Luckily we got to Grenada in time for Carnival, Spice Mas 2009- yohoo! Every island has Carnival at different times throughout the year and we were super excited to go to this one. Grenada’s Carnival is unique and we have heard tons of fabulous tales about past years from other cruisers. It is one of the few islands in the Caribbean that still use paint on J’Ouvert morning, the only island with a light parade, and it is the most friendly and fun Carnival because it encourages everyone to participate and be part of the debauchery. Just about everyone on the [View Full Entry]

---

---

What a relief… to be south of the hurricane belt and back in the Grenadines, some of the most beautiful islands in the world. We love the Grenadines and have spent a lot of time here. But surprisingly, have not seen it all. So once we rested up for a couple of days and recovered from our sail down it was time to kick back, relax, and explore. We spent a couple of weeks touring the Grenadines. Of course we had to stop at some of our favorite anchorages, including Bequia and Union Island and the Tobago Cays and Mopion and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Even though we had to book it south for hurricane season, we couldn’t resist stopping at Iles de Saintes on our way back down. We skipped the Saintes on our travels up the Caribbean chain this year, and just couldn’t pass by these islands without stopping again. Besides, we had to break up all that travel somehow. And who could resist this group of small islands just off of Guadeloupe. The Saintes are one of our favorite anchorages in the Caribbean. We absolutely love the quaint French fishing village on Terre-de-Haut, it is so charming! The people are friendly, the food [View Full Entry]

---

---

It certainly was time to book it on south. We couldn’t believe that it is already June- where did the time go?!?! We ended up spending close to another month in the Virgin Islands, traveling back and forth. We went to St. John for a couple of days, then back to St. Thomas, then back to St. John, then over to Norman, and finally back to Virgin Gorda. We spent most of our time just riding out the nasty weather that moved into the area. Unfortunately we had weeks of squalls and wind and pouring down rain. We spent most of [View Full Entry]

---

---

We continued our trek through the British Virgin Islands by sailing over to Jost Van Dyke. This was one of the islands we stopped at last year, yet our time here was brief. Too brief, like only a few hours on shore to eat lunch and check out of customs and immigration. Which is certainly not enough time to explore any island, in my opinion. So we were excited to return and spend more time there. Besides, our good friend Brian and Stephanie told us about all the great anchorages and some really cool things to do on the island. In [View Full Entry]

---

---

We spent the next week touring the different anchorages in Virgin Gorda, which is one of the largest islands of the BVI chain. The first anchorage we stopped at was Leverick Bay, one of the newest Marina complexes built in the area. It has a great pool complete with a pool bar and restaurant, a very reputable dive company which we planned on utilizing, and of course a Pusser’s store (which are so prevalent in the BVIs that it is almost ridiculous). So we took a mooring ball and decided to stay for a couple of days. Unfortunately it was really [View Full Entry]

---

---

The Baths are one of the coolest places to visit in Virgin Gorda, where giant granite boulders line the beach creating tidal pools, tunnels, arches, and grottoes. You can spend hours hiking around the Baths, and in fact we did. We decided to sail over to the southern end of Virgin Gorda to spend the day there- it was so much fun! The natural beauty created by this unique geologic formation is astounding, all set on a white beach with the sparkling blue of the Caribbean Ocean as the background. Wow! The giant boulders that make up the Baths are piled [View Full Entry]

---

---

The next stop for the Rum Runner was Norman Island, a very famous anchorage in the British Virgin Islands. Famous for the crazy parties aboard the floating pirate ship and bar- the Willie T, famous for the amazing snorkeling at nearby Pelican Island and the Indians (a rock formation just north of the Bight), and most famous for pirate lore and hidden treasures that were found in the caves on the west end of the island. As legend has it, the crew of the Spanish Galleon ship Nuestra Senora de Guadeloupe declared mutiny in the early 1700s. After eliminating the captain, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our plan for this cruising season was to sail up the Caribbean chain, stopping along the way to visit new islands and re-visit some of our favorites from last year. Our goal was to reach the Virgin Islands by April and spend a month there before turning back and heading south again (our insurance for the boat dictates that we must be out of the hurricane belt by the first of July). So once we left St. Martin we sailed west to St. Thomas, which turned out to be is the farthest point of travel for the Rum Runner this year [View Full Entry]

---

---

We left Barbuda at first light and had a beautiful trip to St. Martin. The wind and seas were calm and the fishing was amazing!!! We caught 3 yellowfin tuna along the way- which is awesome! It definitely was the best fishing day all year. Unfortunately we haven’t caught much fish in the Caribbean. Most of the time it is too windy and thus we are too busy sailing to throw out a line. But even when we have been trolling we have hardly caught anything, not even a nibble. So to land 3 tuna in one day was a record [View Full Entry]

---

---