8,000 mile mark Westward through the Virgins Anchor to Anchor - St. Thomas (U.S. Virgin Island) to Culebra (Spanish Virgin Island) - 20 miles - 3 hours La 18.18.5'N Lo 65.18.0'W Today, as we passed "sail rock" between two virgin islands, our log clicked over the 8,000 nautical mile mark, (since we pushed off from the dock in Penetanguishene, July 4, 2006). That's a lot of water under the keel! What better place to celebrate this milestone than beautiful, unspoiled Culebra, our favourite island. When we checked in with Customs they issued us a U.S. cruising permit ($19.U.S.), good for one year. While anchored at Culebra we enjoyed an afternoon of snorkelling along the "wall" off the west coast, and did extensive provisioning in anticipation of our passages to the Bahamas. We also enjoyed dinner ashore at Mamacitas restaurant though we had to practically move the eels and tarpoon fish aside to tie our dinghy to the dock.

The 30th Annual Heineken Regatta - St. Martin - Passages West Anchor to Anchor - Simpson Bay, St. Martin to Lindbergh Bay, St. Thomas (U.S.Virgin Island) - 25 hours - 115 miles La 18.19.9'N Lo 64.58.0'W We joined a group of 2 mega yachts and a dozen or so others at the 9 a.m. out-going Simpson Bay bridge opening and made our way out of the lagoon on Friday, March 5th. We knew the 30th Annual Heineken Regatta was in full swing but what a surprise it was to us to find literally hundreds of boats racing within view of the bay. The question that came to our mind was where did they all come from? They certainly didn't come out of the lagoon. Did they all spend the night anchored out in the swell in Simpson Bay? If so, it must have been a bumper to bumper parking lot out there. We enjoyed an up-close view of the action as we slipped between the races to open water. In light (under 10 knot) SE-S winds under full main and genoa, we set out on a course of 291 degrees magnetic for Culebra. During our progress in daylight hours we had a rather large, very low flying plane pass over us twice. The drone of it's engine could be heard in the distance for most of the day. We speculated that a grid search was underway to possibly locate whales as the humpback annual migration passed through these waters yearly at this time. We sailed on through the night in flat seas enjoying the fireworks of bio-luminesence in our wake matched by a spectacular sky above, gently averaging 4 knots. At 7 a.m. we had the U.S. Virgin Island, St. John, off our starboard beam and a very threatening squall line off our bow. With Culebra still 25 miles ahead and the weather channel issuing a flood warning due to heavy rainfall over the next 36 hours, we decided to take shelter in Lindbergh Bay, St. Thomas, and "wait out the storm". This turned out to be a wise decision. While snugly on anchor we endured many hours of teeming rain and 30+ knot winds.

Lazin' In The Lagoon - St. Martin We lay on anchor 13 days in St. Martin's Simpson Bay lagoon awaiting delivery of a warranty replacement windlass from Lewmar. While biding our time we enjoyed area activities and social outings with fellow cruisers. One couple, Renee and Cheryl (Gypsy Blues - Canada), that we first met in the Erie canal (Sept. '06), we found to be both gainfully employed here in St. Martin while living aboard Gypsy Blues. Renee jokingly tells us "he is being paid to get a discount on boat parts" as he is working at the Island Water World Chanderly while Cheryl is honing her skills in a canvas loft. Coupled with our friends on Phoenix III (Canada) that we found both working at the Whisper Cove Marina in Grenada, we note cruisers seeping into cruising related employment opportunities on the islands. Our time in St. Martin was spent enjoying Heineken regatta excitement and activities; watching the planes land and take-off at the end of the runway (again!! we just can't seem to stop!); watching the yacht traffic pass by during bridge openings at the Yacht Club; shopping in the stores and market in Marigot (on the French side); attending social get-togethers with fellow cruisers; sharing in the free pizza party that Cheryl won (Gypsy Blues); strolling the beach on Simpson Bay; cheering on the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team and proudly flying our flag afterwards; ogling the mega/maxi yachts docked here and we even managed to fit in some maintenance time on Sea Star.