Mar 1
We have had a problem off and on for years with the engine not heating our hot water as it should. A boat's hot water heater heats the water electrically when you are plugged in at a dock, or by circulating the hot water from the engine cooling system through it when the engine is running. The engine part is not working. This means we've been taking quite cool showers. The coldest water here is not as cold as if it were from a well in the north, but it's still chilling. I suppose it's good for conserving water, because we take quick showers. I can tell from feeling the hoses that the hot engine coolant is not circulating through the water heater. There is a diversion gadget at the motor that is supposed to send some coolant to the water heater while some bypasses and stays in the engine. Either the diverter is not diverting anything, or something is blocking the hoses to the water heater. A likely suspect cause is an air lock at the water heater, keeping the coolant from circulating. So, I disconnected the water heater hoses at the engine, and used an electric drill driven pump and a bucket to circulate water through the water heater. It seemed to circulate ok. This means the hoses have not kinked somewhere, and hopefully, now there is no air in the lines, I reconnected the hoses, and refilled the system with coolant. I ran the engine until it was up to temperature and the thermostat was open. Still no circulation. I may have to devise a valve arrangement instead of the factory diverter thing to force the water through the heater.
While working on the heater hoses, I noticed a wire from the voltage regulator to the alternator that was disconnected. I looked up what that wire did, and it should be unused in our system, but I put a new end on it and reconnected it just in case it had anything to do with the flaky actions of the voltage regulator. No joy with that one either. So far today I have spent a couple hours fixing nothing.
Next I took a few minutes to put some Captain Tolley's leak finder around the base of each stanchion. Captain Tolley's is a very thin liquid that will run into any small cracks and then dry and fill them. The stanchion bases are a common source of leaks on boats, although we have no evidence that ours were leaking, so this was more preventative than anything else.
A boat named Bodacious came into the anchorage today. We have heard Jack & Jo on Bodacious on the Coconut Telegraph radio net for years, and actually met them briefly in 2007 in Turks & Caicos, but never got to know them well. We do have lots of friends in common though. We hailed them on the radio and arranged to get together for drinks at 17:00. We went to Bodacious for happy hour and spent a couple hours swapping stories with Jack & Jo.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10546.
Mar 2
Today was a calm and overcast day. This means no sources of alternate energy for us. I spent the better part of the day below writing the last log update.
Early in the afternoon, I had stepped up to the cockpit to stretch, and observed a small power boat coming across the bay towards the anchorage at full speed, slaloming back and forth like he was trying to generate the maximum wake that he could. The boat was a small Carver cabin cruiser, in the twenty-some foot range Just as he got to the moored boats, he slowed down to a decent speed. However, he went straight through the moored boats and into the clearly marked swim area. Not sure what part of "NO BOATS" on the markers he didn't understand. We occasionally see cruisers take their dinghies into the swim area, and at least once it seemed the people were not English speakers, so perhaps they can be cut some slack. But this guy was a VI resident, in his VI registered boat, out for a Sunday afternoon cruise. There were at least half a dozen snorkelers well out in the swim area, near where he was who started yelling at him. He stopped, but started yelling back at them. While remarkably, I never heard him swear, he was very much playing the part of the bully who thinks the rules aren't for him. As he yelled things like "Welcome to MY island", he idled to the edge of the swim area. There he stopped and raised a flagpole with a pirate flag on it. The guy visually fit the image he was portraying - he was tall, large, shirtless, had long curly hair with a bandana, and a bikini clad wife or girlfriend who seemed to want to just melt into the rear seat she was occupying. While continuing to yell things at the swimmers, he idled to a close-by mooring and tied up. He threw a paddleboard in the water, and I expected him to go confront the swimmers more, but instead the paddleboard was for the woman. She paddled around, with their large dog swimming near her, while he got in the water and started cleaning the waterline of the boat. At some point, something fell off the back of the boat into the water. Barb saw something fall, but couldn't identify what it was. He swam to the stern and now went ballistic. He was swearing now and banging on the boat. He climbed out of the water and continued his tirade in the cockpit. I have no idea what was lost to the 40' water, but he was not happy. It wasn't his cell phone because he was on the phone for a good while ranting to somebody else about what happened. We never did figure what he lost. His dog was entertaining though. She was in the water swimming for literally a couple hours. She got out a time or to, but jumped right back in as soon as she was allowed. While swimming around the boat, she found the mooring ball in front. The mooring ball has about a six-inch stub of line sticking out the top with a knot which secures it to the main line to the bottom. The dog took this stub in her mouth and thought she would pull the mooring ball back to Mom & Dad as a prize. Of course she didn't get far, but she kept trying until they finally called her back to the stern. She didn't seem to understand why she couldn't fetch that big ball. After a couple of hours, they were ready to leave. They dropped the mooring and slowly motored to the edge of the swim area where he made a big deal of waving and yelling goodbye to the people on the beach. I don't know if he could really tell which people were the ones he had the earlier confrontation with or not. I doubt it, but he waved and yelled goodbye for a couple of minutes.
