We returned to the boat on January 9.  We rented a car and spent three days provisioning the boat for our trip.  We filled the freezer with meat, the spaces behind the settee with canned goods and the space under the settee with beer, soda and wine.  

John assembled the deck box (that he had made at home over Christmas).  The deck box is for our life raft that we had in the aft cabin.  Now it’s out of the way.  We left the marina on Sunday, January 14 and anchored south of St. Augustine.

The following day we arrived in Daytona Beach where we decided to stay at a marina and have preventative maintenance work on the engine.  We wanted to retorque the head, have the valves adjusted and add new antifreeze.  For you NASCAR fans, we were told that the slip we were in is the one used by Jeff Gordan during the Daytona 500.  Apparently Jeff owns one of the condo’s adjacent to the marina.  Daytona has a great bus system.  We each got a three day pass for six dollars and were able to travel all over Daytona and the adjoining cities. After five days we moved on.  As race car season was approaching we had to give up our slip for the 100 footers who were coming for the races.  Apparently, the marina costs quadruple for race season. 

We continued our trip south and soon entered the Indian River where we have our favorite traveling companions, the dolphins.  They swim along next to the boat.  We had the same dolphin for over a half hour swimming with us.  We could tell it was the same animal as it had a distinctive notch in its fin.  We anchored in Cocoa Beach for the night and then moved on to Vero Beach where we joined Idunno.  The municipal marina maintains moorings but requires rafting so we rafted with Idunno and a third boat.  We will stay in Vero until the weather improves so we can plan our crossing.  Vero is a great place to wait as it has free bus service around town.

Jan 28, 2007 -  Vero Breach, FL

We are currently in Vero Beach (aka Velcro Beach), Florida awaiting a weather window to cross. Looks like next weeekend may work but the cold fronts are moving through every two-three days. Gulfstream has 12-15 ft waves today due to the north wind. We will probably go to Lake Worth at the end of the week to stage for the crossing. Ideally, you want two days of south wind. One day for the seas to lay down and the second for the crossing.

Vero is very nice with free bus service from the municipal marina to downtown. Typical Florida town with strip malls and funky shops. The ocean is a short walk away. We are rafted on a mooring with our friends on I Dunno a Tatosh 42. We met them last year in the Bahamas and they are going again. Originally they planned on going to Trinidad but have some fuel tank problems and are not going. We still plan on it but will make the final decision in Georgetown.

We stayed in Vero for 16 days waiting for weather.  Vero is a great place to wait as shopping, the beach and not to forget the cruisers breakfast and sundowner parties.  We dinghied to the Riverview to watch the Super Bowl with several other cruisers. 

Feb 8, 2007 – Lake Worth, FL

We are leaving from Lake Worth tomorrow 2/9 headed for West End on Grand Bahama Island maybe going as far as Grear Stirrup in the Berrys if the weather holds. We will have email via Winlink

John kb1kyu@winlink.org

Genie kb1kyv@winlink.org

We will check these addresses daily. See you in June. Our plans are to go as far as Trinidad.


 

Feb 10, 2007 – Bahamas, Grand Bahama

Our crossing was uneventful.  We stayed at the Old Bahama Bay Marina for the night where the manager had a cocktail party.  We cruisers are always up for freebies. 

With Idunno we headed to Nassau for a 22 hour overnight sail.  The stars were magnificent.  There were cruise ships all night long to keep us company.  There are lit up like white lighted Christmas trees and it was difficult to find those little red or green running lights so we could tell which way they were traveling.

We stayed anchored in Nassau for three nights while we waited for a cold front to pass.  We did a little shopping and had a sundowner party on Seaduction who we had met in Annapolis. 

Wednesday, Feb 14

We left Nassau for Norman Cay in the Exumas.  We had a great sail all the way to Norman.  Even less of the airplane remains in the water to the east of the main part of the island.  We had a great Valentine dinner on Idunno.

