2026-04-05 St. Martin and on to Antigua

Sunday was a boat day to rest and recover from the overnight passage.   We did dinghy over to visit our friends Monica and Jason on Breathe.  Had not seen them since we were rafted to them in Vero Beach, Florida back in November, so about 4 months ago.  

Monday we went to town, had a nice breakfast out at Chez Fernand bakery, with Breathe, and our friends John and Melanie on Shally came over as well.   The food was delicious, as most French bakeries are.   After breakfast, we went to the paint store to get some bottom paint for the boat, but they did not have any in stock.  Bummed, as that was the main reason for us to go to St. Martin.  Oh well.  

Dean by the "I love St. Martin" sign

French bakeries are the best

Melanie, Kris, Dean, Monica, Jason and John  - fun to have time with friends.

We decide not stay long in St. Martin, as we still have easting to go, as it is 65 miles more easting before it is easy to sail north and south in the Leeward and Windward islands of the Caribbean.   Since there was a good weather window, and the next one was weeks away we decided to move on quickly.

Back to boat, upped anchor and Breathe and us headed out.   We stopped on the south side of St. Martin/Sint Maarten to get fuel, and had a better sailing angle than Breathe, but we both did fine on a very tight reach to Antigua.   Breathe even had a very close whale sighting.

Passing the south end of St. Martin, lots of folks out watching the planes come in.  St. Martin is famous for having the planes come in low, and the end of the airport is very close to the beach.

Plane coming in, with boat anchored out to watch

You can see the plane close to landing, over the beach, full of people.

On our overnight to Antigua around 2:00 a.m. we sailed into a patch of Sargassum.   Not unusual, and usually no issue, normally you just part the Sargassum as you go, and sail right out.   This time was different.  Sailed in, and the boat went from 8 knots to 1 knot of speed.  We had 20 knot winds, and we were moving at 1 knot.  It was also very quiet, no wind or wave noise at all, and the seas went from 3’ to flat.   Quite eerie, actually.  Took a bit, but we changed course and sailed out and speed picked right back up.

 Got into Antigua around 4:00 in the morning, and went to bed.  Around 11:00 a.m. we were recovered enough from the overnight trip to head in and check into Antigua.  That done, it was back to the boat for lunch and naps.    That evening we headed back in with Breathe for the Tuesday pizza special at La Porta – only $13 for a medium pizza.   We all got our own pizzas, so enough for dinner and lunch the next day.

I stole this picture from Breathe - thanks guys.

Wednesday we decided to hike up Pearns Hill with Breathe.  Dean and I have hiked it before, but first time for Breathe.  Unfortunately, the swell was rather large, and our beach landing did not go as planned, with Jason and Dean staying dry, but Monica got a bit wet, and Kris took a large swell over the side of the dink and got thoroughly drenched.   Oh well, clothes dry. 

We had a nice, but strenuous hike up the hill, with a couple of roads up being at least a 30 degree or more angle.  It only around 325 feet tall, but steep roads.

Made it to the top

Very pretty views from the top of Pearn hill

Back at the dinghy we knew putting in would be hard with the swell, but we did everything wrong.  Key not in the motor, stern facing the waves, steep beach.  Took a couple big waves over the stern and completely swamped the dink.  Dean and Jason got soaked, Monica partly and Kris not at all, as she was still on the beach.    The dinghy full of sand and water, we brought back on the beach, bailed it out, and then tried again.   Everyone but Kris got in, and made a successful exit, Kris walked down to a breakwater, waded out on the rocks and got picked up.   Exciting times.   We were lucky, outboard motor and battery just fine.   Spent some time back at the boat cleaning dink of excess sand, gave it a freshwater rinse and all is good.   Felt a bit foolish though, as could have done a much better job the first time – oh well, good memories.

Still smiling after the dinghy dunking.

Thursday we headed into town with Breathe.  Went to Budget marine, and the grocery store, and wandered around the new “container” market.    Big changes around the marina, as they are tearing down the old shop area, and have moved it all into remodeled shipping containers, and apparently will be building condos where the old shops used to be. 

