April 18th 2014
Position 18° 21.445’ N
64° 34.830’
W
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| A beautiful evening with a new moon |
Our passage from Îles des Saintes
was according to plan; the weather cooperated for the most part although seas
to begin with where rougher than expected. Moderation did occur during the trip
and we experienced good lee protection from the islands of Guadeloupe and St.
Kitt’s.
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| Necker Island |
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| Rounding the NE point of Virgin Gorda |
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| The sights we see |
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| Bitter End Yacht Club |
While we were transiting the lee of St. Kitt’s it was time to try our
luck with the fishing rod. Lavinia chose the lure, a yellow and green one, she spat
on it for good luck and away it went. I let it out to approximately 100 yards
behind the boat clear of the turbulent wake water. The drag was set and we both
retreated back to navigating the boat from the pilot house. Some time passed, nothing;
bemoaning our luck and making mutterings about our friend Bill Miller on ‘Ann
Louise’ who had just posted pictures of his catch of a massive wahoo he had
caught off the coast of St. Lucia a day or two before. “What were we doing
wrong”, “nothing”, I told Lavinia, and be patient. Some more time passed and HT
called out that she could hear the reel paying out line…I ran down from the
pilot house, there were no other boats around. I took the rod from the holder,
struck and began to crank the little blighter in. It was not a big fish, I
could feel that…I saw a flash of yellow as I was winding in the line. My first
thought was that it was a little chicken dolphin, a Mahi Mahi, they are green
and yellow. As the catch became visible at the stern disappointment set in,
guess what? We had caught a banana peel. HT immediately owned up that she had,
minutes before, eaten a banana and thrown the peel overboard! What are the odds
of catching one’s own banana peel 100 yards behind the boat? We laughed and
decided that fishing was over on this occasion as the seas were building; we
were leaving the lee of St. Kitts now on our way to Sint Eustatius and Saba
islands and I don’t relish dealing with a fish in rough conditions. Once past
Saba Island we altered course very slightly for Virgin Gorda, we were in the
Anegada Passage; had she lain down as forecast or would we have a monotonous
bouncy ride? The passage was not too bad and we were able to sleep comfortably
during our off watch periods. On my 4 – 7 watch, as dawn arrived, so did a
distant view of land; it is easy to imagine being Christopher Columbus at times
like this wondering what his thoughts were and the words he may have uttered. We
were nearly there. In the morning light of February 26th I saw the outline of Virgin Gorda, the fat virgin, as Columbus called the island, a welcome sight after an 80 mile, 14 hour journey from Saba. We rounded the north-eastern tip of the island and immediately began to experience the calmer reef protected water, the trip was almost over and a welcome rest waits in North Sound. We entered the marked channel to North Sound and were moored up to one of the Bitter End Yacht Club mooring balls by 08:45.
After clearing in at Gun Creek we
spent two days enjoying the facilities of Bitter End and, of course, a great
hamburger at Saba Rock, the best in the Caribbean in my opinion and all this
while being surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Virgin Islands. We left
Bitter End and North Sound earlier in 2013 on our way south to Trinidad so
arriving back here was the completion of our Eastern Caribbean
circumnavigation…we did it and we are still in one piece!
Our next stop would be Spanish
Town or as it is known ‘The Valley’, the principal town of Virgin Gorda. We
spent only one night and a morning here just enough time to be rocked and
rolled all night by the ferry wakes and the swell coming in from the Anegada
Passage, miserable! We went into town to the bank ATM, to eat some breakfast
plus go to Buck’s grocery store for a few provisions.
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| The Baths |
A short trip west would take us to The Baths where we picked up one of the national park moorings. With snorkel
gear donned we set off for the Baths, a short dinghy ride from the mooring
field. We snorkelled in the most wonderful water for two hours enjoying the
colourful fish and coral marvelling all the time at how clear the water was. A
visit here is a must. We pressed on to our final destination of the day Great
Harbour, Peter Island. This big bay is an easy in and easy out. There are no
reefs to be wary of. Anchoring is permitted and we ventured far into the SW
corner where we found flat water, we dropped the hook in 45 feet. There were four
other boats in the area but there would have been room for twenty so it was
very private. We felt like we were in the wilderness and HT remarked that this
was the closest she had come to camping, she has never camped! It is now March
2nd the weather is perfect and I mean perfect the skies have been
blue, the humidity down and the temperatures in the very low 80’s, the Virgins
appeal. There are so many anchorages and islands here and it is not hard to see
why the area is known as the sailing capital of the world. Even though there
are many boats they are absorbed well and it doesn’t seem crowded or at least
it doesn’t yet! We Stayed in Great Harbour two days and three nights, we really like this place. We took a dinghy ride to explore east to Deadman's Bay. This is another anchorage although not as protected as Great Harbour, the trade-off is the beach a wonderful stretch of white sand and clear shallow water to swim in. We pulled our dinghy up onto the beach and cleaned the bottom then enjoyed a relaxing swim before our ride back to ‘Partners’. One more candle lit dinner before we depart for Norman Island and our next anchorage in the Bight.