We have a passable Internet connection here in Francis Bay, thanks to a rental property somewhere onshore with an unsecured Wi-fi network. But, it won't support streaming video, so I am reduced to listening to the NASCAR on the Motor Racing Network audio stream. MRN is what you would hear on a radio in the States. Listening to sports on the radio requires making a mental picture based on the announcer's description. That's hard enough, but on MRN they talk race about 25% of the time and run commercials 75% of the time. Combined with NASCAR's website, I was able to follow it.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10546.
Mar 3
Another day of reading. Some new folks we met a couple weeks go stopped by with a bag of about a dozen books for us. Since I stepped on Barb's Kindle, she has been rereading the few real books we still had aboard. The books in the bag were mostly the kind of things she reads, and ones she hadn't seen, so she will have plenty to read until her new Kindle gets here next week. The first book she chose was Life of Pi, which neither of us has read. We also had not seen the movie. The challenge of reading a real book was doing it in the cockpit at night. Her Kindle had a cover with a built in light. With the real book, she had to balance a little LED light we have on her stomach to illuminate the book.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10546.
Mar 4
The reading continues. I'm sure there are folks who can't understand how we can go for days without getting off the boat, and just reading. It can be done. I find that I never take the time to sit and read when I'm in the States, so I pack a year's worth of reading into these few months.
Friends Tom & Leslie from Far Haven came by for a couple of hours in the evening. They also recently bought an RV for the summers, so we talked a lot about our future RV lives.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10546.
Mar 5
Today we had a productive day. After morning coffee and the radio nets, we dropped the mooring and motored the long four miles west to Caneel Bay. As we were entering Caneel, we saw Cheetah II on a mooring. Cheetah II traveled with our group southbound in 2007. We have not seen them in person since 2009. I hailed them on the VHF but didn't get a reply. We picked up a mooring at the far western end of the anchorage.
Our purpose for moving to Caneel is to go into Cruz Bay. We closed the boat up and dinghied around the corner to the main dinghy dock by the ferry dock. Our first stop was at Connections, which is a mail service. Since the USVI is "US", the mail is the regular old US Postal Service. Even though the post office is in the same block as Connections, it's a little easier to send things to Connections real address rather than General Delivery at the Post Office. We have our regular mail coming soon but since it's affordable, I had my brother pack up the binoculars we forgot to bring down and send them in a Priority Mail Flat Rate box. This package is here and we picked them up. We have missed having them.
Our second stop was for lunch at Woody's. Barb was good and had a salad, but I went straight to the deep fryer for clam strips and onion rings. Of course, it was all good.
Third stop was the grocery store. There are two grocery stores in Cruz Bay. Dolphin Market is closest to the dinghy dock, but Starfish Market which is a few blocks further is nicer. We walked to Starfish and did our shopping. With our shopping complete and all the cold things safely in the freezer bag we carry, we called a cab to take us back to the dinghy. He was there in a few minutes, helped us load up, and took us to the dock. It's not that far, and the driver actually apologized that he still had to charge us the minimum $4/pp. I was happy to pay him rather than try to carry all the groceries.
