Aboard Lady

Jolly Harbour, Antigua

Jolly Harbour, Antigua    +17° 4' 14.22", -61° 53' 9.24"  

Antigua looked so pretty as we approached Jolly Harbour.

Other yachts looked pretty comfortable in the anchorage.

Charlie hailed the marina on the radio, and was advised that before we could pick up a mooring, we should go in to the customs office (next to the big yellow flag), tie up there, and clear in.

We has to visit three different offices, but they are all located in the same building. As we were busy with the first official, Seraphim arrived, so Tom, Tom and Brigitte had to start filling our their paper-work outside - One person did not get to work today, another wanted to leave early (Friday), man they were really busy, with five different officials in three different offices (each with a different soap opera on their TV sets), a few more hanging around on the deck outside.  Eventually we got through the last official (cashier), and found our way to mooring #2.

Ashore we explored around the harbor area, purchase a few provisions at the American-style grocery and had a beer at the quarter-deck.  Dinner that night was at a Swiss steak-house.

The area reminds of S. Florida - recently-constructed condos and private houses built around dredged canals.  Attractive properties, for the most part.

Saturday morning, we caught the local bus (EC$3.25, about $1.20 US) to St. John's, the capital city.  The bus station is next to the central market.  It was market day, and there were fruit and vegetable stands spread out all over the place.  We walked up Market Street; it was busy, with lots of people around.  After visiting the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, where we learned about geological history, we stopped in the cruise-ship area for lunch. 

It was not the establishment who's menu is pictured here.

We passed the statue of Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Snr. on our way back to the bus station.  We don't remember ever before seeing a painted statue like this.  V. C. Bird, Sr, was "The Father Of Our Nation", born in 1909, had an elementary education, was elected to the legislative Assembly, and later became Antigua and Barbuda's first Prime Minister when the country became independent from Britain in 1981.

The bus ride back to Jolly Harbour was hot and dusty.  The twenty-two passenger bus was full.  We were the only fair-skinned people on the bus, and so far as I could tell, the only ones who paid the driver.  However, the EC$3.25 fare was a lot better than the US$20 that a taxi driver offered.

Seraphim  had caught a wahoo on their trip between Nevis and Antigua, and with the arrival of spouses Annie and Becky, it was time to party (Unfortunately Brigitte's husband was still working in Abu Dhabi.)  We had a lovely evening aboard Seraphim, and Tom did a great job cooking the fish.  Thanks so much for such a good time!

Next day we decided to move off the mooring and go to the anchorage.  We went in to the marina area to get fuel and water and waved goodbye to Seraphim. 

It turned out that the wind had clocked, and was coming at us from an unusual direction, and swells were building, after lunch we moved to the better shelter of the next harbor to the north, Five Island Harbour.

We could see the volcano emissions from Montserrat, way off in the distance. 

It was more comfortable, although there were places on the shore where the swells created big spray.

Another great sunset.

 

Taxi Tour of Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher    Basseterre, St. Kitts.

Along with the Seraphim group, Tom, Tom, Brigitte, we engaged Emile and his taxi to give us a tour of St. Kitts.

He met us at the marina gate, and we boarded this comfortable van.

He showed us where the egrets nested...this picture is mostly fledglings. 

He pointed out the difference between the local sheep and goats.  The sheep might look like goats, they might be the same color as goats, but they are fairly hairless, unlike the ones we are familiar with.  Once we  learned that goats' tails go up, and sheep tails go dow, we became better at identifying them.

We passed a plantation that had impressive yard art.

And we paused in a village to photograph this ancient tree, may of its lower branches removed to allow room for traffic.

The views were magnificent as we traveled the coast road above the cliffs.

Teachers was a popular scotch in this village.

There is an old railroad that was used to collect sugar cane from the plantations.  Part of the old system is now used for a tourist train.  We had thought that we would like to take the train, but the two cruise ships in port that day had all the seats booked, and Emile informed us that only half the tour is on the train, the other half is on buses, and that he would take us places that the train tour didn't go, and his fee was only $20 US per person, rather than the $89 US that the train company charged.

One ruined plantation, the Wingfield estate, dating from the 17th century is now partly used for farming.  I found a pig, and there were lots of cattle grazing in the ruins! There is also an archaeological dig in progress there.

