St Marten to BVI

After spending a great week with Mary, Regina, Amado and Brent, we started watching the weather for a nice 80-mile passage to the BVIs.  Our tentative plan was to leave Friday when the wind would be less than 30 knots.  At that point, we received an email from more friends from Utah - they just happened to be stopping in St Marten on Thursday, just for the day.  We went into full tour guide mode and created a “fungenda” that would give them a variety of things to do and maximize their 5 hours on the island. 

We picked up Chase, Brandon and Kristen in a rental car and made stops at Maho Beach to watch planes land, Sint Maarten Yacht Club to watch the mega yachts, and hiked Fort Louis (over Marigot Bay where Terrapin was anchored).  It was a full day of fun exploring and catching up. 

The delay due to weather really worked out well – we had stayed just in time for the Heineken Regatta.  This is a fairly big event in the Caribbean and we had not been there for it in the past.  We were able to dinghy out and watch boats flying spinnakers, jibing so close to each other only the people on the boats knew if they actually touched and racing for the finish mark.  One day the races were 300 meters from Terrapin – so exciting, even Kala was watching. 

Our weather window opened on the last day of the regatta so we picked up our anchor at 3:45am for a fantastic sail on a  broad reach to Virgin Gorda.  We arrived at 4pm and picked up a mooring ball at Bitter End, just in time for a tasty sundowner!

Front row seats

Flying the spinny

Up close action

It scares me to think what is included at happy hour at Skanki's???

So lucky to have friends visit!  Chase, Kristen and Brandon only had a few hours so we made the most of it.

Did you think Kala didn't like passages?  She loves them - well, at least the belly rubs

Beautiful sunrise as we sail west towards the BVI

One of the most remarkable things about the Caribbean is the color of the water - a blue that can't be described with words.  Makes us feel so lucky to see it on a daily basis.