Gwyn Wagschal

CHOCOLATE COCONUT TRUFFLES

We enjoyed these truffles with friends on Rum Runner one night while in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua. I loved that Judy said, ‘Let’s start with dessert’ and everyone raved at the taste. So easy to make as well.

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 oz) package of pitted dates (approx. 1 ¾ cups)
1 (6 oz) package of pecans, soaked 2-4 hours and drained (approx. 1 ½ cups)
1 TBSP organic cacao powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cups dried, shredded coconut (divided)

DIRECTIONS
-Partially chop dates
-Add all ingredients (except ½ the coconut) into a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture forms a ball
-Roll mixture into bite size balls and roll each one in remaining shredded coconut for coating
-Refrigerate until ready to serve

New Year, New Experiences

In follow-up to our recent guest blogger’s blog, I thought I should add my take on the experience of having a mystery guest aboard. I’ll begin with the night of Leslie’s arrival, New Year’s Eve. I was excited to have a guest on board, even someone I’d never met, but felt at ease with through the Women Who Sail site and our Facebook chats and emails. We rarely have guests, and I was feeling a little melancholy when hearing our cruising friends boast about their numerous guests scheduled to visit during the season. Knowing the chances of family coming for a visit this season was unlikely, it was this nagging need of mine that inspired me to ask Paul if we could say yes to Leslie’s request for a sailing adventure during her break from daily mothering. I responded to her on Facebook and the following morning she’d booked her flight.

With that we cleaned up the guest room. Paul removed all his tools and I readied the bed, cleaned the head and put out our new guest towels. I love the look of our guest room when it is ready and awaiting a guest.

Leslie arrived on New Year’s Eve around 7pm. I had made chili and rice, knowing that she’d be hungry after her travels. We then enjoyed a few cocktails as we got to know each other better. Fast forward a few hours and Leslie is asking, “can we swim?” I’m thinking, it’s dark, we don’t swim in the dark. But anyone who knows Leslie, knows she can be convincing and she got both Paul and I to swim with her. Yes, I was nervous stepping into that dark water, and I only swam to the bow of the boat and back, but I did it. I stepped away from my fear and went for it. Would I do it again, probably not, but I’ve done it and it was exhilarating.

Shortly after our swim, Leslie retired for a rest in the hopes she’d wake back up for midnight. Travel has a way of wearing you out. She slept straight through to the next morning. Paul and I enjoyed the movie ‘Almost Famous’ on the computer, which Leslie kindly brought along with her. We made it to midnight and then also retired for the night.

Speaking of bringing things, you’ll find if you are ever visiting a cruiser, you’ll likely be asked to bring something with you from the mainland. I asked her to bring a few movies along and some onion powder. Yes, I have trouble finding certain spices and this was one I didn’t think I’d run out of so didn’t have a second one on hand when I ran out.

Since Leslie explained in her blog the places we went, I’ll focus on my joy in having a guest on board. First, I’ve found since cruising that I really do enjoy cooking and have found many recipes that I like making and sharing. Leslie did tell me she wasn’t a fan of curry so she missed out on 2 of my very favorite recipes, but I had plenty of other recipes to cook up. She asked for a few recipes, and rather than write them out for her and for others who’ve asked in the past, I have since had Paul set up a recipe tab on the blog, so I can now share these as I go along. So for Leslie, fellow cruisers, and friends on shore who want to try a few new recipes, feel free to try some of those I post and let me know what you think.

Back to the joy of having Leslie aboard, it’s like I’ve known her all my life. Strange as that sounds, she was a lot of fun. Her enthusiasm for sailing and being here was pure joy. It made us feel good, but it also reminded us of how lucky we are, to be floating about, exploring places, and experiencing things like night sailing. Leslie showed us our life through her eyes and that was a gift.

That night sail was one of the best sails we’d ever experienced on this boat. I remember back to the days when this was just a dream and night sailing was a fear of mine. That last night sail was so far from being fearful and I now wonder what all my fussing and fear was about. Just another of those tricks my mind plays with me.

