Not the 2 hour downwind sail we planned on having sailing from Jost to Normans today 🙂‍↔️ As we got towards Thatch Island Cut we were going to bring in our head sail to get a better angle and go through the cut but noooope after 2 wraps the head sail furling line was jammed 🫠 Andrew undid the entire line multiple times but it still kept jamming, so eventually we just jibed through the cut and figured we would deal with it later. From Thatch to Normans Andrew went back and forth trying to fix it on the bow then eventually pulled it in by hand on the bow and we got it in. Not sure why it happened but fingers crossed it doesn’t happen again when we sail tomorrow 🤞🏼 Anyway, now we’re spending the day at Willy T 🏴‍☠️ (and I’m not getting the tattoo this time 😅😂)

Checked in at West End (because we had to check Isla in there) then headed to Jost for a night or two! We got engaged 2 years ago today and we’ve been together for 4 years this month 😌 Started off our first day at Jost with a floating spa massage 💆🏻‍♀️ & then heading over to Soggy Dollar & Foxy’s Not sure if we’ll stay here a few nights or hop around other spots in the BVI before heading back to STT Monday. Drop a suggestion of where we should stop!!

Our group had their dream charter booked for NYE in the BVI for 5 nights and while their first captain cancelled because the generator wasn’t working and the boat had no AC, then the 2nd captain they had canceled the day before their trip 😳 Our friend saw on a Facebook page that they were desperate for a captain and mate so she called us and asked if we could get to the BVI within the next 24 hours to run their trip. Within an hour we got Isla to the vet for her health certificate, packed up our boat, left it on a mooring in Red Hook STT and took the ferry over to Tortola the next day. Had to work with the group to get provisions on such short notice but we made it over and were able to give them the best New Years trip ever!! Had so much fun showing them around the BVI and of course, they loved Isla. Got lucky and had the best group with the best attitude & spent the last 5 nights on a cruise around the islands 🇻🇬 Oh, and I happened to run into my cousins at Bitter End on NYE 😂🤯

Stop 1 on our surprise date day.. Cruz Bay St John 🥰 We haven’t been over to St. John since we sailed over and this island is what made us fall in love with the Virgin Islands almost 2 years ago! Took us a while to get back but so excited to explore again Still don’t know about stop #2 and where we’ll be sleeping tonight 🤔

Moved around from Water Island to Sapphire beach because some friends told us about a full moon party over here tonight Anyone else usually show up to a party with their entire home? 😂

Finally made our way to St Thomas, we visited St Thomas/St John 2 years ago (right before we got engaged) and didn’t want to ever leave. We looked into moving here but it didn’t work out and months later we bought Afterglow and talked about one day sailing here. Hooked up to a mooring on water island for a few days & can’t wait to explore where we’ll be living and working for a bit (with sailing trips to the other islands from time to time). If anyone knows of some charter boats hiring let us know! We’ll be freelancing to make some $$ to continue funding this cruising life

Spent the night anchored at Culebrita before heading back to Vieques for a few nights to hang with friends before we sail off to the USVI for a while Finally had the perfect sail we’ve been waiting for for months 🤌🏼 12-15kts of wind going downwind cruising at 6-8kts.. chefs kiss sailing

Our friends that live on Vieques have work the next few days so we decided to hop over to Culebra for a couple of nights in the meantime Had to motor to the corner of Vieques at 3-4kts but once we got around the island we were able to sail a beam reach and go 7-8 knots💨 Pretty rough ride over with mostly 6-8ft seas but feels gooooood to sail again after a season of sailing into the wind Caught 6 barracuda on the sail and nothing else so no fish for dinner for us 😐

Mona passage was definitely on our list of trips we were unsure/nervous about but we made it through without any issues 🙌🏼 We were debating between 2 routes, straight offshore then south closer to Puerto Rico or hug the coast of the DR until south of hourglass shoal and cross right above Mona Island, and we decided on the latter. We picked a pretty good weather window (even though it was 15/20kts instead of the forecasted 5kts) and didn’t see any crazy waves until the south coast of Puerto Rico. Had to motor the entire time, but towards the end we put out our head sail when the wind shifted to gain a knot or 2 💨 As always, Isla did a 10/10 job being stuck on a moving boat for 2+ days and don’t worry… she had lots of treats 🤪 Excited to be in Vieques & the Spanish VI to explore for a bit before we head over to the USVI to work and make some money🤙🏼🌴🇵🇷

We had a beautiful 11 mile dinghy ride across the Bahia de Samaná and saw some caves and natural pools at the eco resort The way back was pretty rough trucking through 4ft seas in the dinghy 🫠 Worth the trip over in Samana… the pictures speak for themselves