We’re off again!

Folks,

We had a few hours to kill waiting for the ferry to Spanish Town so we stopped in one of our favorite water front spots, The Green House.

We finally departed Florida again January 5th for another 5 months of sailing, starting where we left off in Spanish Town BVI.  After an uneventful flight to St Thomas we had a couple of hours to kill while we waited for the ferry over to Spanish Town.  We stored our bags and for a small fee had a guy watch them for us while we wondered down to The Green House Bar and Restaurant right on the water front just a few blocks from the terminal.  I pondered about the lifestyle we enjoy and how it’s a little schizophrenic.  Half in eastern Florida as a retired couple that golf and play with other retired friends and half cruising sailors wandering the Caribbean.  Cruising sounds way more glamorous than it really is but it is pretty good.  No it’s fantastic and we’re some of the luckiest people in the world to be doing it…  I drifted back out of the daydream and returned to relaxing over my first “dark and diet” (dark rum and diet Coke) watching the tourists wander around all the little shops and then gazed at the empty spot in the bay where we had anchored many times last year.  “Cheers baby!” I said to Robin noticing her eyes were wandering around probably with similar thoughts.  Soon it was time to head back to the ferry for a short hour and a half ride to Spanish Town.  We arrived just after sunset and zipped through customs and immigration to a cab and up to Fisher’s Cove Resort in  no time.  Bill and Charlene  had arrived earlier in the day and were at the bar waiting for us with son Patrick.  We had a nice visit and they filled us in on what

Beautiful view off the breakfast veranda at Fisher's Cove Resort. Smallish cruise ship in the distance

the boats looked like.  Good news was the boats were in great shape; the moth balls had done the trick and eliminated any mold issues.  The awful news was that Bill and Charlene’s dinghy had been stolen.  I may do a separate entry on the dinghy saga later but for now let’s just say losing your dingy is a real pain in the ass!  They’re expensive but that’s not the tough part.  Getting new one over here is almost as bad a process to go through as losing it.  The yard did take responsibility for the loss and after a LOT of negotiating Bill was kept almost whole on the loss but then began a month of trying to sail around without the “taxi” and finally pick one up.  As I type this it’s Jan 21st and it looks like the engine will be available next week in Tortola and then the dinghy later in the week over in St Thomas.  Our Canadian friends deal with these things better than anyone we know.  Bill gazes off and says something like “there’s people in the hospital that would trade places with any of us”.  How cool is that?  Then we just order another drink and talk about something else. After a nice visit we headed to the room for a great night’s rest.

 

Bill and Charlene splashed first and we were right behind with SV Toucan Dream

Next day our focus became readying the boat to be splashed. We had planned to do some minor repairs on Friday and then splash Tookie on Monday since the travel lift doesn’t operate on weekends. But we got things done quicker than plan and were the last boat splashed on Friday.  Bill and Charlene had planned all along to splash on today (Friday) but we were a “fit in”.  SV RSVP splashed just before Tookie and we gave “dread lock” the bald crane operator a nice tip for staying late to put Tookie in as well.  Then over to a slip in the marina for a few days to get things put back together and start up our systems.  The marina ended up costing almost as much as the resort room so we revised our plan and got out with the bare necessities and finished the rest on the hook.  So with the toilets, water maker, genset and engines commissioned we attached the main sail and jib then departed the marina Wednesday and motored out with almost no wind to St John’s at Caneel Bay, one of our favorite beaches the locals call Honeymoon Beach.  It was good to be back!

Next morning we headed over to St Thomas to start unloading boxes of supplies that we’d sent from the states during our visit home.  We had 5 large shipping boxes containing everything from spare pumps to toilet paper.  We’d planned to stay at Yacht Haven Grand Marina right around the corner from Flagship Yacht Services who were receiving and storing the boxes for us but the season was busy and no slips were available so we anchored in the harbor and ferried the boxes one or two at a time ’till we had the boat so full there was barely room to move around.  It was clear we had to get the stuff unloaded and into storage very soon so we worked pretty hard to make that happen.  Most of the stowing plan was Robin’s and she’s pretty organized about it.  She maintains notes about all of it on her ipad so we know how many of each part and where it is.  As I do maintenance she adjusts the amount in storage.  This becomes incredibly valuable later on.

