Aboard Lady

Sint Maarten/Saint Martin

Sint Maarten/Saint Martin   18 02.53N 063 05.62W

Monday January 18th to Saturday January 24th, 2009

We said goodbye to our friends in Nanny Cay and headed to North Sound Virgin Gorda, stopping en route at Spanish Town to talk to Customs and Immigration and inform them that we were leaving the territory.  When we entered the sound we saw a magnificent sailing yacht.  The Sea Cloud II seems to be more of a cruise ship; what fun her guests must have! We anchored in the sound, off Leverick Bay Resort where we have been a number of times before for a quiet night and day, preparing for an overnight sail Tuesday night.

We departed North Sound, and headed past Richard Branson's private resort of Necker Island, heading south-east.  The sun set behind the Virgins as we left.  The wind was good, and we were able to sail close-hauled most of the way - about eighty miles - and motoring the last twenty miles as the wind was on our nose.  We were amazed at the traffic!  There were all kinds of cruise ships going different directions at slow speeds.  Apparently cruise ships do not was to spend the night in port, as it incurs more charges, and so they slowly cruise from one port to another.  At one point as we neared St. Martin, there were five other BIG ships heading in approximately our direction, none of them going a whole lot faster than us.

We arrived at Simpson Bay at daybreak on Wednesday 20th, and dropped anchor and slept for a couple of hours, waiting for the Customs and Immigration office to open.  Charlie was one of the first in line, paid the charges, and we were ready for the Simpson Bay Lagoon bridge opening at 0930.  The bridge only opens three times a day for in-bound traffic, and there was quite a line of boats - large sailing yachts, other cruisers like us, power boats that were too tall to fit under the bridge, and a mega-yacht Victoria Del Mar immediately in front of us.  Much excitement as Victoria Del Mar drifted off course in the narrow channel and hit the bridge.  We could see crew people running around grabbing fenders.  We signaled to the boats behind us that we were reversing, as the mega-yacht was also backing up.

There are all kinds of marinas in the Simpson Bay Lagoon, many of them catering to the mega-yacht trade.  It is a wonderful sheltered area.  The frontier between Dutch Sint Maarten and French Saint Martin crosses the lagoon.  We had to pay $40 to spend a week at anchor in the Dutch side.  The also charged us $30 for using the bridge! (We have since found out that we can stay at anchor on the French side for $7.50, and that the bridge charge was supposed to go away Jan 1 2010.)  Once we were comfortably anchored, we started exploring by dinghy.  Isn't it cool to have the local chandlers with dinghy docks?  The airport is adjacent to the lagoon, and the flight path for planes taking off is right over us.  When the Air France and American Airlines jets depart it's LOUD.  We stopped at the Simpson Bay Marina, looking for friends Kate and Kurt (Myananda) who had sailed in the Caribbean 1500 with us, and had been here for a while.  They had temporarily moved to another yard for work, but it was nice to run into Kim from North Star, another C-1500 participant.  We found Kurt working on solar panels, and let him know that we were here, as we had brought canvas and other spares from Nanny Cay for Myananda.  He informed us that the Turtle Pier Bar and Grill was having a party for cruisers that night (and every Wednesday) so we went looking for it and found it close to the airport.  They had cages with parrots and other tropical birds, and also some monkeys.  We found another bar closer to the airport and walked from it to the airport to determine that it's a five-minute walk from the airport to the dock, should anybody comes to visit us while we are here.  The cruisers party at Turtle Pier was lots of fun $2 beer and wine, $3 burgers and hot-dogs.  We met other people who are here doing a lot of the same things we are. 

There is a cruisers' net on the VHF radio every morning at 0730 on channel 14, and people are welcome to ask questions and it's very helpful resource.

Thursday we dinghied ashore, looking for a wifi hot-spot to check email.  We found Bonita's Cantina near the bridge, a great BBQ place run by the former owner of Oklahoma Joe's in Stillwater! A great place for lunch and an opportunity to use the Internet, when you take your own laptop.  We used our BVI phone for a couple of calls, and then found out that the $40 we had pre-paid was quickly used up in international roaming charges, so we found a place to sell us a Chippie SIM card, that will work in the Netherlands Antilles, and also on the French side of St. Martin.  We hope to be able to re-activate the BVI phone when we get to another former British island, like Anguilla or St. Kitts.  We tried an ATM machine and asked for local currency - it gave us a 100 guilder note.  That was a surprise, we thought we'd get euros. All the stores also take US dollars, so we got some of them too.  We took a walk through one of the neighborhoods near the bay beach, saw some of the old and new houses, old and new churches, the local catholic elementary school and ended up at the end of the road next to the airport at a lovely beach bar called Karakter 000.  The bar is an old bus.  We ran in to Kate (Myananda) as we headed back, and she told us that the buses here charge $1.50 per ride.  We rode with her to Maho Bay, and wandered around looking at the casinos, shops and restaurants.

