Pas de Deux spent the November 2013 – May 2014 cruising season in the Eastern Caribbean revisiting several favorite spots already described in depth in previous blog postings, which is why we decided not to repeat much of the same (even though we were having a lovely time!). The weather this past season was uncharacteristically rainy and cooler with generally strong winds from November through January. But at least we weren't experiencing the extreme weather and "Polar Vortex" affecting the US and Canada—just perhaps its residual effects reaching southward.
 
We departed the Chesapeake Bay with over 100 other boats as part of the Salty Dawg Rally in early November 2013. Faithful crew Bob and Wally joined us for the fourth consecutive southbound passage.  
 
After a rougher than typical passage we arrived at St. John, USVI and bade farewell to Bob and Wally soon afterwards from St. Thomas. Before they departed we did spend some quality time with John and Joan of S/V Alize with their passage crew. We soon transited to North Sound, Virgin Gorda in the BVI to take advantage of free moorings at the Bitter End Yacht Club as part of the Salty Dawg Rally and spent more time there with John and Joan.

By early December we relocated back to the USVI, revisiting at length several of our favorite anchorages on fabulous St John. We stayed in the USVI several weeks while Dave completed some contracting work that required reliable phone and internet service and carried through January. Our final stop in the USVI was a return to St Croix and one of our favorite anchorages at Buck Island Reef National Monument.

We had hoped to revisit Antigua and Barbuda but the weather did not cooperate in time before having to make our way to St Maarten in mid-February where we would enjoy a visit from Dave’s brother, Pete and friend Cleve and another thrilling race in the 34^th annual St. Maarten Heineken Regatta. Wally and Patti, Paul and John flew in just for the regatta and we had a big time, despite our poor handicap rating which ruined our chance for the grand results you may remember from 2012. But while we didn't repeat our placement in the 2012 St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, we enjoyed the spectacle of the event and the racing and had several bright spots. We were never worse than third on elapsed time - behind a Catana 65 with professional crew and an Outremer 55 - and we beat them both in Race 2, finishing first in our class on elapsed time. Another bright spot was our near-perfect start in Race 3. A YouTube video of this can be seen here: http://youtu.be/TIKaf92K74E

After the races, we made our first visit to the adjacent (and highly exclusive) island of Anguilla.

Wally and Patti remained with us for the passage back to the Virgins from Anguilla for a quick tour of the BVI before sending them off from St. Thomas. During Donna’s annual spring visit home, Dave hosted college pals Ross and Mike for a week of cruising the US and BVI.   

With her return we hosted Donna’s sister Betsy, visiting again our favorite sites on St John. Not long after Betsy’s departure we hosted old friends and past charter pals Bob and Diane with daughter Monica. We had a big time with them "circumnavigating" St. John.  

After enjoying these guests, and before departing for passage back to the Chesapeake, we revisited the Spanish Virgin Islands and, once again, these gems didn’t disappoint—we found the weather and time to enjoy some new anchorages we had not been able to see on prior visits including gorgeous Bahia de Flamenco on Culebra, the expansive Bahia de Almodovar, and the town of Isabel Segunda on the island of Vieques.  

For the passage home we were fortunate to have as extra crew our friend Jim who had helped us return from the Bahamas in 2013. He joined us in St. Thomas. We had an almost uneventful passage home, arriving in mid May. En route we did suffer a broken bobstay on the bow sprit, which disabled our light air reacher. More remarkably, we suffered no fishing luck and were completely skunked catching any food fish. This was a first of all our passages. We arrived back in the Chesapeake Bay in mid May and quickly made our way to Dennis Point Marina in southern Maryland where Pas de Deux was hauled out of the water in early July. Thus we began some significant refitting.
 
Donna’s Dad (age 90) is no longer able to live independently and, as of late May 2014, now resides with Donna and Dave. Dave’s Dad passed away in August and we will miss him. We are spending the 2014-2015 season at home and will have some additional time as a result to ready the boat for a future season of sailing. We’ll continue our travel postings at that time and hope you will again enjoy hearing about our adventures once they resume!