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| Great Harbour, Peter Island |
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| Waterlemon Bay & Cay |
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| Sugar Mill Ruins |
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| Sugar Mill on St. John |
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| Sugar Mill at Leinster Bay |
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| A Hawksbill Turtle |
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| A cool shady walk |
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| 'Rising Sun' (453' long) |
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| David Geffen's yacht 'Rising Sun' |
There are times for all of us who
are in a special relationship or a marriage, which are brought on by an event,
a particular place or a moment of imagination that make all of us want to renew
our commitments to each other or our marriage vows. A thought, a warm feeling,
something that triggers those thoughts of love and dependency which one has
with one’s partner. The same feelings can be applied to nature and, in my case,
the reason why I love cruising and the life it allows me. My latest moment was
this morning, while ‘Partners’ is still anchored in Great Harbour, Peter Island
in the British Virgin Islands. This beautiful protected bay on the north side
of the island is a ‘back to nature’ location, no internet, TV, FM radio stations
and it is uncrowded with few other boats. The bay is surrounded by high ground
covered in vegetation, sound is rare and the lack of it borders on eerie. This
setting promotes thought and this morning I woke at 05:15, it was pitch black dark,
it was still with not even a ripple on the water or a breath of breeze; these
conditions are a rarity in the Caribbean where the trade winds normally blow
constantly. Occasionally there is a weather phenomenon which ‘kills’ the wind
and allows a morning like today. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, HT was
still asleep so I didn’t want to put a light on, I proceeded to the aft doors
to the aft deck of ‘Partners’ and upon opening them saw that we were facing in
a different direction. Those of you who are familiar with the trade winds know
that when one goes to bed facing in a general easterly direction one expects to
wake up with the boat facing in a general easterly direction! Today ‘Partners’
was facing 180° from her ‘bedtime’ direction, even the dinghy was alongside
instead of streaming off the stern as normal! Zero wind, the morning was so
still…nature was ‘chocking’ me, I couldn’t have found a more natural unspoilt
spot. As the minutes passed and the black moonless sky started to turn to the
dawn hues I could hear the sound of wild goats on the hillside only 200 feet
away and a coo of a pigeon waiting for the light. The water is deep here and
although we are anchored in 45 feet of water we are only 150 feet from the
shore. The aura of this place spawned so many good feelings, freedom as a child
playing in the countryside of England, where I grew up, being one with nature
and being without a care in the world, it reminded me of and really endorsed
the freedom we have as cruisers; so many back to nature thoughts, I was in
overload! Some of you reading this may have forgotten the feeling I have just
written about here, I feel privileged to be able to remind you all that there
are places which allow one’s mind to wonder, that stimulate imagination and
provide jaw dropping views of nature’s beauty. As the light came and the early still
began to stir, the breeze started to ‘kiss’ the earth gently, slowly bringing
everything back to normal. ‘Partners’ began to swing on her anchor back to the
‘correct’ position with her bow pointing in an easterly direction. The dinghy
assumed its ‘correct’ stance of streaming off the stern mildly straining at its
painter. This morning was my moment to remind myself that I love HT, I thank
her for sharing my life, for being my partner and experiencing this life with
me…this morning was also the time where I reminded myself of the wonders of
nature and the beauty this earth provides…
While on shore during our working
lives, especially in Florida where we lived, we always talked of wanting a home
on the water where there would be cooling breezes and fresh air to provide
relief from the summer heat and also where there would be tranquil views of the
water. Finally we have our waterfront home but with a bonus, a huge bonus in
fact, we have a ‘movable’ home on the water which we can relocate at will to a
new and exciting spot where we can experience the variety that nature provides.
This life is addicting and a little concern creeps in at times like this of
whether making the transition back to a land based existence is possible.
Obviously, one day, it will have to happen but it won’t be easy or a happy day!
