Finally back in the USA

After a long silence on the blog, we are back in the USA.  I had a laptop failure and have been unable to update the blog.   Now that we are back in the USA, I will be able to get a computer guru to  fix my laptop issue.  The voyages of Lucky Jack will be updated and back online.  Quickly, we left Grenada on November 5th and are currently in St. Petersburg until December 5 and on to Mobile, AL for Steve Koch's retirement from the US Coast Guard on December 12, 2010.  I look forward to posting all the updates and pictures very soon.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season.


See you soon on the big blue watery road,
Theresa, Mark and Sailor

The Beautiful Grenadines

What a wonderful way to spend my birthday with friends and heading to the Grenadines on Lucky Jack. 

Mary and Sailor playing on the beach before we leave Grenada.

Red Sky at night, Sailor's delight.  Tomorrow the Grenadines.

Michelle relaxing while we sail from Grenada to Carriacou.

It was a great thrill to have Mary and Michelle on board.  These two wonderful ladies taught Mark how to sail.  It was great for them to sail with us on Lucky Jack

Petit St. Vincent, a very quiet and exclusive resort, where guest get pampered in secluded stone cottages.  Each cottage has a flag pole used to summon room service.

The island has many beautiful beaches.

We spent a day on the island of Mopion.  It is a small quaint sandy island, with only a thatch umbrella.  It was a wonderful day spent on a beautiful deserted island.

Sailor loved our day on Mopion. 

He loved claiming the island as his own.

Tobago Cays are made up of five islands surrounded by the Horseshoe Reef and one called the World's End Reef.

We were blessed that night by a full moon and a Lobster dinner grilled on shore by Romeo and delivered to the boat.  It was perfect.

It's always playtime.

Our entrance into Bequia, a small whaling and fishing island. 

We toured the Firefly Plantation.  A working plantation that grows their own organic fruits and veggies.  Mark and Mary were having a seed spitting contest.  I was laughing to hard to properly judge who won.

The view from the balcony of one of the rooms at the Firefly.  What a wonderful place to visit.

A very luxurious and relaxing place to stay.  It has a shower for two to die for.

Two weeks flew by so quickly.  We had so much fun together and miss you guys already.  We can't wait to return to the Grenadines. 

See you on the big blue watery road,

Theresa, Mark and Sailor 

St. George's, Grenada, West Indies

Back in Grenada after a whirlwind trip back to the States. 

Sailor was very happy to see us.  He loved playing with the kids and other dogs but he is quite happy to be home.

We purchased a cool pet bed for Sailor that removes the heat from his body so he can stay cool.  As you can see he loves it. 

We are preparing for our friends Mary and Michelle from Texas to come sailing and exploring the Grenadines for a couple weeks.  These ladies are the ones responsible for teaching Mark to sail.  It will be such a treat to have them sail with us.

Hope to see you on the big blue watery road,

Theresa, Mark and Sailor

Happy Anniversary Lucky Jack!

One year ago today we started our journey on Lucky Jack.  It is amazing to look back and see how far we have come. 

We started in Menorca, Spain a beautiful island in the Balearic's.  We spent three months in Spain and made many wonderful lifelong friends.  Joy and Chris Hopkins on board Tatiana's Joy Rider II, Jean-Louis on board Herenui, Pedro and his son Samuel from Pedro's boat yard just to name a few.   We set sail on October 31 with Steve Koch (Mark's brother), Captain Graham, John Keen and sailed to the Balearic island of Ibiza, on to Gibraltar, on to the Canary Island of Tenerife and crossed the Atlantic Ocean landing on St. Lucia on December 6, 2009. 

A total of 4,000 miles.  In January, 2010 Mark had to have a cardiac procedure and recovery wasn't progressing so well in Memphis, so we went back to Discovery Bay Marina in Marigot Bay and spent 2 1/2 months.  We would work out in the fitness center, then spend time in the pool, work on the boat a while, take a nap and go back to the pool.  Recovery went quite well and we were ready to sail again. 

