The Voyages of "KINGDOM": Les Saintes to St. Barth's to Anguilla

Because of our longer-than-planned stay in the Saintes, we needed to move rather faster than we would have normally. We left the Saintes at 9:00am on January 6, making the 31 mile run up to Deshailles, on the NW shore of Guadaloupe in 5 hours. We arrived there at 2:00pm, and departed the next morning at 8:15am, bound for Jolly Harbor, Antigua, a 49 mile run. We ran into the harbor, looking for the customs and immigration dock. We found it, but there was no one around to take our lines and help us dock. So we turned around and headed back out to the outer harbor, and anchored in about 8 feet of water. Next morning, Friday, January 8th, we departed at 6:30am, headed due East to Basseterre, St. Kitts. Although this was a 51 mile run, we had following seas and following winds all the way, making this a romp! All the way, we could see the smoke plume from the volcano on Montserrat to the Southeast, and were glad not to be downwind of it! We pulled into the marina at Basseterre at 2pm, and were awarded the last available slip. We checked in with Customs and Immigration, and had our customary anchor drink...
We had hoped to visit with our friends Mike and Beth Smith when we arrived, but they were off-island. They were due back on Sunday afternoon, so we hung out in the Marina, visited the local grocery store, and washed down the boat. We also met and visited with a couple of other cruisers in the Marina, hob-nobbing until Mike and Beth arrived. We did in fact meet up with them on Sunday afternoon, and they took us over to a Sports Bar on one of the popular beaches. We were able to see the Arizona Cardinals squeak out an overtime victory over Green Bay, while visiting and munching on very large cheeseburgers, and an enormous mound of french fries.
Monday morning, January 11th, we pulled out of St. Kitts, bound for Gustavia, on St. Barth's, a 44 mile northerly run. We arrived at 2:00pm, and anchored in the outer harbor. We had planned to spend a day or two here, as it is a delightful French island. However, since we were already far behind schedule, we reluctantly pulled out at 8:00am, heading for Road Bay, on the north side of the island of Anguilla. We bypassed St. Martin entirely. We had not visited Anguilla before, and we were interested in this tiny British island. We also knew that this was a great jumping-off place for the long 80 mile run to Virgin Gorda. Here we dropped our dinghy, went ashore to clear in with Customs and Immigration, and had a nice lunch at a lovely beachside restaurant.
An interesting side note about Anguilla - When the British were attempting to get rid of their Caribbean "protectorates", they decided to lump St. Kitts and Anguilla into one new Government for both islands, even though they are about 100 miles apart, with St. Barth and St. Martin in between. The Anguillans were outraged, and wanted to remain British! After making many official protests, all ignored, they decided to invade St. Kitts! So a small party of men in small boats sailed to Basseterre, St. Kitts, shot up the police station, and escaped back to Anguilla. Nobody seems to have been hurt in the "invasion", but the British, fearing a communist takeover, sent an amphibian armed force to Anguilla to put down the insurrection. Wading ashore on the lovely beaches of Anguilla, they were met by a few small boys catching crabs. The islanders welcomed them, and in the end, the Brits decided that Anguilla would not be forced to leave the protection of the British Empire.

At anchor off St. Bart's