Culebrita Island, Next Door to Puerto Rico

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WallsOfLightHouseUntil recently, I didn’t know of the existence of the Spanish Virgin Islands. The islands (Culebrita, Culebra, and Vieques) belong to Puerto Rico. They are located between the USVIs and Puerto Rico, about 15-20 miles west from St. Thomas or east from Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Nobody lives on Culebrita. There are no stores or bars/restaurants. Accessible only by a private boat or a day tour boat from Culebra, an adjacent island. Culebrita is unspoiled and undeveloped YET! It offers beautiful beaches, an old lighthouse, Jacuzzi pools from the ocean, and nature itself. The hiking trail to the lighthouse is well maintained.

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US Virgin Islands, America’s Caribbean!

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TheDontHurryA Real early “Happy Hour” even before noon! St. Croix is the home of Cruzan Rum, “The Don’t Hurry” rum. We took a rum factory tour in the morning at a cost $8/person. The tour included four shots of rum and two cocktails. According to the tour guide, Jim Beam Whiskey bought Cruzan rum several years ago (*Now, it is owned by Beam Suntory; I found out later Japanese Suntory bought Jim Beam in 2014.), but Cruzan rum is produced only in St. Croix.

Cruzan ships the pure rum (Ethanol) to Florida by boat then to Jim Beam by trucks.

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Limin’ in British Virgin Islands, Nature’s Little Secrets!

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASteep green hills and turquoise water! BVIs look like Disney World with many yachts! We saw a mega yacht with a huge inflated water slide coming directly to the ocean. Necker Island, privately owned by Sir Richard Branson (The founder of Virgin Group, which comprises more than 400 companies), is available for $62,000 per night, up to 30 people all inclusive. We were told that he paid $15 million to buy the island and now selling it off for $20 million piece by piece.One day, we got invaded by a ‘Drone’, filming above us, real close. It must have been a kid from a mega yacht.

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Two nations in one island; Saint Martin and Sint Maarten

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The north side is Saint Martin (French) and the South side is Sint Maarten (Dutch). The French side is bigger than the Dutch side. It is said that when both sides decided to set the boundary, Dutch people walked slower than French people because the Dutch drank Gin while the French drank wine. Most people speak English well on this island. Lots of them are bi-lingual or tri-lingual. Both Euros and dollars are accepted on the French side. Dollars are almost the main currency on the Dutch side.
Some say this island is the ‘Land of diversity’. I see it,

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A Christmas Meal with Grilled Fish at Sea

Posted on by by Posted in Caribbean Islands, Florida, Sailings

Before my trip, a friend gave me a book ‘Sailing a Serious Ocean’ (Author: John Kretschmer). By reading it and other books, I learned it takes a lot to sail cross an ocean. I am relatively new here but in my mind, I was ready for sailing blue water. Last summer, we spent five months for boat maintenance and enhancement projects. By putting lots of effort into the boat, John trusts his boat even more. I trusted his sailing and survival skills. I decided to be fearless. We set sail with light wind heading East. At the beginning it was as if the boat was gliding with two wings.

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Christmas Dinner at Sea?

Posted on by by Posted in Florida, Sailings

Invitations are open to whales, sea turtles, dolphins, and Mother Nature…

We are almost ready to leave the USA. We plan to sail directly east to Longitude 65 from Stuart. (Some call this route ‘I-65’). Then, going south to Saint Martin. That way, we don’t have to struggle with the wind direction in the Bahamas. This will take about two weeks. We will go everywhere ‘With a Strong Will to Live’. Wish us fair wind and calm sea! Merry Christmas!
The main reason we stopped by Stuart was to meet a professional (from Mack Sails) to go over new installations on the boat.

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‘Viva’ Holiday Spirits in Saint Augustine

Posted on by by Posted in Florida, Sailings

The wind led us celebrate Thanksgiving in Saint Augustine, VERY OLD city. Wandering the city with the crowd, it is as if I came to Europe. I am thankful for this journey. Unexpectedly and painfully, we are staying St Augustine an additional two weeks to replace an anchor windlass system. When we were ready to leave, we struggled with releasing/lifting the anchor chain. Then, the old windlass system broke a gear off inside. Without a windlass, we cannot anchor the boat. While waiting for a new one (92 pounds), we found a local wood worker (for a new teak wood base) and local stainless machinist (for frame cover).

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A Near Miss During the Night

Posted on by by Posted in Florida, Sailings

We woke up to this shrimp boat which washed up on the beach during the night in Amelia Island, Florida. The boat was CHAINED to a fellow shrimp boat, and according to the owner, someone cut the chains—someone must really not like that guy. The prevailing winds and tide washed the boat across the channel and onto the beach while we were sleeping. The shrimp boat passed aft of us and in front of another anchored sailboat, thankfully missing us both.

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Night Sailing and 675 Pounds of Paper a Year

Posted on by by Posted in Florida, Sailings

During a pitch dark sky, a crescent moon arose around 4 A.M. while sailing from Charleston to Fernandina Beach. John did most of the night watch on his BIRTHDAY. (We celebrated it with pineapple cake later.) When I was on duty, I set my timer every eight minutes and went out to check if there are any other ships nearby and things are okay. In eight minutes the boat travels about 1 mile. The sky was dark and the ocean was darker but I enjoyed watching many stars. John enjoyed the speed of sailing and sound of water splashing by the boat.

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Timing was good! Met friends in Charleston.

Posted on by by Posted in Carolinas

Sailing involves waiting, especially for good wind. The wind was awesome sailing down to Charleston but cold weather tortured us. Even worse, the sky was gray all day with no sunshine to warm us up. If you factored in the wind chill, it was 20 something Fahrenheit at sea the whole time we were sailing for 50 nautical miles from dawn to dusk. Having this experience, we decided to skip our next stop, Beaufort, South Carolina and go to Florida sooner.

Charleston brought me some more history lessons. The old city is well preserved with few gift shops,

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