First thing you have to understand: For cruising sailors the word “rushing” means something a bit different than it means to most people with “real” lives.  With that said, we are “rushing” to get everything put together for our next stage.  We have a few things to stow, and then we will be out of the marina here in the morning.  We have a stop in Jost Van Dyke, the next island to the north for tomorrow night.

While in Great Harbor at Jost Van Dyke, we will “clear out” of the British Virgin Islands, completing the process of formally telling the local Customs Service here that we are leaving, and paying our Departure Tax.  Most countries require that you “check out” when you leave.  Once you complete this process they issue you a “Zarpa”,  a piece of paper which the NEXT country you go to wants to see to be sure that you did not run away from you last port under less than honorable circumstances.

Once we complete the formalities,  then we are off.  We have about a nine or ten day passage from Jost Van Dyke to Sandy Hook Bay Marina in New Jersey.  The further north we go, the less predictable the weather gets.  If I believe the weather models, we will see winds varying from less than 1 knot to between 25 to 30.  Nothing scary or troublesome.  It has been a long time since we have had a passage of this length, and we are very much looking forward to it.