A few more things I had to share that happened in May…

Caper and Chance (my dogs) kept hassling me to write about their new friends. When we were anchored for about a month at Brewer’s Bay in St. Thomas, Caper and Chance made new friends as well, their names were Rosco and Daisy. Rosco and Daisy live on Dreamcatcher, a catamaran. Caper and Chance met Rosco and Daisy one morning when they went for a swim on the beach and had a doggy play date. Caper went swimming, Chance chased a ball out in the water, and Daisy chased a stick out in the water. Rosco didn’t do anything in the water for a while – he just greeted everyone, asked for pets, and watched. Eventually, Rosco got in the water to get the stick, but he only went in a few feet.

It was great meeting Jake, Stephanie, Roscoe and Daisy! We look forward to seeing them in Grenada when they sail down in July.

We finally left St. Thomas and sailed to St. Croix!

We went to shore on St. Croix on May 29th to get some land time because it will be a long time before we are on land again. We are getting ready to sail to Grenada which will take 3 days nonstop. We went to a restaurant called Brew STX. It was the first time we got to sit down at a restaurant since COVID started.  I got french fries and they were yummy. The reason why sitting at a restaurant was such a big deal is because after we sail to Grenada, we have to stay on the boat in a two week quarantine.

{Watch out folks this blog is going to turn into an advertisement.} Come one, come all to the Barina to get Snacks, Beer, Wine, Coffee, Soda, Marine Supplies, Etc … 🙂

We went to a store that wasn’t just a Marina store, but a Bar too. We got marine supplies, beer, wine, soda and Cheetos. I got diet coke and Cheetos, Dad got beer and a speargun, and Mom got wine and a tank top. We went with our friends Patrick and Rita (from Bella). This is my dad’s favorite marine supply store ever!

Later that afternoon/evening, I hung out on the boat with the dogs while mom and dad went to a tiki bar and pizza place to meet with the other boaters who are also heading to Grenada the next morning.

We were only on St. Croix for one day, but really enjoyed it.
We can’t wait to come back!

On January 22nd we arrived in the tropics at Mayaguana, Bahamas (the most southern Bahamas Island). We had a two-day passage sail to get there. We sailed through breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got to sleep at the fly bridge. We saw the sunset while the boat was moving. We eventually stopped at 2:00 in the morning and I moved down to my bedroom. While I was sleeping, we moved to a new anchor spot. Once we got to our new anchor spot, we got to go for a morning swim. The water was crystal clear. The water was nine feet deep. We could see sand dollars, fish and conch at the bottom. Chance was a lifeguard. Caper was a Champion swimmer. We had to tie him to the boat, so he would not swim too far away from the boat.

On January 23rd we went to explore the island of Mayaguana. We walked on the island and met a Police guy and his son. We explored Abraham’s Settlement on Mayaguana and checked out the beach. We did not stay on the beach because the dogs got sand spurs on their feet. I went into one of the little stores, which was in a lady’s garage. She had dogs and the dogs were crazy protective and scared of our dogs. The store didn’t really have much. All we got there was eggs and an orange Fanta. Thank goodness for the Fanta, I was dying of thirst that day.

From Jan 27-Jan 30 we made our way from the Bahamas to Puerto Rico. We stayed in Puerto Rico for only a few days. We rented a car and checked out a few places (and a brewery) while there, plus grocery shopped and bought new phones for internet. We then had a 1-day sail to the USVI.

On February 8th we went on a hike in St. Johns, USVI. We hiked up what used to be a Danish road they used to get from one settlement to another. It was a strenuous hike to the top of the hill. We went so high up to the top of the hill that we had a really good view of Maho Bay. We got to do it with Kent and Kathy Meredith of s/v Wind Ensemble. It was a long hike to me because I was already tired. The name of the hike was Mary Hope Trail.

On Feb 10th Me, Mom and Kathy took an island taxi to Trunk Bay on St. John’s where we went snorkeling and hung out at the beach. What was neat about the snorkel is there were markers that told us what the fish were and it was a national park, so we had to pay to get in. Afterwards, we took a taxi back to Maho Bay and ate at the beach bar with Dad and Kent. We then went back to the boat and danced along to Abba music. We had Kent and Kathy over for dinner.