We dinghied back to the boat, got the groceries stowed, and were back in Francis Bay by about 15:30.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 8. Total miles 10554.
Mar 6
I did a little boat maintenance today. The paddlewheel that sticks through the bottom of the hull to tell you how fast the boat is going hasn't worked since we launched. It's not all that important since the GPS tells you how fast you are going. But, I pulled it out today and cleaned it yet again. It barely had any growth on it, but now if I spin in with my finger, it registers a speed on the instrument. There is also a plug that can go in place of the paddlewheel, and the one we had in was seeping water. So, I threw it away and replaced it with a new spare one I had. While I had that part of the bilge opened up, I cleaned it good. Cleaning the bilge is one of those things we'll have to do before selling the boat, so might as well start now.
I spent the rest of the day reading. Barb finished Life of Pi, so I started it. I had to remember how to actually turn real pages.
Our friends Lee & Sharon on Allegro came to visit for a couple hours this afternoon. We have known Lee & Sharon since 2006, but have only been face to face a few times. They are also from Houston. In 2006, we were passing through a particularly narrow pass near Woods Hole, MA. Allegro was coming the other way. We were both flying Texas flags, so Lee hailed me on the radio. We introduced ourselves, and he asked if we knew a boat named Milano Mist. We did not, but he told us they were also from Houston and were currently in Newport, where we were headed. We subsequently met Milano Mist, and buddy boated with them through our second season in the Bahamas. As we went south in 2007, and the Coconut Telegraph net was formed, Allegro was a frequent check-in, and he also had a great SSB radio. If I recall, Allegro was ahead of us, and they went all the way to Trinidad while we stopped in Grenada. When we decided to stay in Grenada for a whole year and run Clarke's Court Bay Marina, we met Allegro face to face for the first time as they came north for the season. We probably saw them again in 2008 as they went back south. After that, we heard them on the SSB often, and Lee took over the coordination of net controllers after we returned to the States in 2009. In 2012, we spent the entire season in Antigua, but we saw Allegro briefly at the Antigua Classic Regatta. Last year, as we moved from St. Maarten to the BVI with Seabbatical, we passed Allegro in the early dawn hours as they were leaving the BVI headed to St. Maarten. We waved and spoke on the radio, and joked about that was how we first met, passing close by each other. So, this year is the first time we have been together in the same anchorage, for several days. Even though we feel like we've known them for years, this was the first time we have sat and had a long conversation.
Dinner tonight was what we know from Texas as Mexican Guacamole. We used to go to a place called San Lorenzo's where they made excellent Mexican Guacamole. Instead of it being a smooth, creamy stuff like you get in most places or in a store, Mexican Guacamole is chunky avocado, onion, and tomato with some cilantro, lime, and finely chopped fresh jalapeno. We had two large avocados, and the guacamole and chips made dinner. I must say, Barb's rivaled San Lorenzo's. I mean it was better. Of course it was better.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10554.
Mar 7
Today was a windy day, but it was unusual for the Eastern Caribbean. The Eastern Caribbean's claim to fame for sailors it the tradewinds. The wind blows pretty much all the time, from pretty much always the east. While today's wind direction was normal, the strength of the wind was odd. It would almost go calm for a few minutes, then suddenly gust to over twenty knots. There are places in the world where this is normal wind behavior, and there are various names for these winds. But here, while it can be gusty, such variation, especially when not connected to a rain squall, is unusual.
Cheetah II moved from Caneel Bay to Francis today and took the mooring right behind us. I hailed them again, but again got no response. Later in the day, Lee & Sharon and Dick & Jane from Cheetah II stopped by in a dinghy. We said hi to Dick & Jane, and we were invited to happy hour on a catamaran near us named Regenero. We don't know the folks on Regenero, nor the folks from Dolce Vita, who will also be there.
I finished Life of Pi today. There was a part of the ending I was disappointed with, but I won't say more in case anybody hasn't read it and wants to.
