Day 0 - (12 March) – Arrive SXM, spend afternoon provisioning, stocked up Ma Doudou rum, and picked up our last guest that night. Enjoyed evening at Captain Oliver’s Marina.



Day 1 – (13 March) Sailed to Tintamarre and found out there are mooring balls installed there now. Much more crowded than before. Great afternoon and evening sail to Anguilla.



Day 2 – (14 March) Got our cruising permit and sailed to Dog Island and Prickly Pears. It was an incredible SCUBA dive on West Dog with dramatic rock walls and even a reef shark. Caught up with Mark on Sanctuary for a night of Painkillers on board



Day 3 – (15 March) Great day of sailing to St. Barts, beautiful sunset at Anse de Columbier



Day 4 – (16 March) SCUBA on St. Barts which had it all, lobster, turtles, sharks, eels and fish everywhere. Admired the mega-yachts including the largest, Eclipse. Stocked up on great French provisions, bagettes, pates, dark chocolate and wine.



Day 5 – (17 March) Early departure from St. Barts to Antigua. Hoping to make Barbuda, but winds almost out of the east. Great fishing along the way with several Mahi Mahi, and whale sightings including a breaching humpback right off our stern. Too quick for camera. Arrived Dickenson Bay after sunset and enjoyed great meal at Coconut Grove.



Day 6 – (18 March) One friend departed (work calls), and we check out shopping in St. John’s. We saw Coast Guard boats racing around everyone including USCG. Found a great bay for anchoring (Deep Bay). Turns out 16 coast guards were conducting an annual training operation for 3 week and this year it was Antigua. We put together a pickup team for beach volleyball and had the most competitive sports afternoon ever on vacation. Teamed up with a coasties from Barbados, Columbia, and Nevis and we stayed kings of the courts for about 6 straight matches until the St. Vincent team knocked us off. Fiesta night with friends from week 1 and week 2.



Day 7 – (19 March) Two more friends depart and we pick up two other friends in Jolly Harbour. Check out SCUBA diving for both (another great dive on Cade’s Reef) and back to Deep Harbour for the night again.



Day 8 – (20 March) No where to get SCUBA tanks filled on Sunday, so we sail and fish instead. Couple of Bonita only, but spend the night in English Harbour.



Day 9 – (21 March) Found place to fill tanks and see more mega-yachts. Leave for great broad reach spinnaker sail to Nevis with great fishing along the way. Think we caught a kingfish. Arrived Nevis after sunset since we got a late start.



Day 10 - (22 March) My birthday and I wanted to celebrate on Saba, so we left after a great breakfast for another beam reach spinnaker run to Saba and arrive in less than 7 hours. Bad news, Saba moorings are all exposed due to North swell. We decide after a crew meeting to abort visit to Saba and sail to BVI instead. We leave at 5pm and winds fill into about 25-30 knots. The next 10 hours were a sleigh ride, arriving Cooper around 3am and lucky to find a free mooring ball.

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Day 11 - (23 March) Checked in while everyone else slept late after passage and then off to dive Wreck Alley. Great dive, but mooring ball has been moved. Spend afternoon fishing the south bank with limited success. Pulling in a couple of Bonita, but lost a couple of lures to some rather aggressive fish.

[img]http://web.mac.com/dadelo/SXMDay12.jpg[/img]

Day 12 - (24 March) Spent morning at the Caves just chillin’ only to find two day cats full of snorkelers pull in. Had some fun hiding in the caves back in the deep dark end, but didn’t end up scaring any tourists. Given the shape of some of these snorkelers, I didn’t want to send anyone into cardiac arrest. No AED on board yet. Enjoyed lunch in Scrub Bay getting tanks filled, and great afternoon dive on Rhone. Sailed over to Scrub Island for our maiden visit and what a treat! Ran into Rick from Sophisticated Lady filming and took a few suggestions on facebook for a crew video down the water slide

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Day 13 - (25 March) Still enjoying Scrub Island including my wife and I getting a massage at the private villa in the morning. Forgot about bar credit, so had to go back to use that up. Great dive at Coral Gardens, but I failed to find the airplane wreck. Not sure what happened, but ended up with a great sunset sail to Leverick Bay to enjoy a night at the Jumbie’s BBQ. New grill for pig roast is out of this world. We could smell it when we came through the mooring field! Nick managed to give us a great table right in front of the bar (how did he ever know?)

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Day 14 - (26 March) Wonderful spinnaker broad reach to the Chikuzen. Good news, found mooring ball and Goliath Grouper, bad news is also found a lionfish. Called it in since it was too deep to tag its spot. I hope someone gets out to get rid of it, more fish than ever on this dive. Afternoon at the Soggy Dollar Bar anchored in front of web cam. Winds stayed light out of the east so we spent the night.

Day 15 - (27 March) Early morning sail to Charlotte Amalie and checked into YHG. Customs time moved from 9am to 10am and lots of mega-yachts checking in. Took us 75 mintes to check in an almost missed our flight.