Sunday 29th April 2012

It's finally time to leave, we've been here in Puerto Rico for almost a month and we now have our weather window to sail to the Bahamas. We'll miss this place a lot especially the laid back way of life of the Latin American people, so friendly and welcoming.
We're currently anchored off the town of Boqueron on the western coast and tomorrow morning will up anchor to head for the Bahama islands. Not sure how far we'll go or where we'll make first landfall but really excited to get into some new cruising grounds.
We may not be near internet for a while but we now have a new tuner for our SSB radio which means we should be able to send updates to our cruising log. Just click the link up above and we'll try and keep you posted!

Puerto Rican road trip

Sunday 15th April

Time to get off the boat and do some exploring! We rented a car here in Salinas for $30 a day and hit the road. The interior of Puerto Rico is really stunning with switch back roads over the Rain Forest covered mountains. Our first destination was the Arecibo Observatory, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope.   

Culebra to Puerto Rico

Tuesday April 10th

These have been some of the views from the boat here in Puerto Rico,we really love this place and had forgotten how beautiful the anchorages are. Since leaving Culebra we've been slowly making our way west along the south coast of Puerto Rico,we plan to stop at the town of Selinas to rent a car and explore in land for a couple of days before moving on to the Bahamas.

Culebrita Island - Spanish Virgins

Thursday 29th March

This Beautiful spot is the tiny island of Culebrita off the larger Spanish Virgin island of Culebra. We've been looking forward to returning here as it has one of the most beautiful beaches we've found and hardly anyone around to share it with! There's some great hiking trails through the brush, one of which leads up to an old light house with these spectacular views. We picked up one of the free mooring balls in the northern bay (we're the boat on the left in the photo above) and after catching a spanish mackerel on our way in we enjoyed a tasty grilled fish dinner on our first night.

St.thomas

Monday 26th March

Our last few days anchored in down town Charlotte Amalie on St.Thomas spent doing some last minute gift shopping and the usual errands of Laundry and grocery shopping. Our next stop is only fifteen miles to the east on the island of Culebra in the Spanish Virgins. I have to admit we've been looking forward to getting away from the crowds of tourists and charter boats and back to a more peaceful cruising lifestyle! 

The Virgin Islands

Friday 23rd March
On the 14th March Jimmy's sister and brother-in-law, Kerry and Todd, came to visit us on board Blue Moon for a five day whirlwind visit. After flying in to St. Thomas from Florida we didn't waste time and attempted to visit as many of the US and British Virgin Islands that we could...Oh, and fit in some fishing, snorkeling,diving and a fair bit of drinking along the way!

On our second day we spotted a pod of Whales in the British virgin Islands.

We were always arriving too late to find a free mooring so there was a lot of anchoring in deep water, luckily  Todd was there to lend a hand picking the anchor up.

Todd caught this Jack fish within ten minutes of being under sail from St. Thomas on the first day. Unfortunately his wish for catching a big Mahi didn't happen as we only caught a Barracuda after this.

Arriving at Foxy's bar on Jost Vas Dyke in the BVI"s

The start of a wild night on board the party boat Willy T's anchored off Norman Island!

We managed to fit in a couple of dives, one at the pinnacle rocks of the Indians off Norman island and another on the Wreck of the Royal Mail Steamer Rhone which sank in 1867.  

Kerry enjoying a rum punch at Pusser's pub in Road Town on Tortola, BVI's.

Heading out for a snorkel in Maho bay on St.John in the US virgin islands.

Exploring the baths on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands our last stop before heading back to St.Thomas.

St. Maarten

Tuesday 6th March

Our arrival in Saint Maarten happened to coincide with the 32nd annual heineken sailing regatta. The closing party was held Sunday night on Kim Sha beach right in front of where we were anchored in Simpson bay. We headed ashore to check it out and had a great night meeting a lot of fun people from all over the world. The music was excellent and the line up included the world famous raggae singer Beres Hammond.

Jimmy finally finds the barrel he's been looking for...and it just happens to be full of his favourite Captain Morgan!

St. Barts

Sunday 19th February

If I had to choose an island to live on in the Eastern Caribbean it would probably be St.Barts (Saint Barthelemy), with it's french charm and beautiful landscape it's almost hypnotic and extremely peaceful. Supposedly Columbus sailed past the island and thought it so beautiful that he named it after his brother. Along with the islands of Saint Martin, Guadaloupe and Martinique, Saint Barts makes up the group known as the French West Indies.  

Our first stop was to anchor off the main port of Gustavia, the great thing about the French islands is they're cheap and easy to check into so after a quick stop at the Port Captains office we were free to roam the town. Gustavia is full of great little boutiques and cafes that skirt the shore line and wonderful place to just sit and people watch. After picking some French goodies in the supermarket the following day we upped anchor and headed around to the north west corner of the island and picked up a mooring in Colombier bay.

Part of the marine park, Colombier has a great beach with clear water for snorkelling and beautiful hikes around the surrounding hills. We planned to spend one night here and ended up staying for three!