Last week was spent anchored off St Barths for the St Barths Bucket sailing race. We were there with guests from a sailing yacht that was competing so some of the crew got to race with them and the whole week was quite relaxed.

This week we are back in St Maarten catching up on a few maintenance jobs before we begin to head for Europe.

I’ve been enjoying the chance to ride some of the hills here on St Maarten on my mountain bike, though puncture proof tires are an essential as the trails on the island seems to consist solely of thorn bushes and cactus.

From Ft Lauderdale we headed across to the Bahamas, and then down through the Turks and Caicos Islands to the British Virgin Islands.

The BVI’s are a beautiful chain of islands that have some great cruising and very pretty anchorages. We spent a day or two tied up at the Bitter End Yacht Club before heading on to St Barths and St Maarten, where we are at present.

Next week we’ll be heading to St Barths again with guests to watch the St Barths Bucket sailing race.

Since New Years we have been cruising the Leeward Islands (St Maarten, St Barts, Anguilla) and will probably head to Antigua (see right) in the next day or two. We only have a few more days of this trip left now before we head north again to Ft Lauderdale and a little time in the shipyard.

I may have posted something similar to this video before but I think it’s worth another look.

Happy New Year. Vix and I are (working unfortunately!) in St Barts in the French West Indies for the start of 2007.

St Barts is a hugely popular destination for yachts especially at New Years when everyone who is anyone (or thinks they are) wants to be seen partying with the rich and famous on this tiny island.

I hope everyone has a wonderful New Years and we are planning to catch up with lots more friends and family in the year to come.

For the last few days we have been cruising the Exuma islands and stopped at Allen Cay to see the Iguana’s which come running out onto the beach looking for food whenever a boat stops by. There are hundreds on the island from baby ones a few inches long to the biggest that are nearly two feet.

Just a few hours south is Staniel Cay, we did some amazing snorkeling in a cave where the James Bond movie Thunderball was filmed. And to keep the wildlife theme of the trip we visited Big Major where there is a family of pigs living on the island, again as soon as you get to the beach they come running and even swimming out to get the tidbits people bring for them.

Well we are back in the Bahamas again. We have been seeing a lot of Atlantis this autumn, but by the end of the week we will be heading south to St Maarten & St Barths for Christmas and the New Year.

After our trip in the Bahamas we got to have a few hours of rest and relaxation, before heading off to Ft Lauderdale. Vix tried wakeboarding for the first time, got up straight away, and did pretty well as you can see.

The crew swam, dove and Vix jumped off the top of the boat (about 45 feet to the water!).

We also got to have a go on the jetski’s and enjoy the beautiful weather wich was finally co-operating.

After the Bahamas we are heading to Ft Lauderdale for a few weeks to get some work done and prepare for the winter season.

We will be heading to the Caribbean sometime before Christmas, to get ready for a charter over the new year.

The bad weather continues in the Bahamas at the moment.

It is blowing around 30 knots (35mph) today so we have decided to stay here in the Atlantis marina for another day or two until the frontal system moves through. It does mean we can spend a little more time at the amazing aquarium they have here at the resort.

After our crossing from Europe we are now settled in Nassau, Bahamas.

The crossing went very smoothly overall. The weather for the last couple of days was a little rough but nothing could dampen the excitement of arriving after two weeks at sea.

For the last week we have been tied up at the Atlantis marina (see above) getting the boat ready for a trip down through the Bahamas next week. The weather is still a little wet and stormy but should clear up soon.

After the Bahamas we are heading over to Ft Lauderdale, where it is always good to catch up with friends and enjoy some sushi.