Thursday, Feb 15

The next day we motor sailed to Cambridge Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  New park moorings were in place so we picked up a mooring.  We stayed at the Cambridge Cay for four days to sit our two fronts.  The latter of the two fronts had winds approaching 40 knots – I was glad we were on a mooring.  Between fronts we had sundowner parties and a party on the beach with the entire anchorage invited.  This area is absolutely beautiful, expanses of sand beaches between coral outcrops.  Massive sand bars.  We went snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium off O’Brien Cay.  This feature is touted as a miniature wall dive.  The fish are plentiful and very colorful.  The highlights of the trip were the two Queen Angel fish and a triggerfish.

Friday, Feb 16 - Southern Exumas

We sailed from Cambridge Cay over the banks to Big Majors near Staniel Cay.  The pigs are still at the beach waiting for handouts.  The day we arrived at Staniel the local school was holding a benefit bar-b-que.  We had a wonderful steak meal on the town beach for $12.  We spent the following afternoon in Staniel Cay Yacht Club using their free wifi. 

The next stop was Black Point where we did our laundry at the best launder mat in the Exumas.  Of course we went to Loraine’s for dinner.  I had conch and John had fish – wonderful as usual.   Before we left the next morning we got a loaf of Lorraine’s mother’s famous coconut bread.  Swirls of coconut are cooked into the bread.  We anchored the next night around the point from Black Point settlement to get some wind protection.   There was a beautiful white sand beach (deserted of course). 

Sunday Feb 25 - Georgetown

The following day we left for Georgetown at 0600.  We left the banks at Galliot Cut and sailed through Exuma Sound to Georgetown, about 40 miles.  The wind was on our left back quarter so we had a nice downwind run in about 15 knots of wind.  

We stayed in Vero for 16 days waiting for weather.  Vero is a great place to wait as shopping, the beach and not to forget the cruisers breakfast and sundowner parties.  We dinghied to the Riverview to watch the Super Bowl with several other cruisers. 

Our crossing was uneventful.  We stayed at the Old Bahama Bay Marina for the night where the manager had a cocktail party.  We cruisers are always up for freebies. 

With Idunno we headed to Nassau for a 22 hour overnight sail.  The stars were magnificent.  There were cruise ships all night long to keep us company.  There are lit up like white lighted Christmas trees and it was difficult to find those little red or green running lights so we could tell which way they were traveling.

We stayed anchored in Nassau for three nights while we waited for a cold front to pass.  We did a little shopping and had a sundowner party on Seaduction who we had met in Annapolis. 

Wednesday, February 14, we left Nassau for Norman Cay in the Exumas.  We had a great sail all the way to Norman.  Even less of the airplane remains in the water to the east of the main part of the island.  We had a great Valentine dinner on Idunno.

The next day we motor sailed to Cambridge Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park.  New park moorings were in place so we picked up a mooring.  We stayed at the Cambridge Cay for four days to sit our two fronts.  The latter of the two fronts had winds approaching 40 knots - I was glad we were on a mooring.  Between fronts we had sundowner parties and a party on the beach with the entire anchorage invited.  This area is absolutely beautiful, expanses of sand beaches between coral outcrops.  Massive sand
bars.  We went snorkeling at the Sea Aquarium off O'Brien Cay.  This feature is touted as a miniature wall dive.  The fish are plentiful and very colorful.  The highlights of the trip were the two Queen Angel fish and a triggerfish.

 

We arrived in Georgetown in time for the cruisers regatta.  The regatta lasted ten days and was comprised of games, sporting events, entertainment and boat races.  (Summer camp for adults.)   The first night had the opening ceremonies with a pet parade where the categories included dogs, non-dogs (cats and a crab) and other.  What is other?  Well we had a rare spotted haggis (A guy with spotted clothes on all fours being led around on a leash).  There was a best pirate costume contest (this year's
theme).  The winner looked just like Johnny Depp.  The musical portion of the evening included the appearance of the Blues Brothers, the California Raisons and Elvis.  All this followed by a pirate's ball.

