Nevis is our current location and today is the last day we will have internet for awhile.  So I thought I would fill you in on our travels.

We left Bitter End in Virgin Gorda and headed to the southern end of the island near Spanish Town.  It was a great anchorage with a marina and a very nice grocery store near by.  We took a day trip with Varua to the Baths and did some snorkeling.  Of course all those pictures are on my camera and I still can't find the little tool I need to import the pictures to the ipad, so I will have to post them later.

We left from Spanish Town at 4:00 pm on Thursday May 22nd and sailed almost 27 hours of our 45 hour voyage to St. Martin.  We tacked often which made the trip much longer than it should have been, but the trip was much more comfortable than sailing into the wind and waves.  We arrived in St. Martin at 1:30 pm on Saturday the 24th.  We spent our entire Sunday resting and recuperating from the trip.  Along the way we picked up a hitchhiker and caught two baracuda.  Naturally, we let them all go.

Flying Fish catching a ride

There is a barracuda at the end of this line

Sunrise over St. Martin

St. Martin....almost there

Busy anchorage but plenty of room.  The aromas from land were awesome.

We left St Martins at 5:30 am hoping to return here someday and explore the city.   We motored sailed with the main and the little jib for 42 miles arriving in Basseterre, St. Kitts by 5:00.  The cruise ship parked at the dock left at 7:00 pm.  The next morning we hauled the dinghy off the bow of the boat and went to check in with customs and immigration.  No problems and only $42.00.  The cruise ship village was a deserted as a ghost town, but walking further we arrived at the center of town.  People, buses, and taxis all moving around the clock tower in the middle of the street.

Clock tower with water basin to wash hands or get a drink of water.

Lots of activity in the center of town.  Selling fresh pineapples from the back of a truck.

We explored a couple of other small harbors that were usually rolly from the southeast winds, but very peaceful.  on Thursday the 29th we sailed a short 6 mile hop over to Nevis and found only 4 other boats in the huge anchorage area running along the western side.  Dozens of mooring balls available, so we hooked onto #31.  Friday we all went in and explored the city of Charleston.  The streets were old and the architecture was just as old.  We saw many buildings built in the 1800's.

OF COURSE THEY ARE PICTURES ON MY CAMERA!

Memorial Square during a little rain shower.  It rains here a little bit almost every day.  

But the highlight of the day was visiting the Horatio Nelson Museum.  He is one of Will's personal heroes   and has read many books and watched many movies about this British Navy Admiral.  Nelson  was killed during the battle of Trafalgar when he was 47.

Shaking hands with Horatio Nelson

The museum was a 2 mile hike outside of town but well worth the visit.

Tomorrow June 1st we will sail south to Montserrat.  A small island with an active volcano on it called Soufriere Hills.  It has been erupting on a regular basis since 1995.  the last eruption was in 2012.  

Not sure where we will head after this stop...we have thoughts of visiting Antiqua to the northeast or heading south again to Guadeloupe.  But we will catch up with you when we get somewhere.

Paradise is not a great place for keeping a journal or blogging.  However, I do think about
working on it at least once in awhile.

We spent 65 days in Salinas, Puerto Rico and enjoyed every second of it.  We loved our
new friends, the grocery stores, the bakery, the dingy rides when the engine was working
properly.  We loved swimming in the pool, playing Mexican train on Sundays,  our road
trips to San Juan, Ponce, the Rain Forest, and along the coast through the mountains.

One special weekend we partied on a special beach with new Puerto Rican amigos.

alexandra and baron

                                                            seee if you can find me

beach mommies

I truly loved flying back to the states for ten days and visited my mother and father in Tampa.
Then a trip to Hilton Head to see Carly and friends.

Carly was the highlight of my trip

The day finally came that we pulled anchor at 1:00 am with no moon but the sky filled with stars.  With some quick over night stops in Vieques, Calebra, and St Thomas, we pulled into Soper's Hole in Tortola....the British Virgin Island.  We arrived on May 7th three days before the wedding of our friends Lara and Brian.  But on May 8th the rains came and they stayed for five days.  In between the rain drops we still had lots of fun with our good friends visiting from Hilton Head, Morris and Jim, and the new friends we met at the wedding.  

Unfortunately all the pictures of the wedding and our week in Soper's Hole are on my camera.  I lost my camea for a few days but have also lost the cord for importing pictures from my camera to the ipad.  So I will be able to share those with everyone after we return to the states in July and I can purchase a new one!

One fun road trip was to Road Town to buy hydraulic fuel that Will needed for the water maker pump and it took us five stops before we found the only place that had it or had it in less than 5 gallon drums.  The nice shop owner just poured about a quart into an empty five gallon drum and said "No charge"  While he was busy with that deal, I met Clarence from the Struggling Man Road Side cafe and we joined him there for a great seaside lunch.

