We departed from Bequia today—what a lovely stop. It’s a charming island with fantastic people, great food, and sweet little beaches. Cruisers love it for good reason: easy garbage drop-off, simple provisioning, and boats that cruise the anchorage offering fuel, water, laundry services, and more. We met a few folks who’ve been hunkered down there for weeks, using it as their hurricane hole unless something gets too close. But we’ve got a timeline to keep (a whole post in itself). So, it was time to move on. We’d heard glowing reports about the Tobago Cays, so we set our sights there. We left just after 11, waiting for the winds to settle a bit after a big rain squall passed. Two reefs in the main, two in the genoa, and off we went—cranking along in 17–20 knots, gusting to 22. The sea state was a little confused, wrapping around the islands and making for a bumpy but manageable ride. Harbor was a champ and held his bucket (no pukes), Aria watched anime and forgot she was on a boat, Adam was getting an ab workout from sitting at the help and I was holding on for dear life like a maniac 🤣. Midway through, we hit some steep swells that gave me a few heart palpitations. Oh—and speaking of heart palpitations, let’s talk about the charter boats. Two Dream Yacht charters decided that rules of the road didn’t apply. The first one cut across our bow and then decided it was the perfect time to stall out and unfurl their headsail—sure, why not? But the second one really took the cake: they clearly saw us, full under sail (read: we had right of way), and instead of taking our stern, they attempted to squeeze in ahead. We tried to hail them on the radio—crickets. No AIS. Nothing. They did get close enough for me to shoot them a few award-winning ugly faces and my best ARE YOU BLIND? expression. Adam followed up with a radio hail: “Dream Yacht Charter, way to be a dick!” 😅 They heard. Oh, they definitely heard 🤣 (for those from Floatchella, you may have heard these words outta the skippers mouth before...not a coast guard phrase at all). As we pulled into the Tobago Cays, the wind and swell made the anchorage a bit rolly—and just to round out the excitement, our starboard engine lost oil pressure and shut down. Last week it was the port engine, thanks to a clogged fuel line. Adam suspects the same culprit here—likely stirred-up sediment from running low on fuel (in prep to haul out). So MacGyver is at it again. Honestly, I’m beyond thankful he’s so handy. He’s always repairing, maintaining, prepping, etc. Last summer, he and his buddies put in serious hours restoring these 20-year-old Volvos—and those hours are paying off. Tonight, we’re tucked into a little anchorage off Mayreau. Four charters (Mr D himself) and a big old ship are sharing the bay with us. We’re just here for the night before continuing south. The sailing season is winding down, and I’ve got so many emotions swirling—but I’m not quite ready to unpack those yet. We still need to make it to Grenada and haul out at Spice Island Marine. As much as sailing stresses me the F out, I’m also incredibly grateful we’re doing this. We would never have experienced these incredible places any other way. Cheers 🍻

You know, I keep saying this — but the Thorny Path is thorny! JEEZ. We thought we were done with the rough part of the journey. Nope! Just for shits and giggles, let’s throw in 7 to 10 foot waves on the beam, swirly winds, and washing-machine seas. It wasn’t scary (which is always a plus), but we all felt like trash. Probably didn’t help that I made pork medallions in a mushroom cream sauce for dinner last night. 😂. Note to self, stick with chicken and rice. We had a double reef in the main and one in the Genoa right from the start — sailing between the islands has been insane, with winds jumping from 5 to 30 knots and ripping. But we got lazy and never shook out that second reef. We probably could have taken an hour or two off the ride. Near St. Vincent, we were crawling along at 4 knots in the wind shadow, then suddenly catching wind for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. Repeat for 12 miles. Then we went to fire up the port engine. It cranked for 30 minutes while we motor-sailed — and then it died. Fun times. Like a professional, Adam handled it just fine. He sailed us into Elizabeth Harbor, we dropped anchor in some beautiful water, and tomorrow we’ll go ashore to celebrate the Harbor Man turning 8 years old. If you’ve got any pirate-themed words of wisdom for the young buck, send them our way. 🤙

Finally left Fort Du France in search of some snorkeling and beach time. Wish we would have left sooner, though the weather had sucked the last several days. Anse Noire is GORGEOUS! Room for 2, maybe 3 sailboats. Beautiful snorkel on either side of the cove. Saw a massive turtle just chilling on the seagrass. We had one last snorkel with our buddy boat SeaBella. We've traveled over 1200 NM with them and really have gotten attached. It will be hard to to not plan our adventures with them. Hope we can convince them to keep sailing Wish we could have stayed longer but had to get moving! We arrived around 1:30 pm and departed a midnight for Bequia.

