Bye-bye V.I.

The clipper ship Stad Amsterdam at night anchored a few hundred yards from us in North Sound, Virgin Gorda. She’s a steel hull Dutch clipper launched in 1998. The ship has 14 guest cabins and regularly sails the Caribbean. https://www.stadamsterdam.com/en/ship/clipper-stad-amsterdam/

Here’s the Stad Amsterdam as she sails past Georgia in front of Road Town, Tortola. Way in the background is the 1,132 foot Queen Mary 2. The last time we saw the QM2 it was when we were leaving New York harbor.

We’ve spent 2 month in the US and British Virgin Islands. A lot longer than I figured we would – but we needed to stay till Chris got her fill. Its been fun – meeting up with old and new cruising friends and checking out the different anchorages. Our favorite anchorage in the British Virgins is Little Harbour, Peter Island. Completely blocked from the re-enforced trade winds that blow relentlessly at times. Good snorkeling and reasonable crowds. For the US Virgins, I think we just like St. Johns a whole lot. The south shore is pretty empty. The north shore has good snorkeling and is less crowded than the BVIs. The main town of Cruz Bay has decent shopping.

We cleared out of BVI customs at Gun Creek this morning. Cost a grand total of US$0.75 to clear. The trade winds have lightened up a bit and should be lighter tomorrow. This makes sailing east a lot easier, because we’ll be sailing into the winds. We are heading toward St Martin, but due to the trades not being directly out of the east right now, more a little bit south of east, it will be easier to head further down the island chain and then sail back north to St Martin. We will most likely go to St. Kitts first– the country being St. Kitts and Nevis. Spend a few days there and then sail to St Martin. All depends on what the winds do when we head out. Its about a 24 hour run across the Anegada passage and on to St Kitts. We’ll leave early in the morning.

Paul