We went places we normally wouldn’t have gone (Soggy Dollar Bar), did things we normally wouldn’t have done (swim at night, swim ashore), and made a new friend out of pure faith. From the bottom of my heart, I’m so grateful for the Women Who Sail site, for Margaret who invited me to join the site about 1 year ago, and for Leslie for putting it out there and asking if anyone would be willing, for my wonderful husband who said sure, let’s go for it, and lastly for Leslie, bravely coming into unknown waters with us and inspiring us to step out of our norm and see this wonderful life through her eyes.

After spending 5 days doing as much as possible for our guest, P and I needed some down time. This means, let’s go somewhere, drop the hook and not move for a bit. We headed to Beneurs Bay on Norman Island. Here we sat for 8 days and nights. We got ourselves into some yoga, snorkeling, swimming, making water, reading, taking Charlie ashore, taking hikes over the island to the Bight, and star gazing. This is how our days are when we are just us.

The hike from Benures Bay to the Bight:

Blue Sky in Benures with Peter Island in the background

Many butterflies on the hike to the Bight on Norman

Many butterflies on our hike

Stopping for a breather on the ridge between Benures and the Bight

Beautiful south side bay on Norman just before we got to the Bight on the North Side

At last, coming down the bill into the Bight. St John’s in the background

Hiking the ridge between Benures and the Bight

Coming down the switchback nearing the end of the hike

Charlie after a gecko. What he can’t see is it is on this side of the tree laughing. Can you spot it?

[Paul] And some fish from the snorkeling. What is missing is an amazing encounter with a peacock flounder. I didn’t have my camera but pictures on the internet are great. I was watching some fish on the bottom when suddenly the flounder appeared out of nowhere and grabbed something, startling me. It turned a brilliant purple, swam along for a little ways then settled into the sand and if by magic turned into a textured version of the sand barely visible – purple gone. And once you turn your head away, you couldn’t find it again. Who knows how many flounders I have seen while thinking I was looking at sand and this was in about 12 feet of water.

Fish convention in Benures

Hiding in the coral

Crab Gwyn spotted about 30 feet down in Benures

[Gwyn] We also spend time trying to get on the internet and update the blog. This can be a long slog in the islands when the internet seems best only in the very early morning hours or the very late evening hours. Everything in between is a slog that we’ve resigned ourselves to. Our friends from Chill joined us in the bay after their return from Christmas in the US. We’ve since followed them back over to North Sound where we are now as I write this.

It’s been a wonderful start to 2015. I look forward to stepping onto new islands this season and having more visitors. For now we are readying ourselves to make a passage to St Martin/Sint Maarten, weather permitting, we hope to leave the afternoon of Monday the 19th of January.

[Paul] Just recently received some more photos from Leslie that had gotten missed in the first post. As Leslie explained in her post, on Jan 3 she and Gwyn took a hike from Bitter End to Byras creek and back after which we sailed from North Sound through Trellis bay to Cane Garden Bay then explored ashore that evening and the next AM before sailing to Jost (photos are in chronological order). Be sure to click the photo for a larger lightbox presentation that you can then cycle through.

A view from Byras Creek Resort (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Leslie at Byras Creek (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Enjoying the view of the windward Atlantic at Byras Creek (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Peekaboo look into North Sound from the Byras Creek resort (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Beautiful walk at the Byras Creek resort (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Quaint cafe at Byras Creek end of hike (Virgin Gorda means fat virgin) (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Who needs a stairmaster! Part of the hike from Bitter End to Byras creek (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Gwyn waiting for P in the dinghy to get back to Blue Sky after the hike (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Passing by Marina Cay and its protective reef as we head into Trellis Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

A little maintenance on a unique boat in Trellis Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Small house on the hill in Cane Garden Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Brilliantly colored homes hanging on the hill in Cane Garden Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Sun heading down in Cane Garden Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Running free at Cane Garden Bay – happy boy (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Sunset from Cane Garden Bay after a very busy day (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Small homes on the hill in Cane Garden Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Moonrise over Cane Garden Bay (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Some “greenery” by GreenVI glass studio (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Stunning Christmas tree created from Heineken bottles by GreenVI Glass Studio (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

Having fun grinding in the genny (courtesy of www.fraserrustics.com)

A month in BVI

It’s hard to believe a month has passed since we arrived to the British Virgin Islands. Yesterday P went into Road Town to extend us for another 60 days. I doubt we’ll stay that long, but you never know. ‘The best laid plans …’ and all that.

