The BVIs Part II

The wind was still light as we sailed in light winds back to Tortolla and Trellis Bay the sight of the monthly full moon festival, another great excuse for eating and drinking on the beach.  Julie, Stacy, and I had been looking forward to this party for awhile.  We had a beautiful sail under clowdy skys and managed to catch an 18 inch Bonito on the way. The wind eventually died and we lowered the sails, fired up the Perkins diesel auxillary, and meanderd through the fantastic narrow pass at Marina Cay on the way to Trellis Bay.  We thought we were heading into a dead end until the narrow opening revealed itself only when we were very close.  We passed between steep hills studded with empty vacation homes of the super rich. I was getting apprehensive of our chances to find a place to moor as we passed a packed anchorage at Marina Cay.  We approached Trellis Bay and they were jammed in there tight with no mooring balls available and many boats searching for any remaining space.  We lodged ourselves in between some boats on moorings to the consternation of a few.  I thought we would be safe until the light wind changed directions and we were about to touch another boat.  Amid stares we weighed anchor and headed to the edge of the anchorage which also happened to be in the flight path of Tortolla's airport, oh well time to party.  We set the anchor down in 30 ft. of water using all of my 200 ft. of anchor rode.

     Our luck at finding space changed on shore as it started raining and we claimed a couch under a porch at one of the 4 beach bars.  The $25/person for food was a great deal as we carried our heaping plates of BBQ back to our couch.  With all the rain though there was no full moon to see and the crowd was a bit subdued despite the steady flow of pain killers and the lively band playing so we retired to the boat, wet and stuffed.

At this point we felt we had seen and experienced the BVIs yet Julie and Stacy still had more than a week of time left on the boat.  While Julie and Stacy had lunch and drinks at Trellis Bay with Martin and Johanna of Snow Bird I took the ferry to Spanish Town to investigate a potential hurricane season haul out spot for the boat.  The marina was very nice with Florida prices so I left a deposit and a promise to return in 3 weeks to end the trip for the year.

     I hadn't realized how much I had been stressing about what to do with the boat and when to go home so with this all decided I felt releaved and ready to finish the Caribbean adventurere with a bang.  Getting off the ferry I joined the burgeoning party waiting for me in Trellis Bay and we all returned to Top O' The World for Bonito and rice.

     The next morning the wind had freshened and we decided to head back to Virgin Gorda for another beach BBQ and a revisit of the $2.50 painkillers a Saba Rock.  The sailing was carzy good with 15 knots of head wind.  We had another wet BBQ party in Leverick Bay and met Snow Bird and Zero to Cruising at the Saba Rock happy hour the next day.  Richard Branson, the billionare owner of nearby Necker Island, stepped off his hobie cat to join the happy hour scene, just another guy in a bathing suit and wet hair.  We reminisced about our sailing trips since the Turks and Caicos and said our good byes as my friends were continuing their voyage to Grenada the next day. 

     With less than a week remaining we decided to check out Jost Van Dyke and then return to our favorite place so far, St John and Cruz Bay.  We mostly motored to Jost amid passing showers.  A visit to some of the famous bars there, Foxy's and Corsairs, was a bit anti-climatic as the chartering season had ended and we were the only ones there.   We had been having a running contest of the best Conch fritters in the world sampling an appetizer portion at every opportunity.  The contest has been going on for a couple of years and the uncontested winner was Alabama Jacks on the Card Sound Causway in Key Largo.  Jacks got a serious challenge from the Anegada Hotel but the fritters at Foxy's topped them both, a generous and tender portion of conch in each bite with the spicy sauce accompaniment.

     Our return to St. John was great.  We took time to visit many of the day moorings throughout the national park and swim.  Stacy and I had a rich experience in each place.  The variety and health of species was much greater in each place that can only reached by boat.  Julie loved the beach at Cinnamon Bay and the showers at the camp ground.  One day while Stacy worked on the boat Julie and I took the dinghy to the beach where I had stayed 35 years before with the late Victor Hall. We walked under the shade of palm trees along the beach admiring the homes that had sprouted up since my previous time.  A caretaker of one of the homes gave us a tour of an amazing house that is only used one week a year by its Virginia owners.  The remainder of the year the house rents for $15,000 per week.  That is about a year of sailing expenses!

