We hung out in Barbuda for a few more days. Went over to our friends boat Matcha, and helped them start up their watermaker, which had been pickled for a while. They recently purchased the boat, and just wanted moral support for the start up. Everything went well, so no issues.
 |
| Sunrise at Barbuda |
We stayed in St. Martin a few more days.
One of our hatch screen had a rip in it. Kris had sewn it up a couple of times, but we decided to replace/repair the whole screen. We did not have any white screen material, which was what the hatches originally had, but had black. It turned out OK, other than not matching the rest. At least no rips in it anymore.
 |
| New screen installed. Kris holding old ripped one up. |
Well, we have not moved in the last week. Heavy NE winds kept us here, plus in no hurry to move on anywhere. Just doing daily living stuff.
Really exciting things 😜like Kris sewed a new cover for the bean bag in the cockpit
 |
| Old bag, made of cheap vinyl just to see if we would use it, and what size to make it. |
Pretty uneventful week. Had a nice get together with two other Manta's anchored near us. Fun night.
 |
| Tracy on Wanderlust and Dawn and Ivan off of Salty Fish |
Kris has been having ear issues - swimmers ear. Hasn't really bothered her too much, just a general soreness of the ear. Did some home treatment with rubbing alcohol and vinegar, which helped, but never took away the issue. We had waited until we got to St. Martin to see a doctor, since in the United States Virgin Islands, the cheapest we found was $150 for a doctors visit. We found a walk in clinic here in St. Martin - waited about 1.5 hours and then paid $35 for the doctor and $13 for the prescription for ear drops. Very happy with the treatment, doctor was nice, and staff was friendly.
Took a nice walk into town, and stopped at one of the French bakeries. Delicious
 |
| Lots of traffic in the downtown tourist area of Marigot, St. Martin |
 |
| The food selection is incredible - and all so pretty |
 |
| It was as delicious as it looks. Bit spendy at $6, but worth it. |
Kris has been sewing this week - finishing the salon cushions. Now, this project started in 2022 when we decided we were not happy with the fabric of our current cushions, and Kris was also bothered by how the foam had been cut, not lining up with the boat angles and corners as well as she wanted. We did not know which fabric/vinyl/material we wanted to replace it with. Not ones to rush into a decision like that - it took us until November of 2023 to finally order the fabric - and the the decision only made because we found a great sale on some expensive material. We got original ultraleather fabric on sale for $29 a yard - compared to $79 a yard normally. Kris struggled with the project, as the material was quite stretchy in one direction, and partially stretchy in the other. That combined with the foam being cut and glued in pieces, without great straight edges. Had to plan for 1/2" to 1 1/2" stretch in one direction, and no stretch to 1" stretch in the other depending on the length of fabric, and the foam compressing from 1/2" to 1" made for some frustration, and lots of diagrams and head scratching. She got 90% done, and ran out of thread. Derek brought some more during his visit, so it was finally time to complete the project. Turned out OK, not perfect like Kris wanted, but good enough, and we really like the fabric choice.
 |
| Fabric is great, doesn't feel hot and sticky, and cleans easy. Still wish we had gotten the seats tighter, as you can see wrinkles where we sit all the time |
 |
| Getting the seams on the corners to line up was a real pain. |
The lagoon here in St. Martin has many boats anchored, but not a crowded feeling. Only real negative is the growth on the chain and snubber lines. Will take some scrubbing to get rid of that growth. We will have to give the bottom a good scrub at our next stop as well. There was a cruiser swap meet on Saturday, did not find any needed items but it was good to go in and see all the cruisers.
 |
| View from the anchorage. Simpson Bay lagoon |
 |
| View in anchorage, looking SW towards airport |
 |
| Lots of fuzzy growth on chain and snubbers - will take some scrubbing. Imagine the bottom will need a good scrub as well. |
With strong ENE winds coming for the next week, we will most likely be here for the next 10 days. Oh well, will have to find some more good food, and do some more land exploration.
