18:20.703N 64:47.940W   The season in the beautiful BVI's has come to an end!  The intrepid crew of "Arbella" ...Mike, Rich, Ralph, Jim, and Nick... left this afternoon, after checking into U.S. Customs in St. John, USVI.  We departed at 1500.  Our course is basically 355 degrees magnetic.  The distance to our pier at our home is 1425 nautical miles.  We plan to make that in 9 days; could be 8 days if conditions are good.  I will be posting at least one blog entry each day, with pictures, history, and musings!  The crew of old and new friends are already having a good time, as I have engaged with very old friends, and caused them to meet new friends.  Rich and Ralph are friends and neighbors from Chicago...and the guys Vicki and I did our first passage ocean passage with in 1997 when we crewed on Rich's 60 foot Hinckley, "Chimera", sailing from St. Thomas to Southwest Harbor Maine, via Bermuda, over a 14 day period.  That led to our love for "bluewater sailing", and the decision to purchase our first Oyster.  Moreover, we sailed many times on "Chamade" on Lake Michigan while helping Rich and Ralph do the annual upkeep on this 45 foot Charlie Morgan at Monroe Harbor.  More to come....we are underway!  Captain Mike