New container shops - they are moving into them just as we were visiting, so not open yet

 

Nice large shady sitting area around the container shops

Lots of boats in the Jolly Harbor marina

Friday was boat day.  Dean made pizza dough, white bread, and his lemon breakfast bread.   Kris worked on repairing the dinghy chaps, which some sewing was coming undone on.  We also did a load of laundry, and general boat cleaning.

Saturday we went in with Breathe, and caught the ”bus” to St. John, the largest town on Antigua.  Every Saturday is market day, with people setting up tents and stalls to sell everything from candy, shoes, clothes, and fruits and veggies.    Had a good walk around town seeing the sites, and then Jason gets credit for finding a nice restaurant for lunch.  Good food at very reasonable prices.  Even got to watch a cat stalk and catch a lizard, but then the lizard got away and ran under our table – which was not nice – we all picked up our feet and backpacks quickly in case it decided to use them to climb up away from the cat.    The restaurant owners wife came out with a broom and dustpan and rounded up the stray lizard and took it to the grassy area away from the outside dining area.   Good food and entertainment.

Bus depot - the minivans are the buses

Lots of people and stalls set up selling goods

Statue of the first Prime Minister of Antigua and a national hero

Museum of Antigua - unfortunately closed during our visit

Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The present cathedral was built on a fossilized reef, in 1845, and is now in its third incarnation, as earthquakes in 1683 and in 1745 destroyed the previous structures.

Inside Cathedral of St. John the Divine 

Cute bus parked on a road in St John

Inside the large Public Market Complex.  More vendors outside than inside.

Saw lots of cats in and around while walking.  This mom and babies taking a nap inside the Market Complex.

Back to the boat around 2:00 in the afternoon.  Kris worked on putting in a new fan for our fridge, as the old one stopped working.   Did not have the right size fan, so she put in a larger one we will use temporarily until we get the right size later on.

Today we will move to a new anchorage on Antigua.

 

2026-03-21 Moved on to St. Thomas, company arrives

We hung out in Culebra waiting on mail to arrive.   We had new credit cards, some miscellaneous parts for the engine, a new temperature gauge for the engine instrument panel, and most importantly our boat documentation which was set to expire next month.   All of these got shipped to our son Derek, and he packaged it all up and shipped it to the Culebra post office - general delivery.

Large mural in Culebra

Did some walking around town in Culebra

Of course, we had to have Zaco's Taco's one night

The United States Post Office in Culebra

Our mail came in on Monday, but winds were not favorable to move east, with 20 plus knot winds out of the east.   We moved from the town anchorage, up to the quieter and calmer anchorage Dakity for the next two days, before motor sailing to St. Thomas on Thursday.    

Approaching from the west we pass by one cruise ship dock

Another cruise ship dock in the main harbor in Charlotte Amalie

We got in early enough to head to town for lunch and to pick up groceries, then back to the boat in the lumpy anchorage, with winds from the SE, there was quite a roll coming into the anchorage, plus wind chop.   

Friday we took the bus up to the Cost U Less grocery store, and stocked up on food, then back to the boat. Did not do much, as the anchorage was still very lumpy.   

There are some very large private yachts here - always fun to look at.

Passed this yacht while going to the dinghy dock.  Yes, in the side of the yacht is an opening to store the "dinghy"   An inflatable that is probably close to 35' long.

Huge overhanging bow on the boat.   There is a helipad up top.

Saturday our niece Lindsey and her friend Zach came in the morning, and we immediately headed out to St. John, as the anchorage in Charlotte Amalie was ever lumpier than before.   

Had a nice sail to St. John, and got a mooring in Watermelon Bay.  Dean made goodies on the sail over

Homemade cinnamon rolls and bread

We will hang out in St. John until Lindsey and Zach have to fly out, then back to St. Thomas to take them to the airport.

2026-03-08 Trip to San Juan, lumpy seas, and manatees

Sunday and Monday were boat days.  Kris did some more work on wood refinishing, and on Monday took an old temperature sender out of the port engine in prep for our shopping trip coming up.