     We revisited Cruz Bay with its great bars and eateries to finish up the trip and headed back to St. Thomas.  The rain had finally stopped but we had very little wind.  They left me pretty empty feeling but I focused on the work at hand to catch up on some boat maintenance and to prepare to leave the boat in a marina for a week while I flew home for a greatly anticipated visit to Sheril, David, and my family in Orlando.

     I have learned so much since I left Florida on February 8th.  Thanks to my visiting crew of Jack, then Steve, then Corey, I was able to learn about the boat and then learn how to sail and anchor it alone.  The high point of the trip was the visit from Sheril, Julie, and Stacey.  Their visit reminded me of the riches of love and family. I don't know what it is exactly that I love so much about the cruising life.  It is very uncomfortable at times and I miss my family and friends at home often.  Much of the lure I've decided is the next horizon and what it may hold.  What will the land look like as I approach, and what cool market or bar may I find? Will I catch a big fish?  Another aspect that I love is the direct connection between staying alive and personal responsibility.  It makes for a certain level of anxiety but I love the chance to fight to live.  The last 3 months went very slowly.  Cruising is like stepping in a time machine.  I feel like I've been gone for 3 years rather than 3 months.  Normally, I am amazed at how life is flying by.

     I am excited and happy to be back home with Sheril.  I was very surprised at the comfort level at home, the old normal, juxtaposed with the spartan conditions that I had gotten used to on the boat.  I shall try to remember this as long as I can.  Simple things like hot showers and air conditioning are quite a treat for me right now. The boat awaits our return is St. Thomas.  Sheril and I shall return together for a final week of cruising with the final haulout in Virgin Gorda.

Sunset at the Bitter End Yacht Club

 Great view of the Caribbean from Biras Resort

 Now I don't have to buy the shirt

 Hohum, another awesome bar view

 Squall approaching Little Jost Van Dyke

 Jost police and immigration dept.

 Dread Dog, yet he has no hair.

 Cool dodge, the owners vehicle from Corsairs

Can one get used to this?

The British Virgin Islands Part I

The British Virgin Islands

One of the big changes in the sailing trip now are the close distances of all the anchorages.  This area deserves the great reputation for the great experiences on the thousands of chartered boats that ply these historic waters.  Until the Virgin Islands I would be up early getting the boat ready for an entire day of moving to make 40 or 50 miles to the next safe area before dark.  Once in the Virgin Island chain we often didn't even raise the sails as you can see the next anchorage a couple of miles away.  This was the case for the epic one mile journey to a new country, British Virgin Islands, and Sopers Hole the customs check in point.

Sopers Hole is well named, a small deep harbor with steep sides into which the surrounding sewage flows.  Even the expensive Pain Killer from Pussers Bar couldn't keep us there long so the next day we sailed off to Normans Island in the Sir Francis Drake Channel.  These gems have very few people but the beaches are perfect and there is usually a beach bar or two to provide pain killers.  We made a brief stop along the way to snorkel at the Indians, a small collection of coral and rocks nearby.  The coral was healthy and varied, maybe the best I have every seen with great visibility.

We anchored in The Bight on Normans and tied to one of the ubiquitous $25/night bouys dotting the bay.  Julie and Stacy found some electricity and a good internet connection at the beach bar while I tidied up a bit.  The other establishment in The Bight is Willy Ts, an old schooner anchored in the bay serving food and drinks.  Famous for topless girls jumping of the cabin roof, Willy Ts was not kind of quiet as the charter season in rapidly waning.

Next Day, new harbor, Road Town, the capitol of the BVIs on Tortola where we reprovisioned.  The busy capitol city reminded me of Nassau but with the sewer system of Luperon, rivers of stench in culverts flowing into the sea.  We explored a little and walked by the recently closed prison dating to 18th century prison where the some pirates were hung no doubt.

We decided to go as far east as we could in the temporary light conditions and motored all of 10 miles or so to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda, the pregnant virgin.  Aptly named for its distinctive shape, it is the favorite island for many.  We stopped briefly at the Baths, a famous pile of boulders which has great snorkeling but the visibility was not good.  My first attraction in the North Sound is the Bitter Island Yacht Club.  Visitin the famous Quarter Deck Bar has been on my list for 3 decades.  Sipping the painkiller overlooking the sound and my boat was serene.  The real gem though was the Saba Rock Resort next door, a cool marina and bar totally covering all of the small rock on which it sits.  Food and drinks in the BVIs are pretty pricey.  A large bag of chips can be $6 or more, so a happy hour serving $2.50 painkillers like at Saba Rock is something to get your attention.  We sat with our buddies on Zero to Cruising as the sun set and large Tarpon swam right off the dinghy dock in front of us.

