Tortola

The last two days are pretty much a blur for me. I know we've made it to Tortola, because I can see Tropical Storm tied up at a dock in Road Town Harbor.

As for what's happened in between, here's what I remember:

We started Tuesday -- our seventh day at sea -- with a nice, favorable wind and were making pretty good progress toward our destination. We were all feeling pretty well worn out and beat up, but making the most of our circumstances. Just about the time I thought to get my camera and grab a few shots, the wind really started picking up and we had to work the boat pretty hard. The next thing I remember, we were in powerful storms, high winds, driving rain and rapidly descending darkness.

As we approached the islands, coral reefs, rocks, etc., Roy used every piece of GPS and computer mapping software we had to plot our course. David Jones drove the boat while Pete and I kept very diligent lookouts to port and starboard for lights, markers, etc. The rain was coming down in sheets, the lightning was exploding all around us and the winds were running 25-30 knots. We were constantly and completely drenched by a combination of rain and seas crashing over the bow.

By midnight we'd navigated between two out-islands and were approaching Tortola. The weather let up a bit, and by about two-thirty we were motoring into Road Town Harbor. We found an open patch of water, set our anchor, flew our quarantine flag and sat in silence for a while before finally getting a little sleep.

Yesterday morning we pulled up to the customs dock, endured a seemingly endless paperwork process then motored around to a nearby marina. We took showers, ate some food at the pub next door and gave ourselves the rest of the day to recover. I already don't remember any of it.

This morning we're continuing the recovery process, cleaning the boat, sorting our gear and starting to revive a bit. I'll try to post something more coherent soon!

Bottom line: We've made it to Tortola!