It's The Journey

We just dropped anchor in Simpson Bay lagoon, St Martin, after arriving outside last night near midnight. The bridge opens twice a day and we lined up this morning with some ten boats, not nearly as many as two years ago. The five-story megayachts are also fewer in number. We left Virgin Gorda in the BVI's around eight yesterday =morning, our third attempt at the infamous Anagada Passage, AKA the "Oh My God A". The current and constant trade winds make it difficult for boats heading east. Even though we had no more than ten knots of wind, there were still confused seas and Lee spent most of the passage out of commission with sea sickness. Thank goodness we had Bruce and Nancy aboard, experienced catamaran sailors, since I'm worthless also in those conditions, due to sea phobia, not sea sickness. We had tried to leave twice while Marcelo's parents were aboard. His mom really wanted to make the passage; I'd rather have a root canal. Each time the weather window closed on us and we gave up. Lee felt bad (in more ways than one) that I was spending my birthday crashing along. I considered it a present just to have it behind us at the end of the day. I was very surprised when Bruce and Nancy pulled out a rum cake when we anchored and Lee produced presents. It'll go down as a memorable birthday.
I am cheating a bit here because I am posting Sherry's boat trip news but considering I was there I figure it's good. I decided to throw in some facts about what the passage is. Hope it isn't too boring. The Anegada Passage is
channel in the West Indies, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea; it is 40 miles (65 km) wide and separates the British Virgin Islands (west) from the Leeward Islands (southeast). It has the greatest depth (more than 7,550 feet [2,300 m]) of any channel in the eastern Caribbean. The passage is one of the two through which subsurface water enters the Caribbean (the other being the Windward Passage).