Jan 24-26
Traveling. The usually complicated and less-than-fun part of beginning and ending every cruising season. The travel to and from the boat usually involves more luggage than we are used to taking on any trip, thus adding to the fun. (Barb and I can easily travel somewhere for a week packed in one small roll-behind easily carried on.) The journey began at my brother's house about 80 miles north of New York City. We had parked our RV and car in his yard for the winter, and rented a car at the local airport for a one-way trip to JFK airport in the city. Our flight is at 8:30 Saturday morning, so rather than have to get up at 03:00 in the morning, we are driving to JFK Friday afternoon and spending the night in a hotel near the airport. The only flaw in this plan is that the temperature outside is about 20° and it's windy. Not wanting heavy leather coats to be carried to the Caribbean, we are dressed in jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. I warmed the car up before leaving my brother's, and we'll just have to tough it out for the little bits that we will be outside. We got to the hotel before dark and got settled in for the night.
We were up at 05:00, had a light breakfast at the hotel, and to the airport dropping off the rental car by 06:00. The rental car places are on the perimeter of the airport, and are normally serviced by an elevated train. Due to the large snow they had a week ago though, the portion of the Air Train from the rental cars to the first terminal is closed due to some electrical damage that happened. So, they are running busses instead. The walk from the Avis desk to the bus was the longest outside (cold) piece we would have. Fortunately, there was a bus there waiting for people. Had we had to wait, we would have been thoroughly chilled. The bus dropped us at our terminal, and we dashed inside. Goodbye cold weather! We had pre-checked our two large duffel bags, so all we had to do was turn them in to be tagged. They were each perfectly 49 pounds, eliciting a compliment from the lady at the desk to the packer (Barb of course).
When we got to the security checkpoint, we found a very large line. We had plenty of time before our flight, but it's still no fun to stand in line. When we got to the entrance to the queue, there was a TSA agent with an iPad mounted on a little stand. There is a relatively new TSA procedure called TSA-pre. When we traveled to New Orleans a week ago, we learned about TSA-pre. On the trip down, Barb was randomly selected when we printed our boarding passes. On the way back, I was. When you are a TSA-pre person, you get to go to a separate line, keep your shoes and belts on, leave your laptop in it's bag, and leave your bag of liquids in your bag. You also get the old-style metal detector instead of the newer body-scan machine. Pretty much like the old days. Empty your pockets and walk on through. Well, back to JFK - When you got to the agent with the iPad, you were asked how many in your party. We said two. The agent then instructed Barb, who was in front of me, to touch the iPad screen with one finger. It then gave you a green arrow to the TSA-pre line or a red arrow to the long regular line. We got the GREEN arrow! I yelled "Winner!" and the TSA lady burst out laughing. We were through security a minute later. Best part for me was not having to bend down and tie my shoes again afterwards.
The flight itself was perfect. A good thing about early morning flights is that usually the plane has been at the airport overnight, so you can't be delayed by a late arriving inbound flight. That was not the case this time. Our plane was inbound from a Seattle red-eye, but it was expected on-time. The goodness of this was that the interior of the plane would be warm already, since we were not dressed very warm, and had already ditched our sweatshirts into our carry-on bag. We left right on-time for our four hours or so to St. Thomas. As we got near St. Thomas on our descent, we could see Culebra and Culebrita, with boats on the moorings there. It was already good to be back. We landed and the first thing I noticed was that since last time we flew in here in 2010, they have added a taxiway. Planes used to make a u-turn at the end of the runway and taxi back on the runway itself. There now is a real taxiway for them. We deplaned onto the tarmac and welcomed the warm humid air of the Caribbean. We still had jeans on, but that would end soon. (I did see one traveler on our flight in shorts. Not sure if he changed in the airport or came from home that way.) Being a US territory, there is no Customs or Immigration hassle when you arrive in St. Thomas.
The boat is stored at Nanny Cay, on Tortola, in the BVI. We normally stay at the hotel right at the marina while we commission/decommission the boat. But, alas, there is no room at the inn tonight, so we are staying one night n St. Thomas at Miller Manor, a nice little place we stayed before. Marge & Harry, the proprietors remembered us and greeted us with hugs. We were taken to our room where we promptly changed into shorts. It was then down the hill to the Green House restaurant for a late lunch/early dinner. After we ate, we walked around the cruise ship shops a bit to kill time while waiting to meet up with old cruising friends Tom & Pat from Lone Star, who have been here for several years. We met them back at the Green House and visited for a couple of hours. When we left them, we took a cab back up the hill to Miller Manor, and found that their little bar was still open. Scott, their one employee was tending bar as Harry & Marge had taken a rare night off.