Friday we dinghied over to the French side, and parked in Port Royal in Marigot.  It was a charming little harbor with restaurants and boutiques all around.  After a yummy lunch - crèpe au poulet for me salade césar avec poulet for Charlie - we strolled around the town, visited the marina at Fort Louie, watched the market vendors and purchased some duty-free vodka. It was quite amazing that although everyone we spoke to spoke English, between themselves they spoke French, whereas just down the road, everyone seems to speak English - I haven't heard any Dutch.

Saturday we parked the dinghy on the north side of the lagoon at chandler Island Water World's dock, and walked up to the most amazing Ace hardware store we have ever seen - more like a combination of Home Depot on the ground floor and Bed Bath and Beyond on the upper floor!  We also found Grand Marché, a lovely supermarket.  They delivered our groceries and us back to the dinghy dock.  In the afternoon we took the dinghy under the bridge out to the bay beach, and had a nice swim off the Karakter 000 place.  We delivered Myananda's canvas and parts Saturday night, and were rewarded with a delicious filet mignon steak dinner.  Thanks Kate and Kurt, dinner was wonderful!

AL does the VI

Virgin Islands January 9th - 16th

Our son, IV, his lovely wife Olivia, and their adorable daughter, Anna Louise joined us for a week.  We arranged for a local taxi, George, to meet them at the Beef Island airport and bring them to Nanny Cay, where we had spent the day getting Lady prepped for their arrival (provisions, baby food, diapers, beach toys).  We checked them in to the Nanny Cay Hotel, and headed to Peg Legs, a local restaurant for a delicious dinner.

Sunday they boarded Lady, and we enjoyed breakfast together before departing the marina and headed along the Sir Francis Drake Channel. It was a glorious day, with nice wind and turquoise water. 

We had booked the family in at Leverick Bay Resort and Marinain the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.  The hotel was very accommodating and their room lovely.  Charlie and I stayed aboard Lady on one of the resort's moorings.

Anna Louise went swimming using her purple and yellow life-jacket that I had obtained at the Seven Seas Cruising Association swap at Camp Letts last October.

Our friend Jeff Gentzen had phoned to let us know he was in the area, and would be aboard Straybo, off the Bitter End Yacht Club the following evening.  Jeff and IV have been friends since the were in kindergarten at Barnard Elementary School in Tulsa; we taught Jeff to sail when IV brought him along for weekends at Grand Lake, OK; he is now a professional captain working on a 73 foot Swan sailing yacht.  We modified our plans so that we could meet him Monday evening, so after the family checked out of the hotel, we left North Sound and sailed to The Baths, a magnificent area for swimming with enormous boulders.  Anna Louise went swimming again, and then we took turns to snorkel and watch Anna Louise. While ashore we were able to walk across the lower end of the island to Devils Bay.  Anna Louise has a wonderful Kelty backpackthat she can ride in very comfortably, and it will carry a lot of her stuff too.  She sits in it very comfortable riding behind her dad or mom.  I'm sure it was a great help getting though airports on the way here.  After a lovely day, we sailed back to North Sound, picked up a mooring near Bitter End Yacht Club, and Jeff came over for a drink and visit.  After dinner  Anna Louise went to sleep, and Charlie and I baby-sat while IV and Olivia met Jeff ashore at Saba Rock and then went on to a party at Biter End Yacht Club.

Tuesday morning we dropped the mooring and headed north to Anegada, a low-lying island about two-to three hours sail from Virgin Gorda.  We had a great breeze, and Anna Louise had a grand time playing with toys, lines, and family as we made the passage.  We picked up a mooring off Neptune's Treasure, where we had a room reserved.  While the rest of us decided on dinner choices, Charlie rented a jeep, and once he returned we loaded the car and headed to Loblolly Bay.  Anna Louise swam with her parents, while Charlie and I snorkeled on the reef.  After lunch and a nap, we loaded up the Jeep, and headed to Cow Wreck Bay, where we played on the lovely sand beach and made friends with some local children.