We hung out in St. John's Francis bay Sunday and Monday and part of Tuesday. Kris's back felt better, so she went for a nice long walk, first one in a few days.
 |
| Nice trail through trees |
 |
| Top of the trail overlooking pond and anchorage. Charm is in the center of the photo |
 |
| Ruins of old Annaberg Country school |
On Monday we had an unexpected visitor for most the day, that kept us amused for a while.
 |
| Brown pelican using our bow as a perch to spot fish |
It was fun to watch him dive for small fish around the boat. He/she had a pretty good kill ratio. Fish frequently use cruising boats as protected areas to gather around, and this guy got smart and took advantage of that.
Unfortunately the visitor did not observe our strict no pooping on the deck policy, so Dean had to go up in the evening and wash the offense away.
The weather looked good, so Tuesday afternoon we hoisted anchor and set sail. Had a great sail east to St. Martin, and were joined by 5 other boats with the same idea.
 |
| On AIS we are the green boat on the track line. |
Had a good sail with mostly north winds. Averaged around 6.5 knots for the entire 90 mile trip. Quite happy, as we were the smallest of all the boats sailing, yet none passed us over the twelve hour sail. North of us were two 53 mono hulls, south was one 45 catamaran and one 45 mono hull.
We got in at 5:30 in the morning and since there was full moon we felt safe to anchor in the north bay. Got a couple hours sleep and up to make the bridge opening at 8:30 into the inner lagoon. The bridge is a bascule bridge but only has a 32.8 foot width opening, which feels smaller when you are going through it. We are 21' wide, so have almost 6' on each side, but sure looks tight.
 |
| Another catamaran went under the bridge ahead of us |
 |
| Looks smaller the closer we got to it. |
 |
| Bridge in down position |
We made it just fine, Dean did an excellent job driving through, no scraps. There is another bridge on the Dutch side of the island, but they charge a fee, and then to get to the French side of the island we would have to go under another bridge. We want the French side because check in is easier, and cheaper. Only $2 to check into the French side, and we do it mostly all ourselves on a self serve computer at the marine store.
Check in successful, we went and had a nice lunch out. We were walking by on the street, and the owner was out cleaning tables, and wanted to show us his food. We declined, and wandered further into town, but a cruise ship must have been in, because the "touristy" part of town was quite busy. So we headed back, and decided to try his place. He took us on a full tour of his restaurant kitchen, showing us the different food he had. After the tour, he took our order, and Kris went to use the sink to wash up before eating - and the sink is the same one the staff uses for dishes and why not. - Not in America any more. The food was good, the service great, and the experience even better.
 |
| Kris's plate of Potatoes and chopped cod, with an side of Zucchini with something? Dean had the lasagna. |
 |
| Anchorage looking north - French side |
 |
| Anchorage looking south - Dutch side |
Saturday we walked up to the Carrefour grocery store - Kris had brain overload with all the fresh fruits and vegetables.
 |
| The store was busy, probably because it was Saturday before Easter |
 |
| The even had a section with fresh sprouts, microgreens, and herbs still growing in containers you could buy. |
Prices were a bit more than the states on some things, like grapes, berries and candy, but about the same on others. We will most likely be here for the next week, just chillaxin, and maybe a couple of boat projects.
It is always iffy looking at a long term weather forecast. We use several websites to check weather - Wunderground, Predict Wind, and Windy. What we have learned is that generally you can rely on the next three days - but after that - it can and will change. So sitting looking at the weather last week, we saw a potential for west or northwest winds coming up - which would be great to head to St. Martin.
So decision time - where to go for the next 7 days while waiting to see if the forecast would pan out. We had thought we would go to the British Virgin Islands (BVI's), but then realized that we would have to check in and check out which could run about $100 to $200 - and might only be there one week. So decided to head back to St. Thomas instead for groceries, and then back to St. John for the week. Didn't have to leave right away, so decided to go check out snorkel spot on Monday, across the bay that Kris had seen a video on that looked good. Monday we headed out across the bay. Rough dinghy trip - usually Kris stands up when it gets rough as she gets bounced pretty good on the bow of the dinghy, but she didn't this time.