There is an oddball island in the BVIs, Anegada.  It is the largest of all the BVIs with about 300 permanent residents.  The island is flat like the Bahamas with almost no trees but surrounded by coral reefs and shallow water.  Julie and Stacy fell in love with the place.  The restaurants surrounding the harbor offer up the gems from the surrounding waters, big lobster, about $50 for the bug and all the trimmings.  We rented a car with Mike and Rebecca for the 30 minute drive to the north side of the island famous for its beaches.  They did not disappoint.  The extensive reef system is right off the sandy beach with shacks nearby selling food and drinks.  Our second stop was my favorite with its 20ft. coral canyons and large tarpon swimming along side.  I saw big grouper, snapper, and all the usual colorful reef specimens but no lobster.  I could have gone nuts with a spear but spears are illegal in the BVIs.

To be Continued...

Another goal accomplished, a drink and The Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda

Rainy day in the Virgin Gorda Sound

Top O' The World in the BVIs

A wealth of sunsets

Small dinosaur

A little hike to the Biras Resort, Virgin Gorda

Well worth the effort

 dinosaurs everywhere

 Now hike back, almost happy hour

The rain is even pretty

The American Virgin Islands

I left beautiful Culebra for a daylong tacking sail in 15 knots of headwinds to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.  It was a great day of no problem sailing and I got a boat invitation over the radio for drinks from Happy Times, a cruising cat with Sheril, Mike, and daughter McCayla.  After setting the hook down I set a record deploying the dinghy to meet with all the people at Happy Times, including my good buddies on Snow Bird, Zero to Cruising, and Samaya along with several others.  We were anchored right next to the airport where Sheril, Julie, and Stacy were to come from the sky in 2 days.
Julie and Stacy dropped out of the sky and we walked down to the dinghy, about a 5 minute walk from the terminal.  We motored over to a beach bar and got aquainted with a couple rounds of Pain Killers, a popular Island drink.  We saw Sheril's American Airlines plane fly by so blasted back in the dinghy to pick her up and then repeat the Pain Killer rounds.  It was so great to see them all especially my wife, Sheril, who I had not see for 3 months.

We headed for St. Johns the next day with a detour through the Chalet Amalie harbor where a large seaplane came in for a landing right over us, and to Cowpet Bay to meet a cab with Julie and Stacy's lost luggage.  The luggage didn't make it but we enjoyed the stop at the St. Thomas Yacht Club where they kindly let us use there bar as a waiting base for the luggage.  With Carnival celebrations in full swing in Chalet Amalie the luggage delivery was on island time so off we went to St. John.  75% of this green island is US National Park property.  Anchoring is forbidden but there are numerous $15/night moorings in every anchorage.  The place is so beautiful and the swimming is superb.
On a visit to Caneel Bay Plantation, a 50 year old resort in the National Park, we were enjoying the $12 Pain Killers like rich people under the beach veranda when I asked our waitress about someone I once knew there, Victor Hall.  Victor befriended me and a good buddy, Steve Harper, when we took a trip to camp out in the National Park when we were about 18 years old.  Seeing myself as Robinson Crusoe I took a home made spear on to the reef and we were kicked out of the park and fined.  We were sitting on the beach later that day contemplating what to do when Victor came cruising down the beach.  We said hello and the next thing we know he invites us to his beach to camp out right next door to the park.  We had a great few weeks there and I was anxious to find him to see if he remembered me.  I asked the waitress about him and she went to ask someone else.  She came back and told me he had died one month before.  Later some landscape guys said he was kicked off the beach front property some time ago and was never the same again.  He died alone with a daughter in NY.  Pretty sad I think and a reminder that we must use our time wisely.
 The few idyllic days we spent with Sheril hopping from mooring to mooring within the national park came to an end and I accompanied Sheril on the ferry and taxi to the St. Thomas airport.  Upon my return to St. Johns I found Julie and Stacy had set up an office of sorts at the Beach Bar in Cruz Bay over looking the Atlantic Ocean.  With smiles on there faces and several empty cups they welcomed me back and the evening wore on.  We got back to the boat anchored nearby in the dark and motored back under clear skys to our favorite mooring so far, Francis Bay, St John.
We had done a pretty good job snorkelling and hiking in St. John so far.  There are trails all over the island.  Stacy swam and snorkeled around the regularly, enjoying the cool clear water.  Julie enjoyed her Kindle books and we happily wasted each day.  My quest for catching a fish was thwarted though, a minor problem that I planned to remedy.  I caught some grunts on little hooks off the boat just for giggles.  I left one baited rod out all night and in the morning the line was taught and in a different direction.  It was wrapped around the mooring ball and I could not free it.  I would have dove on it to see what we caught but we were in 50 feet of water.  A bit later Stacy saw what happened to our imaginary fish, a large shark cirlcing the boat about 20 ft down waiting for more gifts from the frustrated fisherman.

