May 03-06, 2001 -- Moving, Moving, Moving

May 3-6, 2001 -- Moving, Moving, Moving We got up at 3:00 AM AST to head as far as we could make it today. There were several different places we could head; the closest was Punta Patilla. The trip was rather comfortable, and we made better time than we were expecting, so we decided to round the south east corner of Puerto Rico. We chatted a bit with Lady Simco who reported that the anchorage at Monkey Island was untenable (not useable in the current winds). So, we decided to strike out for Culebra. The winds and seas were fairly comfortable. Midway to Culebra, we decided to change destinations because things were going so well and head for St. Thomas. It was only an additional 20 miles, and it was still early in the day. Viequez was giving us a good break from the seas. We dropped anchor around 2:00 PM AST in Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St. Thomas. We did not go ashore because we wanted to get to Virgin Gorda so we could cross to St. Martin on the current weather window. However, Pamela and Zelda were close by and we chatted with them briefly. On May 4, we left St. Thomas, originally headed to Virgin Gorda. We headed up the Pillsbury Sound between St. Thomas and St. John and then headed between Tortolla and St. John. Along the way we admired the scenic anchorages and finally were lured into stopping at Francis Bay on St. John. We picked up our first mooring ball ever there. It was picture perfect. Mike motored us up to the pennant, and I picked it up and attached it to our forward cleat, all on our first try! Wouldn't you know it, no one was around to witness it! As we were looking around, we saw that Ruark was on a mooring ball not that far from us. We chatted with them on the VHF, and they invited us over for Sun Downers. We suggested moving the party to our boat since we were not planning to drop our dinghy. They joined us and we had a fun evening catching up on what everyone had seen and done since Luperon. On May 5, we got up and discussed the possibility of moving to Virgin Gorda. We decided that with the wind direction, it would be better to head for St. Martin from where we were than to leave from Virgin Gorda. So, at 3:00 PM AST, we slipped our mooring and motored slowly for St. Martin. We wanted to make sure to get out of the shallower water where fish traps were with good day light. Over all, our trip across the Anagoda wasn't bad. This is a stretch of water that has often been characterized as being lumpy at best. There is a good current that runs through the Anagoda, and it is also 'shallow'. So, all of this combines to produce higher than expected wind waves and seas that are confused. We arrived in Marigot Bay St. Martin at 7:00 AM AST. After cleaning up from our passage and chatting with Sue and Leon on Masade, we launched our dinghy and headed to shore to clear customs and find a bakery. After clearing customs, we wandered around for a while before locating the bakery. We then couldn't tell if they accepted US dollars, so we went in search of an ATM. We found one 3 blocks away, then came back and had breakfast from the bakery. We headed back to the boat, and napped. We met Masade for dinner on the French side of the island. It was a fun evening.