We have old friends D & Don from Southern Cross coming to charter in the BVI next week, and we will definitely be hooking up with them, so I asked them if they could bring me a new voltage regulator. I hadn't thought about getting one sent to our address early enough to be included with the mail we have coming. They said they would be happy to bring it, so I ordered one and had it delivered to their house.
At 17:00, we gathered our beverages and headed to Regenero. We were greeted by Jim & Karen, and also met Bill & Colleen from Dolce Vita. Lee & Sharon and Dick & Jane showed up shortly thereafter. We had a great time getting to know the new folks, and catching up with Dick & Jane.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10554.
Mar 8
We are having our mail forwarded here since as I mentioned earlier, getting mail in the USVI is no challenge. Our UPS store, who forwards our mail, was waiting on two packages for us before forwarding. I got a note Tuesday, that everything was there and the package would go out 3-day Priority Mail. So, it should be here Friday. We learned from the earlier package that when the tracking says "delivered", it means it arrived at the St. John Post Office, not Connections. Yesterday (Friday) I checked the tracking and it said it was delivered at 13:00. So, I called Connections and asked about it. The lady said they would be getting mail late in the afternoon, and again in the morning. So this morning about 10:00 I called and found out for sure they had the package. So, we dropped our mooring and headed to Caneel bay.
We had several rain squalls this morning before we left, but at 10:00 it was cloudy but not threatening. As we motored the four miles west, we saw a line of rain chasing us. We ended up getting a sprinkle, but the bulk of the rain moved south to north behind us, instead of the normal east to west. Once we got to Caneel Bay, we noticed all the moored boats were pointing the "wrong" way. That is, west. The wind never blows from the west here, unless perhaps a few minutes as a squall passes. We picked up the mooring on the far western end of the anchorage, and sat there watching the dark clouds and heavy rain over the island move from west to east, while we were pointed west into a 10-12 knot breeze. Very strange. When it looked like we might have enough time to dinghy to Cruz Bay without getting soaked, we left. We took our rain coats just in case, but made it with no rain.
Our first stop was Connections where we retrieved our package. Next stop was Woody's for lunch. We can't come to Cruz Bay without stopping at Woody's. Today, Barb had chicken fingers, and I had grouper fingers, and we shared a large side of crab pasta salad. A lot of fingers got sacrificed for our lunch today. While we were in Woody's, the sky opened up. The place got full as people took refuge from the rain. It rained long and hard, forcing us to have a couple more beers after we finished eating. Even though we have rain gear, there's no sense going out in it if we don't have to.
When the rain stopped, we left and went to the dinghy with a quick pass through a small market to pick up some chips. The ride back to the boat was also dry. We found all the boats now pointing in the "right" direction - east. We immediately dropped the mooring and motored back to Francis Bay in dead calm conditions, with the water smooth as could be. We picked up a mooring right next to the one we had been on. With no wind to speak of, boats are drifting and pointing every which way, but the moorings here are spaced plenty far apart so everybody doesn't have to point the same way.
Before sunset, we had another heavy downpour, but once it passed, again there was no wind at all,. The water was like glass, the no-see-ums were able to fly out from shore and bother us, and you could hear conversations across the water like they were right next to you. Barb tried a new dinner tonight - fish tacos. She grilled some fresh-caught-from-our-freezer tilapia filets, and we assembled tacos on soft flour tortillas, with cabbage, cilantro, lime, cheese, and chipotle ranch dressing. This was accompanied by the remainder of the Mexican Guacamole from the other night.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 8. Total miles 10562.
Mar 9
It was dead calm all night long, which makes for good sleeping, but doesn't make any electricity from the wind generator. So, our batteries are getting low. This means running the moor for several hours, but that is getting harder to manage without a proper voltage regulator. I'll be glad when our new one gets here.
One of the things that came in our mail yesterday was Barb's new-to-us Kindle. If you recall, I stepped on her old one a few weeks ago and broke it. This model Kindle is Wi-Fi only, not cellular, so we need a good Wi-Fi connection to download her books and games to it. The amplified Wi-Fi antenna that I use is designed to be connected to a router so that we have our own wireless on the boat, but I had trouble making that work last year, so I have always used it with the antenna plugged directly into my LAN port instead of using the router. This gave me the reason I needed to sort that out and get our wireless working. It actually worked smoothly when I hooked it up, although I think I understand the problem I had last year, and now know how to deal with it. With the Wi-Fi on, we were able to register the new Kindle to the Amazon account, and download everything that had been on the old one. The Wench is a happy camper again.