John and I participated in the Coconut Challenge.  We were on separate teams of four people for the coconut challenge.  The challenge was comprised of four events.  The first and wettest event involved collecting floating coconuts in the water using dinghies.  The dinghies were propelled by fin power.  Each person had one swim fin as a paddle to be used with your hand - all feet to stay in the boat.  This is where big feet help i.e. large fins.  Our friend Linda can leave her fins at home.  We were
not allowed to steal coconuts from another boat but if they floated out by themselves they were fair game - that's where the buckets came into play - pouring water into other boats.    The second contest was bowling with coconuts.  For each Kalik bottle knocked over in four minutes you got a point.  Rolling the coconut was not an option as they do not roll straight, so you had to throw them at the bottle.  The third game was to throw the coconut through a tire.  Again one point was earned for each
successful throw in four minutes.  The last coconut contest was coconut basketball.  In the end my team came in almost last.  John's team was in the middle of the 24 teams. 

The next event that we participated in was the scavenger hunt.  We had a team of six and had to find various items on Stocking Island and in Georgetown itself across the harbor.  (The boat with the largest dinghy motor went to town.)  Some of the items we had to find were duct tape, a pirate movie, cars movie, February pilot chart of the Caribbean, count the number of boards on Queen Anne's dock, a canvas bucket, a cold Kalik beer (for the judges), and expired flares (the oldest flares got extra
points - the oldest flares were from 1974! - people actually had these on their boats).  We also needed a brownie at least 1" x 1" so I spent the time on the boat baking brownies (if our fiend Nile was there that would be his job).  We did well but didn't finish in the top three.

The big event was the around Stocking Island boat race - about 18 miles.  We sailed on Idunno with Mike and June and Bob and Carol from Time Enough.  The wind was blowing 15 knots with good sized waves.  We had a great race and won the baking contest.  Yes baking.  In addition for prizes for winning the race, prizes were given for the best baked item prepared underway, biggest fish caught while sailing and the best picture taken.  We won the baking contest with a Crème Brule (our friend Linda's favorite).
 Bob did a great job separating eggs with a 20 degree heal on the boat.  We even browned the sugar on top with a torch.  Carol created a great presentation with palmetto leaves arranged around the serving dish. 

The other events that were held throughout the week included beach golf, tennis, Texas hold'em, bocce ball, bridge, small boat races, in the harbor boat race, softball, fun volleyball, regulation volleyball and sand sculpture.

The last night of the regatta was the variety show with singing, instrumentals, comedy skits and a conch horn serenade.  As they say - a great time was had by all.      

The regatta had all the organized games.  Of course any gathering of cruisers will have the requisite sundowner parties and potlucks on the beach.  John and I went to several southbound cruisers meetings.  This is where we met other cruisers who are also heading south to Trinidad and other parts south.  The day after the regatta ended we headed for Thompson Bay on Long Island.

 

Long Island is south and east of Georgetown.  We had a great sail for the 40 miles to Thompson Bay.  We finally sailed south of the Tropic of Cancer which was a milestone for us.  Long Island seems to have a slightly different climate than the Exumas.  It seems greener and better able to support some agriculture.  We saw many banana trees.  Much of the agriculture is pothole farming where natural or manmade holes in the rock filled with fertile soil are used for growing vegetables. We saw an advertisement
for a corn festival next month.

We rented a car with Idunno and traveled the island from one end to the other.  In Clarence Town (south end) we had lunch at a local Bahamian restaurant.  My meal had a side dish of plantains - very good.  In Clarence Town we visited an old Catholic church built by Father Jerome.   The church has twin spires that can be seen for miles as it sits on a high hill.  He also built the older Anglican church in town (before his conversion to Catholicism) which also sits on an adjacent hill.  The church
has a great view of the harbor.  The harbor itself is formed by reefs and small islands with one narrow entrance. 

The north end of the island has a monument to Christopher Columbus up on Cape Santa Maria, a bluff over looking the ocean - excellent views. 

One day we dinghied over to a cave and did a little spelunking. There were eight of us each with a flash light and it was still very dark.  There was one section of the cave where it was open at the top allowing sunlight to infiltrate and trees were growing inside the cave up through the hole - it was very interesting.  Of course there were many bats but they were all sleeping.  John saw one crab, and we were told there were tarantulas in there but we didn't see any (whew).

