We escaped the Lagoon of Sint Maarten! It was a great stay – super for getting things done on the boat with really convenient chandleries and super for meeting new friends, but not being able to get into the water for fear of catching some dreadful disease was getting old. So, we sailed up to Anguilla.

The sail was very nice – with 15 – 20 knots and seas of 3 – 4 ft. We worked out that it’s basically been a month and a half since we’ve sailed properly – since arriving in the Caribbean. We’ve done little jaunts between the British Virgin Islands, but they were mostly motor sailing and when we came over to St. Maarten, we were motoring the whole way. So, nice to get the sails out and do some proper sailing for a change – and it started off down wind, as we turned north it became a broad reach and then as we rounded Anguilla, we were tight on the wind – so we got it all! Our speed wasn’t great – but I suspect some of that is due to heavy growth on Toodle-oo!’s hull.

We’re here in Anguilla to decompress! As a consequence, we’ve been off the boat just twice – to check into Customs and immigration and then last night we headed over to Elvis’ Bar for “Happy Hour” Not sure what’s happy about it – the drinks were $10 each! – but the company was good. The rest of the time we’ve been reading, playing our instruments (trying to learn Southern Cross) and swimming.

Island Paradise

Elvis’ Beach Bar

It’s amazing what 3 weeks in the Lagoon did to the bottom of Toodle-oo! – we went from a nice clean hull to one with ¼” of slimy growth and barnacles! We spent a good hour snorkeling around scraping the bottom and probably have twice as much more to go to get her cleaned up. It’s no wonder we were sailing slowly!

Interesting power boat right behind Toodle-oo! – Sleek looking thing that they’ve been cleaning up… Turns out they were preparing for a photo shoot – quite entertaining!

Samsung Advertising?

Interesting transportation to and fro the boat!

Well must dash – the beach awaits!