We got a good night's sleep and were up around 8:00 to get coffee and a light breakfast there at the hotel. We chatted with Harry for a bit and then he called us a cab to the ferry terminal, which is just at the bottom of the hill. The taxi down the hill cost us twice as much as the one up last night. The driver probably thought he got those tourists good. The ferry schedule is a bit nebulous. There is a printed schedule, but there are three ferry companies, and it's not entirely clear, even to those who live here, which company's boats go when. But, they all go to the same place, so we didn't care. As it tuned out, the next ferry to Roadtown, Tortola was not for an hour, so we checked our bags and went upstairs for Bloody Mary's. When we did board the ferry, instead of heading out to sea the normal way, it went across the bay in Charlotte Amalie to Yacht Haven Grande Marina by the cruise ship docks. There we picked up a tour group of about a dozen people. That's not the normal routine. Where we picked up these people was only abut 100 feet from the Explorer of the Seas cruise ship as it was being sanitized due to a large norovirus outbreak. It cut it's cruise short and went home from here that evening. About an hour later we were debarking at Roadtown. Clearing Customs and Immigration was a breeze, and we were on the street looking for a taxi to Nanny Cay. We found a guy who was going there anyway, but he was waiting for some other people on the next ferry. The next ferry was just in fifteen minutes, so we waited. When they came, his "couple of people" was eight Italians, but fortunately they were headed for a boat charter and knew how to pack. All eight of them had less luggage than we did, so ten people and all the luggage just fit in the van. Nanny Cay is only a few miles west of Roadtown, so it didn't take long to get there. And, by sharing the cab, it only cost us $10. That made up for the guy who charged us $20 to go 6 blocks this morning.
It was about 13:00 when we dragged our bags into the hotel lobby at Nanny Cay. Of course, our room was not ready yet, so we stashed the bags in a closet and went to find the boat. It was actually easy to find as we had passed the boatyard on the way in to the hotel, and we saw her. I dragged a ladder over to MoonSail and climbed aboard. The bottom had been freshly painted as promised, and the topsides were quite clean considering she had been sitting for seven months. Barb waited below as I opened her up and went below to see how much if any mold and mildew we had. While she had the typical smell of a boat that's been closed up, the mold was fairly minimal. I went above and shouted to Barb that it was safe to come aboard and that she would be happy.
We spent a couple of hours aboard, getting things ready to launch in the morning. I was keen to inspect the work we had done while we were gone. We had two different projects done by contractors over the summer. This is the first time I have ever had work done while not there to oversee it. One project was to repair the interior parts of the fiberglass damage we found last year. The bulkhead tabbing was separating from the hull, and the wall that holds the forward water tank in place was also separating. We found these things last year during our survey, and attribute them to the boat maybe being bumped as another boat was moved alongside it while it was on the hard in Antigua. The guy I contracted to do this never responded to any of my e-mails over the summer. Eventually, he did charge my credit card for the agreed upon price, but still never responded to e-mails. This work looked to be done well when I checked it, and I still have never heard from the guy again. The other project was to replace the motor mounts and our dripless prop shaft seal. I supplied the parts for this, and the contractor was just doing the labor. Again, communication had been minimal through the summer, and when it was done, the bill had been stunningly more than expected, but the work did seem to be done ok.
We got the fenders and dock lines out and rigged, plugged in the power to charge up the batteries, and hooked up the hose so I could try to start the engine before we were in the water. I installed a neat valve last year that makes hooking up a hose for the engine cooling very simple. With all that hooked up, I tried to start the engine. It turned over with no problem but didn't fire right up. I went below and double checked that I hadn't done something stupid like forgotten I'd turned the fuel line off or something, but didn't find anything. I tried starting again, and she still wouldn't and eventually balked at even cranking. I hoped this was just because the batteries were weak, and we locked her up for the day.
We went back to the hotel, got checked in, and then went to Peg Legs beach bar. The girl tending bar was new to us, but the evening bartender who came on shortly thereafter was the same as last spring. Devon, the bartender works here some evenings, and at the other restaurant in the marina during the day. He has been here for years and is known for his "Best On The Island" phrase. We had a few drinks and ordered a pizza for dinner, and they were the best drinks and pizza on the island. It was good to be back. Tomorrow the work begins.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Jan 27
Contrary to the communications with the contractors, the communications with the boatyard itself have been great. We arranged the painting of the bottom, and it was done, and we arranged the launch date. But, I never asked the launch time. I know the yard starts working at 07:00, so I was up at 06:30 in case they planned to launch us first. I was at the yard office a few minutes after 07:00 and asked Keith, the manager, what time he had us on the schedule. His reply was "When do you want to launch?". Since we are launching pretty late in the season, they are not as busy each day as they might be. Keith told me they had two boats to haul first thing, then anytime I was ready, they were. This was perfect. I went back to the room, got Barb, and we had some breakfast. We then went to the boat and resumed trying to start the motor on the hard. It put up a fight, and I can't really say I found any explanation, but after half an hour of trying, she finally started. With that resolved, we were ready. Boatyards have a policy world-wide of "no cash - no splash". This means you have to pay your bill before they put your boat in the water so you can't take off. I went up to the office and settled the bill, and got my little initialed slip of paper to give the lift operator so he knew we were paid up.