GPS N 18-21.851 W 064-44.757 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10562.
Mar 10
We are leaving Francis Bay today, so we took the dinghy to pay our mooring fees and get rid of our garbage. There is a bit of a swell coming in the bay today, so landing the dinghy on the beach will be tricky. We paid the mooring fee at the floating platform first, which turned out to be a good thing. As we approached the beach, our plan was for me to get us to the shallow water where Barb could get out in knee-deep water, and I would back up and stand off waiting for her return. With the big swell though, this gets a lot more tricky. I got near the beach, and Barb got her legs hanging over the bow prepared to jump. As a wave lifted us towards the beach, I had the motor in reverse to keep us from going right up on the beach. Barb got out, and when I expected to be backing away, instead I was coming on the beach. Turned out a helpful teenager on the beach, gabbed our bow line and pulled me in. The propeller now ground in the sand bottom, and the next wave swamped the dinghy and engine and me from behind. I had no choice now but to get out and get the dinghy up on the beach out of the waves. Both Barb and I were soaked, and now we would have to launch back into the waves, which was what I wanted to avoid. Barb took the garbage to the dumpster while I calmed down. The re-launch actually went better than expected. Since I was soaked anyway, I got the dinghy bow to the waves, in the water and Barb got in. I then tried to time the waves, and shoved us out while jumping in. I then quickly lowered the motor and got it started before another swell took us back to the beach.
Back at the boat, we changed into dry clothes. Bill from Dolce Vita came over to help me take a look at our engine and see if we can figure out an odd noise it has been making. Since we launched, we have had a noise that comes and goes. I happens whenever the boat leans to port. The new motor mounts or prop shaft alignment are of course suspect, because that's the last work done to the motor. But, I have not been able to determine exactly what the noise is. At idle it sounds like an exhaust leak, but I can't feel any leak with my hands, nor do we smell exhaust inside the boat. At speed, it sounds like a bearing knock, but a bearing knock wouldn't come and go as the boat rocks from side to side. With Bill and I looking at the engine, Barb started it up. With the swell coming in, we were rocking a bit from side to side, and after a minute it started making the noise. With the extra set of eyes, we found the problem. Bill noticed that the end of the alternator adjustment arm was barely touching the fiberglass side of the engine compartment. As the boat rocked, the engine moved just enough for it to tap on the wall. I don't know if the guy who put in the new motor mounts had this apart and put it back slightly different, or if it's just that the new motor mounts are a little more pliable and it can move more. In any case, it will be an easy fix, and my mind is at ease that it is not a mechanical problem with the engine itself.
We left and motored over to Soper's Hole on the west end of Tortola. It was flat calm, even out in the channel between the islands, and we towed the dinghy rather than hoist it on the davits. I've been towing the dinghy most of the time for the past couple of weeks since the trips have been short and in calm waters. It slows us down half a knot, but it's a lot less work for us.
When we got to Soper's Hole, there were only a couple of moorings available. The two that were open, did not have the stickers on them identifying them as public moorings owned by the marina. But I took one anyway, since it also wasn't marked as being private. I dinghied in to Custom & Immigration to do our paperwork. I already had the Customs form filled out when I got there. I was surprised by two things on this check-in. First, I found out today is a holiday. I have no idea what holiday, but it means they charge an extra $10 for "overtime". I guess I was lucky, because there was a notice on the wall that states that next week the overtime fee goes up to $20. My second surprise was that there were other forms to fill out, for Immigration. And, a $16 fee for Immigration. I didn't fill out these forms nor pay this fee a few weeks ago when I checked in. I learned long ago to just go with the flow and never argue or complain at Customs & Immigration. Bt the guy next to me hadn't learned that lesson yet. He asked about the "new fee". The officer calmly replied that it wasn't a new fee. It's simply a matter that they had run out the forms. No forms, no fees. Now they have forms, we pay the fee. It made perfect sense in the twisted island bureaucracy scheme of things.
