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So late yesterday we tracked down an errant Fedex package (left on the delivery boat for 24 hours) and now we have to sort out some financial affairs – meaning another voyage to Road Town. But not before we enjoyed a walk on our favorite path with apple turnovers freshly baked followed by a surprise appearance of a turtle back at the boat. (since there is no perspective in the photo, the turtles estimated breadth was 3 feet.

Road town is starting to become a milk run. But the winds gods threw another wrinkle in this voyage with a trip starting at a mild 10 knots followed shortly after by 30 knot gusts then calming to a pretty steady 14-19 knots. Our delight was that we seemed to be blowing by all the monohulls (which usually mock us on upwind). As the winds settled in we found ourselves on a lively happy passage for a Lagoon 420 with true winds at 100 and apparent around 80 with speeds in the 8.2 to 8.8 knots steady. So now we know Blue Sky’s sweet spot with gusts of 25 pushing us over 9. Love it. The end result is we blew into Road Town in 2.5 hours from North Sound and then dove into the challenge of finding the FedEx office, parts at the kitchen shop and chandelry, followed by big time provisioning at Rite Way. Now its time to relax at twilight in bouncy Road Town.

Manana is the beginning of a voyage to Antigua to meet friends. Bit of an upwind slog so we shall have to see how it works out.

Today was an ordinary day filled with chores.Paul made bread in the pressure cooker for the first time (very tasty). He wanted to try this as it saves on propane as do all the meals we make in the pressure cooker. If you’ve never tried cooking this way, it really is amazing. I was sold the first time we made baked potatoes in it. The fuel it saves is amazing.  I did a few loads of laundry and made a batch of Ginger Snap Granola.

It’s usually a blue sky morning on days that I do laundry. I need the fair weather to stand a good chance of getting things dried out. Go figure, I get everything hanging out to dry when a cloud comes over the hill of the island and it starts to rain. We rush out and pull all the clothes off the rails, the rain passes in about 5-10 minutes. and then I go out and rehang it. This usually goes on once or twice before everything is dry. A little frustrating, but I do love the way the clothes dry naturally wrinkle free, especially the sheets.

Yesterday I went to the vet to have Charlie’s international health certificate updated in preparation to go down island. A fairly straight forward task, with the exception that not all taxi drivers want a dog in their vehicle. That said, Charlie got put into the knap sack for the ride in the taxi. Meanwhile, Paul stayed in Tortola and got the propane tank refilled and went to the hardware store. We me up at the grocery store about an hour later to buy a few provisions. We followed that with a sail back to Virgin Gorda.

We are currently awaiting a FedEx package, which we just discovered was delayed due to weather in the US. It should have arrived today, and now it will arrive Thursday. We need the package before we leave for Antigua, so we wait. With luck it will be here and we can still depart on Friday.  The weather looks good so far. We are crossing our fingers that it all works out.

Of course, it is always a joy to starting your day seeing this out the window.

So with Yoga, paddling, and swimming, we get lots of exercise, not to mention numerous dives to scrub the hulls and get rid of all the hitchhikers.  But today, we decided it was time to exercise land legs.  Charlie cast 2 votes in favor of this one.  So off we went through the mangroves to a place called Biras Creek and a narrow strip of land separating the breaking surf east side of the island from North Sound.  We started out hopeful we would catch a glimpse of an Iguana which Gwyn had spotted just once a couple weeks ago.  Lots of these little geckos scurrying around and more inviting resort spaces, but where are the Iguanas? (click photos for a larger image)

Then as we were meandering along a road, we saw this quaint little sign followed shortly ahead by the beastie itself!

Mission accomplished! But we were in for another surprise on the way back through the mangroves.

So it was a great long hike with sights along the way. Even Charlie was a bit worn out opting for only a short play with his ball at the beach when we got back. Our granddaughter, Janiah (9), loves lizards! So we hope you enjoy the Iguanas, Janiah. We were thinking of you today!