I found the lift operator in the yard still working on blocking the boat they just hauled out. I told him we were ready when he was, and went back to the boat to wait. When the lift guys arrived, they took their time and went and got new plastic to put over the lift straps so they didn't harm the new bottom paint. After half an hour of getting ready, they finally lifted MoonSail off the stands and took her to the launch slip. They lowered her almost to the water and then told me to get aboard. They want the owner aboard and below when they put a boat in the water so it is the owners responsibility to see that no water is coming in anywhere. All appeared fine and they took our dock lines and tied us up then lowered the slings all the way so we were floating free. I started the engine and let it warm up. I checked below again and all seemed well. When we were ready, they released our lines and we slowly motored out of the launch slip. I knew what slip in the marina we were going to, but it is good to have a dockhand there to take your lines. I grabbed the cockpit radio mic to call the marina, and it was dead. So, Barb went below and called them. She told them we were on our way to our slip and they said the guy would meet us. I idled through the marina and passed C-dock where we were going. Just as we passed, Barb saw the dockhand coming down the dock, so we turned around and approach our slip. I find that driving the boat is similar to riding a bike, or skiing, in that even though I haven't done it for months, even the most precise things you have to do, like docking, come right back. The fairways between the docks here are pretty narrow, which means I not only have to be aware of where the bow is going into the slip, but also have to be aware that the stern doesn't swing around and catch a boat on the next dock. Fortunately, it all went perfectly.
When we arrived at our dock, the boat in the next slip was in the process of getting their batteries replaced. Their boat had two 4D batteries. For those not familiar with marine batteries, a 4D battery is about three times the size of your average car battery and weighs about 100 pounds. As we docked, the workers installing these batteries had the to old batteries from the boat on a cart on the finger pier, and had just loaded the second new battery on the boat. They were getting that new battery below as the dockhand was up and down the finger pier dealing with our lines. The finger piers here tend to bounce quite a bit, and next thing we knew, we heard two loud splashes as the two batteries on the cart went in the drink. Barb kept the cart itself from going in. It was fortunate, that these were the old batteries, and fortunate that they were sealed AGM type batteries, so there would be no environmental concerns as long as they got retrieved. The installer guys arranged for a diver from Blue Water Divers to come later and find them and tie lines to them so they could haul them out.
Once we were secure, the work began. Last year we had moved all the stuff we store in the v-berth in the front of the boat, to the aft cabin where we sleep so that the fiberglass work could be done. Barb started cleaning the whole v-berth from top to bottom to remove any fiberglass dust, which was minimal, and any mold. Once that was cleaned, we started moving thing back to the v-berth from the aft cabin. As we did this we updated our inventory spreadsheet so it was accurate. We ended the day by going to happy hour at Peg Legs beach bar, where I discovered that administered in proper quantities, the drink known as a Painkiller really works.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Jan 28
We started the day at Gennaker's, the restaurant in the middle of the marina facility. Gennaker's is an open air place, all covered by a roof, but no walls on the seating area at all. There is a sign on the wall by the kitchen that says "NO PETS". Apparently the cat lounging on the chair at the table next to us can't read. There seem to be about half a dozen marina cats, who each more or less have their territories. They all seem friendly and will let you pet them. This one was content to sleep while people ate around him, so he must be fed by somebody. Right next to the restaurant is Blue Water Divers. In the flower bed outside their door was a little goat. She had a collar on but was not tied to anything. She obviously was a pet too. We asked Claire, the waitress, about the goat, and she explained that one of the girls who work for Blue Water got the goat as a baby when it's mother rejected it. She bottle fed it and now Clarabelle is her pet goat. She stays near or in the dive shop, and comes by name if called. The goat was content to forage in the flower bed, but the cat eventually decided it was play time. The cat went over and started batting at the goat, combined with the occasional pounce. The goat seemed to not even notice and went about her business of munching on leaves.
Once at the boat, we resumed the tasks of putting her together in earnest. I got what was left stored in the aft cabin out, and Barb commenced cleaning back there. This room had the most mold on the ceiling, although it wasn't too bad. While Barb cleaned, I got the enclosure put on the cockpit, the solar panels mounted, and the dinghy, which was still upside down on the foredeck where it gets strapped down for storage, cleaned and resealed some places where it leaks water. Back in 2009 we had an air leak in the dinghy repaired to get us through on last season, and planned to replace it after our two year work hiatus. Well, it's still kicking. It looks bad, and there are lots of little things wrong with it, but it still gets the job done. I'll let the next owner of the boat worry about a new dinghy.
Barb almost literally worked her fingers to the bone cleaning. Between the bleach solution she was using, and the abrasive surface of the scrubby thing, her finger tips were red and raw. She should have been wearing gloves, and now is the proud owner of a new pair for future use. She got the whole aft cabin cleaned, the bed made, and half the head cleaned. All in all it was a productive day.
We went to Peg Legs for happy hour and dinner, and again were entertained by a cat. It was a different cat, as we were at the other end of the marina complex. This one was being entertained by some kids with a long rope. This rope was about fifty feet long and an inch diameter with large knots in either end. The kids were running around the yard dragging the rope, while the cat was going crazy trying to catch the other end. The rope was so long that the cat didn't seem to make the connection to the kids. I think he just thought he was attacking the largest snake he'd ever seen.
