Apologies all, here is our latest position and update:

We left St Kitts 23rd March in convoy with Thomas and Regula, Balu and sailed to St Eustatius (Statia) where we anchored for the night.  This is a Dutch Island and the  waters around the Island are a Marine Park so you are only allowed to anchor in Oranje Bay.  In fact there should have been moorings but apparently they had the bottom weights but no chain(?) so anchor we did, very expensive to do so for one night and a very rolly anchorage.  We had a good walk around the main town and decided to leave the following morning for Sint Maarten.

24th March

St Martin is half French and half Dutch and when you clear customs and stay on the Dutch side it cost more than the French side, so far French Islands have been the easiest and cheapest to check into.  I send a quick note to Sean & Jim to ask for any info on our arrival, on arrival we anchored in Simpson Bay outside of the Dutch Bridge, a lot of swell, the following morning we entered Simpson Bay Lagoon which is a good calm  anchorage half French and half Dutch. very shallow  with a sandy/muddy bottom.  Radio check for Sean and Jim puts us in touch with Mike from Quinn, (Mike installed a navigation system on our computer in Las Palmas) who suggests we anchor over the French side of the bay.  As mike clears the radio we hear Jim calling us, against our expectations Sean and Jim are still here in SBL so of course we join them.  Memories of English Harbour, shallow water, mangroves and good company! 

So now how to remember a month in Saint Martin, should have done this earlier....

The lagoon is set out so you have a variety of Marine Chandlers (guy heaven) and small bars/restaurants around the edge which you can reach with your dinghy and park and leave.  All the bars do a âHappy Hourâ and every morning there is a cruisers radio net so it is a very sociable place.

Sean was leaving but decided to stay for an extra couple of days so we helped him celebrate his birthday on 2nd April after which he departed to meet with his brother in St Thomas and then on back to Ireland by July. 

Since our plans to visit Florida are somewhat delayed we decided I should go and visit with Claire sing the more conventional route of the Airplane, so I had a brilliant week in Boca Grande catching up with Claire, who as always was such a fantastic hostess.  While I am away Regula is sick, requiring a hospital visit, Balu got her rigging renewed and Chris met up with Martin and Elizabeth from Cadeusius.

Thomas and Regula have to leave on the 20th as they have friends arriving in Grenada at the end of the month and I am pleased to say Regula is now fully recovered, and ready for the journey.

We have our new wind generator delivered and Chris installed it, will increase our power supply enabling us to keep the fridge going 24/7 hopefully, we are still waiting for mail from the UK (posted 23rd March) so are here for a few more days..

Jim is still with us, he has a crew member joined him, he had hoped for the return crossing to the UK but it looks like the timing may mean only to the Azores, a Dutch chap called Christian, prefers to be called Chris.  They are meeting with Sean in Tortolla so are heading out from Simpson Bay on the  25th for a short hop onto Anguilla and then North. 

We have decided to come to Anguilla with them for a few days and then back to Simpson Bay to see if mail has arrived and make some arrangements if not, so here we are in Road Bay, Anguilla.  It is 09.00 26th April and we are just going ashore to clear customs and I will attempt to send this blog entry,

As you know our computer was playing up so I was having to carry the power cables everywhere with me to try and get connections, and not doing too well so, while in the US I purchased a 10â notebook which should be a great help in keeping in touch.  We will see!

Pictures to follow soon..... xxxx