2009-Ape-08 Noon Update

Up-Island Caribbean Crossing day #2
Noon Position 16'34.5N/63'23.3W

• 98nm last 24hrs
  
• 206nm from St. Lucia
  
• 97nm to St. Croix
  
• Winds E 10-15 Knots, Seas NE 1ft
  
• 1324nm to Charleston SC
  

Just like they sing about...Today is one of those rare absolutely perfect days for sailing with 10 knot winds right off the beam giving us an average of 4-5 knots. Being down below typing this the Piper is hardly making any movement at all and feels like we are at anchor. The winds last night died down resulting in a one hour motor till there was enough winds to fill the sails and have been sailing since.

No traffic last 24 hours and think we must be on a route less traveled. Just heard on our reactivated Sirius radio that Somalian Pirates had taken over the U.S. crewed container ship Alabama, and now the 20 American crew have taken the ship back over. These American crewed container ships are part of a fleet of ships that run American supplies from the U.S. to the troops in the middle east. We got to spend a night with the crew of one of these ships all named after a different U.S. States on our brief stop in Oman while we prepared to transit the Red Sea. In a very salty Oman port bar full of mariners from all over the world these guys filled us up with many free cocktails. Once we discovered that they were heading up the Red Sea we asked their captain if they had room for us on deck, but alas they had no cranes. Way to go Alabama!!

Sandpiper's plans are to make landfall late morning at St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. This will be the first time the Piper has been back in America in four years!! We plan on a short snorkeling excursion off Buck Island Marine Park for a few hours before we head into the anchorage to check in with America.

More once the hook is wet,
Tom and Amy