1,000 Nautical Miles Later...

… and we’re back “home” on St. Maarten! It feels great both to be back, and to have gained some sailing experience under our belts while we’ve been gone. We are looking forward to reconnecting with friends and colleagues while on island, and stocking up our cruising kitty with some supply work at CIA. Here’s a recap of our unforgettable sail from Bonaire to SXM:

Thursday, October 14: After an early morning wake-up, we secured the cabin and did last minute checks before getting ready to leave our mooring in Bonaire. We set the sails and said goodbye to the mooring field around 8:45 AM, eager to begin our sail north. We had chosen to leave on this date because a beautiful weather window had opened up – specifically, with southerly winds – that would

help us reach St. Maarten more comfortably. There were some swirly winds around the northern part of the island, but once we cleared Bonaire we found that we were able to reef our sails and have only a very small amount of heel to our boat. This was a surprise and a delight, as I had imagined we would be heeled hard over for the majority of the trip!

As we slowly started making headway into the Caribbean Sea, we had visitors come and join our crew. A sparrow, whom we naturally named Jack, made himself quite at home; first on Paul’s shoulder, and then he found a cozy place to rest his beak on our boomvang halyard and take a nap. We were then joined by Nick the gull, who was less sociable and hung out on our solar panels for some sleep. These stowaways were terrible at night watch as they slept the whole night through; but Nick was courteous enough to relieve himself over the edge of the solar panels. Our first day of the trip already finished, we saw a blood red moon set around 3:00 AM, and beautiful shooting stars graced the skies.

Friday, October 15: Nick the gull says farewell at sunrise, while Jack continues to rack out underneath the dodger. The winds have shifted, and now we are on a beam reach headed right for St. Kitt’s – wicked! I dare say, this point of sail felt even more comfortable that going with the wind down to Curaçao – there’s no

swelling back and forth motion and no heel. Our boat is basically flat on the water, with the occasional swell against our starboard side. Paul tried laying out some fishing line, but there was no action… until after sunset when he snagged a barracuda! We weren’t too keen on eating the barracuda (re: ciguatera) but Paul repurposed the innards and fish head for some yummy bait. Two more Stephen King (as Richard Bachman) books checked off my reading list for today. We saw shooting stars bright enough to be fooled for lightning!

Saturday, October 16: Halfway there! The ocean has turned to what can only be described as bathtub seas... we can hardly believe just how calm it is, and in the middle of the Caribbean Sea! We had about a ten second sun shower in the morning, and then were graced with a full rainbow. Full sails, including both main and headsail, were out today as we found ourselves in the first of our doldrums. There was hardly enough wind to keep us going, but we still managed between 4.0 and 5.0 knots.

Crazy experience today… we found a school of square groupers! We had heard about these mythical “fish,” but had never encountered them before today. As Paul and I couldn’t decide what we would do with the square groupers if we were to “catch” them, we decided to leave them be for the next fishermen… Tonight we had to finally call it, start the engine, and motorsail, as the winds were almost completely gone. We used our radar for the first time to dodge a few squalls and lightning – it was a long night that required keen eyes, but we made it through all squalls unharmed. We reefed our sails, although there was hardly any wind, for fear of a late-night surprise. We ended up motorsailing most of the night to make it through the dark and cloudy skies unscathed.

Sunday, October 17: This was our dolphin day!! We were THRILLED to finally have the experience of a pod of dolphins playing at our bow. Even though we were still

motorsailing (emphasis on the motor, the full main was pretty much just for show at this point), the dolphins came and checked us out not once, not twice, but three separate times over the course of the day. The first time was on the bow just after sunrise; followed by a ‘check in’ from the dolphins again at 9:00 AM; then AGAIN at 11:00 AM! At this point we’re about 15 hours away from Saba.

The seas were like glass – almost unbelievable, you could have guessed we were on the world’s biggest and calmest lake. By our best guess – since our wind gauge doesn’t function – there was a maximum of 5 knots of wind throughout the day… and those would be gusts! Around 3:00 PM we were forced to once again start the motor, as we were only travelling at a speed over ground of between 2.0 to 3.5 knots with the full main and headsail. At sunset we witnessed glass seas; it was so

calm, and the boat had less rocking or swelling than even on our protected mooring in Bonaire! Night shift felt almost spooky… like an ocean purgatory… the stars were perfectly reflected in the surface of the water. There was zero swell and zero rocking of our boat; it felt like cutting through silk or a hot knife through butter. The only disturbance on the

surface of the ocean was the wash from our prop. On Paul’s night watch, the dolphins checked in one more time to say hello!

Monday, October 18: LAND HO! Our last day, and Saba appears just before sunrise. Hoorah! Today was, again, so calm that it hardly felt like we were sailing in the Caribbean Sea. Maybe just the world’s largest outdoor pool?

Paul practiced his guitar skills on the bow and serenaded me as I enjoyed a mid-morning snooze. The fishing lines were out all night, with nothing caught except an abundance of sargassum salad. Around 9:30 AM, Paul had a bite! Sadly, it will be remembered as the Mahi Mahi that got away… as it got off the hook 20 metres behind the boat after a few lively jumps. Winds “picked up” (using this term generously here) just passed Saba. We had the choice between sailing at 2.9

knots, or motorsailing at 5.7 knots, and we chose the latter! St. Maarten appears on the horizon, and it feels like coming home. We arrived in Simpson Bay at 1:30 PM, dropped anchor, and visited customs and immigration. After a refreshing swim off the back of our boat, we picked up anchor and motored through the 5:00 inbound bridge into the lagoon. Now we are back on our old mooring and in our old stomping grounds. We treated ourselves to a classic fish n’ chips at St. Maarten Yacht Club, and were thrilled to have the chance to see old friends again! Happy hearts after huge hugs! Still lots of catching up and visiting to do, but we feel so at peace being back home in St. Maarten.

We plan on doing lots of maintenance and repair work while here, as it’s the best place in the Caribbean to access resources and materials. We’re also hoping to do some supply teaching at our old stomping grounds in CIA to help bulk up the budget before moving on to our next destination. We’ll be sure to keep you all posted, so stay tuned!

Hugs and love,

Toni & Paul