One night the local Bahamian restaurant had a buffet ($10), and we had about 30 cruisers.  As usual with any gathering of cruisers we had a potluck on the beach one night.

The trip from Long Island to Provo was not one of our better sails.  We set out with about six boats for the 240 mile trek (about 40 hours) to the Caicos Banks.  We planned the trip in one continuous sail as the weather window was small otherwise we could have jumped island to island.  The wind was supposed to start SE and then switch to the NE so it would be a good sail.  There were supposed to be scattered squalls when the front passed but with the radar we could avoid them.  Well, as to be expected
the weather did not cooperate.  We had a terrible crossing.  The first day wind did not switch to the north when predicted so we were into the wind the first day and then we had numerous squalls at night.  When the pre-frontal trough passed we had a massive squall with 40 knot winds.  The next day the wind did switch north and then died.  The wind picked up later in the night along with more squalls but then we had to slow down so we didn't get to the Caicos banks until day light.  When the sun came
up all the boats crossed the banks to Sapodilla Bay in Provo (Providenciales).  We have been anchored here for five days (so far) waiting for weather.

During the crossing we also had engine problems.  John had to replace the intake impeller on the engine the first day and then replace the fuel filter and fix a plugged fuel line the second day (the rough water stirred up the junk from the fuel tank). The third day (at harbor at least) he fixed a broken wire on the alternator.

Sapodilla Bay is not close to any facilities.  The bay has a nice sand beach and beach front homes.  The customs check-in is around a point at the government dock.

We rented a car one day for a sightseeing trip.  Most of the island is developed with resorts.  We did go to the local conch farm where conch is raised for sale to the states.  The farm was actually started by a fellow from Mystic, CT. The farm has an inventory of 5.5 million conch.  The life cycle of the conch starts with an egg mass with 500,000 eggs which are colleted by divers, and the egg masses are brought to the hatchery.  The eggs hatch to larvae and after 22 days to free swimming veligers
(baby conch).  After 22 days the conch are transferred to the metamorphosis facility where they change from free swimming larvae to bottom dwelling baby conch. During the free swimming stage the conch are fed liquid algae.  After metamorphosis the baby conch starts growing their shells.  As the conchs grow they move to the on shore nursery for 1 year olds (2-4 cm) to 3 year olds (6 cm).  The conch are fed pelletized algae.  Once the conch are about 6 cm they are transferred to the Sub-sea pastures
(fenced pens in the sea).  Growth to adulthood takes about 2 more years.  The fenced pens not only keep the conch from escaping it also protects them from predators (lobsters, sting rays, tulip shells, crabs, octopus, turtles and porcupine fish).  The sea bed for the conch farm is leased from the government and in lieu of cash the farm releases 1 million conch to the environment per year.  Not only are adult conch marketed so are 1-3 year old conch sold as ceviche appetizers.  The end of our tour
included hands on look at two adult conch, Sally and Jerry.  When our tour guide picked up the conch they actually came out of their shell.  About 1 in 10,000 conch will grow a pearl.  The farm had some examples of the beautiful pink pearl.

Click on the below link to view a tracking chart Island Time positions.

http://www.winlink.org/positions/PosReportsDetail.aspx?callsign=KB1KYU

My last posting described our problematic crossing to Provo - however I neglected to mention the hi-light of the evening sail.  The micro-organisms in the water were phosphorescent.  In the churned up white water from the boat action there was sparkling blue flashes of light.

We finally left Provo for So. Caicos across the banks.  It was a 50 mile trip with numerous coral heads to dodge about halfway across.  We were heading east into an easterly trade which was not condusive to sailing.  (It was not the best day to cross but we were tired of Provo.)  As we did not leave at the crack of dawn we had to anchor on the west side of Long Cay with a short hop around Long Cay the next day into Cockburn Harbor (South Caicos).  As we were anchoring in the lee of Lang Cay I was
on the bow and then this thing comes flying past my head and lands on the deck.  It was a squid and it was pumping out ink all over the deck.  What a mess.  As I threw the squid back into the water you could see the ink trail behind it as it swam away.  The ink stained the deck and I could not get it out with any of the products we purchased in the states.  However a product called Krazy Klean that we bought at Top II Bottom in Georgetown worked great.  Who ever heard of flying squid? 

