March 2007
Over the last 18 months we have happily adjusted to a much different pace of life from when we first embarked on this journey. Leisurely exploring areas of interest without a rigid timeline and sometimes (okay, a lot of times) staying in the same anchorage doing nothing but reading a good book(s) for days at a time. However, one day in mid February while cleaning out the Nav desk we came across a distantly familiar item. A calendar. As we took notice of the date we determined that we had to shift gears to see some of the remaining islands on our wish list before heading back to the States in April. So over the next 28 days we visited 11 different islands from 16 different anchorages!
St. Thomas –> Water Island –> Great St. James –> St. John –> Tortola –> Norman's Island –> Peter Island –> Marina Cay –> Anegada –> Virgin Gorda –> Beef Island
At the beginning of March our tour of the British Virgin Islands was winding down as we were approaching our designated date to clear out of customs. Our longest stay during this period of rapid travel was on Virgin Gorda where we spent nine days in the beautiful protected waters of North Sound (also known as Gorda Sound) which is home to the Bitter End Yacht Club. How appropriate for us because, yes, we had reached the bitter end of our journey eastward. We only planned on spending three days exploring the area but as additional days came and went we realized that we were struggling with the emotions of touching that figurative pole and turning back west. We took unstructured turns at being reflective, contemplative, moody, anxious, and sad. This adventure has been an amazing, life-enriching experience for both of us and for as much as we look forward to returning to friends, family, and a life on land, we were quite gloomy that it was coming to an end. When quiet tears slipped out we would lighten the moment by laughing over our crazy adventures and acknowledging that the expedition is far from over – we still have to get back to Florida!
By the end of March we had traveled back to St. Thomas and were in the fine company of our old friends Cindy and Greg on Day Dreamer and our newest friends, Andrew and Elke on Hark. We made plans to rendezvous in the Spanish Virgin Islands and explore the south coast of Vieques together. After spending almost three months in the busy waters of the US and British Virgin Islands we were looking forward to the secluded anchorages that Vieques offers. Ensenada Honda was our first stop and it did indeed offer seclusion. Perfect. No houses, no bars, no charter boats. It was a huge anchorage which would have easily held a couple hundred boats by BVI standards and there were two boats there when we arrived: Day Dreamer and another cruising boat that had arrived just ahead of them. We each anchored about a .5 mile apart so there was plenty room for Hark when they arrived the followed day from St. Croix. The biggest disruption in the anchorage was the bombs going off in the distance. Yes, bombs. Vieques has a number of unexploded ordinances left over from its military training days and the Navy is now sweeping through cleaning up the pesky things. We had been warned that a number of anchorages were off limits due to this activity but were still a bit startled when the first explosion took us by surprise. Fortunately for us, the bombs weren't scaring the sea life away; Rod and Andrew returned from an afternoon of spear fishing with two very large lobsters in hand! Dinner aboard Hark that night was an entertaining and delicious feast with the boys retelling their stories of the big hunt in growing magnitude.
From Vieques we traveled with Day Dreamer to the east coast of Puerto Rico and treated ourselves to a stay in the Puerto del Rey Marina in Ceiba. With over 1000 slips it is the largest marina in the Caribbean! We enjoyed long, hot showers with unlimited water and did our fiscal duty of shopping at the local West Marine in Fajardo. We left the marina the same day (March 31) as Cindy and Greg but were headed different directions. They were bound for Culebra and we were going back to Vieques for one night before transiting the south coast of Puerto Rico. We took five weeks to travel east along Puerto Rico in November/December and we now planned on taking only a few days to travel west to Boqueron. With the wind and seas at our back (FINALLY!!!) our course back should be swift.
In Boqueron we will prepare Lucky Peek and wait for an appropriate weather window to head out across the Mona Passage. If all goes well we will travel non-stop for 3-4 days to arrive in West Caicos. Even though we're running low on Santo Domingo coffee and Brugal rum we don't intend on stopping in the Dominican Republic along the way. However, it will be close by if we need to pause for rest or address something on Lucky Peek. From West Caicos we plan to move steadily through the southern Bahamas up to the Nassau area where we will stage to cross the Gulf Stream. From there it will take 3-4 non-stop days to reach our final destination of D-dock in HarborTown Marina on Merritt Island in Cape Canaveral. Sounds so easy when I sum it up in a tidy little paragraph!
So much for our leisurely pace but with the easterly winds filling our sails as we make our way north we should have a fun ride home!
