We are happily anchored off of a beautiful beach called Honeymoon Beach, on water island, a small island next to St Thomas.  It’s a small beach, with coconut trees, turquoise water, a small beach restaurant serving really good food and most importantly kids, lots of kids!!  Saturday was a little slower than Sunday.  On Saturday nights, Heidi’s restaurant sets up tables on the beach and has candlelight dinners.  Sunday is the big family day.  The harbor was filled with boats.  Tristan and Tessa had a great time playing with the other kids.  They split their time between the rope swing, the surfboard, playing tag, and whatever else they could think of.  This is probably the most kids they have gotten to play with in one place, (except for the park in Ponce Puerto Rico) and they made the most of it. Most of the kids lived on St. Thomas and come over to spend Sundays at the beach.  Most are from families that gave up the cold weather living in the States to make a life here.  I can’t say that I blame them!!

  A band played later that afternoon.  I use the term “band” here very loosely as it consisted of two guys with guitars, playing over a recorded song track.  They were ok, but the lead singer didn’t even know all the words to most of the songs he was singing.  These weren’t obscure songs either, mostly 80’s rock songs.  I can’t understand how if you are billing yourself as singers, and you have pretty much all the music done for you, can you not take a few hours and learn the words?  Everyone seemed to enjoy it though.  About five o’clock, someone got a grill going.  Every Sunday, one of the two bars on the island sponsors a potluck.  They provide the meat, and you bring a side dish.  I went up to the guy who was doing the grilling just to confirm this, as there was some great looking food coming off the grill, and he said yes, meat was free, just bring a side dish.  Well, I didn’t have a side dish, and I noticed about 40 people helping themselves to food off the grill, and only about 6 side dishes.  I’m no math major, but I can figure out 40 people and 6 side dishes means not everyone brought a dish to pass.  And, I never saw a covered dish come from any of the people who had recently shown up in the overcrowded dingys.   I figured we were good to go, and handed the kids a plate.  Dan, my rule man, was at first reluctant as he was going with the side dish rule, but gave in after seeing the ribs and some kind of roast, on the grill.  Well of course, this didn’t sit well with the aging sailor manning the grill (who only took the grilling job for the promise of free drinks) and his less than enthusiastic wife, who spent the next few minutes looking at me and grumbling.   Did I care?  Not a bit!  I am my father’s daughter:  if there’s free food, I’m there!!  So as the sun slowly set, we leisurely made our way back to Alegria, contented but tired after a full beach day, and a good Boston Butt roast.

We finally made it to St Thomas!!!   It was a nasty little 20 mile motor, and even though we waited for a good weather window, the waves were still big and confused.  Oh well.  These islands now are so close; our longest passages for the next month or two will probably be about 10 miles.  We anchored outside in a harbor close to Crown Bay Marina.  Tomorrow, we are planning to go to Honeymoon Beach, about a mile from here.

WE ARE SO HAPPY TO BE HERE!

More rain, but we were able to go into town and get groceries.  The good news is we can now load pictures on the computer. (Somehow it fixed itself: Magic Boat!).  In town we met a woman who was sailing back to the States.  She had sailed from Grenada by herself.  Her husband died 3 years ago, and since then she has been sailing alone.  Her son was worried about her and wanted her to be closer to him.  She was probably in her late fifties, early sixties.  I really admired her.  She spent a few years on her own in Grenada and loved it, now she is headed to the US.  That’s a long way to sail by yourself, especially after losing your spouse while you are on your cruise.  She was really an inspiration to us.  We wish her the best.

Flamenco Beach            

Vieques Puerto Rico              

As I am writing this, there is a beautiful, full moon, casting a white light onto the glistening waves at its feet.  A perfect night to be on a sailboat.