Full circle - St Thomas USVI

Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Mon 2 Apr 2012 21:17
18:20.283N 64:55.793W

Monday 2nd April 2012

Distance run: 23 nmiles

With only 20ish nmiles to go today, we allowed ourselves a lie-in and lifted
the anchor at 0815.  As we were motoring out of the anchorage we passed a
boat called True Blue, and the guy on board called out , "Did you buy that
boat from Gavin?"  Apparently he sailed with him and Sukie in the Red
Sea.  Scott-Free is better known than we are!

As soon as we were out of the channel we unfurled the yankee and set off on
another glorious sail towards St. Thomas.  Although there was only 8-12
knots of wind, the seas were calm and we just flew along on a close reach
with dry decks the whole way.  This is what we signed up for!

We arrived back in Charlotte Amalie harbour which we had left 11 months ago
with Nimue to begin our journey north to the Bahamas and then the US.  The
log shows we have done 5,538 nautical miles since then.

Not long after the anchor was set and the deck tidied, Serafina finally
appeared on the AIS.  We gave them a call, and it was so good to finally 
talk to them as we could both hear each other!  We have been trying on the SSB radio for months and never quite managed to hear each other well enough to hold an actual conversation.  We kept a watch on the entrance channel and soon they were in sight - with all their bunting flying!  Apparently meeting up again was a special occasion that warranted dressing overall.  We were touched.
 
Serfina arriving in Charlotte Amalie anchorage with flags flying!
 
They dropped the anchor not far from us and we buzzed over in the rib.  It was so good to see them again and looking so well, and to see Serafina looking just as sparkly as always.  We had not seen the boat since we parted company in Antigua last spring, when they were headed south to lay her up in Grenada for the summer.  The new coffee machine was pressed into action and we set about catching up on each others' news.  As the evening approached Rob opened the bottle of fizz he'd been keeping chilled just for this occasion, and we eventually abandoned the idea of cooking and headed ashore for dinner instead.
 
The plan is to spend some time in the Virgins with Rob & Sarah before we head off to St Martin and they head north to the US.