South Caicos has the clearest water that we have seen so far.  We were anchored in 10 feet of water and could see every detail of the bottom.  The town itself was disappointing.  There was not much activity with few things of interest to see.  We did have a nice chicken lunch at a local restaurant.

Once the weather forecast improved for a passage to Luperon we set out for Great Sand Cay in the Turks where we stayed overnight.  What a beautiful island (uninhabited).  Wonderful sand beach on the lee side and great beach combing on the windward side.  When shelling with Marcia from Non-linear and Jane from Cheetah II.  The island has a light on it but typically it was non operable.  Apparently the lights in Turks and Caicos are frequently vandalized.  This light was missing its solar panels.
We stayed overnight at the island and left at 5 pm on Wednesday for arrival first thing in the am at Luperon, a 77 nm trip.  We had a perfect sail - 10-15 knots on a close reach and a full moon.  We had all our sails out and were doing 5-6 knots.  Only problem was that our auto-pilot died and we had to hand steer all night.  
 
We arrived at Luperon at 8 am on Thursday, April 5 and had handy Andy lead us into the harbor.  After anchoring I noticed another sea creature on the deck.  This time it was a flying fish.

Our first day in port we paid $25 for immigration and an $11 port fee at the office at the government dock.  Then we had to go back to the boat and wait for the agriculture officer and pet officer to come to the boat.  The agriculture officer instructed us to place our foreign (imported) trash in the round barrel on the dock and the trash from Luperon in the square container - $ 10 please.  (At night they set fire to both containers which are next to each other on the dock - what's the point???).
 The pet inspector said any pets, and we said no, and he said $10 please.  Later that day another official came to the boat, and we had to acquire tourist cards for each of us, $ 20 please.

Luperon is a vibrant town although quite poor.  The people are out in the streets socializing. All the children say Allo as we pass.   People are cutting up fish in the street.  Scooters are the main form of transportation and zip around sometimes with three people on them.  Of course there are cars and horses and donkeys.

That first night we went to Capt. Steve's for dinner.  Steve is an ex-Patriot. 

Friday, the second day, I went to the falls with the other cruisers.  John stayed on the boat to work on the autopilot.  Sea U Manana had a spare autopilot computer that we brought from him. 

The falls had 27 levels but we only did the first seven.  The stream carved a narrow channel through the rock.  So the channel had towering cliffs on each side of the stream.  There are a series of falls along the stream. We climbed up the falls through the water.  Rock climbing with water rushing against you.  We had three strong guides who helped us up the falls.  Could not have made it without them.  One section of the stream between the falls was flowing so swiftly that we had a rope to pull
ourselves along.  Going down it was like water slides and the last one we had to jump off a cliff into the pool below.  They actually made us wear helmets and life vests.  My arms and legs are tired and sore.  Part of the trip to the falls was suppose to be lunch at a native restaurant but as it was Good Friday the restaurants were closed so we were invited into a private home for lunch.  We had fish (that's all that is served on Good Friday), salad (lettuce, corn and cucumbers with lemon dressing),
a beet, egg and potato salad, and a bean (looked like lima beans) and squash soup type dish served over rice.  For desert we had a traditional Easter dessert comprised of sweetened condensed milk, coconut, chocolate, and cinnamon sticks cooked in a large kettle over a wood fire in the back of the house.  Tasty but very sweet. 

Tomorrow pig roast at yacht club.
 

We left Ponce at midnight when the easterly trades are lighter and headed east to Puerto Patillas.  Puerto Patillas is a lovely anchorage but it was very rolly from the swells that broke over the reef to the east.  We stayed here three nights waiting for weather.  Maribel and Pete on Paper Moon were anchored in Salinas (west of Puerto Patillas) where they rented a car.  On their sightseeing trip they stopped at Puerto Patillas to have lunch with us, and we ended up driving to San Juan.  One night
we had a pot luck on shore with the other five boats anchored here.  We met two young men who had just graduated from college and had apparently made some money playing poker so they bought a sail boat (a Tartan 38) and sailed the Caribbean for a year and were now headed back to the States to continue with their lives.  These guys never sailed before.

