

Did The Engine Just Blow Up?
Having rounded the northern end of St. Martin, we had nice wind for close reach to St. Barths where we headed for Gustavia harbor to check in. Note that Cayuga's Yanmar diesel hasn't missed a beat since I fixed a clogged fuel tank pickup tube in mid-ocean in November. And, to make sure that wouldn't happen again, we got a tank cleaning after arriving in the BVIs. However, lack of fuel isn't the only thing that can disrupt mechanical propulsion. We were slowly maneuvering b


Carnival in St. Martin
We happened to be in St. Martin during the annual Carnival, which was pretty cool. Near-naked gyrating butts in every direction! After several days of gorging ourselves on French pastries, we moved north to the bay off Grand Case, known as St. Martin's restaurant row. We rented a car for a couple of days and did a land circumnavigation of the island, including lunch at Orient Bay along with the requisite strolls up and down the renowned nude section of the beach there. De
Rhoda's first overnight passage
After some time back home, we returned to the boat in late January where we'd had someone babysitting it on a mooring in St. Thomas, USVI. We re-provisioned, worked on some projects, hung out on the beach, and waited for a day with more northerly winds forecast that would enable easier sailing to the East. We left on Feb. 3rd and during the afternoon, tucked under the SW corner of Peter Island, BVI so Rhoda could make several business calls before we got too far out for cell