We arrived in St. Bart’s this afternoon to a sight of 10 or 15 mega yachts that caused my eyes to widen by there design and splendor. Yachts’ that looked like they where out of sci-fi fiction and overwhelmed the mind of how much they could possibly cost. For instance there dingy tenders where wood cigar boats that carried their owner to and from the little French town in Bart’s. I feel like I am the ugly duck surrounded by white swans as we are anchored in the middle of them. The atmosphere is thick with French and the style of the women’s cloths and their beauty is worth a double take. I am in love with the French and wish that I could speak French to talk with them. The town is small but stuffed with French clothing stores and high end stores. The people walk around clothed in fashion that must cost 10k per outfit and they still have a sense of kindness and happiness to see me walking the streets. Lots of love felt here and I would love to pitch a tent on the beach and learn the language, work doing whatever for a month or two. But like all good things in life I have to move on to see what is around the next island. Our plans are to sail 30 hours to Guadeloupe which was once all inhabited with women. When Columbus sailed there he was attacked and sent away by the women tribes that once occupied the Island. I am hoping that we can sail the whole way but we will see what the ocean does.

The only issue I have with St. Bart’s is the anchorage that we are in has large swells that are parallel with our boat and cause the boat to rock side to side by 10 degrees and makes my stomach turn. I hope the night will calm the motion of the ocean but I think not. However to ease the motion I am listening to smooth French jazz over the radio. Good night my friends and family, miss you all.

Jacques

St. Martin I think so far is one of my favorite islands I have visited minus the petty theft. All the locals speak French and English very well. The atmosphere is very European and reminded me of France. As we walked the streets they were filled with little cafs that had multiple displays of fresh baked breads, croissants, and a multitude of pastries that where full of chocolate and cream. As you walked you could hear conversations in the romantic French language even if it was an argument, “Shit sounded good to me!”. The streets where busy with taxis and motorcycles running around with tourists to bring them to all the very expensive French malls and shops throughout the city.

I have been finding myself more of an observer of the local people and the cruise ship tourists that flood into town for a few hours and leave in there wake stress, and high blood pressure for the local store owners. I am also stressed by the overwhelming sight of a cruise ship sitting at dock and I know I will be surrounded by thousands that are clueless. But I do enjoy watching people fumble around with no clue or buying all the tent market handcrafted items that where made in China, which I have seen on every island from Nassau to St. Martin, but in different colors. But I guess people have to eat and the cruise ship folks bring the bacon. Just wish they where better examples of Americans. I wish we could all get off the treadmill of the fast pace American life style we have accepted as normal. We need to slow down to enjoy the moment and not rush to pack as much things into a day as technology allows us. If we don’t we miss the simple joys of life and think by filling the day up is better than just enjoying the crap out of one thing!

Thanks,

Jacques

Once again it is good to be back on Dragonsbane. We are currently in St. Martin. Dale is enjoying speaking French! We sailed throughout the night, leaving Virgin Gorda around 4:00 Tuesday afternoon, watching the sun set over the island of St.Thomas as we sailed out to sea. We arrived in St. Martin at 9:00 this morning. The wind was right in our face once again. Jacques is looking forward to turning westward and hopefully have some wind behind us. Last night’s voyage was accompanied by several other sailboats, cruise ships and cargo freighters. They light up the sky like Christmas.

For me the most curious phenomenon is the florescent sparkles that twinkle off the foam as the boat splashes through the water. Supposedly the boat stirs up plant life that glows in the dark. As Jacques describes it, imagine sparks spinning off a grinding wheel or arc welder. This can only be seen in the silence of night sailing.

The sail was great for me as I blissfully slept below while Dale and Jacques took four hour shifts at the wheel. On Jacques’ 4 am shift he negotiated a squall, helming into 32 knots of wind. Me, I slept.

Tonight we are drinking BVI Pussers Rum Painkillers on deck and watching the sun go down over St. Martin while listening to some island steel drum music. What a life!!

Barbara

The BVI

Me and my parents

Picture of Road town

Me Taking a picture and my dad looking a

something

Picture of one of the thousands of chickens that would wake me up at sunrise.

Goats eating the flowers from the shop!

The BVI

Dragonsbane on a mooring in Soper’s Hole Tortola

We are currently anchor off of Virgin Gorda and will be leaving to St Martin today. I am hoping that the wind will be far enough to the north that we will not have to do much motoring but it doesn’t look like it. Hope all is well.

