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