Fwd: Happy 21st birthday Thomas 🎉🎈!!!

-------- Original Message --------
From: Paul Badenhorst <paulbadenhorst@myiridium.net>
Sent: May 27, 2021 5:02:16 PM GMT-01:00
To: Sailwithpaul.aroundtheworld@blogger.com@gmail.com
Subject: Happy 21st birthday Thomas 🎉🎈!!!

Today we are celebrating Thomas's twenty first birthday 🎉🎂🎊🍰🎁 He is far away from home and his loved ones, Jane is far away from home and her loved ones besides Don, and I am far away from home and my loved ones. Since early this morning Jane has baked some vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing, and fried some delicious potato chips and Dorado with green beans for lunch. Over lunch she related that they had quite a few birthdays during May in her family, and they would always make it a special occasion and cook up a storm. Her one daughter is also due any day now, and not sure whether it will be a girl or a boy. This is the price we sometimes pay to be out at sea, and it is at times like this that we miss our loved ones even more dearly than usual.

We are a day away from St.Thomas, and we hope to make a quick stop there for some fuel, fresh provisions, and to catch up with our loved ones via the internet. We are not exactly sure about the covid procedures required when we arrive there, or how long it will take. Legally I think we would be tested on arrival and will to stay in quarantine for four days. We have been at sea now for twenty five days, and impossible for any of us to have covid. Yet, we will be required to do covid tests before we can legally step off the boat. I would much rather prefer to stop at the fuel dock, get some fuel, go to the supermarket across the road for some fresh provisions, grab a burger and a beer, do some wifi, and be on our merry way again the next morning. We shall see how it pans out. We don't pose any threat to anyone, and it won't cause me sleepless nights to not follow the exact procedures.

After St.Thomas, we plan to make a quick stop at Fort Lauderdale to clear the vessel into the US. Fort Lauderdale is about ten days away St.Thomas via the Old Bahama Channel. We will be sailing past Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba to our port, and to our starboard the Bahamas before we hook into the Gulf Stream. From Fort Lauderdale, Annapolis is a thousand miles away. It could go quick with assistance from the Gulf Stream, if the weather plays in our favor.

Currently we have no wind and motoring. The skies are grey, and a short spell of light rain every now and then. It is predicted to stay like this for a day or two.


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