On Feb 17th Mom, Dad and I went on a hike to a Sugar Mill Plantation. We saw the ruins of the old factory, windmill, cooking and boiling areas as well as the slave headquarters. In the early 19th century the sugar mill was the only way to get sugar in the USVIs. At the time they would have slaves working because they found the work a whole lot easier if the slaves did it. The sugar cane would go through the windmill and into the boiling room where it would go from copper kettle to copper kettle. The slaves would then cook it in the kitchen and bring it to the people who own the plantation so they could sell it.

On Feb 23rd we went motoring from the US Virgin Islands to the British Virgin Islands. We stopped at Tortola to check into Customs. The British Virgin Islands restaurants do not cater to pet dogs because they do not believe in pet dogs or friendly dogs. The dogs they know and have on the islands are not usually pets but wild dogs and they are not always friendly. They are scared of dogs because they have never been around dogs very much. Caper and Chance had to be checked by the local vet to see if they were friendly and healthy. One of the restaurants we wanted to eat at on the patio in Tortola said no because we had the dogs. After Customs we moved over to Cooper Island. There we got a mooring ball instead of anchoring. We went to the island and it was very touristy like the shops and the restaurant are all stuff that you would see in a tourist town and the environment was really pretty, especially the view of the water. The restaurants on Cooper Island were nice and they let us be there with the dogs.

On Saturday January 4th, we got to experience the Junkanoo in George Town, Bahamas. It only comes once a year. It is usually in late December after Christmas on Boxing Day, but it got postponed this year to January because of the weather. Junkanoo is a celebration of freedom from slavery.

It had really loud music and there were a lot of people there. Once the parade started about 8:30 there would be a group of dancers and musicians once an hour. We would have to wait an hour for the next group. The parade was on “Island Time.”

What was unique about the costumes is that they were made with feathers and sequins. Only one person could carry them. They could make them big or small whatever they like but only one person can carry it. The parade was really fun to see and experience. We also met some new friends there.

On January 8th we went to Sand Dollar Beach just off of George Town, Bahamas and the dogs were crazy! The dogs wanted to get off the dinghy and swim to the beach, so they did. They jumped off the dinghy a hundred feet from the beach and swam to the beach and almost beat us to the beach. When we took the dogs for a walk on the beach, Caper did not walk he swam and wandered off.  He came back to Dad’s whistle and met a dog friend. Chance follows Caper when he takes off. I guess they wanted to do their own thing today.

This is a Beach Shack built by other cruisers over the years at Sand Dollar Beach where we were anchored:

On January 17 we went to the famous blue hole called Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island, Bahamas and swam. This blue hole is the deepest known salt water blue hole with an entrance below sea level. It is 663 feet deep. This was a neat and fun place (Dean’s Blue Hole). Nature’s swimming pool.

We rented a car to drive on Long Island and we went to a couple of more beaches and stores. We went to a Italian restaurant called Chez Pierre. The food was really good. It was my birthday celebration so I got to order margarita pizza, spaghetti and french fries. And I got free dessert at Chez Pierre!

We had left the dogs on the boat and they were barking like crazy (as seen on the security cameras). Caper even went up on the table and laid there all day! Crazy dogs. Singing for us to come home.

We came back to the boat to see the dogs, who went crazy with happiness.

We started the new year at Sand Dollar Beach in Stocking Island, Exuma. We dingyed over to the beach and Mom wanted to find sand dollars. Since it is Sand Dollar Beach and because she used to look for Sand Dollars when she was a kid. Dad found them first. We hiked up some very steep, rocky hills. I wore Chacos, so my feet wouldn’t get hurt. I recommend wearing Chacos/tennis shoes when hiking up those hills because your feet could easily get hurt. We wanted to cross to the other side of the Island to see the Atlantic. Since there was a poisonous tree in our way, we decided to go back where we started and we did. We went back and we swam. The dogs had so much energy, they were always one step ahead. Dad tried calling them but there were times where they would not listen.  When we got back on the boat in their defense, they drank a lot of water.They were so tired, they went to the bathroom on the wrong side of the boat. They got in trouble.

The dogs pose for a picture:

Chance is telling me to come on:

Finally Chance is worn out!