Heading north towards the Leeward Isles of the Caribbean, took them to Iles des Saintes, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Monserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin and the British Virgin Islands. The American Coast Guard was on the VHF threatening anyone who came into their waters in the American Virgin Islands without a B1 or a B2 was going to be imprisoned and this made them steer clear and felt very unwelcome. Traveling to lee, meant that there was a lot of tacking upwind to reach these islands. The first was the French influenced island Iles des Saintes.

  Surrounded by elite superyachts, it soon became apparent that this was quite an exclusive destination. Classical neat shops lined the small streets and everyone was off for a siesta. A cruise ship arrived and the visitors were dumbfounded when they were met with closed shops. Everyone was asleep and weren’t interrupting their siesta just for a cruise ship. Obviously, people had to fit into their schedule. After hiking the empty streets and tracks, (other than the cruise ship inhabitants), the crew of Qi returned to rub shoulders with the rich and famous in the anchorage. Fame was short-lived though and they didn’t quite fit the bill so, they moved north to the dive spots of Guadeloupe.

Each of the islands were unique along the way with the direction of traffic changing depending on whether the British or Europeans’ influence was last there before independence. Thomas and Gaylyn became accustom to looking both ways continuously before and as crossing them.

The history of the Caribbean is both intriguing and shameful. Each island has its tumultuous pages in the history of slavery and the founding of Christianity as more missionaries influenced the people. As friendly as the inhabitants were, there was a certain distance maintained between visitors and islanders. This limited the meaningful interactions with the cultures.

Impressive moments during the time spent in the Leeward Isles was looking over at the island of Monserrat. Unfortunately, the anchorages there were deemed unsafe due a resent eruption. The island’s volcanic appearance was obvious. Dodging cruise ships became an interesting pass time when on watch. Diving on shipwrecks and beautiful reefs  in the Virgin Islands, hiking coastlines and visiting small island towns kept Gaylyn and Thomas busy and intrigued.

Watch the slide show below for more pics