Over the next few days we got our canvas that needed repair to a shop on the east end of the island and a few minor repairs to the boat done and things got back to normal… well normal for us, some of the most fortunate people in the world!

Around the BVI in 7 days – Part 1

Folks,

My sailing buddy from way back in 2001 came to visit again this past week with his wife Ruth.  We’ve sailed with them several times and one of the trademarks is Trevor’s evening martini.  So we start preparing for their arrival the night before icing down the martini glasses.  After a couple at the dock we headed out in the morning for St John’s.  Ruth is pretty picky about her beaches and wasn’t hard to please.  So we did several days including Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Watermelon Bay, and Francis Bay.  Then we headed out the short 4 mile trip to Sopers hole to clear in.  Since we’d done this before and now had the forms it was pretty easy.  Customs and Immigration people can be very nice and happy or they can be “little man” complexed monsters that would have been fired a long time ago for being extremely rude if they worked anywhere else.  So there’s always a little anxiety as you approach.  We were luck this time.  The guy was more than decent and easy going.  So we got our fee paid and were back in the dinghy and on our way out the channel to Cooper Island for a delightful lunch and some basking in the Sun.

From here we sailed up Sr Francis Drake Channel to Spanish Town where we planned to take a mooring ball and depart early in the morning for The Bath’s.  A famous snorkeling stop that has a lot to offer in the way of beaches, caves, and snorkeling.  This time it also had something more to offer…

No mooring balls were left so we took a slip in the marina and had a good time wandering around Spanish Town for their local Carnival.  This time of year each island has a carnival and they’re all on different weeks.  We just lucked out and got there for the end of carnival.  Loud music, parades, and special tents were set up all over the place.  After TM’s (Trevor’s Martini’s) we sacked out and were up early to get down to the Bath’s before all the cruise ship’s traffic.  Trevor had this idea to stop at Devil’s point where there were mooring balls and a place to tie up the dinghy only about 50 yards from the beach.  So I landed the dink on the beach, emptied all the people and beach stuff then tied up Tookie II and swam back ashore.  This was a great way to see the Bath’s.  We just walked up the beach a short ways to enter the semi-submerged caves that led right up the the Bath’s.  As we got close I noticed a short cut swim so Robin and I went that way.  About half way I noticed something on my belly that tingled.  Then suddenly everything BURNED BAD!  JELLY FISH ALL WRAPPED AROUND ME!  I turned to warn Robin and luckily she hadn’t gotten any.  As I swam back the pain got worse and worse.  As I trudged up the beach pulling the slippery jelly tentacles I was really starting to weaken.  I’ll spare you all the further details but I got most of them off and back to the dinghy with a lot of help from Trevor and back to our boat on the mooring ball.  After I trying several treatments that did almost nothing Trevor got his electronic medical information device to produce a superb solution.  Almost scalding hot water.  Not exactly the thing you really want to do on something that burns real bad but it worked like a charm.  Then another secret to get all the tentacles off was to soap up with shaving cream and shave with a credit card!  Another great idea that finally got all the buggers off me.  Soon I was relaxing and recuperating.  Trevor went back to enjoy the beach a little at least with Ruth but even that was interrupted with  and elderly lady that had gotten stung and was having problems breathing.  Soon he was in action again helping her out and still not having much fun I’m sure.  Eventually they did get a little beach time but unfortunately this just wasn’t the best day of the trip for Trevor and Ruth.  But I sure was glad he was there.  If he hadn’t found the treatment I was ready to call rescue.  It really hurt that bad.  Thanks Trevor!