When I got back to the boat I saw a couple of moorings had opened up that were clearly marked with the marina's stickers. I did not want to get in a position where we were told this evening to leave a private mooring and have nowhere to go, so we decided to move now. I learned later that the mooring we were on, is rentable, and someone other than the marina collects for it. Next time I'll know. The rest of the afternoon, we watched several races to the only open mooring at the moment. Some were gracefully decided by one boat clearly being there before another, but a couple of these races resulted in yelling and waving. It was quite entertaining.
Our specific reason for coming to Soper's Hole and staying was because we know that Bob Bitchin, the founder of Latitudes and Attitudes magazine, which was then followed by Cruising Outpost magazine should be here today for a week on a boat to celebrate his 70th birthday. Bob is pretty much a legend in the boating world, especially amongst cruisers. The story of how one magazine became the other is long and ugly, but when he started Cruising Outpost, he used a crowd funding deal to get the startup money. I was one of those who contributed $250 to the cause, which got me a hat and a burgee, both with Founders Circle logos on them, and a several year subscription to the new magazine. I have never flown the burgee on the boat since that results in them getting quickly worn out. I was hoping to get Bob to autograph my burgee. We didn't know exactly when Bob's party was, but we knew it was more or less private and was going to be held on the second floor of Pusser's. So, about 17:00, we were at the bar at Pusser's. We started hearing bits of conversations that led us to believe the party was at 19:00. Sure enough, around 18:30, Barb spotted Bob getting out of a dinghy. Several people who were part of the party greeted him. As they headed for the stairs to the second floor I intercepted him. I introduced myself and he immediately noticed the Founder's Circle logo on my hat and shook my hand and said "Thank you". He was more than happy to autograph the burgee and then posed for a picture from our camera, and one from his for their website. This may be the first time in my life I have actually gone up to someone for an autograph.
GPS N 18-23.075 W 064-42.285 Nautical miles traveled today 4. Total miles 10566.
Mar 11
We have another day to kill before our friends D & Don get here for their charter. So, we decided to move into the marina for a night so we could plug in and get the batteries charged up good. I dinghied to the marina and spoke to the dockmaster and looked at where we would go. Armed with that knowledge I went back to the boat and Barb got the lines and fenders ready on the starboard side. We dropped the mooring and drove to the marina where I backed us into the slip with no problem. We got plugged in and I went to the marina office and checked in. When we had tied up, there was a large powerboat in the adjacent slip, but he left shortly after we got there. He was soon replaced though by another. This one was from Magic Moments in Red Hook, St. Thomas. They bring people on day trips, and I guess these guests were either shopping or lunching at Pusser's. The boat was a 42' Sea Ray.
As I had dinghied back and forth this morning, I saw Ray & Sandy on Megerin on a mooring. I stopped and said hi, and Sandy invited us to join them for lunch at Pusser's later. So, about 11:30 we met Ray & Sandy, and their guests on the deck at Pusser's. Where we were sitting was about a hundred feet from MoonSail. I was sitting facing the marina. We were having a nice conversation while awaiting our food, when I suddenly saw and smelled smoke over Barb's shoulder from the vicinity of MoonSail. Once it had my attention, I saw it was clearly coming from the Magic Moments boat. I jumped up and ran to the dock, where I found the captain of the Magic Moments boat emerging from his engine compartment with a spent fire extinguisher. My first question to him was "Is this gas or diesel?". He seemed a bit stunned, but he immediately replied diesel. Since I knew then it wouldn't blow up, I then asked if he needed more fire extinguishers. He said he thought it was out, although there was still a lot of smoke coming from both engine compartment vents. I kept a close eye on it, prepared to untie our lines and move MoonSail if it seemed to still be on fire. Some guys from the marina staff arrived with larger fire extinguishers and helped the guy ensure there was no more fire. I went back to my lunch, but kept an eye in that direction. The captain was on the phone for quite awhile, but eventually he and his guests left on the boat. I can't imagine what made all that smoke and didn't disable the boat enough to have to tow it home, but it didn't.