We were back in our room before seven, exhausted from our work. There was a knock on the door and the voice of a lady announcing herself as being from Housekeeping. Barb answered the door, and they just wanted to check and see if we were in for the night, because they were going to paint the sidewalk in front of our room. That's a new one. We assured her we were not going out anymore, and found a nice new gray surface on the sidewalk in the morning.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Jan 29
After breakfast at Gennaker's again, we attacked the boat once more. Barb continued the quest of wiping everything down with a bleach solution to get rid of any mold. This included washing all the dishes as well as wiping out all cabinets, walls, ceilings, and floors. I stayed out of the way and more thoroughly cleaned the dinghy. Yesterday I had scraped the dried barnacle stuff off the bottom, which should have been cleaned when we took it out of the water last season, but it's much easier to scrape off after it's been in the sun for seven months. Today I gave the whole thing a much better scrubbing. The rubber, called hypalon, that the inflatable tubes of the dinghy are made from, gets a chalky surface when it's in the sun. I couldn't find the 3M product that had been recommended to us by friends, but got something allegedly just for this purpose at Budget Marine, and started spraying and brushing. The stuff worked remarkably well, and didn't rely that much on elbow grease, so it came out pretty good. Once it was all clean, it was time to get it off the deck. I attached the spare halyard to it and hoisted it up by it's bow until it was almost high enough to clear the lifelines. I then swung it out over the lifelines and let it rest outboard of them. I then lowered it butt first to the water where I was lucky enough that it wanted to fall naturally the right way and not upside down. I loaded the stuff that belongs in it all season, like the oars and anchor and tied it to the stern.
I next attacked the outboard. It is another thing that is on it's last legs, but I keep making it do for another season. I got the hose out and attached the gadget that feeds water to the outboard so you can run it out of the water, hooked up the fuel tank, and gave it a few pulls. Nothing happened. I started messing with carburetor and the linkage seemed very stiff. So, I removed the carburetor, and exercised it's moving parts over and over until they seemed ok. I was hoping to avoid having to totally disassemble it. I put it back on and primed it and in a couple of pulls the motor started. I ran it a couple minutes and noted that the throttle linkage was still very stiff, and hanging up at a fast idle, so there will need to be more adjusting, but at least it runs.
We went to Peg Legs for happy hour, and ordered a couple of pizzas to take back to the room for our last night in the hotel.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Jan 30
After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel. I dragged our two large duffels bags down to the boat and loaded them aboard. It's hard to imagine what all this crap we take back and forth each year is, since we leave most of our island clothes on the boat, and winter clothes back in the RV. Barb set about stowing the stuff and then nesting all of our bags into one for storage. (They weren't bought as a set to do that, it just works out nicely.)
We took a trip to the small grocery store in the marina area. Bobby's Grocery apparently has been having some financial difficulty, so the selection isn't what it used to be. We got just a few basic things and will do a more thorough provisioning later. The rest of the day was pretty lazy. We have made the first deadline of getting the boat livable by today. Next milestone will be to be ready to leave the marina Monday.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Jan 31
When we first launched the boat, the remote VHF radio microphone in the cockpit didn't seem to work. I thought I'd take a look at that today, so I turned the radio on. The problem seems to have gotten worse, because now the radio won't come on at all. Not the main radio in the cabin, nor the remote mic at the helm. When I switch it on, it blinks and then about four seconds later makes a little pffttt noise. That's it. So, I opened up the panel the radio is mounted in and checked all the connections. There was definitely 12v at the power plug, and everything else seemed ok. So, I started looking at replacement options, none of which were good. First there is the problem of electronic evolution. The radio we have is ten years old, so of course, the exact model is not made anymore, and remote mics are not interchangeable. Then there is the cost. A new radio and remote mic would be about $500 in the States. No telling what premium it would be here, and the selection would most likely be much less. Then there is the fact that manufacturers seem to think they must change the shape of things when they come out with a new model. So, the hole in the panel will have to be modified to fit whatever I can get as a replacement. Feeling a bit overwhelmed by this, I remembered that there was a new electronics store and service place in the marina development. I already tried to take the radio apart and was defeated, but perhaps they can open it up and maybe there is some internal fuse or something that is easily repaired. I took the radio out and walked over to their shop. This was late morning on a Friday. The girl at the desk explained that all three techs were out working on boats, and she wasn't sure when they could look at it. And of course, they don't work on weekends. I told her to do her best and that I would come back before closing and see if they found anything. I went back about 16:30 and the radio was on the desk with a Post-It stuck to it. Well at least maybe they looked at it. When the girl finished with the previous customer, she turned to me with good news and bad news. Good news was, they plugged it in and used it all afternoon. The radio seemed to work fine. Their suggestion was that perhaps my antenna connection at the masthead or in the bilge was corroded or disconnected. The radio is theoretically smart enough to not power on without a good antenna connection because transmitting without an antenna would hurt it. So, I paid $47.50 for the half hour diagnostic time they spent and went back to the boat. I plugged the radio back in and guess what? It worked. So did the remote mic. I don't like not having explanations for things, but this time I'll take the freebie. Well, almost free. At least I don't have to replace anything.
