April 12, 2014

We left Culebra at 0945. The winds were supposed to start settling down to 15 kts by 1100. Suffice it to say, we had winds 15 to 19 kts, right on the nose and seas 4' - 6', some of which seemed to stop us dead in our tracks. We knew it was going to be slow going but didn't count on it being as slow as it was! We got to the beginning of St. Thomas by 1300, headed towards the island to cut the waves and put up some canvas. It helped somewhat. We decided to continue until supper time and found a nice anchorage in St. James Bay, almost at the end of the island. We picked up a mooring ball outside a nature/wildlife sanctuary where we had a very peaceful night.

Sail Rock approaching St. Thomas (really in the middle of nowhere!)

Anchorage at St. James Bay, USVI.

 

Sunset at St. James Bay, USVI.

April 13, 2014

Jorge was up almost with the sun, I was up by 0700. We left the mooring ball by 0830 and made our way towards the BVI. We arrived at Road Town, Tortola around 1230. There were a gazillion sailboats in Sir Francis Drake Channel as we headed towards Road Town. We anchored just off the ferry dock where Customs were. After lunch, Jorge went ashore to check us in. We then headed out in the dinghy to check out the area. The large boat charter company The Moorings are located here and we saw their fleet. Quite a number of boats!

We were able to get intermittent internet on the boat but decided to go to a restaurant, have supper and hopefully getting better internet.

Our weather window for heading to St. Martin seems to have closed in on us. We need about 15 good hours and at present the weather is only showing 6, that leaves 9 hours or so of slugging it out! Not something either one of us wants to do. We are thinking of traveling to Virgin Gorda tomorrow and hanging out there until things change. Time is getting critical. We have to be in Grenada by the middle of May and still have some 450 nm (give or take) to go!