Tuesday March 19th

Go home day minus 5

Our remaining days are down to one hand. This trip is different for me, Mary Lynn is already starting to think about work I go back to my retirement. For me retirement is still a work in progress though. I hate leaving here thinking about going home and starting to work on the boat...but mother nature slaps me upside my head when I get back...ground hog be damned there are still 6 weeks til boat work.

Departure from Jost Van Dyke

 The weather for today is typically Caribbean except for the rain. There will be a few showers but the space between showers is beautiful. Nice breeze for our run across to the US Virgins and St. John.
We fly out of St. Thomas on Saturday and will likely ferry to Charlotte Amalie from Cruz Bay Saturday morning.
We will anchor in Caneel Bay and go by dinghy into Cruz Bay to check into the U.S. then for the night perhaps Lameshure Bay or Francis Bay.
We love to snorkel in Leinster Bay on the north side. I don't think we have time to go to Coral Bay at the other end of St. John. I like the food at Skinny Legs best burger I've had since the 70's. Any of you remember a place in Toronto called the Night Spot??? OMG my arteries started hardening that day in Toronto.
It is now 08:05 coffee and tea made, Mary Lynn awake but not up. No sounds from upper management in the aft...perhaps this day will unfold slowly.

The Sail

We left around 10:30 this morning with the wind generally easterly at around 13 to 15 knots. Beam reach across to the US virgins. The boat ran 7's and touched 8 on many occasions.
We did in fact get a mooring at Caneel Bay and all went by dinghy in to the US customs and managed to get the forms filled out eventually and was allowed to enter the US. We shopped at the Dolphin market and they are well stocked. Managed to get what we needed and didn't even spend 200 bucks. My rum is 15 bucks for a 1 liter bottle. I am used to .750 and 1.14 size bottles so this has in fact been a challenge to manage dispensing and maintenance dose.
It was extremely hot ashore out of the wind and there were hills to climb.
We got back to the boat and motored around the corner to Francis Bay and had a fairly large number of mooring balls to choose from. They are only 15 per night and are managed by the US park system.
Dinner is underway now and it is not safe to be below or near the galley. All of the alphas are battling for space.

Final notes

We had a nice dinner with recently boned chicken with cranberries, mandarins in a tangy sauce WTF sounded like a foodie there for a bit.
We have a little problem with the alternator. The wind is down which means output from wind generator is low. Hopefully we get sun to make up some amps that way. I think the problem is related to the belt that got changed the other day. Likely loosened a connection.
We will dig into that in the morning.