We also walked around the Romney Manor estate that hosts Caribelle batik.  Lots of pretty clothes were for sale, but this wasn't a shopping trip, although Brigitte did find a lovely oven mitt for her sister.  We enjoyed their gardens, amazing fan palms and the native crotons.

The Middle Island Anglican Church is closed during the week, because of stealing.  It was the first Anglican Church in the Caribbean, and the cemetery hold the remains of Samuel Jefferson, one of President Thomas Jefferson's ancestors.

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a World Heritage Site.  We viewed the video, and learned how 1,000 British soldiers held out for a siege of a month against 8,000 French soldiers in 1782, before surrendering.  The French did not keep the island for long...in 1783 the Treaty of Versailles returned the island to the Brits.  This history of so many of these Caribbean islands is based on the sugar trade, and the politics and economies were dependent on the price of sugar.

Emile had phoned and made lunch reservations for us at the Rawlins Plantation, now a charming Inn.  We sat in the shade of the porch and ordered our drinks.  They had a delicious West Indian Buffet set up.  We sat at a gorgeous highly-polished dining room table, and the six of us enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Well-fed, we resumed the tour and stopped on the windward, north-east side of the island to marvel at the waves breaking on the Black Rocks.

We briefly drove through some of the newly-developed areas before stopping at the local grocery store for a few provisions and ending our great tour.
 

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!

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.

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.

Sunny Days and Rummy Nights

Nanny Cay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands   18 23.90N 64 38.15W 

The first few days we were at Nanny Cay we were busy cleaning and making repairs.  As you can imagine, Lady was covered with salt – coming in to Sopers Hole at 0330 in the morning with the dodger isinglass covered in salt was difficult for Charlie at the helm.  Steve, Jim and I were up on the bow with boathooks and spotlights trying to find an empty mooring.  We were rewarded with the sight of a pair of spotted rays swimming along, and finally found a mooring in the back of the bay.  Shazam, a J/130 with John and Mary Driver aboard were not so lucky and rafted up with us.  We later found that this was against the rules.

Washing the hull, putting stuff away, relocating things that had been moved to handle the 15 degree heel from the seven and three-quarter day trip, changing bed sheets.  The marina Laundromat has a lady working there who did the washing for us.  The marina shower facilities are fantastic – a friend had emailed us from Tulsa that they were splendid – a block of ten full bathrooms with beautiful rounded wooden doors and pretty green slate interior and lots of hot water.  What a treat to fix lunch standing upright!

The Caribbean 1500 Rally sponsored a cocktail party every evening.  Rum punch was the featured beverage.  Most nights we ate aboard, but did try Peg Legs restaurant’s buffet one night.

Kathleen, a Canadian cruiser on Bojangles IV organized a nice ceremony on Wednesday for Remembrance Day.

Charlie, Jim and Steve worked on fixing the things that had broken on the way.  The problem with the chart plotter was that in the excitement of losing the autohelm and coming in to land, someone had pushed a “declutter” button.  The wind instrument was a weak connection, and just needed to have wires jiggled and sprayed.  The autohelm was a bigger issue.  Jim spent most of one day in the lazarette taking the old one apart and finding a hundred beebees/ballbearings running around the bilge.  We had been informed that Cay Electronics in Road Town was a reliable place to get help, so the four or us hopped aboard a jitney and headed to town.  Anna from Portsmouth, UK assisted us there, and the expensive charge for a new autohelm drive went through.  We stopped for lunch at Charlie’s a lovely restaurant at The Moorings charter base.

In the course of investigating the autohelm issue, they identified a problem with rudder bearings and bushings caused by the high lateral stress on the voyage.  Emails to Catalina indicate that it will be at least three weeks before we can get replacement parts.

Friday afternoon was scheduled for the awards presentation.  We put on team shirts and headed over to the beach.  Back in Hampton, the participants had been invited to contribute to VISAR – Virgin Islands Search And Rescue, a volunteer group that trains with the US Coast Guard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and provides local rescue services in the BVIs.  The Caribbean 1500 organization was able to present them with a check for over $1,000 that they plan to use for new radios for some of their rescue vessels. 