Since I had the nav station panel open, I attacked another problem. At the nav station I have several of the original instruments for telling wind speed, boat speed, etc. that came with the boat 20 years ago. I have newer models of these instruments at the helm, so the ones below are primarily used when we are parked and I'm curious how hard the wind is blowing. One of these old instruments had developed an irritating high-pitched whistle last year, and the display on the other was barely readable anymore. The noisy one was not very loud, and was just enough to get your attention if there was no music or anything. Well, over the summer it matured. It now was a very irritating whistle that sounded more like an alarm. It would have to go. Wiggling the unit and banging on it had no effect, so I decided to just disconnect the two old units. Of course they are part of the wiring that networks all the instrumentation together, so I had to do some diagnosing and wire following to figure out which wires to disconnect and how to connect them back together so the rest of the instruments still worked. I have a conceptual diagram of how all the instruments are connected, but the key word there is conceptual. It doesn't have the exact wire paths, etc. But eventually I prevailed. The noise is gone, the rest of the instruments work, and now there are two dead pieces in the nav station panel.
My next task was to hoist the dinghy onto the davits. Our neighbor had gone out for a day sail, and once he was out of his slip, the dinghy wanted to move over where it would be in his way when he returned. So, I got the davit lines straightened out and hoisted the dinghy where it belongs. We have been having on and off rain showers pretty much every day. We have gotten used to doing the rain dance, where as soon as the first drop hits, you run through the boat closing hatches and ports. Most of the showers stop as soon as you get everything closed, so a few minutes later you open everything up again. Now with the dinghy on the davits, you have to worry about it collecting water also. We always pull the plug when we hoist it, so it will drain, but it still can hold a lot of water before it will drain unless you lower the stern from it normal traveling position. So I lowered the stern of the dinghy a bit to avoid that problem.
Our neighbors on the other side of us are a couple from Canada. They are having to cut their cruising season short due to some family issues back home. So, while we have been putting MoonSail together, they have been working taking their boat apart to be hauled. Today was their last day, and they will be flying out in the morning, so they bequeathed us their leftover food. We were glad to take it off their hands rather than see it go to waste.
There has been a large motor yacht at the docks here, which is not that common for Nanny Cay. Nanny Cay does accommodate some pretty big boats, but they are usually sailboats or catamarans, and they use the marina as a base to pickup and drop off charter guests. This motor yacht was about 100 feet and seemed out of place here. We had also noticed during the week that they seemed to have a film crew working onboard and around the marina. At happy hour, we sat next to a lady who filled us in on things. The boat is being used in a Bravo Network reality show called Below Deck. It is about the life of the crew on a large yacht. They are filming season two of the series, which apparently airs during the summer. The lady we were talking to is the mother of one of the production crew and was visiting this week. We didn't stay at the bar past happy hour, but learned the next day that they were filming around the bar that evening and making sure anybody who might be in the picture was ok with it. We missed our chance to be TV stars.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Feb 1
We didn't do a whole lot today. Barb did a load of laundry about 17:00, which you can only do yourself in the evening or on Sunday. There is a lady who takes over the laundromat the rest of the time doing wash for boats, primarily the charter boats. Fortunately, the laundromat is right next to Gennaker's which has a small bar in addition to the restaurant. So, you can sit at the bar while you keep checking on your laundry. Makes the task much more enjoyable. While doing the laundry, Barb got chatting with another woman also doing laundry. She was on a boat named Megerin, and the more they talked the more people they kept finding we both knew. We eventually figured out that they used to be on a different boat, named Summer Wind, and that they had gone south from the US to Grenada the same year we did. I looked back in our spreadsheet of boats we've met and found that we had met them in Grenada in 2007, but they went on to Trinidad, so we never really got to know them. It was interesting catching up on what each of us knew of what became of fellow cruisers from that era.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Feb 2
It's Super Bowl Sunday. Peg Legs is going to have a BBQ and a large TV screen setup for the game later. Barb did some more laundry while I tinkered on a few little things on the boat. At Barb's suggestion, we unplugged from the shore power for a couple hours to let the batteries drain a little, then started the engine to make sure the batteries charged right via the engine. Now why would anybody in their right mind go looking for trouble? Well, trouble we found. We found that the allegedly smart voltage regulator was not so smart anymore. It seems to be stuck in it's programming mode as soon as it's turned on, no matter what I do to it. I have a crude method of bypassing the voltage regulator altogether, so we aren't dead in the water, but that's not a long-term solution. I used to carry a spare one (even though it's a $300 part), but the one installed now was the spare that I put on last year when the previous one crapped out. I ran over to Budget Marine to see if by chance they had one in stock, but no joy. So instead I bought a heavy duty toggle switch to make my bypass easier to do.
We ate dinner on the boat, but then went to Peg Legs to watch the game. They had a good crowd, but we were still able to sit at a picnic table where we could see and hear the game. Being in the Atlantic Time Zone, the game didn't start until 19:30 here, so I didn't think we would stay for the whole thing, but we did. And the feed we were getting was from Miami, so we got all the regular US commercials. (Previous years we have seen the game but not gotten the cool US commercials, including the year we watched in Puerto Rico.) Sandy and Ray from Megerin joined us at our table and we had a nice visit while watching the unexpected blowout of a game.
GPS N 18-23.906 W 064-38.145 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10486.
