Puerto Rico!

We have arrived on the East coast of Puerto Rico and are looking forward to picking up our order at West Marine in Fajardo, as well as other supplies we've been doing without. It's amazing to realize how UNimportant some things are and how much we take simple things for granted.  Tomorrow we rent a car and head to town...woohoo! Hopefully we can pick up a "card reader" so we can download some more photos, my iphone can only do so much!  Life on the boat has been great. We met some fellow cruisers yesterday, Bob and Debby Bradford, and hope to meet up with them again next year. They were kind enough to invite us aboard their sailing vessel for coffee and delicious pastries. We're now preparing for our first onboard guests, Bill and Nina Washawanny. They'll be joining us for 5 days here in Puerto Rico for some fun in the sun!

...and our other colors...the Conch Republic flag under the BVI flag

Bob is ready to hoist our colors...

Village Cay in Road Town, Tortola

My Lagoon 440 at sunrise. Looking forward to a wonderful day of sailing.

We've Arrived!

We have arrived on our new home. Tortola, although rainsoaked, is rich with floral landscape - as you would expect on a tropical island. We are in Village Cay Marina in Road Town, since we arrived around dark, we chose to unload just a couple of things then check out the local fare. Dinner at the marina restaurant was ok but the rum and cokes were great! Tomorrow we provision for groceries and other necessities and hopefully meet up with friends Anne and Steve of sailing vessel ("SV") Fine Line who are "in the neighborhood."  Our travel to here was magnificent and without incident. I'm sure a sign of things to come!

Today we are packing, and unpacking, and packing again to try to fit the "necessary "  items in 2 bags and a carry on each. It's amazing how many "necessary" items we decide we can live without. When we pick up Sunluver in Tortola, we will have to completely re-outfit her with dishes, linens, towels, pots/pans, kitchen utencils, etc. in addition to our personal items, scuba gear, clothes, shampoo, sunscreen, bugspray, books, charts, etc, etc, etc.  We can purchase items there but we'll bring as much as we can.  We couldn't be more excited!

And so it begins.... tying up loose ends on land so we can take to the sea. Our 44' Lagoon catamaran sailing vessel awaits our arrival on June 4, 2009. Bob has been feverishly working to chart our course and weaving in the time slots with family and friends who will join us on our first 2 month voyage from Tortola to Key West. The first guests we hope to see on Sunluver are Anne and Steve from Fine Line who have been cruising for over 2 years now. Sounds like a fountain of knowlege to me!!!!