Clarencetown, Long Island, Bahamas 3-27-11

We are in Flying Fish Marina in Clarencetown, Bahamas.  It has been a long time since we have been in a marina.  The weather is still great.  We have been taking short hops, usually going for about 24 to 29 hours between stops in anchorages.  I caught a dolphin yesterday off the back of the boat.  We have been grilling it and enjoying fresh Mai-mai.

                                  The Crew for the trip back.

                                          The fishing is good on the boat.

Red Hook, St.Thomas, March 2,2011

I found a restaurant with e-mail access so here is my update.  Nicki has gone home and I am single handling.  Erin shows up on the 15th and another crew member I got off the Internet, Clark.  We will be heading to Peuerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Florida and up the US Coast.  Attached are some of the pictures in the USVI.  I made a trip to St. Croix which is 40 miles from St. Thomas.  It was like I was no longer among the charter boats.  It took about 7 hours to get there.  I was the only one anchored in the non-permanent residents bay and the only one anchored at Buck Island.  Christiansted, St. Croix was an interesting town.  I am back in Red Hook Harbor, St. Thomas today.  I changed the oil on the engine today and caught up on my laundry.  Normally I am anchored in a bay or tied to a mooring in a bay.  I have been working on developing a route for my trip back. 

Clark will be sailing with us to Florida then another person, Ralph, will be sailing with us the rest of the way.  I have been snorkeling a couple times a day in the bays.  I have seen a lot of sea turtles, 4 bottle nosed dolphins, lots of fish, a barracuda, sting rays, and flying fish when I am a little further from the coastline.

The pool at the Marina at Nanny Cay that Nicki and I enjoyed for several days.

                        One of the places Nicki and I were moored.

                               In a bar in Charlotte-Amilie, St. Thomas

 The docks in St. Croix are minimal.  No fingers out from the main dock.  You have to tie to the posts and get off the front of your boat to get to shore.  I anchored out in St. Croix, so I did not use these docks.

                            Christiansted, St. Croix along the shoreline.

Note the water color anchored off Buck Island, St. Croix.

 The dinghy on the fordeck for the 40 mile open ocean trip over and back from St. Croix.  Going to Buck Island from Christiansted, St. Croix while I was pulling the dinghy behind, the fuel tank flipped over and bouced around like it would have gone overboard if it was not tied to the dinghy.  That was a short 5 mile trip, but the seas were up to about 6 feet and not spaced very far apart.

                  This is how the mooring balls look and how to tie to them.

                                   Another beautiful sunset.

 This is how I got the motor on and off the dinghy.  I used the topping lift and ran it through the eye where it nomally attaches to the end of the mast.

                                Another sunset from on of the bays.

The beach at Buck Island, St. Croix.

                            A beach we moored off of in the BVI.