Feb 3
It's time to take the big step and get out on the water again. By about 10:00 we were ready to go. I went to the marina office and settled our bill. As we warmed up the engine, a good squall was coming, so we waited it for it to pass before our neighbor helped us cast off lines and back out of the slip. We motored out of the channel into the open water of the Sir Francis Drake Channel and turned west towards Soper's Hole where we will clear out of the BVI. The wind had been quite brisk for a couple of weeks, and the seas are pretty big, even in the semi-protected waters of the Sir Francis Drake Channel. But, we are going downwind, so we unfurl the headsail and shut off the motor as soon as we are out of the marina channel. We are sailing! We had a nice hour or so sail to Soper's Hole, a.k.a. West End, Tortola. We were pretty much dead downwind all the way, so we had to gybe the sail a couple of times. I actually went a little out of the way, off the rhumb line in order to sail. Those who know me well, know that we motor sail so much because it kills me to go further than I have to. I'm trying to change that behavior. We sailed all the way around the corner and into Soper's Hole.
Once in Soper's Hole, we found all the moorings full. Or plan was to grab a mooring, hit the grocery store, check out with Customs and head over to St. John. We found Megerin on a mooring and they were just checking out so we circled them for thirty minutes or so until Ray got back and they left. There were other boats waiting for mooring also by now, so we had to stay close, lest somebody else jump on the mooring before we got there. It seems like there are fewer mooring than there used to be here. Maybe some have been damaged and not been replaced.
We launched the dinghy and headed to shore. It was after noon by now, so we decided to have lunch at Pusser's before shopping. Given that our plan was still to check out and move on, I resisted the urge to have a couple of Pusser's Painkillers, which in my opinion are amongst the best. Lunch was not fast, and the service staff was grumbling about the kitchen being so slow, but we didn't really care. While we were waiting for lunch, I went to find the ATM. This should not have been a challenge, as I have used the ATM here before. But it was gone. We asked the bartender, and she said they took it out. She said the bank claimed it lost money on the deal. How do you loose money on an ATM? It was the only one in town and the next was back at Nanny Cay. I had tried that one before we left, and it was out of service. Oh well. Good thing the need for cash is not urgent.
Lunch took over an hour, and then we went to the Harbor Market for groceries. Harbor Market is part of the Rite Way chain here, and is a decent market. Not a US style supermarket, but ok. In hindsight, we should have ordered online from Rite Way and had them deliver to the boat in the marina, but we didn't know about that option until it was too late to do it. This market is funny in that it is two stories. All the dry goods and the deli are upstairs. But there is no way to take a cart upstairs. So, people leave their carts at the bottom of the stairs and shuttle armloads of stuff from upstairs. As Barb shopped, I played mule. We got enough stuff to keep us for a week or more. The small cartload of groceries cost $300, and wasn't that much stuff. Pretty pricey, except of course for the Mount Gay rum which was $13 for a 1.75 liter bottle.
While we were stowing groceries, we heard one of the bilge pumps run. That in itself is not unusual, but the one that ran was the one I would least expect to run. We have three bilge pumps, and the float switches that activate them are at different levels. The one that ran should only run if we are either heeled to port so the other two are on the high side, or if the other two didn't run for some reason. I tried the other two manually, and they both ran and pumped out a lot of water. This means there are two issues: Where is a lot of water coming from, and why didn't the float switches on the first two pumps work? We weren't likely to sink (it wasn't coming in that fast), so I put it on the list to work on tomorrow.
By the time we were back on the boat and had the groceries stowed, it was 16:00. We decided to spend the night here rather than rush to hit Customs before closing and then get to St. john before dark. That meant paying the $30 mooring fee to the guy who came around later, but it was easier, and I'm all about easier these days. The ferries stop coming and going about 19:00, and we had a nice quiet night.
GPS N 18-23.142 W 064-42.255 Nautical miles traveled today 5. Total miles 10491.
Feb 4
We had a leisurely morning of coffee and cereal, and then I went to check out. When we last checked in here, we had to do what is called a temporary import of the boat since it would be here six months. That import cost $200 and was good until tomorrow, so I'm not sure what if any fees there will be. The lady at the desk was very nice, marked the dates on my forms and sent me next door to the cashier. The cashier stamped things and separated copies and finally looked up and said "That will be $.75". Yes, seventy-five cents. I can afford that. Back to the first lady with my receipt, and we were good to go. That may have been the most pleasant BVI Customs experience I have ever had.
I went back to the boat, and we debated whether to raise the dinghy on the davits or tow it. St. John is only four miles away, so towing was quite tempting. All the charter boat around here tow all the time, as they have no davits. But, we have been sorry we were lazy too many times in the past, so even though it was a short downwind trip, we hoisted the dinghy. I did forget to pull the drain plug though. Barb pointed that out and I said not to worry about it. What could possibly happen? We both started to laugh because we immediately remembered last time we didn't pull the plug on a short hop from Jost Van Dyke to St. John last year and we got caught in such a downpour that it filled the dinghy. We still didn't pull it.
