LAHOWIND » Just you, me, + the dog.

A quick trip to Red Hook.

Red Hook…a hopping little town on the east end of the island in St. Thomas. And turns out, Red Hook is fantastic for completing boat chores!

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^^Did you even notice little ole LAHO? She looks like a tinker toy next to that big boy catamaran, who btw anchored right next to us to pick up their charter for the week, not the other way around.^^

In one quick afternoon, we easily sailed around the corner of St. Thomas from Christmas Cove and into Red Hook. It literally took all of 30 minutes, if that, by the time we dropped anchor.

Red Hook was superb for filling our water tanks plus some, topping off our gas tanks, provisioning some fresh goodies at Moe’s — the very nice new (and slightly overpriced) grocery store in town, and grabbing some totally unnecessary odds and ends at the local fishing store.

Red Hook is also fantastic for ferry traffic, if you’re into that sort of thing. ;))

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^^I swear there was a trifecta of ferries motoring right by our boat here in this photo, but I couldn’t fit all three in my frame.^^

With ferries blasting up and down the channel every 5 seconds, it felt a bit like Christmas Cove to us, but with these ferries running even more frequently, with longer operating hours, and super close to the anchorage. In other words, it wins for most uncomfortable night at anchor to date in the USVI. :((

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^^Boat chore number uno — filling jerry cans of water! You might be surprised to know that this task isn’t as bad as it seems. We’ve never run out of water (or even been close to running out) or have had any issues finding water to fill our cans. We usually fill our three cans (times 3ish trips when we are filling them) every week or so. And that’s with our 100-gallon water tank typically only ever dropping to about half or a third full. Not bad for not having to run a water maker/generator or use diesel on the regular!^^

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^^Oliver does this thing now where he basically photo bombs me as soon as I bust out the camera and start shooting. He must think there is something fun in the water he is surely missing.^^

We actually weren’t planning on staying the night in Red Hook, but after taking our time completing our boat chores, only to then grab a beer followed by some General Tso’s at a local Chinese restaurant (our 2nd chinese food experience since leaving Naples), it made sense to stay put anchored for the night. That probably wasn’t our smartest move since the ferries in Red Hook run until midnight with plenty of other boat traffic continuing through the wee hours of the night.

It was a very rolly polly night to say the least! We booked it out of there and over to St. John first thing the next morning. We were super stoked to arrive in one of the most peaceful and secluded anchorages yet in the USVI — Fish Bay!

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^^This was technically from our trip to cost-u-less not Moe’s in Red Hook, but I didn’t snap a photo in Red Hook and I thought some might like to see what hauling a huge load of groceries/provisions back to the boat looks like. PS – we were down to our last roll of paper towels in case you are wondering why we need so many. Lol.^^

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing, as we cruise the Caribbean.

LisaJanuary 2, 2015 - 1:26 am

I am so glad to see there are tons of healthy food choices in the boat: cheez its, bud lite, and sara lee in particular.

Mitch BrownJanuary 3, 2015 - 1:28 am

Paper towels are one of the most important items on my boat. gota have em

brianJanuary 3, 2015 - 11:17 pm

yum gardettos!

A LAHO Christmas!

This Christmas I got a little lazy. Well, technically not in all respects, just in the camera department.

I had no problem whipping up a batch of homemade butter tarts (Jer’s favorite!), baking up some sausage balls for Christmas morning, and then preparing a dee-lish strip-steak+potatoes-au-gratin+garlic-bread+caesar-salad meal for Christmas dinner.

But photos? Well there were none this year. Oopsie!

I departed from my more traditional Martha Stewart meets Pinterest style ways and kept it super simple and relaxed this Christmas. Let’s just say we ate Christmas dinner in our pajamas. Is that sad or rad? ;)) Don’t worry, we also skyped with all our family, didn’t have to bother wrapping a single present, stalked everyone’s Christmas-y photos on Facebook and, honestly, just enjoyed a super relaxing day. It was the perfect!

We did actually clean ourselves up however to adorn some real clothing the night before on Christmas Eve as we headed over to spend the evening with our cruising pals Where the Coconuts Grow (s/v Mary Christine) and It’s Our Necessity (s/v Necesse). And hence, I was smart enough to rig our little point-and-shoot camera for a family photo opp.

If you haven’t already seen it over on Facebook, here’s our obligatory Christmas photo…

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And one sneaky sunset shot that somehow managed to find it’s way on my camera Christmas night…

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I mean we were in Christmas Cove, St. Thomas for crying out loud. I think one landscape-y photo is necessary, don’t you?

Hope you had an equally perfect and extra merry Christmas!

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing, as we cruise the Caribbean.

Lee and Kit GravesJanuary 8, 2015 - 3:51 pm

Hi, we love your site. We are about to embark on a 10 year cruising journey in the Caribbean and the East Coast of the US with our two dogs and a cat. We are currently gathering the myriad pet documentations just to enter the different islands. We’d love to have a dialog with you regarding any difficulties you have encountered entering countries with your dog that we should be aware of before we set sail. We are purchasing a Tayana 55 in St. Maarten in April and will fly the dogs and cat with us. Please let me know if we can have contact. Keep the pictures coming…we are drooling, Kit

A Year to Remember.