All too soon the sun was getting lower in the sky.  We took a diversion to fee the flamingos, but being the flighty creatures they are, the flamingo pond was deserted.

Dinner at Neptune's Treasure was delicious, most of us had locally caught fish, and Anna looked divine in her turquoise outfit.

Wednesday we had a long sail - Anegada to Norman Island -one end of the BVIs to the other.  The wind was good, and it was another glorious day. 

Once we got to Norman Island, Anna Louise took a nap - here she is on one of the settee cushions moved to the floor of the VIP Guest state room, with a couple of cushions wedged in.  While she was asleep, her parents and Gran-dad were able to take the dinghy over to The Caves and snorkeled and saw lots of pretty fish.  

After they got back Anna Louise woke up, and was able to swim herself.

We went ashore for drinks at Pirates Bight, and Anna Louise played on another sandy beach.

Thursday we had to head back to the dock, as the appointment to finally get the rudder fixed was for that afternoon.  We stopped at The Indians on the way, and IV and I snorkeled around the rocks while Charlie and Olivia stayed on Lady.  We were thrilled to see a small  eel and a hawksbill turtle.  Once we got back to the dock, Charlie was busy with mechanics.  We checked out some of the shops, and went to the beach.

Friday it rained!  All day! Fortunately the weather did not stop IV from joining the dive-trip he had booked, and made two dives on the wreck of RMS Rhone.  We were at the dock, so spent a lazy day on the boat, went out for lunch, did a little shopping and had our last family dinner at Peg Legs, and heard all about IV's big adventure.

The last of Anna Louise's's stuff got removed from Lady, and Charlie got a final picture of his feet with hers.

George the Taxi driver was here promptly at 0630 Saturday morning to pick everyone up for the trip to the airport to go home to Tulsa. 

This was a very special week for us. We were so please to have them aboard.  Anna Louise was born to be an island girl.  She had a splendid time.

(This post is probably of very little interest to anybody but Anna Louise's other grandmother, Rickey Engle.)

Holidays afloat

Virgin Islands

When we departed Nanny Cay for a holiday cruise around the islands, we were pleased to see that QM2 was visiting Road Town, so we headed over to get a closer look at her. 

Christmas Eve, a number of cruisers met in Maho Bay on St. John for a dinghy raft-up floating cocktail party.  We have to start these kind of parties quite early as the days are short and darkness comes pretty quickly.  Jim Wohlleber and Yvonne Thayer (Beckoning) were well-prepared.  Look at their decorated dinghy and their smart white hats.  Very festive!

Everyone brought their own drinks, and the food got passed around.  As you can imagine, it was yummy.  After the party we went over to Beckoning and watched a DVD movie with Jim and Yvonne.

Christmas Day was kind of rainy.  We met Beckoning and Cat Ionin Soldier Bay on Norman Island.  At 1600 the crew of all three boats met on the catamaran for a wonderful Christmas dinner.  Jim and Yvonne had cooked a turkey, Dixie and John had hors d'oeuvres and vegetables, and I prepared a West Indian Christmas pudding.  Another yummy meal.

Between Christmas and New Years, we re-visited some favorite places, and visited others for the first time.  We snorkeled on the wreck of RMS Rhone, we visited the graves of the victims on Salt Island, we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with dinner at the Cooper Island Beach Club.

There were lots of boats out the week after Christmas - by the time we got to North Sound, Virgin Gorda for the New Year, there were THREE cruise ships, and over thirty other mega-yachts anchored there.

We decided to join our friends on Bojangles IV ashore at Leverick Bay on Friday Jan 1st, where in addition to a delicious Caribbean buffet, the jumbie dancers came to entertain us.  These are a local family and they dance on stilts, with bright costumes.  They get everyone involved in the performance.

After that we cruised back around Jost Van Dyke, where we stopped in at Little Harbor one evening.  Another night found us back at the Norman Island Bight, where we had a delicious meal aboard Beckoning with Jim and Yvonne, between drinks at the Willy T, and dancing ar Pirates Bight.

By Saturday January 9th, we were back at Nanny Cay eagerly awaiting the arrival of IV, Olivia and Anna Louise.