Every yacht was awarded a beautiful pewter plate, made by a small foundry in Mexico.  Lady’s was different from most of them – it has First Place inscribed on it – yes after adjusting for handicaps and time under power, we were first in Rally Class 3!  A great pig roast meal followed the rum-tasting cocktail party.

Steve Ormond left Saturday, headed back to Detroit area via St. Thomas, and Jim Culver departed yesterday, going to the Baltimore area.

Many of the boats are leaving Nanny Cay, headed out cruising.  We expect to depart tomorrow.  Today it’s pouring with rain, and I am getting provisions aboard for the next couple of weeks.  Actually, it has rained more in the past few days than these islands typically see all winter.

We plan to be in the Virgins until about the middle of January, and will then head south, visiting as many of the Leeward and Windward Islands as we can between here and Trinidad.

Voyage to Tortola

Nanny Cay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands    18 23.90N 64 38.15W

Since we arrived here, we have been quite busy.  I asked crew-member Steve Ormond if he would like to write about the trip, and his essay follows.  Thanks so much Steve!

JM

Steve Ormond’s contribution to Lady’s blog.

Trying to land a berth as a crewmember on a Tortola bound C1500 vessel is a bit like one of those middle school dances, where the boys and girls try to match up without knowing much about each other, where there is competition for the best partners and where the potential rewards are great.

It was a bit like that in September, when my wife Sue and I traveled from the Detroit area to Hampton, Virginia to attend the Cruising Rally Association’s Ocean Sailing Seminar. As newly boatless sailors, we were looking for a way for me to scratch the sailing itch, and a possible berth on a Tortola bound sailboat seemed like a great way to do that.  Imagine my surprise when, unlike the middle school dances when my success was very limited, I came home with a promised berth on S/V Lady, owned by Charlie and Jenny McNamara!

On October 31, I flew to Newport News with all my gear and joined Lady and her crew, Charlie, Jenny and Jim Culver.  It was cold and wet, with more promised for the departure of the fleet on November 2.  At 12 noon on November 2 we crossed the starting line at Thimble Shoals light, and were off in a flurry of maneuvering and avoiding a Naval carrier task force that departed at the same time.   Eight days later, at 3:20 am, November 9, we crossed the finish line next to Soper’s Hole at Tortola, covering altogether 1294 nautical miles in steady northeasterly breezes of 20-25 knots.  It would take a book to cover everything that happened in between, but here are some highlights:

Charlie and Jenny are a great team at sea and they have made Lady a very comfortable home, even when heeled over in ten foot swells and 25 knot breezes.  Charlie is a good skipper, knowing what to leave in the hands of others and willing to consider options, even if suggested by volunteer crew.  Jenny’s upbringing has made her, in my limited experience, an unusual woman.  She knows how to sail the boat and is not afraid to make decisions regarding Lady’s operations.  This is not a small thing.  When I, Charlie and Jim were all incapacitated from mal de mer during portions of the first and second days, Jenny’s self confidence was a bulwark for the rest of us.

I have a picture in my mind during the first night, with Charlie, Jim and me all huddled in the various nooks and crannies of  Lady’s large cockpit, while stoic Jenny stands at the wheel. In the background is The Bucket.  One by one, we take turns using The Bucket and returning to our spots.  Fortunately, it became unnecessary pretty quickly.

The course took us over the Gulf Stream at its narrowest part, off Cape Hatteras, while northeast winds kicked up large seas by opposing the current.  That was exhilaratingly fast and scary, but Lady handled the conditions like a champ.  We were consistently sailing high nine knots, into ten knots, while rolling up and over large swells.

It is difficult to express the wonder of racing along at nine or ten knots at night in high seas, the wonder that any boat could survive such a crazy thing, and the wonder that a crew can control this experience through sail trim and tactics.  We had only one day when our speed dropped and decided to motor-sail for a short time.  The rest of the trip we managed to keep her moving at over seven knots, mostly eight or more.  Until the very end, our total engine time motor sailing was under eight hours.

Some tips for new ocean sailors:  Don’t try to use the toilets standing up, unless you are well braced and prepared to clean up your misses.  Make sure that your trips below are necessary and rare, because every movement about the boat is a challenge and risks injury.  Hold on to solid structures.