From Norman Island we cruised
across Sir Francis Drake Channel to Tortola and our destination was Marina Cay
where we anchored a little west of the mooring field with three other large
sailing boats. That evening a short dinghy ride in ‘Junior Partner’ or JP for short,
our nickname for ‘Partners’ dinghy, took us to the Cay and their bar which is
situated at the top of the island, great views. A live band was playing and they
were great…many cruisers were there having a merry time. We drank a few beers
tipped the band and took the dinghy ride back to ‘Partners’. In
the morning we weighed anchor and cruised west and north to a small isolated
anchorage on Great Camanoe Island. The anchorage at Lee Bay has a rocky bottom
and after two attempts at getting our anchor to hold we gave up and motored
over to Guana Island and the beautiful bay there known as White Bay. White Bay
is a long protected bay with a white sand beach and sandy bottom. The bay is
full of mooring balls now and although anchoring is allowed the privately owned
island does not encourage it. We found a spot on the north end where we were
able to anchor but it was a ‘squeeze’. The owners of the island have made an
exclusive luxury resort here and have service boats that ferry passengers and
supplies back and forth to Tortola continuously during daylight hours; at night
the boats are moored on private moorings one of which was close to us, too
close unfortunately and although other buoys were available we got the
impression that the powers that be wanted to make us feel uncomfortable and
chose to put one of the boats as close to us as they could. They succeeded and
we had to move. The only available option was to pick up one of their mooring
balls! It was getting dark and we didn’t want to be motoring far to find
another anchorage so we bit the bullet and coughed up the $30 for the mooring
fee. We had not been on the ball for more than five minutes before a young lad
approached us to collect our money. He explained that the owners tried to
prevent anyone from going ashore on the island but law required that access be
granted to anyone up to the high water line. So although discouraged one can
walk the beautiful beach and we did! Two mega yachts were anchored out in deep
water in the bay and we watched as their crews transported portable cabanas,
chairs, large mats and water toys to the beach to be set up to await the
pleasure of the owner or guests should they wish to spend some time on the
beach. We spent two days in White Bay and both days the ritual was performed.
We felt sorry for the crew performing their thankless task as on the second day
after spending an hour or more setting up the ‘beach club’ no one came...the
owner or guests just decided to do something else! We watched as the crew of
three took the dinghy to shore packed everything up and retreated back to the
mother ship! We did not feel welcome on
Guana so the next morning we moved on to Cane Garden Bay where we found more
mooring balls, they are everywhere now! We were able to anchor with plenty of
swinging room here and were comfortable for the first day and night, the second
day, however, when the NE swell became more of a N swell and the rolling began
was a different story. In the morning we were still okay with only moderate
discomfort and were entertained with watching the half dozen or so surfers.
Cane Garden is well known as a surfing beach and when the swell is up has a
reputation of producing some ‘perfect’ waves. Gradually through the day the
swell grew to a point where we wanted to put an end to the rolling so off we
went crossing the calm waters, enjoying the gentle ups and downs on the large
swell, to Jost van Dyke the third largest island of the BVI group. We decided
to anchor in the gin clear water of Manchioneel Bay on the south side of Little
Jost van Dyke Island; the spot is isolated with no visible signs of habitation
although there is a beach bar on the SW end of the Island. We spent four days
here and explored, went ashore to deserted beaches and did our Robinson Crusoe thing;
it was a lot of fun! We were joined by Steve and Janice from Sealacious a 37’
Tayana, John and Jo from Out of Africa in their Moody and Chuck and Barb from
Tusen Takk II all friends and fellow cruisers that we knew. Chuck and Barb are
Krogen owners like us and have a 48’. The first night we were together we all
met on Out of Africa for a BBQ which was a blast. The next night we joined up
with Chuck and Barb again to dinghy ashore to Foxy's Taboo for dinner where we
could sample their famous cocktails and ribs. We had a reservation and arrived
just in time to miss a torrential downpour; we were seated and spent little
time looking at the menu, we knew what we wanted, we were having ribs, right!
We ordered four exotic colourful cocktails and awaited the return of the
waitress to take our orders. When she came Chuck spoke up and said “I’m here
for those wonderful ribs”, the waitress, her voice laden with apology, replied
“I’m sorry but we are out!” I, with disappointment, said “but we had a
reservation” and the waitress pointed out very politely “not for ribs though!”
We quickly overcame our disappointment and ordered alternatives which without
exception we all thoroughly enjoyed. After a really pleasant evening we went
back to the dinghy and successfully negotiated the trip back, about a mile, in
pitch darkness. Lavinia is always a little concerned taking dinghy rides when
she cannot see anything in front of her! We arrived back safely to our calm
anchorage said our good nights and retired.
