The Journey begins...

From the beginning of my life on a boat I kept a journal, which over time turned into a scrapbook including photographs and sketches. It was my dear friend Angie Carl who was looking at my scrapbook one day and said "you should publish this it's brilliant." As Angie had worked previously as an editor, and has also successfully published a book I had to take her comment seriously.
I decided to use our eighteen month journey south from Tortola to Aruba as material for my book and my blog.
June 3rd 2008.
The Journey Begins: Tortola to St.Maarten.
My son Edi, my cat Nicho-San, and I, arrived back on Beef Island, Tortola at 3pm, we collected our rental car and drove across to Road Town to collect Bob who was arriving by ferry from St.Thomas that afternoon.
Having packed or should I say stuffed our luggage into the little car, me being the absolute 'Mother of clutter,' I had once again arrived back in the islands with more luggage than a small army. We made the short drive across to Hodges Marina where Daisy awaited our return. It took ages to store and stow all our (mainly my) belongings, much to Bob's chagrin.
I have failed miserably over the last two years to conquer my compulsion of having everything with me in the event of a crisis. Living on a boat requires one to have a minimalistic approach to life, a concept that I continue to struggle with.
We were all up early the following morning, I drove out to complete my provisioning, and return the rental car while Bob and Edi worked on the boat. We left the marina that afternoon and sailed across to Cooper Island for the night.
June 5th.
We enjoyed a great sail up to Bitter End, Virgin Gorda this morning, where we spent the rest of the day making final preparations for our departure.
The weather was typically fabulous for the Caribbean, and fortunately there was nothing to cause us concern in the forecast. We had clear skies, light to moderate winds, and calm seas, near perfect conditions for our sail across to St.Maarten that evening.