So I’ve been procrastinating getting to this blogging. I’ve let a good deal of time pass since I last wrote, leaving me with a wealth of information to share with you. My goal is to not bore you to tears, but forgive me if I do.

A typical light morning shower in North Sound complete with rainbow

Let me begin with all the Salty Dawg activities we’ve been enjoying. Many, many happy hours at many, many bars (Saba Rock, Bitter End Crawl Pub and Merimark Bars, CCYS-Esmeraldas, Fat Virgin, and Hog Heaven). Hog Heaven involved a good deal of coordination by Matt and Karen on Gypsy that involved a ferry ride and taxis up to the top of Virgin Gorda.

The expansive view of North Sound from Hog Heaven

Judy from Rum Runner did the coordination for daily yoga classes at Biras Creek. She also did the organizing for the CCYS happy hours where we were treated to free appetizers on our first visit. We also celebrated our arrival with a dinner at the Bitter End with majority of the Dawgs that made the trip to BVI. Believe it or not, we also skipped a few events such as pizza night. We enjoyed all these events while on free moorings provided by the Bitter End Yacht Club. There are so many perks to being a part of this group not to mention the many friends we’ve made.

For thanksgiving we celebrated on the Wednesday (we were allowed to use the beach chairs and tables belonging to the bar as long as there was no cruise ship in port – which is why we celebrated a day early) with what turned out to be an excellent pot luck on the beach at Prickly Pear. We brought Charlie along to play with the other dogs, but he is a fussy one and only plays with Zoe. Dezi, Spinnacker and Nigel got the usual growls from him as he hid beneath my legs.

Blue Sky enroute to Anegada (photo courtesy of Chill)

Chill enroute to Anegada buddy boating with us

Chill approaching the very low lying (Bahamas like) island of Anegada, BVI

On US Thanksgiving day, we buddy boated across to Anegada with Jackie and Dan from Chill. We all went to Neptune’s Treasure for a dinner of Lobster and Swordfish. Of course we had some jungle juice which we enjoyed last time we were there. The following day we hauled our bikes ashore and cycled the island. Spent a few hours lolling around on Loblolly beach, which included some snorkeling and a workout to fight the current to get back to the beach. In total we figured we cycled about 24km (~15 miles).

Loblolly Bay, Anegada with a bit of surf making for some challenging snorkeling on the reef

Charlie discovering the joy of digging in the fine sand at Loblolly Bay, Anegada

Beach Bar where near where we hung out at Loblolly Bay (photo courtesy of Chill)

Chill with their trusty steed in Anegada (photo courtesy of Chill)

Blue Sky with their trusty folding steeds at Loblolly Bay (photo courtesy of Chill)

After a long day exploring Anegada, eagerly anticipating the jungle juice at Neptune's Treasure before having lobster and sword fish for dinner. — After a long day exploring Anegada, eagerly anticipating the jungle juice at Neptune’s Treasure before having lobster and sword fish for dinner.

We finally tried out the new gennaker on our way back to Virgin Gorda and it gave us a nice push in low winds. The parasailor would have been faster, but the gennaker is much easier to handle.

Blue Sky flying her gennaker on the way back from Anegada in light wind (photo courtesy of Chill)

Let’s talk about yoga – Max our instructor was great. He seemed to instinctively know how much to challenge us. Some days we’d have only 5 or 6 participants, while other days we’d have 10 or 12. Most days I’d pick up someone. One day Irene from Destiny told me about the tuna they caught while on passage and asked if I’d eat tuna. I said yes, although I’m mainly vegan, I do give it up for fresh caught fish now and again. When dropping her off after yoga one morning she handed me a chunk of tuna from her freezer. Paul and I had a good few meals from it and it was delicious.

