Hello! I hope you had a lovely holiday weekend if you celebrated. I took last week off from writing, so let’s catch up!

Watch last week’s YouTube video here!

Watch this week’s YouTube video here!

Last week we sailed to St. Croix for a change of scenery.

It was a beautiful ~5.5hr sail with 15- 20kn of wind. Our average SOG was 7.5kn! Unfortunately, we were welcomed by a storm that hung around for the next few days. We kept ourselves entertained with chores and boat projects. 

We woke up Saturday morning- the day we had planned to leave- to blue skies and sunshine. We had heard the pier we were anchored by was a great snorkel spot, so we took the dinghy over for a quick look. I was skeptical; there weren’t any other people there, and a giant man-made concrete pier didn’t scream “great snorkel spot” to me. I had low expectations but was pleasantly surprised when I jumped in! The water was crystal clear, and the pilings were covered in healthy, colorful coral. Thousands of fish were around me, plus several turtles, 4 spotted eagle rays, and a huge barracuda- I didn’t know where to focus my attention! 

We pulled our anchor once we got home and set sail for the British Virgin Islands. The trip started peacefully, with flat seas and 12-15kn of wind. We hoisted the main and brought out the jib. As we left the protected side of the island, the wind picked up to 20-22kn. The seas got rougher, but we were flying! Our SOG was ~9kn, and we were having a blast. We cranked up our music and jammed out for the remainder of the trip!

We arrived in West End late that afternoon, picked up a mooring ball, and dinghied to Customs and Immigration. After we had checked in, we were exhausted and starving, so we headed over to Omar’s (our favorite spot for Indian food) and fell asleep shortly after.

Sunday morning, we decided to motor over to Norman Island. Ray rinsed the salt off the boat once we arrived while I dove our mooring ball, and we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the sunshine. ☀️

Monday afternoon, our friends joined us on the two mooring balls next to Sabado. We all climbed into our dinghies to explore nearby caves you could swim into! 

We went to the Willy T after for dinner and a few drunken shenanigans. Photos taken at Willy T will remain confidential, though, sorry! You had to be there!

The following day Ray and I went for a swim off the back of the boat, then met up with our friends on shore for lunch. Lunch became a group snorkel trip, which turned into sundowners, DIY haircuts, and family game night… 

(There were fireball shots involved for the losers, hence Ray’s face in this photo)

Wednesday morning, I managed to get through an online yoga class and make breakfast before we left Norman Island. We stopped through West End to check out, then headed back to St. Thomas. We sailed for a while but needed some assistance from our engines to make the trip.

We anchored just outside Crown Bay Marina for the day so the guys at STT Marine Services could make a few changes to our generator’s wiring. Nothing has been acting up. The changes were for our safety/ peace of mind! They finished before 3 pm, so we moved to an anchorage closer to town for the night. 

The following day we met back up with the STT Team. They had gotten their hands on an old Kilovault HLX battery and wanted to open it up. Since we’re nerdy and have Kilovaults on our boat, they knew we’d be interested. So, we grabbed a mimosa and brought our cameras! It was interesting to see; they had some difficulty getting through the plastic box to access the cells, but once they were in, it looked very well-made. 

This battery isn’t the exact kind we have, but the difference between the size of its BMS compared to other brands was telling. 

I haven’t taken a look at the footage yet, but I’m hoping to include it in next week’s video if you’re curious! After the tear-down, the four of us had a few drinks at a local bar, then parted ways for the afternoon. We met back up that evening for dinner and margaritas and somehow managed to stumble into a second location for dessert cocktails. Man, sailors can DRINK. It’s been so fun getting to know those guys, and we love hearing about their work on other boats. 

Saturday morning, I woke up with a sharp pain in my back. I assume it was from the long, rough dinghy ride on Friday. It only got worse as the day went on, and admittedly, my hangover didn’t help! Consequently, we spent most of the day horizontal. 

My back is feeling ~10% better today, which is less than I was hoping for. We need to go to shore to pick up groceries at some point, and we’re hoping to move anchorages today, too, but we’ll see how much of that happens! I’m going to try some light stretches + some pain meds.

I hope you had a great week! ❤️