St. John, USVI

St John Anchorages

The first anchorage we visited in St. John was in Salomon Bay, between Cruz Bay and Caneel Bay.  We picked up a National Park Service mooring when we first arrived flying our yellow flag.  Friends had provided Charlie with the phone numbers of the Cruz Bay Customs and Immigration, and Charlie phoned them, requested Local Boater Option ("LBO") and provided them with the BR numbers that we had registered for a year ago in Florida before we left for the Bahamas.  We were amazed to find out that once you are in Customs and Border Patrol's ("CBP") database, the BR numbers seem to work at places other than south Florida.  Not having to attend CBP's office gave us time to go swimming, and the snorkeling along the shore near Honeymoon Bay was quite good - lots of schools of fish.  We launched the dinghy and headed into the town of Cruz Bay.  We visited the National Parks Service headquarters for the Virgin Island National Park, where we picked up information, registered Charlie for a "Golden Ager" pass, paid the half-price for Golden Ager's fee for the mooring (only $7.50 per night - in the BVI's we had to pay $25 a night for a mooring) got some exercise walking up and down hills, and enjoyed a drink ashore before heading back to Lady for dinner. 

After a couple of days in St. Thomas (expensive, traffic, loud), we returned to St. John.  There were swells from the north that might have made for rolly anchorages in Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon Bays, so we passed them by, and found a park service mooring in Maho Bay - a truly gorgeous place.  The Bay is accessible by road, as well, so being Saturday there were quite a few people on the beach.  We dingied ashore, looking for a mooring pay point, but did not find one. So, we enjoyed snorkeling around Maho Point, where we saw brilliant Queen Angelfish with bright blue lips, a juvenile French Angelfishwith curved yellow stripes on a black body, and best of all, two octopi having a tussle!  We discovered the mooring pay-point on an old Park Service boat, and saw a pink Caribbean 1500 flag on a yacht in Francis Bay.  Summer Love, with Donna and Steve Constantine aboard we equally as pleased to see us as we were to see them.  We made plans to get together for dinner the next day.

Sunday, (December 13th) we first went ashore and check out Maho Bay Camp, an eco-resort where the campers are paying about $150 a night to sleep in single beds in semi-permanent tents.  We talked to one gentleman who informed us that this was his seventh visit over 15 years, that the resort's lease expired next year and that it is for sale for $22 million. We had to climb about 200 steps to get up to the dining room, where we found out that they welcome cruisers to join them for dinner, they do not need reservations for dinner, dinners are about $20, and they give you a 20% discount if you are over 60!  Sounded great, except that the line opened at 5:30.  Took the dinghy and snorkeled over by the gap between Mary Point and Whistling Cay, where we saw a Hawksbill Turtlefeeding on the grass.  There is an old customs house on Whistling Cay - can you imagine being posted there?  Lonely but lovely.  That evening we joined Donna and Steve and dinghied ashore for a meal.  It was about 6:30 by the time we got there, but they did still have some spicy chicken breast left, with steamed vegetables and a good salad bar. 

The next day we moved on to the next bay, Leinster Bay, and took a mooring behind Watermelon Cay. 

We had seen the ruins of the Annaberg Mill as we entered the bay, so after we were situated we went ashore and took the trail around the bay and up to the mill.  There were magnificent views.  The volunteer docent told us a great deal of the history of the mill, a sugar-factory that became un-economic after slavery was outlawed.  The steep hills would have made growing any crop difficult.  The construction was interesting in that all sorts of bricks stones and even coral were used to build the mill, boiling house and rum still.  There were also a few remains of the slaves' quarters.  After the mill was no longer functioning, and the estate had passed to different hands, a frame house was built on the old horse mill, that blew away one night while the family took refuge in the old wind-mill.  Our docent pointed out other ruins that we could see, and told us of some of the other trails around the bay.

Back aboard, we snorkeled around Waterlemon Cay, and saw lots of quite good coral.

Next morning, we decided to get some exercise before we shoved off, so we took the Johnny Horn Trail that the Annaberg docent had told us about. 

About half-way up the hill, we came to the first set of ruins.  Don't know what this used to be, but it was sheltered from the wind, so might have been quite warm.

The trail was not as well used as the one to Annaberg Mill, probably because we were a lot further from a road.  Once we got up to the top, again the view was magnificent.

These ruins were the "great house", the residence for the owners of the Annaberg Mill.  There were no rangers here, and it was not nearly as kempt as the sugar mill's ruins.  Even though it may have been unoccupied since the early  twentieth century, bougainvillea was blooming, so there must have been a lovely garden here at one time.

 

We had heard some animal noises as we trekked back down to the beach, and guessed that they were goats.  We were wrong.  This sweet little donkey came walking down the beach as we launched the dinghy.

