Ups & Downs make for many Rounds

Ahoy,

so the Ol' Girl did good and delivered me to the Caribbean. Leaving Gomera was no easy feat as I was beginning to realise just how little I knew about sailing and how much I had to learn, in fact as I had started so late in life it was unlikely that I would ever be able to make much of a dent in my ignorance. Add to this the friends I had made and a love of the Canaries, leaving was not as straight forward mentally as I had imagined.
Just before my departure local and distant friends really came through and helped with getting the Ol' Girl ready, new lines were required (thanks Mark) and so much help provisioning the Ol' Girl that I actually put weight on rather than losing it as I had first thought.(so much for being on the beach with a six pack)
Everyone I had met it seemed were out in force to see me off(or make sure I left) which put me in such a good mood I managed to leave the Marina in quite a tidy fashion, unlike my arrival, that's a sea story for another time.
After around twenty miles the wind dropped so much that I pretty much stayed where I was for around nine hours, not the best start. By the early hours of the morning the wind had picked up again and I was on my way,the first and the last three days were the hardest, the first because I had to get used to my own company again and the last because I was fed up with my own company and very, very tired.
The passage was more amazing than I could ever have thought, it was not without it's troubles and I am sure the Ol' Girl cursed me more than once, we had a strange encounter with a Turtle, which I am happy to say seemed all well and good afterwards, the foresail halyard snapped meaning we had the use of only one sail which meant we lost a lot of miles every twenty four hours(around forty at best) which frustrated me for a couple of days as the Ol' Girl and I started talking to the World service, all this aside, it was very exciting.
In the end the crossing took twenty seven days and I did not see signs of any other vessel's for twenty three days, which is the longest I have ever gone without seeing human life.
Thankfully SatCom had supplied me with a sat phone so I could have very short conversations with friends and family, which really helped with not feeling too isolated, despite being totally isolated.
As I approached land I tried the radio and picked up some FM stations, Reggae Christmas tunes, I felt so happy.
By the time I rounded Pigeon Island and dropped the anchor I was so relieved I do not remember any other thoughts I had.
In fact I fell into such a deep sleep its a miracle I didn't wet the bed.
I awoke feeling so happy and full of life that part of me wondered immediately where to go in the future and if it would ever compare and if truth be told I am considering longer passages despite having fallen in love with St. Lucia.
This beautiful little Island will always be special of course, like a first love, I arrived here with the eyes of love after being alone for so long.
Talking of the being alone bit, the only real negative that I can think of was not during the trip but afterwards, which has only just stopped, the heavy drinking, thankfully I am not doing it now but for many weeks sheer disbelief, excitement, relief and being surrounded by people having a party caused me to become a pro am barfly, something that I hope I have got out of my system now.
All in all not too bad a side effect for a novice sailor I think.
So to sum it up, the stars, the solitude and the incredible feeling of freedom will always be with me and maybe always be for the best in everything that I intend to do in the future.
Now that I am back in the real world I have so much to do, Emails, boat maintenance and many thank you notes to so many people.

Next comes pictures and future plans.