From Puerto Patillas we left in the morning and headed to Sun Bay at Esperanza on the south side of Viequez.  We picked up a free public mooring.  The anchorage was a bit rolly.  Esperanza is a beautiful little town with a brick walkway along the harbor front.  Of course they have the required harbor front bars.   From Esperanza along with Sol y Mar and Moon Sail we took a cab to Isabel Secunda on the north side of the island.  Of course we had to try the harbor front bars on this side of the island.
 

We left Viequez and headed for St. Thomas.  Fortunately, both Puerto Rico and St. Thomas are associated with the US we did not need to check in with Immigration.  We anchored in the outer harbor at Red Hook.  The numerous ferries coming and going made this anchorage very uncomfortable.  So we had pizza at American Harbor and did the laundry and went shopping first thing in the morning and left Red Hook.  We went across the sound and picked up a mooring at Caneel Bay, St. John.   Caneel bay was also
a little rolly due to the ferries that went by on their way to Tortola.

We headed to BVI and checked in at Sopers Hole before heading for the bight at Norman Island.  We were being decadent in picking up moorings instead of anchoring out like a cost conscious cruiser.  You could tell the charter boats when they came in (other than the big Moorings on the sail cover) as at least 2 and sometimes 4 people are on the bow to pick up the mooring pennant.  The really inexperienced charters make 2 or 3 tries at the mooring ball.  There was one large cat drifting towards us until
the hired captain came to the rescue and took over the controls.  We had chartered in this area many times and I'm sure we looked just like these guys did.

From Norman we went to Marina Cay and stayed two days as John had some maintenance to do on the engine.  The engine has been running a little hotter than usual.  The happy hour at Marina Cay featured Michael Bean, a one man band, doing a pirate themed act. ARRRRG. It was very entertaining with a lot of audience participation.  For example, any audience participant that answered pirate questions correctly or had a pirate toast that they shared with the crowd got a free shot of rum.  John got a shot
of rum for being a dinghy captain.     
 
We then headed for Leverick Bay, Gorda Sound, Virgin Gorda to stage for our crossing to Sint Maarten.  We met Sea Schell who we last saw in Luperon and then Paper Moon arrived both of whom were also staging to cross.  While in Leverick we met Craig and Andy from the Malletts Bay Boat Club, our home club in Vermont.   

While in Leverick Bay we went to the Friday night entertainment at the resort that included a band and an appearance by the Jumbies.  The Jumbies are a native dance group who dance on stilts.  The group appeared to be a family with the height of the stilts proportional to the height of the person.  The kids were on relatively short stilts with the adults on six foot stilts.  

The day before we left we took a dingy trip over to the Bitter End Yacht Club and Resort.  A very impressive resort.  The resort sprawls over a very large peninsula with several restaurants, bars, pools, boat rentals, etc.  The grounds are well maintained and filled with many different varieties of flowering shrubs.

On Monday, May 14, John along the three other captains took a taxi to Spanish Town to clear out of the BVI's.  That afternoon at 2 pm we left for Sint Maarten in company with four other boats.     

Sint Maarten

We arrived in Sint Maarten at 7 am after an uneventful crossing and anchored in the Baii (bay) to wait for the bridge opening.  We decided to go into Simpson Bay Lagoon from the Dutch side.  We checked in and made the 9:30 bridge opening into the Lagoon.

If you are going to the Lagoon you can check in on either the French side, Marigot Bay ($8.50 for a month) or the Dutch side, Simpson Bay ($ 10.00 for a week).  We came in the Dutch side with Sea Schell as the Dutch side has a bigger bridge and channel but for boats our size it does not make any difference. We anchored on the Dutch side near the end of the runway of the airport.  Fortunately not too many planes take off, mostly in the afternoon.   We are also anchored near Shrimpy's who has free
wifi in the bar.