A few times we invited people aboard Blue Sky for sundowners. Chill had us over for a movie night (Despicable Me) and Dawn (Dutch and Elaine) invited us over to learn how to play ‘Oh Hell’ – a really fun card game which Jackie from Chill renamed ‘Oh Crap’.

Between all the fun we managed to clean up the boat, do laundry, provision, swim, paddleboard, kayak, groom Charlie and star gaze. We also took advantage of the free 2 hour water sport rental and tried out a Hobie Cat. Charlie donned his life vest for this and seemed to enjoy the ride as much as we did.

The time arrived to depart Virgin Gorda and head over to Road Town to pick up the boat paint and get ourselves over to Soper’s Hole in time for the latest Salty Dawg dinner event put on by Bamboushay Pottery and Lounge in Road Town. Here the Old Dogs of the BVI meet with the Salty Dawgs and we enjoyed a rare bit of entertainment by Foxy. If you’ve been to Jost Van Dyke island, Foxy has a famous tavern where he entertained his guests for years. He doesn’t entertain much any more so we felt truly privileged to have him entertain us after dinner. The deputy governor also stopped in to greet us on her way home from the office and of course we all received our coffee mugs provided by Bamboushay Pottery made especially for our group. There were many goodbyes as many of the Dawg’s plan to depart the BVI and head down island to various ports after this last event.

Enjoying a rare performance by Foxy at Bamboushay with other Salty Dawgs

On Dec 12th we got Blue Sky hauled out at Soper’s Hole Yacht Services. She’s getting cleaned up and new boat paint. So we’ll be on the hard for a few days. While here we will also be getting our anchor windlass repaired (it broke while bringing up the chain in Little Harbour on Peter Island). Lucky for us Anthony of BVI Yacht Charters has spare parts for it and has offered to sell us some and provide us someone to help us do the repair.

So for the next few days we’ll be getting a little dustier than we like and walking Charlie a lot more. Meanwhile I’ve put up the solar Christmas lights to help us get into the spirit of the season.

1475 nautical miles

We are here in the BVI after our open ocean passage of 1475 nautical miles that departed from Hampton, VA on Nov 3. That makes a total of about 8800 nm we’ve done since we moved aboard in May of 2013. It’s hard to believe as it seems so incredible that we are actually doing this after dreaming about it for years. All of these miles were done with just the two of us. As we’ve mentioned before, we do 3 hour shifts and our bodies do magically adapt after about 24 hours, and they adapt right back when the opportunity for more sleep arrives.

Dawgs departing the Chesapeake heading for the BVI

This passage was much easier on all of us. We’ve learned to feed Charlie mainly rice for the first 24-48 hours and in any rough seas. He was not sea sick once this trip. When we left the Chesapeake Bay and entered the Northern Atlantic ocean we were greeted by dolphins swimming about. Too far off to get a picture, but I took it as a sign for a good trip; and a good trip it was. We had wind on days when it was not forecast, we managed to miss most of the storms at sea, and the only storms we hit met us with mostly rain and low winds. As we neared the islands we saw shooting stars on several of our night shifts. I counted 4 in one shift. There were no whales or dolphins on the remainder of our trip, but we did see the usual flying fish pretty much daily.

Sometimes the sun rises were an amazing pink tinting everything in sight

The only surprise was a little bird that hitched a ride for 10 minutes. At that point we were 400 miles from the nearest land so it was quite surprising.

A small bird took a breather on the lifeline 400 miles from the nearest land

On Fri. Nov. 14th we arrived at dawn into Sopers Hole in the west end of Tortola. As if to welcome us, about an hour after we arrived a torrential downpour appeared for about 10 minutes washing away the thick layer of salt that had caked onto the boat during the passage. That saved hours of washing the boat down. Thank you – and of course it was followed by a rainbow.

