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2007.
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January 2006
St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
We had a wonderful Christmas in St. Thomas. My
son David, daughter Laura and her husband Cristian, were here.
Our friends Duff and Donna were married on Sorrento on the
23rd Dec. (a first for the Sorrento). We had a wonderful
holiday together. We went cruising to St. John USVI and
the British VIs while the family was here.
After the New Year, Dave and I started working at Diamonds International - a jewelry store. It was an interesting and educational experience. We worked until May, then quit, and went to the States for my son David's graduation from the University of Nevada, Reno, with a degree in civil engineering. We are very proud of him. We enjoyed spending time with family in Las Vegas, Mom in Utah and friends in Reno. We thank you all for putting us up.
For his graduation gift, my son and I flew to Italy. We
visited Rome, and then travelled to Sardinia
with Laura and Cri and had a great reunion. We visited with
Cri's family. His Mom is a great cook!
When I returned to St.Thomas in June, we had our good friends Monty and Merna Meier from Reno aboard. We took them to the BVI's, danced, ate some great meals and listened to some great tunes. My sister Jo and our friend Deb came down after that and we had fun snorkeling and enjoying the beautiful bays and beaches of St John. Lastly, my cousin Fran and her daughter Diane visited and I really think they enjoyed cruising with us also. We enjoy having company aboard the Sorrento.
Then it was time to head south and be safe from possible hurricanes. We provisioned and had a fairly smooth sail down the islands to Guadeloupe. We just jumped from St. Thomas to Deshaise, Guadeloupe on the northwest side of the island. It took us 50 hours to make the trip with winds 15-20kts and seas 5'ish on the nose, of course. We enjoyed the pretty little town. The French islands have such good baguettes and french cheeses.
The next island down the chain for us was Martinique. On
approach, our autopilot failed! It wasn't electrical, just structural,
it just fell apart!! We waited until we got to St. Lucia
to get it repaired and did some other boat jobs. When we
were ready to depart St. Lucia, Dave woke in the middle
of the night with severe pain in his lower back and sick to his
stomach. We waited till morning and went to emergency at
Victory Hospital. He was diagnosed with a kidney stone.
He just needed to drink a lot of water to pass it. Poor
guy, he was really hurting but the meds helped. The next
day he was feeling great so we took off for Los Testigo
200 miles southwest. The sail was 44 hours, we caught two
dorado fish, so it was not a bad crossing. We really enjoyed
Isla Los Testigos. It's safe and there were about
5 other sailboats there. The water is still pretty clear
for snorkeling and we enjoyed hiking the hugh sand dunes to the
other side of the island. We also hiked to a lighthouse on top
of a 807 foot hill. It was a pretty strenuous hike but the
view was spectacular!
For the next leg of our adventure, we sailed toward Isla Margarita, just 45 miles SW. On route, we got hit by a thunderstorm and arrived well rinsed. Met up with some fellow cruisers. Picked up diesel at 0.33 cents a gallon, filling up all our tanks and jerry can. We had heard that Pto. La Cruz Ve. was not selling diesel to foreign flagged vessels! Thankfully, here in Isla Margarita they are still cruiser friendly. The provisioning here is fantastic. Busses pick up and deliver you and your groceries right to the dinghy dock.
Aug. 13, 2006
Pto.LaCruz, Venezuela
We arrived in Pto. La Cruz , Venezuela on 13 Aug. We
plan to paint the bottom of the boat and then cruise the off shore
island including Los Roques, Tortuga, and Los Aves.
We are looking forward to that.
Be well. We will keep in touch
Fran and Dave
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