Virgin Islands

Four weeks ago we left Luperon, Dominican Republic, sensing that many cruisers had become stuck there. To be sure, it's difficult to make one's way east against the tradewinds on the relatively unwelcoming northern coast of the DR.   We sailed at night when the wind and seas calm down, and stayed close to shore to make use of the counteracting cool Katabatic winds that come off the mountains.  We stopped and slept during the day, informing the skeptic officials at each anchorage who came out to Act III via local fishing boats to inquire why we were stopping there and not going on to Samana as our despacho indicated, that, "Bientot no es bueno.  Vayamos esta noche." (Wind is not good.  We go tonight." They were satisfied with the answer; more satisfied with the cold Coca Colas and gifts of small bottles of rum.  We arrived and cleared out of Samana, on the NE coast of DR, in a few hours, although that process involved 2 visits to the boat by officials (more cokes and rum), and a trip to town by Bill, where the commandante's office would not give him a copy of paperwork we needed to officially exit. We were a little concerned that we were being held hostage until it became evident that the office simply had no blank paper to make a copy.

We hurried across the Mona Passage between DR and PR within a good weather window, then checked in and stayed a couple of days on the southwest coast of Puerto Rico in Boqueron, a lovely town mostly used for holidays by locals. From there we made easy short hops along the southern coast of, stopping at Salinas and Puerto Patillas before a good weather forecast allowed a longer passage to St. Thomas, USVI.  For the first time, Bill was off our projected arrival time by more than an hour: we were 12 hours early!  We had expected to motorsail into wind and waves at about 4 kts, but a fortunate wind shift gave us a boost and Bill couldn't keep Act III sailing under 8 kts.  He wanted to go slowly so we wouldn't arrive at a foreign port in the dark, but as we continued to make excellent time, we realized we could make it just at sundown, and dropped anchor at St. Thomas with enough ambient light from the busy town and cruise ships of Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands.

We had not been in touch with Ben and Nikki for a couple of weeks, so when we called them that night to report our location, we were thrilled to learn they were merely 5 miles away from us in Christmas Cove, Little St. John.  We easily got to Soterion the next morning in time to share hugs and wave goodbye before they left with guests for a week.  Bill and I spent that week near Red Hook, St. Thomas, seriously depleting the cruising kitty at Lotus, the local sushi restaurant, riding the $1 Safari bus around the island, and keeping track of the spotted eagle ray that lived in our anchorage.  After many months of Bahamian rice and peas (beans), our mouths welcomed the fine food.

When Soterion returned her satisfied guests to St. John the next week (they already booked a repeat trip for next year), Ben and Nikki hosted us in grand style aboard their beautiful yacht and led us around their stomping grounds in the British Virgin Islands: Hawksnest Cay, Maho Bay, Marina Cay, Trellis Bay, until we stopped at Nanny Cay, Tortola, where we currently sit on the hard putting a new propeller on Act III. We took a hotel room for the night, our first time sleeping on land since leaving New Hampshire.

Some random memories of this month:

* Many small pongas fishing off the coasts at night showi no lights, making them dangerous hazards. Bill fortunately caught a glimpse of light and steered away barely in time to avoid hitting one off the north coast of DR.
* Heidi baked quite a nice spice cake in the uneven-heating galley oven for Bill's birthday. Julia and Jurgen from Norway joined us for his birthday dinner and treated Bill to the traditional Norwegian birthday song, which includes a little dance with hops and spins.
* Sounds of the Seacoast, the chorus which Heidi left to go cruising, took first place at the regional competition in April, proving that Heidi was holding them back :)
* Bill got a perfect shave-and-a-haircut, $11, with a straight razor (!) at Puerto Patillas, where we were driven both ways by a generous young man who didn't think these 2 old farts could walk 45 minutes to the town center. We walked to a restaurant later that night and a passing driver hollered from his truck, "SIR!  HOW'S THE HAIRCUT?  Small town and we stick out like, well, like cruisers.
* Nikki's amazing gourmet dinners and treats aboard Soterion.  No wonder guests come back year after year.
* Nikki and Ben took us to most spectacular snorkling at Waterlemon Cay, near Maho Bay, St. John.  {Photos} In Trellis Bay, Ben led us on two fabulous scuba dives on healthy live coral reefs.
* We can't believe this is our life. Here we finally wake, drink coffee and fall over the side into clear turquoise water to play with the fish.