Things break.  In our case, the Gremlins struck, but not with disastrous effects.  The wind speed/direction instrument stopped working, leaving us to use the old fashioned methods of watching the Windex needle and estimating wind speed.  The Autohelm autopilot broke during the night of November 9, when we were about 50 nautical miles from Tortola.  At the same time, the rudder became very difficult to control at the wheels, leaving us to hand steer the last portion with great effort, complicated by the fact that our navigation was limited due to the fact that we had unwittingly “decluttered” the chartplotter and the radar was not working.  This confluence of problems made sure that we were all fully awake as we carefully plotted our course past Jost Van Dyke, across the finish line, motored into Soper’s Hole, found a mooring and headed for the bunks, but not before noticing that Tortola’s roosters were already crowing for the new day.

Finally, no account of a voyage would be complete without comment on the food.  Jenny made it her job to keep us all in sailing trim by creating full lunches and gourmet dinners each day (although we skipped on the first evening due to sea sickness).  She always apologized that they were one-bowl meals, but we ate like kings:  chicken paprika with dumplings; roast beef stew in wine, with biscuits and butter; red beans and rice with sausages; brownies; chicken stew with mushrooms and rice; beef stroganoff; beef chili.  If you have occasion to sail with Charlie and Jenny, you won’t be lacking tasty food.

All in all, a very satisfying experience, with new friends, gut wrenching and challenging sailing, all ending up in paradise.  Thanks for allowing me to come along, Charlie and Jenny!  If this was a middle school dance, I got the best Lady.
  

We are off today!

Hampton VA     November 2nd, 2009

Our crew is ready to cast off.  WIll post again from Tortola BVI's.  We should be there in nine to ten days.  Follow Lady on Carib1500.

Steve, Jenny, Charlie, Jim

Caribbean 1500 - Departure minus 5

Hampton, VA  37 01.05N 076 20.50W

Tuesday October 27th to Wednesday October 28th

We have been really busy getting Lady ready for her final safety inspection for the Caribbean 1500 rally and the trip offshore for 1500 miles.

One of the big items was to get the dinghy ready.  Her tubes had got soft with the cool weather, so on Tuesday it was Charlie's turn to pump them up.  We lowered her down.  As you can see we are stern in to the dock, so this made doing this task easier.  After her tubes were full, we dug her cover from the lazarette, installed it, and found straps to secure it.  Then we hoisted her up to her perch under the arch and put additional straps around her and the arch, just in cast the lines or pulleys holding her up should fail.  She now looks really snug and secure and ready for an ocean voyage.

Next project was to finish off the anchors and the anchor locker.  Charlie had fashioned a wooden plug to fill some of hole where the rode goes down in to the anchor locker while he was a bachelor at Solomons Island, waiting for me to return from England in September.  He installed it, and tied the #1 anchor down, up and sideways.  He later added plastic shelf liner that he also used in this engineering feat!

Then we had to finish the MOB  stuff.  We all know that if anybody leaves the boat while we are at sea, those left on board will keep searching for them until the food runs out.  However, safety rules require that we have all kinds of (expensive) gear aboard to try to get them back from the ocean.  One of these is a pole with a drogue, another is a horseshoe float with a light.  The horseshoe needed a place to hang, so Charlie installed a fixture for it, and then hung the horseshoe on it.

Meanwhile, I worked on provisioning.  It seems like chocolate chip cookies might be good crew snacks at 3:20 am.

We also transferred about seven gallons of diesel from the jerry cans to the main fuel tanks and refilled the cans. 

Wednesday morning it was rainy, a good time to complete paperwork, and we got the Type 1 PFDs (that the Millers on Dulcinea had given us) checked, labeled and stowed. I did more laundry after it stopped raining.

The sun came out; it got hot, and we changed in to shorts.  More and more boats, most of them bigger than Lady are coming in.  Safety inspections are underway.  Miles Poor (Karina) came by and did our final check - what a relief it is to have completed that!

We hoisted our C470 burgee, Charlie installed some ferrite cores on the new VHF radio, and we strolled the docks, visiting with other rally participants.  We feel really relieved that Lady is ready for departure, and we still have four more days to go before we leave. Hope we don't run out of booze!

  The rally has lots of seminars and events organized starting tomorrow.