The Spanish Virgins

I'm getting the hang of single handing.  With all systems working again I left Salinas for Vieques, the first Spanish Virgin Island for for sailors heading east.  Typically the calm morning of tacking in light winds turned into a motor-sail in a freshening breeze in the face.  I saw a couple of boats ahead of me and so I radioed them about their plans.  They were headed for the same anchorage in Viequez, Green Beach.  The US Navy used to bomb the crap out of the island for target practice, but that has stopped, however land access is restricted due to unexploded ordinance.
The wind was picking up right in the face of course and rather than bash through it I checked the chart and saw a small village with some protection from the building seas.  There was a bit of reef dodging, no problem in the clear Caribbean water, so the anchor went down and I watched the world.
I do alot of watching of the world when sailing alone.  I sit in the cockpit with a drink and just watch.  This is a new experience for me as I fill my time with tasks normally.  It is part of what I call the new normal.  The new normal is waking about 6, getting the boat ready to be tossed about in the wind and waves, storing the dinghy and outboard, closing the hatches tight, closing all lockers so stuff isn't falling out.  I listen on the SSB radio for the weather report for any changes from the night before.  I start the engine, watching it run for a bit then pull the anchor up with the electric windlass and head out of the harbor.  Using the chart plotter screen I plan a coarse, raise the sails, set the auto-pilot and then think about fishing.  I have 2 heavy duty fishing rigs with a variety of lures.  The problem recently is that I'm fishing in water 60 to 80 feet.  Baracudas are the kings of the shallow water and I hate catching them.  They have big teeth and extra slime.  I pull them out of the water and while they hang over the side I use pliers to exticate the hook thereby keeping them off the boat.  Once I catch one I lose the desire to redeploy the lure.  Then one of my friends tells me they caught some big Jack in the same water and out come the lures again.
The next morning I vowed to sail the 10 miles to Green Beach no matter the conditions.  With the wind building I set the sails and turned off the engine and deployed the lures.  The reel sang an hour later and I pulled up a nice Spanish Mackerel, good for 3 meals.  Green Beach was beautiful as advertized.  I found a large conch right under the boat so had a feast of stewed conch and the mackerel with brown rice and a mango salsa.
The next morning the wind was blowing and small craft warnings announced on the radio.  I decided to find some better protection and sailed to a Navy owned little island called Isla Pineros.  I was the only person anchored there behind a some Mangroves and I needed to wait out the rain storms and strong winds so out came the fishing gear and some remnants of the conch.  Good sized grunts bit all day so with the fish coffers full (no freezer) I had to relax and watch the world with occasional rain showers.
The rain stopped the next day but the wind and small craft warnings continued.  With all my friends at Culebra, 20 miles to the east I chose to go for it despite the sea state.  As I've said before Top O' The World loves bashing through seas and wind but this was the most I've dealt with to date.  Tacking between the tiny islands bordering Vieques Sound the waves came constantly over the bow.  A solid stream of water drained out the scuppers.  When I tacked and the boat leaned the other way I notices water streaming across the floor inside the boat, a leaky hull to deck joint.  A really large wave came at me and I had to yell like riding on a roller coaster.  The 35,000 pound boat was weightless for a second as the steep wave passed and then what a splash!

After 9 hours of sailing I traversed the 21 miles to Ensenada Honda harbor and could see my friends boats as I set my anchor down in the protected anchorage.  St. Thomas was looming in the dinstance to the east and I felt I had really accomplished something.  My goal, the American Virgin Islands was within sight.