We spent the rest of the afternoon aboard. At happy hour time, went to a new place. Scaramouch just opened a few days ago. It is a two story place, at the end of the shops away from the main docks, near where the Ample Hamper grocery store used to be. The couple who own it are from Italy. The downstairs is a open-air bar, and upstairs will be their fine dining, but it won't open for a couple more weeks. We enjoyed a couple drinks there, and chatted with both owners. It will be interesting to see if they make it, since they are getting started late in the season.
We went back to the boat and Barb made dinner. We were eating in the cockpit, but had to move below when a squall came through. When we are at anchor or on a mooring, we always point into the wind and even a heavy squall usually doesn't get the cockpit wet because of the dodger. But in a marina, the rain may not come from the front, and this time it didn't.
GPS N 18-23.075 W 064-42.285 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 10566.
Mar 12
In the morning, we filled our water tanks, and I went and paid our marina bill. D & Don get their charter boat today in Roadtown, and plan to meet us at Norman's Island. We left Soper's Hole about 11:00 and motored straight into the wind to Norman's. Norman's is the home of the Willy T and Pirate's. Willy T is an big old mail boat that has been converted to a floating restaurant and bar. It's known for being loud and rowdy with the younger set of mostly day-trippers. We took a mooring on the Pirate's side of the bay to avoid the potential for loud music coming from the Willy T. Last year we had found that Pirates had been totally rebuilt since we were there many years ago. It was now much more upscale. Unfortunately, last October, they had a fire that burned the main building to the ground. Apparently the owner has pretty much unlimited resources, because within a month they slapped up a temporary building off to the side and were open for business. They now have the bulk of the replacement permanent building built too. I doubt the new place will be open this season, but it won't be long. Although I was disappointed with the service at Pirates last year, it is one of those tourist landmarks of the BVI, so it's good to see them rebuilding.
Late in the afternoon, we finally were hailed on the radio by Wandering Eye. That's the name of D & Don's charter boat. They were still an hour out, but on their way. There were plenty of moorings available, so their late arrival doesn't matter. Once they got there and picked up a mooring near us, we dinghied over to say hi. We spent a couple hours there catching up and getting to know their guests Doug & Ann. Best of all, I got my new voltage regulator.
GPS N 18-19.083 W 064-36.975 Nautical miles traveled today 7. Total miles 10575.
Mar 13
First thing this morning I installed the new voltage regulator. It only took a couple minutes to install, and it works perfectly. I programmed it and smiled as I watched the battery monitor confirm that all was well when we ran the engine.
D & Don came over a few minutes before 08:00 so that they could use my SSB radio to check in on the Coconut Telegraph. They were down here in 2007 for several years on their boat, Southern Cross, and there are still a number of cruisers out here who know them. They checked in on both the Coconut Telegraph, and Cruishiemers, which is a similar net primarily in the States and the Bahamas. While D & Don were visiting, we learned they were having trouble with the inverter on their boat. Unfortunately, they need the inverter to run the refrigeration. Fortunately, they have a lot of ice that is keeping their food cold. They have been on the phone to the charter company, and they are going to meet a repairman in Soper's Hole on our way to Jost Van Dyke.
We both left and traveled the seven miles or so to Soper's Hole. They turned in while we continued north to Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke. We found only a few open moorings but one was right up front in the corner near Foxy's. It was a couple hours later when D & Don hailed us on the radio. The inverter had been replaced and they were on the way. By now, I didn't see any empty moorings, meaning they would have to anchor or go to Little Harbor instead. Since anchoring in Great Harbor is notoriously bad, they opted for Little Harbor. Once they were there, we could not contact each other on the radio even though it's only a mile away. Must be that big hill between us.