During our swim before we left found another turtle, lots of the puffy Caribbean sea stars - I counted over sixty of them in the sandy area between the moorings and the beach - an octopus, a barracuda, and a small ray.

We departed Waterlemon about 1100, and sailed around the eastern end of St John, into Coral Harbor.  The harbor seems to be residence for many cruisers that have got stuck there.  We saw at least three boats without masts, others that needed to have their bottom cleaned years ago. 

We explored ashore and wound up at Skinny Legsfor a burger dinner.  Other cruisers had recommended a stop at that particular bar and grill.

The following day we picked up the anchor about 1000, and decided to motor around Hurricane Hole.  The Park Service does not allow overnight mooring, but they do have a few moorings available for day use.  We picked on up and went for a swim.  We had not swam around a mangrove shore before, and were surprised that the mangrove roots hanging in the water are growing corals on them.  The cove was deserted, so we had a naked lunch before spending the afternoon sailing around the south shore of Saint John and completing a circumnavigation of the island by picking up a mooring in Maho Bay once more.  We saw a nurse shark as we swam that afternoon. 

We spent the next few days in Francis Bay, moving from Maho because of some swells.  Summer Love had returned there after dropping their primary dinghy motor at St. Thomas for repairs, and Beckoningcame back from the USA and the USVIs and we had a jolly dinner party one night with Donna and Steve and Yvonne and Jim.  One day was cloudy and rainy and we didn't swim once.

Saturday we moved back to the BVIs, checking in at the customs office at Great Harbor on Jost Van Dyke.  Beckoning was already there, and we went to their boat for a wonderful italian dinner that night.

Sunday we came back to Nanny Cay.  Repair to the wind-speed was done Monday, and today it looks like the new backing plate will not be done my noon, so we will be here another night.  Laundry, provisioning and other kind of boring stuff are why there are no pictures!

If I don't get another post done before Christmas, Charlie and I want to wish all our friends the best of holidays.  Don't know what we will be doing particularly yet, but I bet in will involve food, friends, a beach, sunshine and turquoise water. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
 
 
 
  

Trellis Bay Full Moon Party

Trellis Bay

December 1st to 2nd, 2009

My previous post about Trellis Bay was done remotely, using email, and I can not include pictures when I do that, so here are some of the other pictures of Trellis Bay.

We used the dinghy dock closest to the government dock, as there is a big dumpster near there for FREE trash disposal.  There are some small stores, including a grocery, a coffee shop, a couple of bars, a little clothing store and a lovely gallery that sells crafts from all over the Caribbean.  Along the shore are a number of metal balls, used to contain fires on the monthly celebration of the full moon.

There is also a shed containing some of the locally built boats.

And the promotion of the next party.

There was a lot of talk between the cruisers about the party, so we went in to the bay and picked up a mooring the day before the party, to make sure we had a spot.

It was entertaining to see other boats, charterers, trying to take a short-cut across the reef in the middle of the bay and running aground.

We went ashore for dinner with at De Loose Mongoose with Kate and Kurt from Myananda, and had fun.  There were a half-dozen Caribbean 1500 cruisers there in the anchorage waiting for the full-moon event.

The bay is next to the airport, where there is an ATM.  We have sadly discovered that Master Card charges us pretty hefty finance charges when we use our credit card in the BVIs, but with cash we just have to pay $2 or $3, so the two-minute walk to the airport was one of our destinations.  I was stunned to see such lovely water-lilies.

We rescued a couple of people who had arrived by plane and were unable to reach their charter boat friends, and had a nice swim, taking dinghy over to the shore near the entrance to the bay, and snorkeling around the rocks there. 

 After dinner aboard, we parked dinghy at De Loose Mongoose, and headed to the celebration.  The fire-balls had been lit, and people were enjoying caribbean food.

A rope walker put on a show, with members of the audience holding the frams that supported his rope, finishing with juggling flaming batons.

A great evening!  Lots of fun with cruising friends.

Bubbly Pool

Little Jost Van Dyke

November 30th to December 1st, 2009

We had great wind as we sailed away from Anegada. We noticed that the swells were building from the north, although the wind was easterly. We thought we would make a lunch stop at Monkey Point off Guana Island, but when we arrived, there were no boats and the waves were crashing on the shore. We found shelter enough to anchor for lunch in White Bay.

After lunch we headed west to Jost Van Dyke, hoping to swim off Sandy Spit by Green Cay, but the swells made anchoring there too uncomfortable so we found shelter behind Little Jost Van Dyke, just off Diamond Cay. The snorkeling there was quite good. There were about three million baby fish swimming around, with pelicans diving off the rocks to feed on them.

