Update from S/Y Red Admiral

As regular readers know, my folks have been cruising this past winter in the Caribbean Islands aboard their 46' Morris sloop. I just received an update via satellite email and am posting it below. It was 10 degrees this AM in the Northeast U.S. Though I spent many years living and sailing in the islands through the mid to late 1990's...I sure could use a dose of it now!

Following from S/Y Red Admiral - 3/4/07 (Homeward Bound)

Hello to All from Anguilla:
Yesterday Mike and I left St. Martin where we first arrived in November and began the first leg of our homeward trip by sailing to Anguilla. We had been in St. Martin resupplying etc. for the better part of a week and had even been able to enjoy a bit of the Heineken Regatta. There are three major regattas in the Caribbean during the season: Heineken in St. Martin, the Rolex in the Virgin Islands and Antigua Race week. We will be in the Virgins for the Rolex and so
will be able to enjoy that too. It was fun to be at anchor surrounded by 300 plus racing boats all with flags flying in the breeze - very festive!

Since I last wrote, as we were leaving Dominica and Guadalupe, we have also visited both St. Kitts and Nevis as well as Antigua again.

We have had some adventures. We dragged twice while we were off the boat and when rescued by some very nice people were on the way to Panama. Needless to say we now not only back our anchor in, but also swim over it with a mask to make sure that all is well.

We have met some nice people. The English couple who rescued our boat the first time have become sailing buddies and have introduced us to other friends of theirs. We all spent 5 days waiting for a weather window in a lovely cove on St. Kitts where the sheep and cows grazed all over the hillside and the snorkeling was good. The fourth boat in the cove turned out to be an 80 year old Hungarian/American and his 72 year old wife who have made this trip from their home in Falmouth, Mass. for the last four years - amazing!!

We have had some fun. We snorkeled for a lost anchor that had fallen off one of the boats as they were anchoring in the cove on St. Kitts. The prize was 10 EC and I won! In addition to anchors we saw turtles and rays and many small reef fish. We all hiked to the beach down the road and had lunch at a fun beach bar. We cocktailed back and forth and had lunch on our boat. We toured St. Kitts and Nevis and had wonderful lunches at former plantations. Such is the
cruising life!

We will be in Anguilla with our buddies for the next three days or so and then will leave for St. Croix and the rest of the Virgins. Sandy will be joining us for the last week in March (his 60th
birthday present) and then we will begin to provision the boat for the trip home. We have 3 other men coming down to help us with the trip back. We are allowing two weeks for the return trip so hope to be picking up our mooring in Maryland by the end of April.