 Our Caribbean adventure started from the Sunsail Base,
located in Marigot, St. Martin.
A well provisioned boat, is a happy boat.
Martin and Joe organize the dock cart with all the essentials.
Mangos were incredible.
Our 51' Jeanneau was a blast to sail in 20-25 knot winds
Stories around the campfire.
Nights in the Caribbean are so much "blacker".
Cooling rains come and go throughout the night.
A beautiful small marine reserve park, Ile Tintamarre,
was a delightful stop along the way to the island of St. Bart's.
Ali and Martin "clearing in" at St. Bart's Customs.
We spent a few days at anchor in Gustavia, checking out a very different Caribbean lifestyle than I was expecting. Hurricane Irma's devastation was not that apparent here.
A "terrace" style open air eatery overlooking Gustavia harbor.
Language would have been a problem,
if not for the French speaking skills of Monsieur Ali Ben-Jacob.
Sarah's plate has a mini Mahi-Mahi burger on it.
The best time of day.
Winds, temps, sea state, colors all seem to be mixing together
to produce a most extraordinary sensory experience at days end.
The rocks on the horizon, just visible on the left horizon, are a marine reserve for hammerhead sharks. I had a large barracuda checking me out as I dove on our anchor.
Running my GPS through the night shows our bread crumb trail "swing"
while at anchor. All of our anchor sets were successful, but we always had an anchor drag alarm on through the night. We had strong winds and storms that hit us most nights.
After St. Bart's, it's off to St. Martin (Sint Maarten), the Dutch side, with our final destination of Simpson Bay. We took a quick detour into Philipsburg, to check out a collection of 12 meter Americas Cup boats. We saw three.
It was pedal to the metal all the way from Simpson Bay to Road Bay, Anguilla.
7-8 knots all the way. Mostly 8's.
Turning the SW end of Anguilla, heading for Road Bay, we encountered what appeared to be a race of some sort. All the boats looked the same (one design) and appeared to have 14 adult crew members. Found out later that day, these were "Anguillian V hull, open deck, class C, 2 ton keel boats". Evidently this is a club racing event that is a pretty big deal. Lots of bragging rights come with finishing first.
Early morning rainbow after last nights storm.
Road Bay, Anguilla.
The other end of the rainbow ends just off Sandy Island.
The buildings on S.I. get disappeared with each passing hurricane.
Martin talked his way past the security guard
so we could check out the renowned Four Seasons Resort.
If it wasn't for the very friendly staff, I would have felt extremely out of place.
Restrooms were air conditioned,
marble floors and walls with folded white hand towels next to wash basins.
Man was it hot at Shoal Bay Beach, Anguilla.
We made a B-line for the turquoise colored water.
Martin played with a sting-ray. Parrot fish and schools of small fish were everywhere.
This would be our last time swimming in Caribbean waters as tomorrow we leave for Marigot, and then the flight back to SLC.
The age of IPhone navigation has arrived.
Navionics did a great job of routing us everywhere.
Our boat also had area charts and a guide book that were very helpful.
Look close at the red heading line, just below the depth number of 27/9.
A cardinal marker is indicating "stay west".
Not too many of those to help boaters avoid the dangerous shoals of Bird Island/Utah Lake.
And just like that, we continued on our heading to Marigot harbor,
safely sailing west of the cardinal marker.
The airlines only lost one of our bags, but Jet Blue did a great job of chasing it down.
We had it on our doorstep two days later.
Thank you
to our awesome St. Martin crew
for all your contributions to a fun and educational Caribbean experience.
Ali and Young
Joe and Sarah
Martin and Melanie
Ever since we started the sailing school in 2007,
July has always been our slowest month!
That's why we decided to do an adventure sail in the Caribbean in July.
But the phone rang constantly, while we were out on the water.
2019 is on track to be our busiest year ever,
if we can keep up with the demand.
If you are a skilled sailor that can teach sailing lessons on a part time basis,
please e-mail us your sailing resume and days/hours of availability.
You will be teaching aboard either a Cape Dory 25, Catalina 25 swing keel or a Catalina 27.
Time slots are weekdays, mornings 9-12, evenings 5-8, with Saturdays full days.
Compensation dependent upon skills.
All lessons are on Utah Lake, Provo Marina.
To operate commercially,
you will need to meet all state requirements and have good people skills.
A person qualified as a trip leader on lakes and reservoirs shall meet the following qualifications:
o Be at least 18 years of age.
o Complete a minimum of at least 80 hours of actual vessel operation experience, including 40 hours operating the same or similar vessel on the same lake or reservoir upon which the person shall carry passengers for hire.
o Possess a current advanced first aid certification; and
o Possess a current CPR certification.
The phone continues to ring...even as this newsletter gets published.
And speaking of Adventure Cruises...
we still have a stateroom available for
Sailing the Canadian Gulf Islands.
Another beautiful little corner of the world to be experienced.
September 17-26, 2019
Celestial Navigation Class Coming.
Bonneville's Celestial Navigation Class will be presented live and broadcast via webinar.
A great skill to add to your resume.
September 6, 13, 20, 27, 2019
info@bonnevillesailing.com
801-636-5204
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