Should’ve stayed in St. Pierre! Fort-de-France was...meh. We caught up with friends on sv Painkiller which was awesome, but the anchorage kind of sucked, the passage was wild! We thought, a nice gentle hour or two to get there. Naw, we prefer to get our asses kicked. Also lost a hat overboard and Adam did a figure 8 so we could retrieve my Oceans Calling hat 😅. The highlight? A nightcap on sv Painkiller where we met two crew members, hitchhikers (Amadeus & Alyssa) cruising around the world by boat. We were having a little nightcap and cake - celebrating Harbor and our buddy Seamus turning 8. So for some entertainment, Amadeus whipped out some card tricks that straight-up crushed it. And Alyssa casually dropped stories about sailing a 70-year-old boat solo through northern Europe like it was no big deal. They've both been traveling full time for years. Just when we think we’re living the wild, off-the-grid dream, this German couple rolls in like, Hold my beer—but super polite and casual about it.

It’s been a wild and intense few days. Adam got adventurous and tasted the Apple of Death...and we were left wondering if he'd be ok. So we did what any good sailor would do and departed for the next island...we left Les Saintes, made a quick stop in Saint Michel, Dominica, and this morning set sail for Martinique. We’d heard from friends that this leg of the Thorny Path could be pretty rough—and they weren’t wrong. But while it was definitely sporty, it turned out to be more manageable than expected. The forecast called for steady 20-knot winds with gusts to 30, and that’s exactly what we got. The sea state was better than I anticipated—still big and choppy between the islands, but not as chaotic as I’d feared. It ended up being a fast and not too shabby. Adam absolutely crushed it with the sail plan—constantly adjusting, staying calm, keeping us steady, and smiling through it all. We were up at 4:45 AM to catch the first light and powered through a ripping 3.5-hour sail. Surfed a wave and clocked 12 kts. Now we’re safely anchored in Martinique and feeling stoked to be here. We’ll celebrate Harbor’s birthday on the Summer Solstice, soak up some time with our buddy boat SeaBella, and explore a few more dreamy anchorages before parting ways for a bit.

Shitty sail. Into the wind, getting bounced around. First stop where we thought we could anchor was awful. Glad it was though, forced us to move around to Les Saints and it was magical. Grabbed a ball, had a nice little time.

Left stunning St. Barths in our wake, originally aiming for a quick pit stop in Nevis—but didn’t realize check-in was required, so had to reroute. We blasted out of St. Barths with full sails up, no reef in, and wind right on the edge of manageable. Then—bam—a surprise squall rolled in hard and fast. 😬 No time to reef. Adam stayed on the helm, hand steering to spill wind as we flew along. That squall shifted everything—changed our plan from passing in front of St. Kitts to ducking behind it. Once in its lee, the wind turned unpredictable: swirling, gusting, then disappearing. With Nevis off the table, we had to bash into the wind for 3 hours just to reach tonight’s anchorage. Tomorrow’s forecast? More wind and waves as we push on to Montserrat for another quick stop, then on to Guadeloupe. Kinda wishing we just kept charging to Guadeloupe—we were cruising steady at 8+ knots, and even hit 12 while surfing a wave. Though if I'm being honest, I'm not such a fan of increased wind and waves. I miss Bahama bopping around.

We set off from St. Martin for a sporty sail to St. Barths, double-reefed and ready—but quickly realized we could shake one out. Some lines snagged in the process, so we dropped the mainsail, rehoisted it, and noticed a sail car had come loose from the sail. After dropping it again, Adam grabbed his repair kit and, with some swift lashing, had us back underway in no time. It was a fast, wet ride—windier and rougher than expected, with waves tossing us like a mini rollercoaster. Not exactly a family favorite, but Adam was clearly stoked to be sailing. We arrived in a gorgeous national park anchorage in St. Barths and snagged a mooring ball—with the main still up. Aria and I didn’t have it rigged quite right, and in the scramble, Adam’s finger got caught and smashed against the anchor/chain plate. One crushed middle finger later, we were secured and grateful to kill the engines and take a breath, even with the gusty wind still whipping around us. Now happily moored in this stunning spot with a ridiculous amount of turtles, fish and spotted eagle rays. We’re taking an extra night to regroup and map out the next legs of our journey south with SeaBella. It's been so nice to have a buddy boat heading the same way!

We knew sailing to St. Martin would be a challenge, after all, we’re still working our way down the thorny path. What was supposed to be 82 miles turned into 100+, with tacks and slow progress into headwinds and lumpy seas. We left Prickly Pear Island at sunrise. One buddy left about an hour before us which was great, feeding us conditions. Our other buddy boat had engine issues but managed to get underway, so we were all a bit spread out. At least we were truly sailing—not motoring—but motion sickness hit hard. Poor Harbor broke his puke record (again). Lesson learned: meds and meals first before letting them fall back asleep. Midway, we had to reef and discovered our starboard engine was revving but not engaging. Adam worked his magic and got us back in action. There were bright spots—dolphins, clear skies, and a few stretches of smooth sailing that reminded me why Adam loves this life so much. We crawled in around 12:30 AM, both engines grinding at 3.5–4 kts, but we made it. Hook’s down. Harbor's wide awake, hungry and ready for some TV 😅 while the rest of the family is ready for sleep! BVI -> St. Martin: officially checked off the list.