We left early in the morning and made our way over to St. Maarten to avoid some strong winds and weather that was predicted to be heading our way. The timing of our arrival couldn’t have been better, we sailed into Simpson Bay and right through the open bridge into the Lagoon. While the winds gusted up to 25mph inside the lagoon, Mike and I spent the better part of the next few days doing maintenance on DD and wandering around the local Simpson Bay area. We found a really cool Ice Cream parlor with a Carousel. We also spent some time with some new friends. Ever wonder what Santa does to relax prior to the hectic holiday season……well, He, Mrs. Claus and their favorite Elf sail off to the Islands, incognito, of course aboard their sailboat Tanana ll. We spent time with our new friends Charlie and Robin Boulding and their daughter Tory who truely are from way up north, Alaska to be precise. Charlie and Robin bred and raced Sled Dogs in Alaska for many years including the famous Iditarod. They live in a cabin and have a fishing camp in the woods along the Tan-a-na River that can only be reached by boat, or sled. We enjoyed hearing about the life they lead in the wilds of Alaska and the interesting details of their remote way of life as well as Sled dog breeding and racing. We all watched the weather reports for an opportunity to make our way over to the Virgin Islands. We finally saw a small window where the winds were supposed to be favorable but the seas were expected to still be a little big. We left at 6:00am to cross the Oh my Godda (Anagada) passage to the VI on Thanksgiving Day along with our friends Charlie, Robin, and Tory. It was the first time they had buddy boated and Tory was excited to see DD sailing along beside them. The seas that were predicted to be upwards of 8-10 ft fortunately had dropped to around 6 – 8 ft. The winds were out of the ENE and gave us a nice push along with the current. We were lucky to be visited by a pod of small dolphins who were having a great time surfing the waves and the bows of DD. It was a great Thanksgiving day treat. We arrived in the North Sound on Virgin Gorda at Sunset. We anchored and caught a ride with Charlie, Robin and Tory over to have a really bad Thanksgiving dinner at the Rock Cafe but the company was great and it was a fun evening together.
Living the Dream 