Once we got ourselves fed, we readied the dinghy to go and get everyone cleared in at customs. As usual, we had a bit of a battle with our electric dinghy motor and were late meeting the vet for Charlie’s clearance. Once that was done, Paul went to clear us and the boat in, but realized he left the boat paperwork on the boat. So we had to make another trip with out recalcitrant motor. ((P) Funny how the trip started and ended with fussy motors but the trip itself was great. In Hampton, we were in front of 4 other boats ready to leave. So of course the starboard engine refused to make a sound and we kept everyone trapped. After much diagnosing, a rap on the starter solenoid did the trick. Kind of like spurring the horse to get a move on.)

Charlie and I (G) sat in the dinghy waiting for Paul to get our passports stamped. Charlie gets a little excited and wanted to go ashore, and in his effort tried to jump from our dinghy to the one next to ours on the dock. He didn’t make it, instead he went for a swim. You can imagine those big black eyes looking at me for a rescue. So cute.

Once the clearance was done, we decided to keep our adrenaline up and head to the grocery store for a bit of fresh produce and then sail on over to the Bitter End at Virgin Gorda where majority of the Salty Dawg Rally participants sail directly to. When we arrived to the Bitter End a sea turtle swam right in front of us as we headed in. Another greeting – welcome back.

Looking to Saba Rock on mooring next to the Bitter End, Virgin Gorda

This morning we took Charlie for a romp on the beach with his ball. He loves to run full out after the ball. He immediately dropped the ball into the water after fetching it. This is his sign that he wants you to throw it into the water so he can swim for it. We spent a good long time playing with him. We’re now back at the boat ready to begin our day. We’ll empty the extra fuel we carried into the tanks and put away the jerry cans. We’ll also empty the extra water jugs into the water tanks. Everything will get tidied up. I’m most looking forward to putting away the feather duvet and our warm clothes and to pulling out our extra swim suits.

Salty Dawg Rally excitement

Here we are in Hampton at Blue Water Marina, participating in various events for the Salty Dawg Rally to the Caribbean. We’ve enjoyed many talks from the US Coast Guard including a live demonstration of a water rescue from a helicopter. Since P has been working like a fiend to get our new batteries up and running, I’ve been attending majority of the events. I learned about what to check on a regular basis on the boat for preventative maintenance, and really enjoyed the talk on the medical emergencies at sea which was led by rally participants. This is quite a change from last year when we missed all the pre-rally events due to our delayed arrival to Hampton.

It really is quite something all the work Bill & Linda Knowles have gone to in order to get people educated and ready to go. There is significant focus on communication and weather, and rightfully so. We all want to know how to let people on shore know that we are moving along our float plan and are safe out there. Chris Parker has been giving us daily Skype chats to help us determine our best departure time. At this point it looks like sometime on Monday, November 3rd we’ll throw off the dock lines. We’ve been testing our SSB radio and sending out our Spot tests and providing our last minute float plan to those who need to know.

Over the week we’ve also enjoyed happy hours with our fellow Dawgs most evenings. One evening we had painkillers, sponsored by sv RumRunner, a fellow cruiser. We also participated in the two dinner events and a night in a restaurant with fellow cruisers Pete & Irene from Destiny. On Halloween night, I enjoyed my first ever Dark & Stormy’s (Dark Rum and Gosslings Ginger Beer) which were served prior to dinner. After dinner we all pulled out our draw tickets and they proceeded to draw numbers for 31 fabulous prizes. I (G) won 4 gallons of Sea Hawk boat paint worth over $1000, and a Salty Dawg t-shirt. I knew it was worth buying those tickets, I just had a feeling. It was such a joy to also have someone at our table win a t-shirt and a $250 fishing rod and reel. What an amazing night of fun and laughter.

Today we are getting the last preparations done. I’ll be making a big batch of Ginger Snap Granola and some vegan cookies for the trip. Yesterday I prepared my 2 bean chili, a Curried Cauliflower dish and a double batch of rice. The left overs will get eaten over the start of the trip and Charlie will be fed rice only for his first 24 hours so he won’t get sea sick (he loves rice).

All in all, although you are never as ready as you want to be, we should be mostly ready by the end of the day. We wish our fellow cruisers ‘fair winds and following seas’ and a safe and trouble-free passage. God willing, we’ll post an arrival to the BVI update in about 10-12 days from departure.