The next day we dinghied ashore early. People had told us about the Bubbly Pool, and it was mentioned in the guide book, but we had not seen nor heard of it in previous visits. We were greeted by goats, and after a couple of false starts found the trail along the shore and through the woods.

It was interesting to see cacti growing amongst the other vegetation. It was a scramble over rocks, quite steep at times, but the warm half-to-three-quarter-mile exercise of our legs rewarded us with the most wonderful cove with waves crashing through a narrow opening.

We had to keep our sandals on as we swam and cavorted around in the water for about half an hour. The sand exfoliated our backs and legs as the waves tossed us around. The northerly swells were still there, and it made all the moving water exciting with a little waterfall coming and going through the crevices as the big ones came in. Our camera will also take movies, but I can’t post them here, without putting them on You-Tube first, and that takes too much band-width to do from remote locations. It was loads of fun, and we were very thrilled that we had the cove to ourselves.

On the way back to the anchorage, we met two other groups, one of six Swedes, all headed the same place.

We stopped at the only store, Turnbull’s Bakery, and purchased guava pie slices and coconut bread to go with our lunch. Anchor up, and then back to Trellis Bay, to get ready for the Full Moon Party.

Anegada

Anegada – November 28th to November 30th

We left North Sound the Saturday after Thanksgiving (November 28th).

There were a half-dozen charter boats hanging around the entrance, with a dinghy running around between them – the dinghy had the Yacht Shots name on it.  We guessed that perhaps this was a group charter from a sailing club, and that they were trying to get pictures of their fleet – pretty cool…until along came a cruise ship.  The cruise ship (Sea Dream II?) was determined to go through the entrance and take no prisoners. She saw a way through the fleet and took it.

It was a three-hour motor sail in light wind to get to Anegada.  The island is nick-named “The Drowned Virgin” – unlike the rest of the volcanic-based islands, Anegada was formed from an ancient reef; the highest point on the island is 30 feet, so you can’t see the island from any of the other islands (although once you’re there, you can see the hills of Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke across the sea).

Our chart-plotter’s electronic chart seemed to be a third to a half mile off from reality.  We were clearly at the entrance to the marked channel, but the chart-plotter showed us on the reef!  We followed the visual channel and soon were anchored off the mooring field behind our Kiwi friends Danny and Yvonne Simms on Ocean Pearl.

We headed ashore and checked out the restaurants in the anchorage area.  They all wanted at least $50 for lobster, so we made plans to eat on board.  I discovered why the entrance to the Anegada Reef Hotel had a cattle guard at their gate. (Somebody call the SPCA! - CAM)

The weather was rainy that afternoon, with beautiful rainbows as a reward.

Sunday we took the hotel’s shuttle across the island to Loblolly Bay, taking our fins, snorkels and masks with us.  We ordered lunch at the little restaurant (did NOT get the $30 half lobster), and headed out to the reef.

When we returned to the beach, our lunch was ready, and after that we spent more time on the beach, snorkeled out to the outer edge of the reef, and had a lovely day. 

After we returned to the anchorage area, we met up with a local gentleman, who took us in his pickup to see the Caribbean flamingoes in one of the salt ponds.  Eighteen of the birds were re-introduced to the area from the Bermuda Zoo in about 1995, and they have now successfully bred and there are over 300 of them now. (Now that the natives have stopped eating them. -CAM) They are quite pink, even though you may not be able to tell that from the picture.

Monday morning I was hanging out wet towels, when I noticed a brown booby perched on the bow.  She stayed for quite a while – long enough for me to get the camera and get a few pictures.  Then we left, and headed south.

Thanksgiving on the Beach

Off Prickly Pear Island, North Sound, Virgin Gorda, BVIs   18 30.26N 64 22.34W

November 25th to 28th, 2009

The early part of the week we were back in Nanny Cay trying to get some maintenance done.  Peter from Cay Electronics came by and determined that the radar had to go to his shop with him to be fixed.  Lincoln came by to try to see if the generator could run for more that half and hour.  Both issues are still outstanding, and we are also waiting on parts from Catalina to repair the rudder.

It was hot in the marina, but Lady's air conditioning works well when plugged in to shore power, and there's a lovely little beach with a reef that's nice for snorkeling.