We set sail for St. Maarten to reconnect with Jean-Louis on Herenui.  As always our time spent with Jean-Louis is special.  Bobby Parks made his way to St. Maarten and got to sail with us and Jean-Louis to the St. Barths Bucket Regatta.  What a blast that was. 

Our many thanks and tons of appreciation goes out to our wonderful friends Jean-Louis and Carol.  They helped us through a tough time in St. Maarten while Mark was battling Kidney Stones and needed surgery.  We checked Mark out of the Hospital in St. Maarten and put him on a plane to the states.  What a wild ride.  When we returned, Sailor and our friends Phillip and Anna joined us and we all went sailing and explored Eustacia, St. Kitts and Nevis. 

As always, time with friends goes by way to quickly.  We spent the next three months having improvements made to Lucky Jack.  It has been a long road but all of it has been worth it and the journey to Grenada has been nicer for all of it. 

We have about 4,800 miles under our belt on Lucky Jack.  Not too bad for year number one.  As wonderful as this whole experience has been so far it is difficult being so far from our loved ones.  When you send us an email or make comments on the blog it helps keep us connected to you and makes our day.  So keep the cards and letters coming. 

We look forward to having you aboard Lucky Jack and building wonderful memories together.

See you on the big blue watery road,
Theresa, Mark and Sailor

Sailing again.

We set sail from St. Maarten, spent a night in Colombier, St. Barths.  A beautiful anchorage below the Rockefeller estate which has recently been sold for $90 million.  

 Next we set sail to Antigua for a few days waiting on a part to repair the broken power winch.  We found a lovely little resort that is probably Antigua's best kept secret.  The Inn at English Harbor.  This magical place overlooks Lord Nelson's hideaway and all of English Harbor.  They really love cruisers and let us use the pool and we had a fabulous dinner overlooking the water.   

We set sail around 11 am with 20kt winds to Deshaies,  Guadeloupe.  We arrived around 8pm.  

Hemingway's overlooks the bay.  I want to eat there someday soon.  But time did not allow for it this trip.

We set sail around 10:30am and pulled an all nighter to make landfall in St. Lucia around 1pm. 

Coming back to St. Lucia is like coming home.  All of the Marina guys were waving and yelling Welcome Home from the dock as we pulled in.  A nice warm and fuzzy welcome.

We want to say hello to the beautiful McFadden family.  We met them the day we came into the marina and very much enjoyed meeting and spending the afternoon with them. 

Tomorrow we are off to Grenada on another long haul, but it will give us time to relax before the trip home.

Ta ta for now and I hope to see you on the big blue watery road,

Theresa

The light at the end of the tunnel

Risje with Marine Couture arriving with our new cushions for the aft deck.  Today is a great day!!!

Now this was worth waiting for.  Construction coming to a close and finally a nice place to enjoy sunsets and sunrises.  Ahhhhhhh life is good again.

Home Sweet Home.  It has been a long couple of months with all the work being done on Lucky Jack.  We should be shoving off the dock on Thursday, July 29 and start making our way to Grenada.  We plan to stop and explore some new places along the way. 

We are all looking forward to some sailing and relaxation!!!

This our new Screechier (Spinnaker) going up.  Can't wait to try it out.  The new UV screens on the windows have made a huge difference in keeping to boat cooler.

Sailor is our little demo dog, showing off the new permanent Dyneema Jack Line installed just above the window so we will be much safer moving about the boat during rough weather and at night.  Mom's should sleep better tonight knowing we are safe sailors.

Our solar panels are doing a great job of harnessing the sun's rays and turning it into POWER.  The satellite is providing Mark with much needed sports coverage. 

I plan to read many books here in the new sun lounger.  Now we just need to tie up a few loose ends today and hopefully we will be sailing tomorrow.

Ta ta for now and hope to see you on the big blue watery road,

Theresa, Mark and Sailor