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**** WE ARE CURRENTLY IN FRANCE ****

Well, it is that time again and we find 5KNOTS back on the hard in a boat yard. This year she will stay at Grenada Marine Boat Yard (GMBY) in Grenada. This hurricane season Renee and I will be going to France to visit our oldest son Anthony and his family, Amel, Lalia and Maelie. We are very much looking forward to going. We have several projects that need to get completed before we can set sail again in November. It didn't take long to figure out that [...]

We decided to break up the 100 miles to Bequia by biting off 24 the first day and then the remainder the following. The short leg was to anchor overnight in Rodney Bay on the island of St. Lucia. Our plan is to arrive just before dark, anchor and leave first thing the next morning. This way we will not have to clear with customs and pay the fees for just one night. We found Rodney Bay very large and anchoring was easy. Fortunately Sharna & Jim (Second [...]

Some of the islands throughout the Caribbean have or has in the past, had some sort of crime involving cruisers. Things from just aggravating cruisers by wanting to help with moorings, theft of dingy and/or motor, stollen items from boat, and in rare incidences violent crimes have occurred. The town of Portsmouth in Dominica, has put in place an organization called the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS). PAYS, is a non-profit organization providing security, mooring and related services to yachts visiting Dominica. When you arrive in Portsmouth you will [...]

We left the anchorage at Prickley Pear in the BVI around 1:30pm looking to make the 123nm trip to St. Kitts and arrive around the same time the following day.  However, the seas were confused (coming from all directions) and kept our speed down. We decided that after 22 hours we had had enough and settled for the island of Sint (Saint) Eustatius which is the island about 20nm north of Sint Kitts. We found the anchorage easy to get into and we anchored without any difficulty. We originally planned [...]

After working our way across the southern coast of Puerto Rico, we made a short sail to Isla de Vieques, the first of the Spanish Virgin Islands. The principal islands are Vieques and Culebra and there are multiple smaller islands and islets. These islands are also called the Passage Islands and as is Puerto Rico, are all US Territories. Vieques is best known internationally as the site of a series of protests against the United States Navy's use of the island as a bombing range and testing ground, which led to the Navy's [...]

Unlike the Bahamas where you can do a onetime check-in and get a cruising permit for up to six months, the Dominican Republic requires cruisers to check-in and check-out each time you move anchorages. This adds a level of coordination to the process and prevents you from deciding to move at the last minute. With each move, you have to clear with Immigration, Customs and the Armada (Navy). The process has been made painless at the Puerto Bahia Marina. Customs and the Navy are usually on [...]

Much has happened since we arrived in Luperon. We stayed in the bay on a mooring for two weeks and explored the town daily. Here is Tim grabbing some WiFi outside of Wendy's, one of the local hang outs. Many cruisers travel through the islands and find that they decide to call this place home. The bay is an excellent hurricane hole and food, drinks and apartments are extremely affordable. We were told that you can live very nicely on around $1,500.00 per month. We went on [...]

1064 Nautical Miles, 3 countries, $545 in customs fees all in 27 days! It is hard to believe that we are already 1/3 of the way through this years cruising (St. Marys, GA to Grenada). But that is the good and bad news. Good in that we are all the way in the Dominican Republic and the bad is, we have already killed a third of the trip. We knew that we were going to skip the Exumas this year because we wanted to spend the bulk of [...]

We finally got the weather window we were needing. It wasn't ideal because the wind was suppose to drop off and once again we would have to motor. However, it would be safe and since we were planning to spend the night anchored at Mackie Shoals in the middle of the Bahama Banks, it was a good choice for us. We left Miami at first light and navigated through the channel at Biscayne Bay and were able to put the sails up once out of the channel. We [...]