Jim from Beckoning phoned to say that he and had picked up Yvonne from Saint Thomas, and had done all the Thanksgiving shopping.  We had heard over the SSB radio that a number of cruisers were getting together in North Sound, at the location we had already picked out, so Wednesday afternoon we headed that direction, dropping the anchor at about 1530.

Ashore we met up with Alice and Bob (Lucky Bird), who informed us that the Sandbox Bar and Grill was allowing our group to use their tables, chairs, etc. starting at about 1500 on Thursday. 

Thursday morning was busy.  The turkey gizzards came over from Beckoning, and I made stock for gravy with them, and also worked on other side dishes.  We took  a break mid-morning with the Beckoning crew to go ashore to The Bitter End Yacht Club for a mimosa on the beach.  Then at about 1430 we gathered up all our stuff, and headed ashore, along with a dozen other C1500 cruisers. 

As we were trying to find a place at the full dinghy dock, a couple came down the dock who were leaving, and we gratefully took their space - I was already clambering across their dinghy to try to get to the dock.  We exchanged greetings, and then they questioned us about our TX registration on the dinghy.

  "We're not really from Texas, were from Oklahoma"

"Where?"

 "Tulsa"

"So are we"

"Oh we know each other"

Dudley and Lisa Gibbs, former Grand Lake sailors and Tulsa Power Squadron members were there aboard Tara's Friendship.  They tied the dinghy back up and came up to the party with us.  They are presently living in Puerto Rico; we now have all their contact information, and hope to get together with them again when we are able to visit the Spanish Virgins.

People aboard boats can produce some amazing pot-luck meals - there were turkeys, dressings, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry, salad, beans corn, peas, breads, pies and cakes.  A wonderful feast.

Everybody had plenty to eat, and we were able to vacate the beach before the no-see-ums came out at dusk.

What a great day.  We have much to be thankful for.

We spent another day at anchor there, visited with Dudley and Lisa some more before they had to head back, and took Yvonne out to the reef on Eustatia Sound for some snorkelling, and then took off for Anegada.

Marina Cay, Trellis Bay, Norman Island

Sunday November 20th, 2009

We left Leverick Bay, North Sound, Virgin Gorda this morning and sailed E about 6 kts for a couple of hours.

We turned S, and had to start motor. Ended up off S shore of Guana Island, at Monkey Point mooring area. Nancy from Destiny had told me before we left Nanny Cay that she'd been here and seen huge tarpon in the snorkeling area. We did NOT pick up a mooring that the BVI Trust wants to charge us large amount for a six month permit. When a couple is here on a charter for a week or two $50 a week doesn't seem so bad especially when it's already included in the charter fee. Anyway we anchored next to the mooring field (hey we're cruisers, anchoring in 49 feet of water with a sandy bottom doesn't bother us with our BIG 66lb 30kg Bruce anchor with 300 chain), and took dinghy in to the dinghy mooring. The snorkeling was the best so far. There's a little cave here that was full of schools of fish. The pelican hanging around the cliff warned us that there was a good stream of minnows. It is so cool to be swimming in a school of minnows. They are all around you, but try to touch one, you can't do it, even though they are just inches away.

After relaxing post swim we headed to Marina Cay, a fondly remembered destination. Well, that was kind of a disappointment. It's now a Pussers Restaurant. They did not have a happy hour (on Friday night!), there was no free popcorn at the bar. The food menu which before had great cheeseburgers now offered only an upscale menu, and we would have spent over $50 for dinner and more for the drinks. And this is for a beach bar! We just had a single drink at the bar, and decided that we need to find some cruisers net for BVI to let us know where real people can go out for dinner. Are the BVI's too upscale for us these days?

Saturday November 21st, 2009

Happy 86th birthday to my mother, Mary Pain on the Isle of Wight, England, UK.

The Marina Cay anchorage was quite rolly, so we moved early in the day over to Trellis Bay, where we picked up a mooring. Nice and quiet with lots of breeze. There were quite a few C1500 boats in the bay. We went ashore, and visited all the little business establishments and were able to find an ATM machine at the airport that had money. It's quite a colorful little place, very low key. After a beer at Da Loose Mongoose, and purchase a few provisions as the Trellis Bay market we dinghied by Brown-Eyed Girl and Ocean Pearl and made plans for dinner ashore at The Last Resort together.

The dinner was quit nice, but more expensive than we expected. There were white table-cloths on the tables - a LOT different from the establishment we remembered as family style buffet dining with entertainment from the host after dinner.

