The Start of a Caribbean Season...

On Jan. 20th, after 5 days at sea we finally arrived at St. Kitts. We traveled from Miami with 20 knots of wind and 4 to 6 ft seas on our bow the whole way. It definitely wasn't the most comfortable trip we have ever made. We came down the north part of Cuba, south of Haiti/Dominican Republic, under Puerto Rico, past some other Virgin Islands until we made it to St. Kitts. We had about a 12 hour "turn-around" period before we were welcoming our guests. Once they were aboard we stayed anchored in St. Kitts and traveled to Nevis, (a smaller island off St. Kitts but the same country). This season I am trying to find an island that some day I could see ourselves living on, and an area I would like to sail around. St. Kitts is not one of those countries. The island life is pretty rough. The people don't really take care of their property and is a bit run down. We had a tour of Nevis and found that there are some really nice resorts but as far as nice is concerned, it ends at the resorts. The water is crystal clear and great for swimming, kiteboarding, or sailing due to the high trade winds. My score for the island was a 3 or 4. We dropped half of the guests at St. Kitts and continued with the other half to St. Barts. It was about a 4 hour trip from the two islands. St. Barts is pretty much a page out of a South of France/European magazine. It reminded us a lot of our time in Europe with a bit of Caribbean feel. St. Barts is pretty ritzy and the people who want to be "seen" go there. Our 156ft boat was anchored around boats 70 ft. to 300 ft larger than us. For a "big" boat we were the little pip-squeak on the play-ground. It was refreshing being in an area that was well groomed but it comes with a price. If I was a multimillionaire and brushed up on my French it would be a great place to live. On my scale I gave it a 6. Currently we are in Antigua on the last day of our guest trip.

Tomorrow we drop off them off and have some long awaited down time. We have either been underway or at anchor for the past 2 weeks so its nice to be tied to a dock and have some down time ahead. We will be pumping up kites as soon as the guests leave and see what this island has to offer. I have heard so many good things about Antigua and have high expectations. This just might be the island we one day have a house on, good wind, great water, and great views.

Shark Dive

Since being in the Bahamas, Bethany, I, and one other crew member decided to get PADI dive certified. Because the rest of the crew is certified and the boss wants to do some diving in the near future it was a great time and opportunity to do it. Last week we went through the course homework and had four open water dives with an instructor. We had a great time diving through wrecks from movies such as, "Into the Blue", "Jaws", "Mythbusters", and also a ledge that goes from 70 feet down to 6,500 feet, which begins the "Tongue of the Ocean". This last trip with the boss some of his guests wanted to do some diving. The first day we did some fun dives through wrecks and the ledge checking out some coral, fish, and a few sharks. The second day was the shark feed. During the second dive of the day we all entered the "Shark Arena". Once we were all in place siting on the bottom in a big circle, our instructor came in the middle with a box of shark bait. He started by giving a little feed and then entered into a "Shark Tonic." He rubs the nose of the shark where all their major senses are and is able to make them stand vertical or put them in a trance so people can touch them. In this "Tonic" state they basically paralyzed. All in all there were about 30 to 40 Reef Shark at the feeding. Once they were done eating we had a chance to search for some teeth before surfacing. It was an awesome experience and as our fourth certified dive, it is going to be a tough one to top.

Update from the Bahamas

Since our last post a lot has happened. At the beginning of Oct. we safely cruised down from NYC to Ft. Lauderdale. It took us just over 4 days and we couldn't have asked for better seas. The seas were 1 to 2 feet the whole trip and we had great weather. We spent about a month in Ft. Lauderdale tuning up the boat for a Thanksgiving Bahamas' trip and also the Caribbean season that's coming up. It was great to be grounded in FL for a while but we were ready to get moving again. We just had the boss and guests on for Thanksgiving. It was an awesome trip which we were included in all the guests activities and a big Thanksgiving feast. We cruised the Exumas' dipping down to Staniel Cay, up to Highborne Cay, and then back to Albany where we started. This trip we were at anchor the whole time so ALL the water toys got a test ride. While anchored in Highborne Cay we took a trip in the tender to Iguana Island where tourist have been bringing their fruit scraps to feed the iguanas. As we walked up the beach with our scraps, the iguanas came out of the wood works to get some food. It was pretty interesting watching these

pre-historic looking creatures fight and scrounge for some food. It was great to have a big dinner for Thanksgiving after a full day of water toys, paddle boards, and kayaks. All together there were 25 of us with guests and crew. Even though we were "working," its a holiday we won't soon forget. We ended the trip in Albany where we dropped the guests off and the crew hurried to the beach for an awesome sunset and some brews and music.