On May 14th we moved to a new mooring around the corner called Cane Garden Bay and we fell in love with that place.  We took a cute pink mooring ball and enjoyed the beach, swimming, pain killer rum drinks and had dinner at Quito's where Quito played his guitar for us.

our favorite beach so far in Tortola

Back on the seas we made one over night stop before arriving at Bitter End Resort.  We finally were able to anchor out instead of paying for a mooring ball....usually $30 a night.  So a free stay at an expensive resort.  It feels like being in Disney World without the rides and the crowds. 

So my friends and family, I leave you today on May 19th until next time.  Not sure where we will be next, but I am sure it will be beautiful.  And remember that you are always in our thoughts and wished we could have each and everyone of you with us to enjoy our trip.  We are usually safe, but scraps and bruises do happen.

Missssssss   youuuuuuuu

Good morning from Salinas.  We have been here 4 weeks and will be here at least another week while we have our friends Marty and Smitty visit us.  It has been a great anchorage for doing boat projects, swimming in the pool, touring the island by car, and meeting lots of other cruisers that are from all over the world.  We recently met a young man from Brazil that is circumnavigating the world.  Right now we are just circumnaviagting the Caribbean!   Here are some pictures of Salinas and surrounding areas.

Bentley has enjoyed his morning walks around the marina and even getting cat food treats from cruisers that feed the feral cats.  He always enjoys his naps on the cabin top.

My favorite thing to do in Salinas is play Mexican train on Sunday afternoons.  One of my favorite couples that play with me are Dick and Jane.  They have lived aboard their sailboat for over 20 years and will soon be selling their boat and moving to land here in Salinas.

Our friends Marty and Smitty spent a week here with us, and we had lots of  fun playing games,  eating, exploring and swimming.  

We had some great fun.  We took a trip to Ponce and visited the oldest fire house in Puerto Rico

The lion statues are in a square and are so very colorful and it was fun visiting them with my buddies Marty and Susan.

Salinas....our new home for awhile. We love it here and hope we get some visitors.  There is a nice marina with little hotel rooms, a pool, restaurant, and lots of sunshine and warm weather.  Salinas is located on the south coast in the middle of the island east of Ponce.

Snack bar at the marina were cruisers get free internet

On February 23rd we left a very quiet anchorage at the southeastern point of Puerto Rico called Cabo Rojo.  It is a working lighthouse that was built in the 1800's. It was remodeled in 1980 and painted the traditional grey and white.  We left at 4:00 am watching the guiding light turning around.  I imagined how sailors used to use this to guide them to shore before GPS.  We left early because the winds are very light in the morning and we made it to Guanica by 11:00 am.

Guilligans Island is located in Guanica and is a resort area.  The island is a natural park so no dogs are allowed.  We didn't want to leave Bentley alone, so we just enjoyed some empanadillas and a beer at a local watering spot.

We left Guanica at 2:30 am (again because of the light winds) and had a nice sail along the coast watching the mountains and the windmills from off shore.  We arrived in Salinas at 10:30 am and anchored by 12:30.  It is a small harbor surrounded by mountains.

On our first morning here I was in the cockpit playing games on the Ipad.  It started to drizzle, so I put the Ipad down and closed the hatch.  A large conch shell fell off the cabin top and landed on the Ipad.  The glass shattered into thousands of pieces.  Unbelievably, I was still able to use it and close out my apps.  I was sick.  We were able to find a place in Ponce.....a 30 minute car ride from Salinas, so we remted a car and dropped off the Ipad. It took two days to repair, so we re ted another car on Friday afternoon and picked it up.....$95. And I am out of the dark ages and back in the internet world.

Saturday we had till 3:00 to return the car so we took a road trip towards San Juan heading north.
The drive through the mountains was awesome.  We found a large store similar to Sam's but no membership needed.  We bought case lots of beer, seltzer, black beans, and paper towels.  Then back on the road heading south we stopped at a local roadside restaurant where there were four pigs rotating on spits.  The food was all typical Puerto Rican and it was enough for lunch with leftovers for dinner.

The neighborhoods here are all very much alike.  Colorful houses with lots of flowers and all with plenty of wrought iron gating.  The houses are very close together but clean and nicely kept.

We will be here for awhile so if you need to get away from the cold for a vacation, please come on down.  You can fly into San Juan and we will pick you up.  The marina motel rooms start at $95 and there are many cheap restaurants within walking distance.  We can even take you for a sail to one of the smaller islands with beautiful beaches and shells.