Thanks,

Jacques

We had a great dinner last night at Pusser Bar with Paul Exner and his wife. Paul was our blue water instructor that got us going on our first voyage from Annapolis and has his company Modern Geographic based in Tortola. He instruct sailors of all levels of ability all over the world and I recommend him for any of your plans dealing with sailing.

The New Neighborhood We are anchored in.

We had to motor from St. Thomas to Soper’s Hole on Tortola British Virgin Island. It was a quick trip only 4 hours and we did not loss anybody. Passed through customs with no problem, and had lunch at Pusser’s Rum Restaurant. Doing good on rum prices again  only $11.50 per fifth for Pusser’s rum! Sounds like the Dude will switch to Pain Killers, and Bushwhackers! When in Rome!

Thanks,

Jacques

FYI, I had to tell you this but as I am uploading the picture and blog I have to time the internet connect button with the swing of the boat. I have a antenna mounted on the back of Dragonsbane for wifi and sometime I can catch free wifi. Lets just say this little ditty took 45 minutes to send and the dam wind was against me again swing everywhere but into free wifi. LOL

Well I am still in St Thomas and after a day of window shopping and finding so many great deals on Admiral Nelson “$2.99” a fifth, I got 4 bottles. I also got a great deal on vodka and Kahlua. I guess your thinking I have a drink problem well I just hate running out of booze when your in some random bay next to nothing but shrubs and the random dumb seagull. I also realize that after a few buddies of mine “Kyle & Bryan” pointed out that I am looking more like the DUDE from the movie “The Big Lebowski” everyday. I guess that may be true and I agree that a lot of my feeling on my personal life has been evolving toward the idea of less is more dude! But my own belief is hard work now play later dude! I take the comparison as a compliment and cant wait to finish my 1 part Kahlua, 2 parts vodka, and half/half cream, yes the White Russian. Just remember the dude has a beverage here man! I am drinking it up!

St Thomas walking around.

The Parents loved this photo and I love lots of colors so here you go!

Thanks,

Jacques

Today I spent the day first by moving the boat to a better anchorage and then setting up the dinghy on deck. Then mounted the outboard onto the dinghy but found the engine would not start. I pulled on the engine cord for many pulls to the point that both hands had broken blisters. After waiting patiently I gave it one last finally try and the engine fired up. Thank god, because I was about to rebuild the whole dam thing in the water. After a quick dinghy ride to shore we tied up the dinghy but could not get the lock to work due to the salt binding up the lock. My dad suggested soaking it in the fuel tank to dissolve the salt and being a good idea I did so. After pulling out the lock and working it with the key, my hands covered in gas and oil my open blisters burned with pain. So being the smart person I am I dipped my hands into the ocean only to reminded myself that salt water on open cuts hurts even more. Anyway we walked to Frenchtown to a Scuba shop where I met Scott who owns the shop and purchased all my gear for scuba diving and maybe a compressor system to fill my tanks for the future scuba dives. Then we went to a local taco joint and had some very strong Margareta’s. Then after consuming some good food we walked  miles back to the dinghy. It’s a funny thing trying to find your boat among 100s of sail boats from all over the world anchored in the same place. Its like play the game of where is Waldo? But we found Dragonsbne and made it back so I can wait till mom arrives at 10:30pm. It should be interesting finding Dragonsbane when I bring my mom from shore. I can’t wait for tomorrow and all the window shopping on St. Thomas we can do.

Thanks,

Jacques

Can you Find Dragonsbane?

Walking the St Thomas Water Front

Well we made it to St. Thomas Island where tomorrow my mom will be joining us to tour the British, and US Virgin Islands. We traveled 50 nautical miles from Puerto Rico to a little anchorage in St. Thomas where I am so close to land I can hear the crickets, kind of a nice change. I have been in these waters before when I was 8 or 9 and it feels great to be somewhere familiar. Tomorrow I will go to shore and hopefully not need to speak Spanish as I am getting sick of that game. Hope all is well.

Thanks,

Jacques

In San Juan there where few dogs but enough cats they where falling from the sky. They where everywhere.

You can tell but all the brick in the road was blue and looked very cool. I wondered how they made the brick to look blue. Picture of the road leading to the San Juan Harbor

After walking around old San Juan I had a Puerto Rico Lager and it was great so I had 2!

Looking south from the north fort Felipe del Morro to the city of San Juan.

The furthest point of the Fort that looked out over the San Juan Harbor.

Looking south out the view look out

Looking from the look out to the north fort Castillo San Felipe Del Morro and the coast between.

Photo From Fort San Cristobal off the upper gun deck looking into Old San Juan City

A view of the Fort Castillo San Cristobal, Old San Jaun Puerto Rico

Thanks,

Jacques