Monday November 22nd, 2009

Charlie and I got in the dinghy and picked up Judy (Brown-Eyed Girl) and Yvonne (Ocean Pearl) and Charlie dropped us off at Da Loose Mongoose's dinghy dock. We women had a lovely walk along the beach, out to the point for about a hour, and then Danny (Ocean Pearl) came and picked us up to take us back to the boats. The dinghy motor failed on the way to Lady, so we got out the oars, and then Charlie towed us over to Brown-Eyed Girl, where Judy and I hopped off, and he took Yvonne and Danny back to Ocean Pearl. I was able to help Joe and Judy with an issue they had with their Sailmail email. After Joe took me back to Lady, we got under way, and had a lovely sail down the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Norman Island, aka Treasure Island where many years ago (pre 1751) Tortolians recovered much of the buried treasure from Nuestra Senora of $450,000, plate, cochineal, indigo and tobacco.

The Bight was FULL of moorings. We looked for a place to anchor, but even with 300 feet of chain, sixty feet is a little too deep. We picked up up a mooring. Apparently, the BVI's have decided to take advantage of every opportunity to separate cruisers from their money. By evening there were 84 boats in the bay, only four that we could identify as being at anchor, each paying $25.00 for the use of a mooring with the only benefit being a free drink at the bar (we didn't want to go ashore with that many charterers and day-trippers in the area). Most other places in the world where we have paid for moorings have also given us privileges such as being able to use the laundry at the marina or getting water.

After lunch, we took the dinghy over to The Caves, where we had a delightful hour snorkeling, although there were catamarans full of day-trippers also there. As we tied up the dinghy, we noticed that the gentleman in the dinghy next to us had a Windycrest MC shirt on. Apparently he had been to Tulsa for the MC Nationals earlier this year. He was from Kansas City.

We explored the anchorage by dinghy when we got back, noting that Summer Love and Shazam, also C1500 participants, were in the area.

There is room for two or three boats to anchor close in to the beach, near the bar, which we will consider for another day.

John and Mary from Shazam joined us for dinner - they arrived using the dinghy oars - must be the day for dinghy motors not to work.



18 19.01N 064 37.18W

North Sound, Virgin Gorda

Thursday November 20th, 2009 18 30.032N 064 23.213W

A heavy rain shower first thing Wednesday morning had us jumping our of bed and running around closing hatches and mopping up.  Charlie spent the morning doing maintenance, particularly using CorrosionX on the stainless and aluminum.  After I got the housework done, I had to keep moving the shade cloths around, as we swung in the light south and westerly zephyrs.

We were amazed to see a cruise ship Sea Dream I, from the Sea Dream Yacht Club line, enter the sound and anchor near us.  Later in the day a second Sea Dream Yacht Club ship came in!  What has happened to North Sound? 

When it got hot, we took a break to swim.

After lunch and a serious nap for Charlie, we dinghied past Saba Rock out to Eustatia Sound, where we found a dinghy mooring, and spent about forty minutes in the water snorkeling on the reef.  The mooring anchor looked like something that would hold HMS Victory, a serious anchor, and we also saw a cannon (compliments of some dive shop we assume).  Lots of pretty fish, but the corals were disappointing.  Charlie commented later that it was good that we came here first about twenty-five years ago with friends Capt. B.O. and Pattycake, and saw the reefs when they were vivid, before so much of the coral died.

Later in the day a mega-yacht came and anchored near us.

Dinner tonight was Charlie's choice - Sirloin steak, mashed potatoes and a salad.  I have a lovely freezer full of meats from USA.  I did some provisioning in Tortola - Bobby's Market has a great service where you can order from their on-line spreadsheet, and they will do FREE delivery to the boat and give a 5% discount if the order is over $100.  However, as you might expect, their prices are about a third to a half more than in the USA.  And of course, getting their spreadsheet downloaded with intermittent Internet service was challenging!

Thursday we did boat chores for a while in the morning - using rubbing compound on the hull to remove stains from vents, and then went out to Eustatia Sound to snorkel again.  This time we found a couple of dinghy moorings at the far eastern end of the sound, and again we spent about forty minutes in the water. 

After lunch we moved Lady a couple of miles and anchored off Leverick Bay Resort, where we went ashore for a drink.  Kiwi friends from the Carib 1500, Yvonne and Danny (Ocean Pearl), came in to North Sound and anchored close by, and after a couple of VHF radio conversations they joined us for dinner, a yummy combination of leftovers from both boats - beef curry from Ocean Pearl with beans and rice from Lady.