14:04.4N 060:57.0W 0341 local time we arrive in St Lucia. It was a great last evening at sea. The night sky was so clear with familiar constellations breaking up the monotony of the ever rolling sea and the moon looked fantastic, hovering just above St Lucia, illuminated from behind shining as a brilliant ring. The lights of Martinique could be seen from 70 miles out and we saw the lights of an aeroplane – civilisation after 15 days! Welcomed with rum punches and a basket of fruit, (ripe bananas at last - long story about the reluctance of Cape Verdes bananas to ripen is to be told another time),  the realisation that we had just crossed the Atlantic hit home. It is illuminating that Francis Chichester’s race win in the early 60’s where he crossed the Atlantic from Plymouth to New York in 40 1/2 days was almost double the time we took - 20 1/2 days from Las Palmas, and an ARC boat arrived today from Las Palmas directly (ie not via Cape Verdes) in under 11 days –  its still about the journey, and less about the destination, although you get there quicker. So today has been spent cleaning and getting the boat “shipshape”, taking on a few beers and catching up with the other boats already here and those newly arriving. Its great to be able to see them again and share stories. We have met some fantastic people. So, a few more days getting sorted in the land of Blackbeard and Captain Jack Sparrow (he was real wasn’t he?) and maybe finding out that we have been placed third (or maybe second.....?) in our class before the final farewell party and home.