I’m fairly confident 2014 will go down in our personal record book as one totally-insane-amazing-and-sometimes-difficult-crazy-adventure of a year.

It has been a year to remember for sure.

I mean, we did it. After several years of planning and prepping, we set sail in early 2014 on our own little adventure of a lifetime. And we’ve managed to pack a lifetime’s worth of amazing experiences and memories into just the past year alone.

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^^our little homemade LAHO driftwood sign that we placed on the top of Boo Boo Hill in the Bahamas!^^

If you haven’t already noticed, I’m sorta a photo freak who will literally sit down with my phone for hours and hours just browsing through every photo on my phone’s camera roll. Or I’ll start at the very bottom of our instagram profile and flip back through all of our insta-photos, reminiscing over each and ever one.

And being able to look back and enjoy these memories we’ve made is truly the reason I blog. I do it for Jer and I, and heck, for anyone else who wants to follow along with us. I want to remember this adventure of ours, the highs, the lows, and everything in between, for years to come.

That being said, I thought, why not make a little celebratory year-end review of some of our most popular posts (according to google analytics), which also happen to be some of my very favorites too! They span the spectrum over the past year, starting way back in early 2014 when we set sail as first time cruisers out of Naples, Florida.

It’s really been a fantastic year. Thanks for being part of it right along with us! xoxo

#1. “Our Cozy Sailboat Home” – I get it. I, too, would definitely want to see how the heck we live on a tiny sailboat…so I did a little interior tour back in May of our floating home. :)))

#2. “Great Harbour Cay, Bahamas…” – Still one of our favorite beaches in all of the Bahamas. We loved spending a long week at the top of the Berry Island chain.

#3. “This Little Piggy” – Oh hello, swimming with pigs on a secluded beach? Yes, please! One of my favorite experiences to date.

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#4. “The Amazing People You Meet While Cruising!” – Yup, still pretty much one of our best days ever! We seriously do meet the nicest, most giving folks around.

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#5.  “Postcards from Bimini” – This was our first post from the BAHAMAS!!! After making our very first and (thankfully) rather uneventful gulf stream crossing.

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#6. “The Blue Hole at Hoffman’s Cay” – Again, the Berries made the list. We LOVED our time in the Bahamas and this spot was especially gorgeous!

#7. “Making Miles” Turks + Caicos to the DR” – I think we became legit sailors on this trip and again on our crossing of the Mona Passage in July. 

#8. “Birthday Recap + Engagement” – This is obviously one of my all-time favs. ;)))

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#9. “Our First Cruising Video!” – Video time is my favorite too so I’m glad to see this one made the cut.

#10. “Fish Tales!” – Oh look, another vid made the cut! Still wondering if and when we might ever catch a tuna. Lol!

And those were the Top 10 most popular posts of twenty-fourteen!

I can’t wait to see what 2015 has in store. Bring it on!!!

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing, as we cruise the Caribbean.

Skelton CrewDecember 31, 2014 - 3:49 pm

I LOVE this little look back, so fun!! You two have certainly come a long way in the last year…but you forgot to mention the great people you meet through your blog too (haha)! I’m so looking forward to meeting up with you guys at some point in some beautiful location 🙂 Happy New Year! ~ Jackie

Mark and Cindy - s/v Cream PuffDecember 31, 2014 - 9:59 pm

Happy New Year!

You guys had an incredible 2014.

We are almost ready yo take off. We have a few more things on the “to do” list for Cream Puff. Our plan is to untie the dock lines in March.

Look for us out there somewhere 🙂

Mark and Cindy
s/v Cream Puff

Boat Life Lately. According to my iPhone.

We have been seriously loving life here in the Virgin Islands!!! So much so that all I’ve really been taking the time to do is update Instagram with fun photos every now and then. If you aren’t following us, you definitely should be! ;)) 

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Instagram >>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing, as we cruise the Caribbean.

The Birthday Boy.

Guess who turns THIRTY-TWO today?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

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^^This guy!!!^^

I started to make a list of all the reasons why Jereme knocks my socks off, but the list got a little out of hand so I whittled it down to my top 5 favorites (in no particular order).

Jereme…

…makes me laugh all day, every day.

…puts up with my craziness (read bitchiness) on the regular.

…knows how to use the big camera and semi-willingly uses it when I ask.

…can fix literally anything.

…loves me + oliver like no other.

Okay fine, and he’s super handsome! :)))

Happy 32nd Jer! I wouldn’t want to sail off into the sunset and hunt for sea-glass on the regular with anyone else. Love you! xoxo

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing, as we cruise the Caribbean.

Skelton CrewDecember 29, 2014 - 2:21 pm

Happy Birthday Jereme!!

Uncle PaulDecember 29, 2014 - 9:51 pm

Happy Birthday Jer.
32 years in the US is 32×0.86 = 27.5 yrs Canadian. Now you know why I look so young for a 70 year old female.
Uncle Paul

Mark and Cindy - s/v Cream PuffDecember 29, 2014 - 10:40 pm

Happy Birthday Jereme!

Mark and Cindy
s/v Cream Puff