So for those of you who don't know...Ryan and I are taking time off - let's call it a year.  We're starting our journey in the Caribbean on an 80 foot sail boat - sailing around and diving.  We go back to the Bay area on May 27th and on June 3rd we will leave for phase two of our adventures - Phuket, Thailand.

We arrived red-eye and not thinking quite straight into St. Thomas after completely uneventful flights.  The flight into St Thomas showed us the beautiful turquoise blue of the caribbean and landed us on a runway that extends into the sea - the pilot actually announces that you will not see land until you touch down - presumably so the tourists won't panic and think they're about to crash land.

Warren and Mickey picked us up at the airport and we went off to the boat to deposit our stuff and get the grand tour. We have a very cozy cabin with a big squooshy comfy bed and I think that we shall sleep quite soundly.  The blunt end of the boat is occupied by living quarters - three cabins and a bathroom, the galley, the pilot room and dining/living area.  Outside on deck there is a grill which I'm hoping will the source of most our meals.  The middle part of the boat is occupied by the engine room which houses the engine, the water maker and air conditioner.  Ryan thinks that the engine is "beautiful."  You'll have to take it from him!  Then the pointy end is occupied by all things diving - the very claustrophobic recompression chamber which houses all the dive gear - it makes a great storage locker.  There's also a compressor and about 10 80cf tanks.

Tonight we spend the night in a fancy pants condo belonging to some friends of theirs. I am recharging my camera battery as I type so that I might send some pix along to show you the spectacularly crappy the view is from here.  So, if you want to drop us a line to say "hello" we should have internet access until tomorrow morning.  After that it will be some time before you hear from us again - probably won't be back in an actual port until May 17th.

Tomorrow we will depart for Saba.  It is to be an 18 hour crossing, probably the longest we will do.  We will leave at 2:00 p.m. and go through the night.  Saba has some great diving so the plan is to stay there for a couple days to enjoy said diving.  In the next couple weeks we will also be visiting Dominica and St. Lucia.

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