We did not find the good snorkeling, so back to boat, for a relaxing afternoon. Tuesday morning Kris could barely get out of bed - back pain. Must have bruised something on the rough dinghy ride. We upped anchor and headed for Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas to get groceries. Also Kris's ears have been bothering her - most likely a stubborn case of swimmers ear, so she thought we could stop at the walk in doctor and get some antibiotic ear drops and clear that up. Kris moved slow and stiff, but we had a nice sail to St. Thomas which was great, as we have been motoring more than we like.
 |
| Three big cruise ships at the dock in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas |
The first walk in doctor wanted $275 just to see her. Next walk in doctor wanted $150. Kris decided to home treat the ears until we get to St. Martin - maybe we can get the swimmers ear gone before we get there.
We got groceries, lunch and then back to boat, and headed out to Christmas Cove off of Great St. James Island on the SE corner of St. Thomas. Kris has never sat so straight before in the helm seat, minimizing back movement.
 |
| Keeping the back straight, no twisting or it hurt. |
We grabbed a mooring ball at Christmas Cove. Kris has spent the week staying out of the water, treating her ears with a mixture of vinegar and isopropyl alcohol and doing nothing in order to rest her back and heal up.
Dean went for a snorkel, had to check out the fish under the boat. Not great snorkeling. Christmas cove has been good for boat watching - lots of boats come in for lunch at a local boat here that makes pizza and drinks. Lots of charter boats - always good fun to watch them.
 |
| Some coral and fish - but no great snorkeling |
 |
| Lots of large Tarpon hanging out under the boat |
 |
| Charm on the mooring ball - Kris keeping her ears dry |
 |
| Busy mooring and anchoring at Christmas Cove |
The weather still looks great for heading to St. Martin on Tuesday or Wednesday so we will move today to the north side of St. John for a couple of days and wait for the west and north winds. Kris's back is much better now, and ears doing better as well.
Reports were the pier in Frederiksted are the best snorkeling/diving around so had to go and check it out. There are three dive stores in town and it seemed like people were snorkeling/diving the pier all the time. We went for a really nice snorkel best variety of corals we have seen. The pilings that support the long cruise ship pier are covered with corals. We also saw a very large green turtle, some smaller ones, and even one settling in for a nap. Spotted Eagle ray - no good photo, and an octopus. Worth the sail down just to snorkel the pier.
The Manta Namid was also at the anchorage so talked to Bruce and Sandra. We hung out in Frederiksted a couple more days, just relaxing, and then decided to sail back up to St. John, as it looked like good weather for the sail. We are watching the weather now for our next jump to the east - against the prevailing trade winds to St. Martin. We can either leave from the BVI's and sail east southeast the 80 miles to St. Martin, or leave from St. Croix and sail east northeast the 95 miles. Looking at the pilot charts, typically there are more winds from the NE than the SE, so going to the BVI and planning on sailing from their made more sense. Of course - now the forecast looks like nice SE wind, so probably the wrong decision, but we are not in a hurry - so will just wait for the good weather.
We are anchored near Pelican rock on the SE side of St. John. It is quiet here, with few boats. Went for a snorkel around the rocks, but not much there. Two sea turtles were grazing close to our boat on the sea grass, so waited for them to surface to get some photos, as they have remora attached.
Guess turtles must have bad eyesight, or not look around much, because as Kris hung out just floating, one surfaced fairly close to her, and then kept moving closer on the surface, until it was just a couple feet away, then it dove, and still didn't react, until it bumped into her then it was surprised and quickly dove.
 |
| Green turtle with remora attached |
 |
| The turtle was only about a foot away when he started to dive |
We also had a remora attached to the keel of the boat, hopefully it does a good job of cleaning the boat. It swam away a bit when Kris tried to get close for a photo, but then stuck back onto the keel.
We will hang out here, until we decide to leave, or need groceries, and then will move somewhere - don't know yet. Its all about the weather now.