We decided since they weren't there, that we wouldn't bother going ashore. We had hoisted the dinghy for this trip, so we left it up and just watched the show. By dusk, I counted 66 boats in Great Harbor. Their might be 30 moorings. We had watched people anchor in places they shouldn't, as well as anchor half a dozen times because they couldn't get a good hook. There was of course some yelling from moored boats when a boat would try to anchor amidst the moorings. The problem with doing that is that an anchored boat will swing very different from a moored one when the wind shifts. In the end, nobody was too close to us, and I slept well.
GPS N 18-26.615 W 064-45.075 Nautical miles traveled today 11. Total miles 10586.
Mar 14
We were underway by 08:30. Perhaps half the boats that spent the night here are already gone. It's funny to be playing the charter boat shuffle between popular anchorages. We motored around to Little Harbor where we found D & Don. We stopped and talked to them and confirmed our plan to go to Cane Garden Bay today. There has been a north swell this past week, which should be gone now, but a new larger one is forecast for Saturday afternoon. So, today and tonight are the only time Cane Garden Bay will be comfortable. We motored straight to Cane Garden Bay, while D & Don stopped at the Bubby Pool on the way. We know the Bubbly Pool can be dangerous when there is a large sea, but it didn't occur to us that on a day like today when it is very calm, there would be no waves coming into the pool. So, they were a bit disappointed but had fun nonetheless.
While we were waiting for D & Don we went ashore and had lunch at Myett's. We spent over an hour there just enjoying the view and a few beers. I took our handheld radio, so I knew D & Don were coming before we left Myett's. By the time we got headed out in the dinghy they were on a mooring. We went to their boat and visited for a couple hours.
D had met a guy on their ferry from St. Thomas to Roadtown the other day who was a musician. He told her he would be at the Elm Bar here in Cane Garden Bay tonight. So, about 19:00 we went back ashore and went to Elm. We got a table and were joined by D & Don and Doug a little later. Just like some musicians we know they started late. The guy D had met was actually sitting in with two other guys who normally play here. But he had another gig this afternoon, and he was late getting here. They were quite good though and we enjoyed the show.
While at Elm, I met my brother from another mother. I was wearing a tie-dye t-shirt that Barb bought me in Ohio last summer. The pattern on the shirt features a guitar. This guy at the bar had on a very similar shirt. We said hi to he and his wife, and we took a picture of the tie-dye brothers.
We left the bar about 22:00. When we got to the dinghy dock, we found that a good sized fiberglass boat had tied up where we had been. They had moved our dinghy closer to the shore end of the dock, which is also higher off the water. That allowed our dinghy to go under the dock. I was able to free it without much trouble, on the opposite side of the dock, and we went home. It was lucky for us that the engine cover hadn't been knocked off or damaged under the dock. I guess the guy didn't understand that a dinghy dock is for dinghies.
GPS N 18-25.610 W 064-39.558 Nautical miles traveled today 6. Total miles 10592.
Mar 15
As I mentioned before, we know a north swell is forecast, so we don't want to stay in Cane Garden Bay. We left and headed east, around the end of Tortola to Trellis Bay. D & Don came the same way after a stop at the fuel dock in Cane Garden Bay to top up their water. They also stopped at Monkey Point to snorkel. We learned later that while snorkeling they ran into Bob Bitchin and his wife Jody, also snorkeling.
We found Trellis to be quite full, although when we got our mooring there were at least half a dozen left. It was a couple hours before D & Don got here, and they got one of the last moorings. D & Anne dinghied over a short time later and invited us to dinner on their boat later. They had scored a fresh tuna from a fisherman when they went to the fuel dock. They are also still having problems with their refrigeration, so the fish has to be eaten tonight.
We saw Island Siren was still in the harbor, so I hailed Ron on the radio. He answered and we made plans to meet onshore tomorrow. Island Siren came south the same year we did, but stayed here and has been living in Trellis Bay for several years.
We went over to D & Don's boat about 19:30 for dinner. Don grilled the tuna, and we had a great meal with mac & cheese, rice , and greens. We didn't get back to MoonSail until almost 23:00. Late for cruisers.
GPS N 18-26.817 W 064-31.910 Nautical miles traveled today 9. Total miles 10601.