The Lagoon has 2 large marine stores on the Dutch side at the extreme southeast end of the lagoon.  The prices are better than the states.  The number of restaurants are too numerous to name.  Many of the restaurants have a happy hour on different nights of the week.  The Lady C, a floating boat restaurant, has all you eat ribs for $11.00.  There is a weekly publication that lists the locations of the happy hours each night.  The local yacht club had a happy hour with $ 1.00 beers Friday night.
They are located next to the draw bridge so we can watch the 5:30 opening with all the yacht traffic (the bridge only opens three times a day, 9:30 am, 11:30 am and 5:30 pm).

John worked on the engine again as the temperature was still a little hot.  He found some grass partially blocking the heat exchanger.  Hopefully this was the problem and the engine will run at the correct temperature now.   

Our last day in Sint Maarten we dinghied over to the French side to Marigot where we had lunch in a French restaurant along the dock.  The enticement from the waiter was that they had poor service but great food.  That night we had sundowners with Sea Schell as a good bye as they were staying another week to have repairs done on their boat.
 

We are in Bequia, the Grenadines.  We will be here for four or five days as a tropical wave is coming through.

We are running short of time for our scheduled haul out in Trinidad so we did the Leewards south of St. Martin in 7 days.  We will visit these islands for longer times next season or on our way back in a couple of years.
 
Places we stayed along way.

St. Barts, Colombier Bay.  This is a beautiful beach, no houses (except Rockefellers); free mooring balls as long as you don't go on a weekend when all the locals come out for a day at the beach.  The entire bay was owned by Rockefellers but they donated it for a marine park.  We did not check in so we did not go to Gustavia.  Great little town (been thee on a charter a few years back).  Outer anchorage is rolly.  We met Paper Moon again and left with them the following morning.
 
St. Kitts did not check in - anchored for night at south end of island at White House Bay.  Only goats and cows on shore. 

Montserrat - did not check in - stayed north end at Rendezvous Bay for one night (you cannot anchor at the south end because of the active volcano).  On our way to Montserrat we passed the Kingdom of Redonda (a big rock).  There is an actual king but who it is depends on the courts to decide in England at the moment. 

We left the next day and attempted to go north around the island to go down the windward side as the guide book suggests to get a better sailing angle on Guadeloupe but the seas were too high (the end of each island has higher wind and seas due to the "island effect") so we turned around and Paper moon went back to the anchorage, and we continued down the leeward side to Guadeloupe.  When traveling along the shore of the island you need to be at least two miles out but you can still see the town of Plymouth in ruins covered in ash.  We did see smoke coming out of the volcano.

Guadeloupe - Stopped in Deshaies just for the night.  Deep harbor need to get close to shore on sides or toward town to find reasonable depths to anchor.  The guide says immigration only there in morning but other cruisers said there in pm.  Either way we missed them.  Only stayed night and left next am for Iles des Saintes and the little town of Le Bourg.  What a great place - we got there early enough to go ashore (still did not check in as only staying one night and no place to check in here). Went out to dinner but this is French so the restaurants do not even open until 7 pm.

Dominica - We picked up a mooring in Roseau.  We did not chick in as only one night.  This is the most rolly places ever been. We picked up a mooring as the water stays deep up to the shore.  We were three hundred feet off shore and the water was still 100 feet deep.  We encountered our first boat boy here.  To stop rolling  we could have put out our stern anchor or tied to shore to keep bow into swell but as we were leaving at 6 am did not want to deal with dinghy - so we had a bad nights sleep.
 

This the last island in the Leewards

Note:  The prevailing winds are east or south of east and range from 15-25.  We had moderate trades for our trip.  The wind is stronger as you approach the north end or south end of each island and the seas also are bigger, especially mid day.  As you approach the south end of an island from the north the island bends the wind direction so it is on your nose.  We planned our trip to anchor as far south on each island so that we could cross the south end of each island as early in the day as possible when the wind was lighter.  The crossings between islands averaged about 20 nm.  As we approach the north end of the next island the wind picks up but the island tends to bend the wind direction so it is on your beam or behind you.  The lee side of the islands was a piece of cake and sometimes had to motor, in fact on some islands the wind stopped and then switched to an on shore breeze (from the west).  Most of the time we had good 15 -20 knot winds and had great sails.