As we motored out of Soper's Hole, we passed Wind Surf, a large sailing cruise ship. It was anchored out in the channel that makes the entrance to Soper's Hole. We motored past her, and went to Francis Bay, St. John, a mere four miles from where we started. We picked up a mooring and then after getting secure noticed that the one we picked up had a sticker on it that said "day use only". There never used to be day use only moorings here, but rather than get in trouble, we dropped it and moved over to the next one. We looked at it's markings closer before picking it up. The moorings in St. John are part of the National Park, and the fees are only $15/day compared to the going rate in the BVI of $30/day. So we feel like we are saving money already.
We had noticed a noise in the engine when idling this morning. It sounded very similar to the noise it made in Antigua a couple years ago when one of the rockers arms was coming loose. So, after the engine was cooled down, I pulled off the valve cover and adjusted the valves. Sure enough, one exhaust valve was much looser than it should have been. Once they were adjusted we fired the engine up and no noise.
We were still taking on more water than usual, as I had manually run the pumps several time today, pumping out a significant amount of water each time. A significant amount is maybe a few gallons each time. Not sinking amounts, but more than normal. I started to hunt down where the water was coming from. Looking in the engine compartment, I could see the rear of the compartment was mostly dry, telling me that the problem wasn't the rudder shaft seal like has been the culprit in the past. Moving a bit forward, I looked at the new dripless prop shaft seal that was installed over the summer. I didn't have to look any further. It wasn't dripping. There was a steady stream of water coming in past the seal. So, at least I know where it's coming from. Now what to do about it. I sent an e-mail to the company at Nanny Cay that installed it and got an answer back. Apparently I was supposed to have them come over after we were in the water to adjust the seal. Unfortunately, they never told me that. So, now we will have to return to Nanny Cay for a day soon.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 5. Total miles 10496.
Feb 5
I got in fix-it mode today. While Barb stayed out of the way above, I tore all the floors up in the main saloon. First I installed my new toggle to switch to bypass the flaky voltage regulator. For any electrical techies out there, what I do is run a hot wire from a battery to the field wire of the alternator. This makes the alternator charge at 100%. I have done this before with alligator clips, but now the wire is permanent with the toggle switch, so it's easy to do. Next I attacked the bilge pumps. In addition to the two that are not working automatically, there is a high-water alarm that seems to also not be working. An hour and several new connections later, the alarm works, and the second of the three pumps works automatically. The other pump will not work automatically even though the float switch tests good, and I replaced every connection. I'm thinking perhaps the float switch wires are corroded inside so bad that they just aren't carrying the juice. I think I have a spare switch. Another day.
On the subject of connections, for anybody who has not lived on a boat in saltwater, or in a house right on a seashore, it is flat amazing how fast everything corrodes in the salty, tropical environment. And if there is a product to prevent it, I haven't found it yet.
While I was busy fixing things in the bilge, the National Park Service was busy fixing moorings. When we got here we thought it looked like there were fewer moorings than last year. Well today, the divers from the NPS reinstalled five moorings near us. They weren't putting in new anchors, just new lines and buoys where they used to be. I have to wonder if they had taken the old ones out when they needed replacing, or if they had broken over the season? Word of moorings failing tends to spread fast in the cruising community, so I'm guessing it was proactive.
In the evening, I noticed that the battery monitor seemed to have an odd combination of lights on. I started pushing buttons and got no response. I pulled it's fuse to reset it, and when I plugged it back in it got an even odder combination of lights. I tried several times to reset it and got nothing. Once again, I was having thoughts of replacement and the issues that come with that since the monitor is no longer made and a new one is not only expensive and hard to get here, but a different shape. So the boat was reminding me that no matter how much I fix, she will keep me on my toes. It was a bit discouraging.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10496.
Feb 6
During the night I was awake for awhile thinking about the battery monitor problem. And, I thought I may know the answer. So bright and early, I pulled up the section of floor where all the wires to the monitor go to the battery shunt, which makes it all measurable, and sure enough I found that the ground wire to the monitor was disconnected. Corrosion again. And I probably bumped it loose when I was working nearby yesterday on the bilge pump. I put a new connector on the wire and reconnected it and we have a monitor again. Sometimes what seems to be a big problem turns out to be a simple fix. I'm sure glad this one was.
With that problem behind be, I decided to just relax the rest of the day. I got my nook out and read a book called The Oleanders of San Leon. It was written a couple years ago by a friend of ours back in Kemah. It likely won't be a best seller, but it was a fun read since we know him and know about or were part of a number of the events he writes about.
The National Park Service guys were busy again today and reinstalled five more moorings. That's ten in two days and now the bay looks like it did last year.
Late in the afternoon, just about dusk, we saw a sailboat coming towards the mooring field under full sail. Usually people furl their sails before getting into the mooring field, and simply motor to a mooring. But, it appeared this boat was going to pick up a mooring under sail. As they got close, they furled their foresail, and kept coming under just the main. There was a person on the bow with a boathook ready to grab the mooring line. They approached too fast though, and passed the mooring. They quickly turned around went downwind a bit then turned back toward the mooring. This time they turned straight into the wind, de-powering the sail, sooner, so the boat slowed perfectly and the guy snagged the mooring pennant. Once secure they dropped the sail. Nice. I speculated that perhaps they were part of a sail training class, since you don't usually see somebody do that unless their engine is not working. But, in the morning it appeared it was just two regular couples onboard. They sailed off the mooring in the morning, which isn't nearly as challenging. Guess they just liked being purists.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10496.