The next morning all of our
friends left the bay and sailed off to their next destinations. This is how it
is in the cruising community we are all independent, we go our own ways but
when we do meet we have a great time with each other then bid farewell until
the next time...
Our next stop was in Great
Harbour where we anchored just two nights before clearing out from the BVI’s
for the USVI’s. We found Ralphs, a great grocery store, and did some
re-provisioning. We have learnt that as cruisers when one sees something that
we need one should buy it! It is not always easy to find the things one wants
so when the opportunity presents itself it is always sensible to take
advantage. Oh, and we paid one more visit to the World Famous Foxy’s and yes,
we finally did have our ribs! Sadly Chuck and Barb were not with us this
time...next stop Caneel Bay on St. John where we picked up a mooring ball, as
members of the National Parks the senior price is only $7.50 per night and
these moorings are nicely maintained so provide a peace of mind experience. We
took the dinghy around to Cruz Bay and the Customs house where we took care of
the clearance formalities...we were back in the US of A. Our next anchorage was
Maho Bay where we had spent only one night a year ago. We enjoyed several
nights here this time in flat smooth water which is an indescribable blue, just
gorgeous! We swam and snorkelled and walked the white sand beach...an idyllic
spot. Our last stop on St. John was Leinster Bay and our particular favourite
Waterlemon Bay. We picked up a mooring adjacent to Waterlemon
Cay where the water is deep and clear but close enough to quickly reach the reef
that surrounds Waterlemon Cay. We snorkelled and enjoyed three days here.
Seventy five percent of St. John is national park controlled and is pristine.
We walked to an old sugar mill where we spoke to two of the volunteers’. One
was cooking bread the old fashioned way in an open pan on a fire, the bread was
good as was the almond tea she also brewed. We sat with the other lady and
asked her many questions. She had lived on St. John for 26 years and obviously
loved her ‘home’. She mentioned, during one conversation, that she was
disappointed when the busses show up carrying the passengers from the cruise
ships that visit St. Thomas, they ferry across from Redhook, that a number of
the people seem uninterested in ‘her’ island and she focused on one person who actually
asked her which island they were on, they didn’t even know. I think she
enjoyed our questions and interest in St. John which, in my opinion, has to go
down as one of the must visit islands in the Virgins, in fact in the whole of
the Caribbean. In another life while working in Florida I had an assistant
Caron who for some time lived on St. John and raised a son here, she always
sighed longingly when she remembered her time on St. John, a beautiful place. I
know Caron I’ll send more pictures!
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| Maho Bay |
We left Leinster and cruised east
around the island travelling then west along the south coast to Redhook Bay on
St. Thomas. We spent one night anchored in Muller Bay where we were rocked
continuously by the many ferries that use Redhook as their base...not for us;
we moved round to Charlotte Amalie and the big open harbour there. We anchored
in the eastern part near the main cruise ship dock and the Yacht Haven Grand
Marina. The anchoring here is good with a sandy clay bottom that really doesn’t
want to give up the anchor as we found out when we left. Charlotte Amalie is a
big town by island standard and has every facility. The very nice dinghy dock
at Yacht Haven Grand is convenient for Pueblo’s grocery store, K-Mart and all
the other stores one could wish for. The marina is also a mall complex with
many high end stores and several restaurant choices. The main town is a pleasant
easy 1¼ mile walk west along the waterfront where duty free shopping abounds. Altogether
this is an easy stop for us cruisers. We took a dinghy excursion to Frenchtown to
visit Ace hardware and stumbled across the ‘Rum Shack’ which overlooks Water
Island. We decided to have a beer and lunch, I ate a great hamburger and for HT
a Sushi platter, we had a wonderful lunch.
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| HT Having fun on St. Patrick's Day |
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| St. Thomas Regatta |
While in Charlotte Amalie we had the
pleasure of meeting Brian and Jackie Smillie onboard their 48’ Krogen ‘Gotta
Smile’. They were kind enough to invite us for cocktails one evening. They were
entering the Caribbean for the first time and intended spending hurricane
season in Trinidad like us. We had much to talk about and the evening just wasn’t
long enough! We were able to share some information about the Leeward’s and the
Windward’s; hopefully it would enhance their cruise south. We told them of our
plan to cruise to Culebra and then on to Puerto Rico where we would be flying
back to Florida for a family get-together for Easter. Upon mentioning this they
volunteered the name of a marina they had stayed at in Fajardo called Sunbay
Marina. It sounded perfect for us too so we made reservations for a month stay
there to facilitate us leaving ‘Partners’ during our Easter break. We said our
goodbyes, they weighed anchor for St. John and we for Culebra, a 20 mile
passage to the West. As cruisers we knew our courses would cross again before
too long.
