Land Ho - the speed over ground is now 0!

Land Ho!!!

Today I actually have some news to tell, and a big change in the routine on Kinship. We have been swimming in the pool, been drinking rum drinks and we can now put things down on the counter without being afraid of it flying across the boat, sounds fantastic, doesn't it?

Ok, I will start a bit earlier. Yesterday (wow, was it only yesterday), around 14.20 Dennis spotted land off our port bow. But as soon as he saw it, it was gone behind a squall could. I was out in the cockpit and a few minutes later I spotted something further away, a bit more to the south. Looked like two peaks, and I had Tim up to see them before they disappeared behind another squall line. After looking at the chart I figured it must have been Nevis and St. Kitts that I saw, but without a good handbearing compass it was hard to really tell.

As we got closer, I could now see St. Martin clear (same as Dennis first saw), and Saba sticking up like a pyramide next to it. I also saw St. Barths and the islands Nevis, St. Kitts and Statia became easier to identify. To me it was almost overwhelming, having spent some time on those islands when I worked for Braodreach and now coming in from the ocean and seeing them at a distance. I really wished Andy could have been there to share the moment with me.

We decided to sail between St. Martin and Anguilla, about a 2-3 mile wide channel and maybe 10 miles long. St. Martin was easy to spot, but since Anguilla is flat as a pancake we couldn't see until we were right there. As the sun was setting, we closed up on the islands and I got to show the boys the pad, the bay where I learned who to waterski and wakeboard, Creol Rock where me, Andy and Anders went diving, and Grand Case where we ate many ribs during the Broadreach summer. Many good memories came to life.

The following night wasn't as pleasant as the landfall. We hoped on a beautiful night with stars and moon but got an overcast sky with rain most of the night, gray and nasty. We arrived to the Virgin Islands early this morning and entered Virgin Gorda around 8 am to clear in to custom and immigration. Dennis jumped ashore and tied us up and it wasn't until we all were ashore that we realized we haven't been off the boat in over 20 days, strange. The visit to the officials office got done quickly and the waitress at the bar in Virgin Gorda was a bit surprised with our order, beer and chicken roti at 9 am. :)

Sailing in to Nanny Cay, Tortola was fun. I spotted some C1500 boats in the marina and the manager Miles came and greeted us at the dock. As the lines were tied up, me and Tim popped a bottle of bubble (this time cold) to celebrate a successful Atlantic circuit. Amazing that it all started down here in the beginning of May, and me and Tim have taken the boat all around and back again! We shared the bubble with Andrew and Dennis, of course!

Today has been a fun day. The boys cleaned the outside of the boat while I dove in to the fridge and the freezer and cleaned. We quit a bit early though and when Dennis said the magic word "pool" and "Rum drinks" we all kind of lost interest in the boat cleaning and changed in to swim suits and headed to the bar. I ran into a lot of people I know down here and it kind of felt like coming home. I helped tying up the lines when Cutter Loose came in (one of the C1500 boats this year) and I think they were a bit surprised to see me here. The boys have now been drinking a few more rum drinks in the cockpit together with Tim's wife Teresa who arrived today. I am fading quickly and can't wait to jump into bed. Wonder though if I will wake up in the middle of the night?

Tomorrow I will attack the internet world and see what is going on out there, kind of excited about it but it has been nice to be a bit out of touch for three weeks.. :)

Thanks to you all for reading our blog and followed our progress across the Atlantic!

Photos will be posted when I get back to the usa, so keep check for them! Some are really fun, haha!
Good night from Kinship