Sailing the Caribbean

Days 12 - 14: Sandy Spit, Caneel Bay, St. Maarten

 On Monday morning, bright and early, we set sail to make our way back to St Thomas to end our trip. We were all a little sad as we made our way back to civilization. Along the way, we stopped for breakfast at this tiny little island (if you can call it that) off the coast of Jost Van Dyke, called Sandy Spit. After eating, we did some snorkeling and playing on the island before we headed back to the USVI. 

We decided to stop at St John for the night, knowing we had to be at St Thomas to turn the boat in by 9am. Another beautiful place! Jason and I went to the Caneel Bay Beach Resort for some shade and blog posting while the crazy ones went for a run. (Apparently 10 miles in the heat and sun were not enough to slow them down.) 

 We saw some cool Iguanas at the resort, who apparently thought they owned the place. They had no problem walking up to us in hopes of some cherries from our drinks! 

 We met Ian and Leah back at the boat, and mixologist Ian made us some cocktails from whatever remaining ingredients were on board. Then the four of us took the dinghy back to the resort for a last dinner (thanks, Leah!). It was seriously so much fun. I think the hotel guests were annoyed at how much laughter was coming from our table, but our waitress loved us. 

 When we got back to the boat, we smoked some Cubans (that we purchased legally in the BVI) and said goodnight one last time. 

 Tuesday morning we packed up, took the boat in and said goodbye to Ian and Leah, then Jason and I did some shopping at the market in St Thomas before catching our flight to St Martin. We had just this last night before our trip ended, so I had a little surprise planned for Jason. After we checked into our hotel and took a little walk around the property, we showered for dinner and had a private meal served to us in the gazebo!

 The view from our room 

 Our gazebo 

What a great dinner 

 Jason had no idea, but for months (and even up to the morning of our dinner) the concierge and I planned this meal, all the courses, where it would be served, she even secured a special waitress for us because she wanted it to be perfect. It really was, and Jason was totally surprised and loved it. It's not easy to surprise him, but I think I did. 

 On our final day, Wednesday, after breakfast we decided to go for a walk. Funny how 10 days with an adventure racer and his athlete/ fitness model/ tv personality wife can change the way you see limits to a walk. We started on the road, through the town and golf course and headed to a beach we saw in the distance. Once there, we walked the length of it and got to "the end" where there were woods, huge boulders and cliffs. Ian and Leah would be so proud, because instead of heading back the way we came, we climbed through the woods and along the rocky coastline in the direction of our hotel, but with no idea if we could get there this way.  

Hello lizard

After 90 minutes, some trespassing, plenty of pictures, some scary cliffs, and "around the next corner," we finally made it back to our hotel adventure racer style just in time to shower and check out. We gave the bellman our bags and made our way to the famous Sunset Beach Bar to watch some planes take off and land over drinks and lunch before catching our flight. 

 A plane landing 

As big jets were taking off, people would line up behind them so the jet blast would blow them back into the sea

The crowds getting ready for our takeoff 

 Goodbye Paradise!!!!

Sailing the Caribbean

Days 3-5 : St Thomas - Culebra - Culebrita

Our first three days on the sailboat were so cool, and each day got better than the next. Wait until you read about Monday! 

 We woke up on Saturday morning to a beautiful view of St Thomas. 

Then left to drop our bags off on our boat, ate breakfast at a little place in the marina, and went grocery shopping. Meanwhile Leah and Ian arrived and we boarded our boat. It took almost all day to go through the process of getting the boat, so by the time we were done, we just sailed to the other side of St Thomas to anchor for the night. 

Our home for the next 10 days 

We jumped into the water to cool off

then grilled burgers on the boat and settled in for our first night of sleep aboard the Azzurra (what a name for a boat). 

 The next morning, on Sunday, we got up and got moving to the island of Culebra. We found a remote little beach where no one was around and did a little snorkeling off the boat and ate lunch. 

 We heard about a great beach on this island, so we moved our boat a little closer and walked across the island to it. We had to pass a garbage dump on the way, though (yuk!). 

See the trash behind us?

 Flamenco Beach was definitely pretty, though. We even went for a little run along the beach and I got a quick running lesson from Ian. 

 Playing in the water 

 Sunday night we decided to head onto the island for dinner, so we took the dingy in and found this little restaurant by the water, then hit the sack. 

 On Monday morning we stopped in town again to get a few more groceries, then set off to Culebrita. Jason got his first sailing lesson on the way. 

 Our boat in full sail. 

 Before we got to Culebrita, though, on the other side of Culebra, we found this little cove that we couldn't resist. 

It was this beautiful bay where there was no one but us and the few beautiful homes on the coast. We swam around, explored the little remote islands, ate lunch, and then reluctantly said goodby to our beautiful little spot. As we left saying how special that anchorage spot was, the one we came upon in Culebrita was even prettier! 

 After lunch and a swim, we decided to hike to the lighthouse we saw at the top of the island. 

 The view from the top was ridiculous! From every spot all you saw was beautiful beaches with all sorts of shades of blue waters. 

 After hiking down, we decided to run the trail that lead to one of the beaches we saw and there were all of these butterflies as we ran by! 

 And then we saw a rainbow. 

 For real, butterflies and rainbows and secluded beaches. Amazing. It even rained to give a cooling off after our run. 

 We headed back to the boat for a refreshing evening swim and jumping off the top deck of the boat. 

Then - to top off this day - we got to see the most glorious sunset. 

 What a day! We grilled up some chicken for dinner and realized that there was no moon, so we took our wine (and beer) and all of us laid on the boat and watched shooting stars and laughed and talked until we had to call it a night. What a perfect day. I was told there would be more perfect days, but I can't believe we'll top this one.

Sailing the Caribbean

Day 2: Cap Juluca to St Thomas Today we spent the day enjoying the resort and the weather. It started with breakfast on our terrace, then we headed to the beach for the day. Not sure why the sand doesn't look white in these pictures, bit the sand was whiter and rather water was lighter...  

Breakfast on our terrace

Relaxing on the beach

Jason's in the water, can you spot him?

We had a 6:10pm flight to St Thomas so we checked out and left the hotel for the teeny tiny Anguilla airport. You really have to understand "island time" -- even at the airport. Our flight was nearly an hour late and there was not a mention about it. We just waited and eventually we took off. It was all very relaxed.  

The smallest "airport" we've ever been to

We arrived in St Thomas at night, so we really couldn't get a feel for the island, we checked into our hotel, grabbed a quick dinner, and headed back to bed. Tomorrow we sail!