Our guests of the past week have now taken off for the airport back to their “real lives,” and we are getting ready for the next step in our journey.

Our plan from here is to sail directly from the British Virgin Islands to New Jersey, visit there for a week or two, and then move north to New England.  The initial leg of that trip should be a trip of about 10 to 12 days.  Right now the weather looks pretty stable, so I am not expecting our departure date to be set much by weather conditions.

For this trip at this time of year, the winds are typically very favorable. The models predict the fastest route to be a simple rumb line course, running or reaching almost all the way.  We can hope!

We have a few last minute things we want to pick up that we can not get in the USA that we want to get to make life easier and better, make sure our food stores are ready for two weeks, and we will be off.

A few legal and logistical things to do before we leave.  We have to clear out of customs here in the British Virgin Islands, and pay our departure tax.  We also need to file a “float plan” with the USA customs office so we can take advantage of the (hopefully) quick and easy phone check in when we arrive back in the USA.