service moorings if your are going to stay in that area. Where we were going, there are two bays; Little Lameshur Bay with 5 moorings and Great Lameshur Bay with 14. As we approached, there was only one boat in Little Lameshur so we decided to stay there. We picked up a mooring and soon were in the water for a snorkle on the reef. The reef has suffered a lot of damage but the parks efforts are really starting to pay off. There were many healthy corals, sponges, sea fans and sea urchins. Most were small, except for the sea urchins, but appeared to be growing nicely. In addition, there were many types of fish and even a hawksbill sea turtle. This is going to be a great snorkling area in a few years.

Feb 26, 2006

Today we sailed back to Brewer's Bay. We sailed the entire day with only the headsail and only ran the engine 0.4 hour to exit Little Lameshur Bay and to anchor back in Brewer's Bay. We walked into Crown Bay for some dinner and took the Safari back to UVI and the boat.

For the week, we covered 98 nautical miles and ended up where we started.

Feb 27, 2006

Today we got a rental car to see some of the island and do some shoping. There are no Sam's Clubs or Walmarts here but there is a Home Depot and a K-Mart. There were a few things I needed to get so we went over toward the east end to Tutu Mall. Neither the Home Depot or K-Mart had the stock I was expecting so the shopping was not too sucessful.

Feb 28, 2006

We still had the rental car so we took my propane tank to be filled and then headed across the island to Megan's Bay. Thanks to my navigating, we missed the turn to Megan's Bay and ended up at Drake's Seat. Supposedly, Drake would come up here to watch for Spanish ships approaching the islands. The island just to the left of center is Jost van Dyke and to the right of center is Tortola. There is also a great view of Megan's Bay from here. Megan's Bay was chosen as one of the worlds ten best beaches by Nat. Geographic. We got to the beach early and it was nearly empty. When we left, about 10:30, it was packed. There were 6 cruise ships in port today and everything was packed. Steve was having another sailing withdrawl attack so he rented a Sun Fish clone and went for an hour sail in Megan's Bay. I stayed ashore and chilled out and watched the beach fill up. There were a lot of people on that beach and most had a sun burn by the time we left.