2007

Christmas in the Caribbean

Christmas in the Caribbean

25 December 2007We pulled into Simpson Bay, on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, just after sunset. Again, we arrived at night, making anchoring difficult. But luckily, our good friends/next-door neighbors from Simi Valley were in the bay on Aquila (their Hylas 49) and they helped guide us in. After spending the night and morning […]

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St. Thomas, Olga and the Bitter End

St. Thomas, Olga and the Bitter End

St Maarten Neatherland Antilles With sub-tropical storm Olga headed our way, we ducked into Red Hook Bay, St Thomas for some cover. While this sounded good, it turned out to be a bad decision. Red Hook faces east and with the strong east winds around Olga, anchor holding in the harbor was poor at best. […]

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St. John by Land and Sea

St. John by Land and Sea

While the boat bottom was being painted in Tortola, we took a ferry over to St. John in the US Virgin Islands to see the island from the land. We had visited St. John more than 10 years ago and wanted to see some of our favorite spots from that trip. The Hyatt Grand at […]

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More of the British Virgin Islands

More of the British Virgin Islands

Great Harbor Jost Van Dyke BVI While cleaning the bottom of the boat before leaving the US, we found a lot of growth. It had been almost a year since she was painted, so we had Berkeley East hauled and the bottom painted at Nanny Cay Tortola. With our new bottom paint we made a […]

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Cruising the British Virgin Islands

Cruising the British Virgin Islands

Since arriving in Tortola, we have been cruising around the BVI, enjoying many different islands including Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, Salt island, Peter Island, Norman Island and Jost Van Dyke. We dove the wreck of the Rhone, a 300′ Royal Mail Ship sunk in 1867 where we ran across this four-foot’ barracuda. Hung out on […]

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We’ve arrived in the Caribbean!

We’ve arrived in the Caribbean!

18 25.411’N:64 37.073’W Berkeley East crossed the Caribbean 1500 finish line in squall conditions just 8 days after departing Virginia. We had an exciting passage with both highs and lows. When it was all said and done we were the 13th boat across the line, despite a few setbacks. We had great sailing, covering over […]

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Back to Hampton and Charlotte

Back to Hampton and Charlotte

We left Martha’s Vineyard with a north wind blowing 20 – 25 kts, and a forecast of big seas. We were not sure exactly where we would go. While getting back to Hampton, Virginia to prepare for the Caribbean 1500 was necessary, we also thought a trip back through the Chesapeake Bay hitting some of […]

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The Islands

The Islands

On our way south we stopped in at Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Two great islands. On Martha’s, we biked most of the island (with a little help from the bus system). We were moored in Edgartown, but saw Vineyard Haven, Gay Head (now called Aquinnah), South Beach and Memensha. We loved this island and can’t […]

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Headed South

Headed South

42 02.777’N:70 11.014’W With the weather getting cooler, we began our trip south with a sail from Portland, Maine to Provincetown, MA. This is where the Pilgrims arrived in the new world and the Mayflower Compact was signed. During this trip we saw, dolphin, schools of jumping tuna and whales. No luck catching the tuna […]

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More in Maine

More in Maine

17 September 2007 While in Maine, our friends Jan and Paul joined us for a sail through the islands in Casco Bay and up into the mid coast of Maine. We stopped at fishing villages in Wiscasset and Will’s Gut for lobster. After three days of lobster for lunch and dinner we’d had our fill, […]

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