Ooops we got a little behind in the blog writing adventures! Honeymooning eventually turns the brain to a sub par thinking state! So now is Jim’s turn to write!!!

So Heather asked me to write the blog about our trip West from Prickly Pear. Basically it went like this. Hoisted jib, sailed by mountain point, mooring occupied, sailed by George Dog, too rolly, sailed by Beef Island, nixed the Scrub island hike, sailed by Nanny Cay, too much of a pain in the ass to dock and hike the mountain, went into West End, cleared out of customs, motored to Leinster Bay, picked up a mooring, hiked 5 miles, Heather began cooking dinner, cell coverage sucked, motored around to Francis Bay while I held the rice cooker (it ain’t gimballed), picked up a mooring after dark, ate great, and went to bed…. Heather’s description of our days are sooo much better than mine. That was basically that day, now she is laughing at me and asking for me to continue the rest of the trip so here goes.

The next morning over coffee we burned 2 hrs trying to figure out what we were going to do with our day, meaning whether we sail to St. Croix or hang in St. John. Then sail home.  So we chose St. Croix, stowed the dinghy, hoisted the sails and headed South. It was blowing 15-20kts and it was a sporty ride off the South Coast of St. John. The wind tempered a bit about half way through the crossing (about 35 nm), and we were visited by a number of boobies giving us an aerial dive show… tons of flying fish. At one point Heather was on the bow taking photos and noticed our roller fuller system was beginning to come apart. We eased the load and were able to crank down on the set screw just enough to keep it from moving. We continued on our way and it got REALLY sporty as we got closer to St. Croix.  Approaching Buck Island and a further review of the regulations, we realized we needed an anchoring permit of which we did not have.. ooops. After a brief lecture of how I needed to become better versed with these types of regulations we formulated a quick plan B (otherwise known to common folks  “we changed our mind again”): Green Cay Marina.  We dropped the sails and Heather proceeded to drive us through a hairball 8ft deep, 60 foot wide, dog leg entrance, followed by a 180 in a very cramped basin and a perfect landing at the T dock. Damn that’s hot! Then my wife made me get off the boat for a 3 mile power walk, because she said it was good for me… yay. So that puts us at Wed evening.

Thursday morning our friend Isabelle (who lives on island with hubby Bill) picked us up to show us around and take us to DPNR for anchor permit. Since that involved filling out forms and taking back to DPNR, Isabelle kindly took us to the airport to get a rental car with loads of local knowledge to begin exploring St. Croix.

We explored Christiansted in the afternoon and met some great shop owners who shared all our post hurricane frustrations. Great little town, but definitely scarred from the storms. We had a great onboard meal of pasta and sausage and chilling on the aft deck in the quaint little marina.

Friday morning we headed back to DPNR to drop off paper work and went by a little bistro where we had the most AMAZING cinnamon bun! and I thought my wife had the  most amazing buns. he, he… but there is some serious competition in the form of their pastry.

We then proceeded to the St. George Estate Botantical Garden where I told her to take a photo of the “great house” as I want to build this for our future retirement home. Needless to say the next 2 hrs was basically dragging my wife around the garden as she had multiple plantgasms.  Guess I need to step up my game. Maybe I should wear a lei… We then drove to the North Coast and found a little narrow overgrown, one lane, steep ass path down to the Coast, which turned into the North shore road and a beautiful drive through Salt River and back to Christiansted. After our return to the boat we then drove out to Isabelle and Bill’s place and saw her incredible studio (she’s a world renown artist and athlete) Heather scored a very nice painting! We then piled into our rental jeep and she showed us Point Udall the easternmost point of the US. Meanwhile Bill blasted off in his bike to meet us at the top of Goat hill where we hiked after seeing the point. Gorgeous evening hike and we saw the sunset at the same time Savannah saw the sunrise in Bali. That evening we had invited Bill and Isabelle over for dinner and Heather prepared steaks in the cast iron and a pasta/parmesean/veggie casserole and foccassia bread. Also, Cherries, cheese and crackers for appetizer and Isabelle brought a delicious salad. A nice quiet dinner quickly morphed into a dock party as our neighbors who had just sailed back in and were leaving to the states the next day invited themselves over using two bottles of French Rose as their entry tickets. Turned out to be a very interesting and entertaining couple especially the guy, “Ernie”, a PhD forensic pathologist who speaks 6 languages, sometimes all at once. He and his lovely wife Loretta, an environmental engineer, have their own toxicology business in Houston. Between Ernie’s jokes, fear of sharks and flared for drama it was all Heather could do to keep from putting him in his place, especially after he commented on Savannah’s homeschooling history. I must say I’m proud of Heather for taking the high road and not kicking his ass off the boat! Meanwhile Bill paddles in after sunset and diverted Ernie’s further attention! Next thing we know 3 lady live aboards from up the dock are stepping into the cockpit also with wine tickets… they only stayed for a short while and we proceeded to have an amazing dinner.

Saturday we went for a run near the marina, begin prepping the boar for leaving her for the next 10 days as I do not have time to sail back for a meeting that just arose… imperative that I attend, and need to prepare Sunday with documents that arrived by mail. Bill and Isabelle invited us over for a tasty lunch and we ended up buying 2 inflatable sups and a surf sup for myself! Then Isabelle and Bill showed us a Sugar Mill ruin and Heather and I were off to hike the Jack and Isaak trail on the Eastern part of the island. Gorgeous shoreline single track trail. We returned to the boat, showered and again met with “IsaBill” for diner in town. In our parking lot sat a centuries old Baobab tree which was majestic and the story more fascinating, that the seeds of these trees often times traveled across the ocean in the mouths of slaves.

Sunday morning we finished prepping the boat, returned the rental car and checked into jetblue. The flight was a quick 25 min but the jackass at the helm opted to fly through every m’f’ing cloud instead of deviating around them which made for a very bumpy and harrowing flight. I’d much rather have my wife sitting in the left seat. I’m planning to share more thoughts soon on the situation in PR stay tuned.