Feb 7
We didn't do much productive today. Barb has been polishing stainless little bits at a time and has made good progress with that. I finally launched the dinghy, although we never went anywhere. It's been four days since we got off the boat.
Ray and Sandy from Megerin are just over in Maho Bay next door, and they stopped by for a visit in the afternoon. The wind continues to blow harder than normal for this time of the year, and the rain showers keep rolling through every couple hours with nice sunshine in-between.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10496.
Feb 8
Today was dedicated to writing the logs. I keep notes everyday or I'll forget what we did, but after two weeks it takes a while to write the whole story. Today has actually been rainier and cloudier than before. It's still very windy which means the wind generator is earning it's keep. Speaking of the wind generator, you may recall we replaced ours last year. Same brand, bought from same people. But this one is amongst the first built in the USA instead of Trinidad. It is quieter and smoother running, and runs with less wind than our old one did even when new. Thumbs up!
We finally put the dinghy in the water today. The outboard has been a little cantankerous idling, as it always is when a season starts. In previous years, I have taken the carburetor apart, cleaned out the idle jet, put it back together, and it works. Last year, I brought a whole new carburetor with us and put it on instead of cleaning the old one. This year, even though I run the motor until it runs out of gas, so nothing sits in the carb over the summer, it wouldn't idle. I took the carb off, but couldn't get the screws out to take it apart. After much trying, I gave up, and got the old one out. I cleaned its idle jet and put it on. We seemed to be in business.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10496.
Feb 9
One of the things I like about our time on the boat is that I take time to read books. It's not that I don't have the time when elsewhere, it's just that when I start a book, I generally want to finish it. I started John Grisham's The Litigators yesterday, and finished it today. That's what you can do with time on your hands, and no access to TV.
Since I got the dinghy running well yesterday, we thought maybe we should take a ride. We have not been off the boat since Tuesday morning. That's five days without touching land. That may be a record. So, we loaded up our bag of garbage, and filled out the form for the mooring fee with a check, and headed out. First we stopped at the little floating raft where you pay the mooring fee. In the BVI, you either pay a person ashore, or a guy comes around each evening to collect. Here in the USVI National Park, it's an honor system. You put your fee in an envelope, write your pertinent information on it, and put it in a slot at the raft. There is a pay station like this in each bay that is part of the park. Sadly, many people come and go and never pay. There is limited monitoring of this, so it gets widely abused. There is a bay host, but they are limited to coming around and telling you the rules. They can't really enforce anything. After dropping off our payment, we went to the beach to drop our garbage off. No, we didn't just leave it on the beach. There are receptacles there for beach goers and cruisers. We then took a tour of Francis and Maho bays looking for boats we know. We found Megerin in Maho, but they were not aboard. So it was back to the boat. On the way, went passed astern of a large motor yacht. On the upper deck, three girls were trying to do headstands, and a crew member was taking their picture. Except there we were in the background waving. Perhaps a good photo bomb. Back at the boat we had a total of maybe 15 minutes in the dinghy, with five or less minutes with feet on the ground.
A sad note that we saw with our own eyes today during our tour, was the CLOSED sign at the base of the stairway to the Maho Bay Camp. We knew all about this from last year, but it was too bad to see it with our own eyes. The Maho Bay Camp was an eco-resort (using the term resort loosely) that closed last year. The land has been sold and much of the camp dismantled. You can see the frames of some of the camp shelters in the woods, but at the base of the stairway that led up to the restaurant and store are signs indicating it is now private property. Click HERE and HERE and HERE if you are curious about the current status of the property.
We saw a funny dog event today. A relatively small (28') powerboat came in the morning and took a mooring. There was a couple onboard with a good sized dog, like a lab. They got in the water, and with a little coaxing, the dog did too. They were throwing a toy for the dog, who would swim out and retrieve it. Normal stuff. A little bit later, a sailboat came and took the mooring right in front of us, which was the next one sideways from the dog boat. The sailboat had two little dogs on deck. As the sailboat was picking up the mooring, the lab decided he needed to go meet the new dogs. Despite his owners whistles and calls, he swam all the way to the sailboat, which was a couple hundred feet at least. After looking a little bit confused that he couldn't board the sailboat, he swam back to his boat. I was a little concerned about him getting too tired, but once back at his own boat, he wouldn't get out of the water and continued to play fetch. Later when we took our dinghy ride, both couples and all three dogs were on the beach and the dogs were still going strong.
Tomorrow we will be heading back to Nanny Cay for a day to hopefully resolve our shaft seal issue. The stronger than normal east winds have subsided a bit as forecast, so our trip east to Nanny Cay may not be the bashing it would have been a couple days ago. We originally planned to be in and out of the BVI in a day and come back to St. John, but we may stay in the BVI for a few days and hit some tourist spots before coming back. Decisions, decisions.
GPS N 18-21.952 W 064-44.846 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10496.