Milestones: Four Months - 2500 plus miles

For those of you following this log – you’ve been with us now for some great adventures. You’ve been aboard the good ship Astarte now for four months since leaving St. Petersburg, Florida. We’ve traveled down the west coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico through the Florida Keys at Marathon, across the Gulf Stream and into the Bahama Banks. We’ve crossed coral banks, deep water, shallow bays and interesting passages like Tongue of the Ocean, the Mona Passage, the Anagoda Passage. We now have more than 2500 miles under the keel of Astarte and a few more in the dinghy. We’ve been to 12 countries* (including territories of the US). We’ve anchored in over 44 different spots (some a few times) – and held firmly once anchored. We’ve only gone to two marinas (one two times because of the outboard). We’ve picked up a few mooring balls as well (though all free!)

They say cruising is repairing your boat in exotic locations – and we’ve certainly done that: hydraulic hose for centerboard; dinghy patch; outboard (multiple times); forward head; aft head; stove; expansion tank; anchor snubber; VHF radio cord; barbeque grill; outboard hoist; cockpit table; lazarrette hatch etc. Barbara’s not complaining anymore about all of the spare parts Michael’s taken on board.

The best part of cruising is meeting interesting people – both on land and from other boats. We’ve had a blast with boaters from England, Australia, New Zealand, Holland, Canada, and from all over the US. We’ve eaten interesting fruits, fish and vegetables prepared in new (to us) ways. We’ve communicated in broken Spanish, French and (when rum-induced) English. Barbara’s cooked hundreds of meals on two burners (no microwave!). Gallons and gallons of water have been made and collected. There’s been bread baking and bread baking lessons. We’ve been invited aboard interesting boats for great conversations. We’ve hiked many miles and up many hills – and always tried to take that picture at that top to prove it. We’ve used three currencies (US dollars, Euros and EC’s). We’ve enjoyed visitors (with more coming!). Though on a sailboat – we’ve motored, motor-sailed and sailed through all types of winds and seas and anchored in shallow and deep water. Luckily we’ve caught, cleaned and ate four dorado and dragged a line many, many nautical miles with no joy. We’ve lived non-stop on a 42 foot by 13 foot vessel, together and we remain happily married!

It’s been a great few months. One of our goals was to visit some new anchorages and spots - several anchorages in the Bahamas, the lagoon on St. Martin, St. Barts, Guadeloupe, The Saintes. We also stopped back at some favorite “old haunts” that we experienced in 2001.

We’ve kept up the log and thank you for reading it, commenting and staying in touch with us – we love hearing from folks. There are some new photos on the photo page (all labeled finally) and you know you can always keep up on our location on the “where are we” page. We’ve added links to those pages on the blog.

Today, Sunday, Michael completed more boat projects – oil, lube and transmission fluid change and aft head repair (he worked on the forward head yesterday installing a new pump). Then we went snorkeling – though it was quite windy – so it wasn’t a great snorkel day. Still in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia…and will be here for a few days.