While hanging out in the cockpit one night, Mark and I were reminiscing about 2017 coming to a close. We thought it would be fun to do a blog post on some of our favorite things this year. We hope you enjoy it too.
Providenciales – Turks and Caicos Islands
We go slow. So far this year we have sailed or motorsailed almost 2050 miles. When you consider it is at an average of 5.5 knots (6.33 mph) that is 373 hours of sailing/motorsailing. In an average car going down the highway at an average speed of 70 mph we would have arrived in around 30 hours (not counting bathroom breaks). The rest of our time was spent enjoying new places, doing repairs and chores on Cream Puff, and taking pictures of our adventures.
Here is our list of favorite places. Along with some of our favorite pictures. None of which are in particular order.
Favorite anchorage or mooring:
Majo Bay in St John, USVI. Mooring balls. Good protection. Good snorkeling.
Cambridge Cay, Exuma Land and Sea Park. Good protection. Picturesque. Good snorkeling.
Bahía de Almodóvar, Culebra, Puerto Rico. Calm. Picturesque. Can be noisy during summer weekends but we had a nice quiet few days here.
Our first glimpse of Puerto Rico at sunrise
Favorite Stops:
Iles des Saints
Exuma Land and Sea Park (all stops in the park were awesome)
St John-USVI
Tobago Cays
Sandy Island off Carriacou, Grenada
Puerto Rico
Grenada
Providenciales – Turks and Caicos Islands
PiZZA Pi – The Pizza Boat. Off Christmas Island. St Thomas, USVI
Best bread
Puerto Rico
Iles des Saints
Martinique
We miss Costco
Best stops for groceries:
Florida (of course)
Puerto Rico
Grenada
Turks and Caicos (mostly because we had just left the Bahamas and they had an actual IGA grocery store that was stocked with stuff we needed. YEA!)
Martinique-Huge stores
HELLO!
Our favorite snorkeling spots:
Exuma Land and Sea Park
US Virgin Isalnds-St Johns
Tobago Cays, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Sandy Island off Carriacou, Grenada
Turtle in St John
Parting the fish on Sandy Island
Favorite touristy places:
Puerto Rico
Grenada
Key West, Florida
Best quiet time:
Bahamas-pretty much anywhere there is a beach and no one around
Manatee River, Tampa Bay, Florida
Warderick Wells, Exuma Land and Sea Park
Rincon, Puerto Rico
Not much quiet time but a lot of fun activity to watch:
Staniel Cay/Big Majors Spot
Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St Thomas, USVI
Grenada
Tobago Cay
Rincon, Puerto Rico
Sunset in the Tobago Cays
Our favorite social stops:
George Town, Grand Exuma, Bahamas: hundreds of boats, hundreds of cruisers having fun
Exuma Land and Sea Park (winter months): You can have as much social or as much quite as you want in the park. Just pull up the hook, as they say.
Turks and Caicos, Green Turtle Marina: I call this the turnstyle of the Caribbean. So many people moving through this area to go north or south. We met a lot of people and learned so much from them.
Puerto Rico.: All of the marinas we visited had quite a lot of hustle and bustle with cruisers coming and going. This is a popular place to provision, have guests visit and take a break for island hopping.
Staniel Cay/Big Majors Cay: There are so many people it is hard not to meet someone new or catch up with old friends.
Grenada: The summer was full of cruisers looking to have fun. The fall is full of cruisers returning to get ready for a new season. Winter is a popular stop for people moving south or just hanging out.
Martinique-So far it has been pretty active with boaters.
Favorite Marinas (so far):
Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico.
Renassance Vinoy Marina, St Petersburg, Florida
Port Louis Marina. St Georges, Grenada
Just another fun day living the dream
Best Places for local flavor:
Puerto Rico
Grenada
Iles des Saints
Key West, Florida
Carnival in Grenada
Finally!!!!!!!
Rain on the mountain top. El Unique Rain forest, Puerto Rico
St Kitts
Mona Monkey at Etang Lake, Grenada
Sendall Tunnel in Grenada. Rather than walk over the mountain people share the tunnel with the cars and trucks
Hello. Do you have any bananas?
Pope’s place. Grenada
Port Louis Marina
Wonderful World -Beautiful People
This is what it is all about….ahhhhh……
As I write this it occurs to me, a lot of the places are repeated over and over in our list. I guess they really are our favorite places overall. I also realize just how many places we visited and how many people we have met. And, not all of our stops are represented in the list. We recorded our adventures with thousands of pictures. It was hard to pick just a few of our favorite pictures. It has been a great year. 2017 is not over yet but we are wondering what 2018 will be like for us.
Happy New Year!!!!!!