Tuesday we picked a car up at the Marina at 9:00, and then headed north to Old San Juan.  Found parking after a bit of drive around in Old San Juan, and then enjoyed a few hours of walking the town, having a nice lunch out, looking at sites, and touring Castillo San Cristobal.  The Castillo is considered the largest fortress built in the Americas.  It has 3 levels and numerous tunnels.

Here are a few photos of the day.

Some street were jammed packed with cars and tourists, and others were quite peaceful

Inside Cathedral Basilica Menor de San Juan Bautista

A house burned down, and the land donated to make a small park

Many roads have these blue cobblestones

San Juan harbor

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Capilla del Cementerio Santa María

One of the streets of Old San Juan

Floor tiles in the Castillo

Very thick walls and shuttered windows in the Castillo

View from upper level of Castillo San Cristobal

Tunnel in the Castillo

Just wandering around - one of the many streets

On our way back south we stopped in Caguas, at the Home Depot, and got some items, and next door to the Home Depot was a Cold Stone Creamery.   Haven’t had one of their ice creams in many years, so of course had to have some.  It was quite yummy.

Yummy Ice Cream

Finished the day at Advance Auto Parts, picking up a spare diesel jug - which we have never had, and 6 gallons of Rotella oil for the engine and sail drives.

Long day, but enjoyable.

Wednesday we headed back into town, and picked up our Amazon packages, then to another Home Depot, Walmart and grocery store.   The little rental car was packed.   Then we took two trips with the dinghy to the boat to unload it all.   Back on the boat it took a while to put everything away, and some relaxation was in order.

Thursday Dean started to make bread and pizza dough, and realized we had very little sugar.  So it was back to town, this time walking to the close by store to buy some sugar.   Stopped at Wendy's for lunch, and surprise, the tree now decorated for Easter.

They are really getting a lot of use out of this tree.

The weather has not been conducive to heading east at all, with strong east winds and short period steep waves for the last few days.  Looking at the weather, it was going to be another week at least before the waves and wind abated, so we decided to tough it out for one long night and motor east in unpleasant conditions.    And they were unpleasant.   We left at midnight giving the wind a chance to die down, and the first 3 hours were OK, with lighter winds around 10 knots.  We were able to motor at about 4 knots, which made the speed just right for riding up and down the swells, without crashing into them.  Then it got worse.  The seas became more confused and the seas steeper, so then we were at about 2.5 knots to keep the motion bearable, and minimize wave crashing and pounding on the boat.   We made it into Roosevelt Roads anchorage on the east coast of Puerto Rico on Friday around 2:00.  44 miles in 13.5 hours.  That's an average of 3.26 knots.   Not our best night ever.

Had one storm with 35 knots winds and dumping rain

After we got in, cleaned the salt off the deck and tidied up, we had an early pizza dinner, and went to bed early.

Saturday Kris got busy and decided to clean the over and stove top with some oven cleaner.  Also started laundry.   Heard a funny noise from the stern of the boat, and she went out to look, and thought a rubber fender was bouncing against the boat, then did a double take - that was not a fender.  

A large manatee was hanging onto the boat.

We think that it was eating the slime off the bottom of the boat.  We watched and enjoyed and talked to it for about the 15 minutes it continued to "graze" off the hull.

Enjoy the photos

At first, we were a bit nervous about damage to the boat, but since he was just resting mostly one flipper to hold position, no damage done.   Didn't seem bothered by us at all being close and talking and taking photos.  Quite a unique experience.

Later in the afternoon a local sailing club headed out for racing, and lessons on small Thistle sailboats.  Fun to watch.

Most the sailors were kids - maybe 12 to 15 years old.

The larger boats headed further out for racing, but the kids stayed closer to the anchorage area where the waves were milder.

We will stay here a few more days waiting on better weather to head east to Culebra.  Or we could run out of patience and do another lumpy night to get there as it is only 24 miles.   We will see.