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve blogged. You may be thinking that we’ve been super busy or something, but reality is we’ve been getting overly relaxed in North Sound, Virgin Gorda. We stayed in the first anchored spot near Prickly Pear Island for 11 nights, then for a change of scenery, we moved about a mile south, nearer to Bitter End. Both places afford us the luxury of getting free WiFi on the boat courtesy of Saba Rock Bar & Resort.

We’ve had many days of high gusty winds, combined with sunshine and passing rain showers/squalls. We’ve enjoyed rainbows, sunsets, games of scrabble, reading, cooking and eating nice healthy meals.  We’ve also established our own methods of staying fit with yoga, calisthenics, swimming, paddling and hiking. The days are passing by quite unbelievably fast.

Now into February we are beginning our preparations to travel south to Antigua (it’s time we went somewhere new). We’ve sent off Charlie’s paperwork to the Antigua vet and obtained his approval. On Friday we take Charlie for his clearing out exam at the vet in Paraquita Bay on Tortola. That will follow with some final provisioning and then back to North Sound to wait for the weather window. Rules say that we must arrive at the new port within 7 days of Charlie’s clearance to depart. So by Feb 14^th we should be in Antigua, God willing.

Paul has been pulling wires that were connected for our trip, but never pulled behind the walls/floors.  After all, it would be nice for our house guests to be able to close the door to the guest room. I know he’s much more relaxed, as he now does these tasks without so much as a single curse. Amazing what 3 months of floating on your boat can do.

Meanwhile, family back home have been experiencing the drones of winter. Our daughter, Chy, slipped and fell on some ice and broke her wrist, which required a surgical repair. As a mother it’s difficult to be away from home when such accidents occur. There’s nothing you can do from so far away, but provide virtual support and prayers. Other family members we hear from so infrequently, that we trust the old saying, ‘No news, is good news’. They are all old enough to care for themselves, but the parent in us always enjoys an update now and then. Just know that we think of everyone back home on a daily basis.

 

We finally had to tear ourselves away from Cane Garden Bay. The fish had taken up permanent residence under the boat, each with their assigned duties. The ones at the stern were silver blue about 3 inches long and frenetic. We had 6 black ones that hung out around the chain, presumably monitoring any tendency to drag. Then we had the millions of little ones that hung out in the shadow and the big boss fish in the center of the boat. Sad to break up the newly developed ecosystem but we were running low on groceries so off to West End (Soper’s Hole) for a quick provisioning stop.

After provisioning we enjoyed a close hauled sail from there back to Norman Island for a peaceful night at the Bight. However, we don’t like all the mooring balls so the next day we went around the corner to Benure’s Bay. We loved it there.

Just a few other boats at anchor and tremendous snorkeling in clear water – not to mention the wind protection was even better than the Bight. One day we set off on a hike, missed the trail, and in true bushwhacker style G, Charlie, and I clawed our way up a steep 120 meter hill. We knew a jeep trail ran along the ridge so we just had to keep going up. The jeep trail was much easier walking so we hiked across the island back to the Bight with some gorgeous sights along the way.

After 3 days, we were getting comfortable again but lacked provisions so we had a quick beam reach sail over to Road Town on Tortola but not before stopping at the Indians for some morning snorkeling. Finally was brave enough to take my camera swimming. It was beautiful but we definitely preferred Benure’s and the caves for clarity and variety of fish.

Then it was on to Road Town and a heavy duty stock up grocery shopping plus propane and some fix-it items. It was just a lot of grunt work collecting all we needed and haul it to the dinghy and back to the boat. Transferring it onto Blue Sky in two foot steep chop with the occasional ferry wake much bigger proved to be a tremendous workout. Happy to say everything and everyone made it to the boat with with no one/thing going for a swim.

The next morning on the 18th was a bit more resupplying followed by a great sail back to North Sound on Virgin Gorda. The wind gods nicely moved the east wind to the southeast about 1/2 hour into the almost 4 hour trip which meant we could sail direct, albeit close hauled. We are now happily anchored and will be celebrating G’s birthday today. More on that later.