A friend of ours John Perry on
board his sailing catamaran ‘Stingo’ was already in Culebra on a mooring ball
behind the reef at Ensenada Dakity, part of the larger bay named Ensenada Honda.
After a good uneventful cruise in calm conditions we entered Ensenada Honda. Culebra,
one of the Spanish Virgins Islands, is a popular haunt of all cruisers; the
anchorage is one of the best in the Caribbean and affords flat seas in all
conditions. The reef which protects the harbour here is huge and wide so any
seas are reduced to a ripple by time they have passed over the coral. Upon
entering, the US Coast Guard maintains two well marked buoyed channels here, we
were looking through the binoculars to see if we could scope out an available
mooring ball and quite coincidently the ball right beside our friend John was
open, we took it! John had been in Culebra for some time and had got to know
most of the other cruisers moored there. On our first evening there he invited
us onboard ‘Stingo’ for sundowners so we could meet everyone else. Eight of us
whiled the night away with much laughter and storytelling. There is never a dull
moment when a bunch of cruisers get together for sundowners! We spent five days
in Culebra. We enjoyed a meal at the Dinghy Dock restaurant with friends Dave
and Jane from ‘Greta Mae’, we had first met Dave and Jane in the Windward’s
at Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou last July. They told us they were on their way to the
East coast of the US with intentions of cruising the NE for the summer. We also
hosted a sundowners party onboard ‘Partners’ before our departure...all a fun
time. Our last evening was again a visit to ‘Stingo’ to enjoy Johns rendering
of Pasta Alfredo...was it good or what; John is a single-hander and I guess as
such one learns how to cook! Sadly when we returned to ‘Partners’ we had
generator problems and we couldn’t charge our batteries which we had to do to
get us through the night. This necessitated us leaving a little ahead of
schedule so in the morning after a ‘short’ night (we had to run the main engine
to put enough amps back into the batteries for the night) I called up Sunbay
and asked them if they could accommodate us a little earlier than expected...no
problem! We weren’t due there until the 15th April and today's the
10th. The wind had been blowing strongly for the past four days but
fortunately a front had killed the gradient wind and the Trades had abated for
this trip, we made good way and after a comfortable crossing arrived in Fajardo
after 3½ hours. Sunbay is an all inclusive marina where the slip fee includes
water, electricity, cable TV and Wi-Fi service. For our 42’ boat the monthly
rate is $750! A really good price for the Caribbean we feel.
Sunbay is all that Brian and
Jackie ‘cracked’ it up to be, friendly clean and secure; we are comfortable
here. There appears to be no swell that enters so we are virtually motionless
in our slip. Olga, one of the owners of the marina, greeted us in the office
and made sure we had answers to all our questions she really made us feel at
home. Olga provided us with a map which, as we were to rent a car, was most
helpful. Olga’s husband, the other owner, also built the marina some six years
ago so this is a family owner facility and it shows. Another helpful perk is
that the marina has in slip fuelling!
I will end here and say that the
Virgins will ‘call’ again, the calm protected waters make these islands one of
the finest cruising grounds in the world and fortunately there are enough
islands, bays and sights to keep us interested, visit after visit, the trip from
the south back across Anagada is certainly worth it! After our trip to Florida
for Easter we will resume our cruising, we are not sure where we will be off to
at this point but we will let you know when we decide!
Is it time for you to plan for a
life afloat?
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| A great view while on one of our walks... |
During our visit to Le Marin we made a
reservation in the very nice marina to meet with the Victron Energy
distributor, who we know; Frédéric Moser came on-board to look over the new wiring we
had done in BVI’s and also to re-programme our Victron inverter/charger so it
could work to its full capability, remember we had thus far only been able to
charge at a reduced rate of 80 amps rather than the full 120 amps which it is
capable of. We also had Frédéric install
a Victron monitoring gauge so we can see exactly what is happening with our
electrical system. Finally six months after the installation of our new
inverter we have everything working properly! I cannot describe the wonderful
feeling that having reliability in the electrical department provides…we are
relaxed not worried about our generator breaking down, not always being
required to check the temperature of the wiring, worrying about fire! We have a
freedom now that you would’ve had to experience our previous problems in order
to appreciate. 
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