It’s been busy here in the BVI since we arrived back. Spending time with our fellow Salty Dawg Rallyers we’ve had pizza parties, treasure hunts, swims, hikes, dinners at Fat Virgin and the Bitter End Clubhouse. The highlight of the week was the TV crew from the travel channel who filmed parts of the Michael Beans show at Leverick Bay which we were part of. We even had to sign releases so our faces could be shown on TV when the show airs. If I find out when it airs, I’ll let you know.
It was fun to reconnect with people we’d met on the rally down, and as usual we made some new friends. Charlie enjoyed his times at the beach playing with his girlfriend Zoe from Sapphire. He also enjoyed his walks along the paths a Bitter End.
As I write this we are sitting in Little Harbour, Peter Island. Yesterday P and I snorkeled and saw a flounder that while swimming is purple and when it lands on a rock or sand it turns the color of the object it’s on. A very cool sight indeed, but where is the camera when you need it.
About half the rally boats departed today for the US or Bermuda, a day earlier than planned. We are in the other half that plan to depart tomorrow. Paul has completed the oil and filter changes on one engine and has the other one to complete. I have deflated our kayaks and need to finish stowing away a few more things.
Meanwhile, Charlie has his head on my arm and is begging for a trip ashore. He likes to remind me that we are still in paradise and we need to embrace it before we go. So with that I’ll get myself ready to paddle him ashore on the paddleboard for a bit of a walk and throwing of his ball in the water to give him a swim. Then I may even take a swim/snorkel again myself.
After a quick re-provisioning in Jolly Harbor, we headed to Barbuda, the last of our five 30+ knot sustained trips. By now it was almost starting to feel normal. The good news is that it was a beam reach almost due north with the swells grudgingly shifting from NE (bit rough) to due east about halfway through the trip making the ride a lot more pleasant than a close reach despite the 8 to 12 foot swells. Good but salty (think spraying your house down with a hose then dumping a 500 pound bag of salt into a giant fan blowing at your house, you get the idea) and a bit rough passage.
But it was Barbuda by birthday and we arrived on the 8th, just in time to grab some much needed sleep and wake up to pure Zen – and a happy birthday (Paul). Why Zen? Because the western shore of Barbuda is miles and miles of beautiful pink coral beach with almost no one on it Just sit back or take a walk/swim and soak it up. To the lee is the Caribbean Sea, maybe a small reef, but we weren’t headed that way. We had nosed the boat within 130 feet of the beach and dropped anchor so a trip ashore could be a swim, ride on a SUP, or kayak. We chose at first the southern end of the beach where no one stops but there is actually a better wind break but slightly more swell. The result was we never had a boat within a mile of us while there making it pretty much our own private beach. So the days vanished rapidly as we read, walked endlessly on the beach without encountering anyone, swam, did chores and often sat or lay in the hammock while soaking it all in. In a fit of dramatic decision making, we opted to move to the northern end near the reef but still enjoyed the company of only a couple of other boats – for a while. Then the weather improved and we suddenly had more company.
When the clouds finally dissipated, we observed two “green flashes” on two consecutive nights. Very rare! Last year Gwyn saw two and Paul saw only one. So what is a “green flash”? Well, from what we have seen it is not a flash as in something flashing into the sky. Rather, as the disk of the sun sets in the sea, the very top sliver of the disk turns a brilliant emerald green for about a second just before dropping out of sight. It is amazingly beautiful but not quite what I would call a “flash” other than the very brief nature of its existence. So what is it exactly? Don’t know. What we do know is the weather needs to be without smog/cloud/etc, the disk of the sun needs to be very clear as it sets, and voila, green flash. At least on Blue Sky these conditions are very rare. We are not often on a lee shore with only the sea on the western horizon, but when we are, there is often weather, so that works against a “flash”. The scientists can take it from there. We have seen it, rarely, but always both of us in the same place at the same time – solid. Haven’t seen it since but we will keep looking. For those who believe it’s a myth, keep looking, it is definitely real but occurs in only rare conditions.
The problem with premade plans is they won’t always turn out perfectly as you’ll see explained in this blog.
We had everything in order for our friends, Laurie and Joe, to arrive into Antigua on February 21st. We took a mooring in Jolly Harbour and asked them to taxi to the marina where we’d meet them, then sail them to Guadeloupe where they would fly out of. We saw their plane go over and went ashore just in time to meet them at the dinghy dock. They were hungry and thirsty, so we went into the pub by the poolside for a round of drinks while they enjoyed a few appetizers. I had made chili on board which we only needed to heat, so no full meal was necessary.
Joe and Laurie’s flight arrival as it passed overhead in Antigua
The trip before we got to the squalls. Sorry too busy during the squall for more pics.
The following morning Paul and Joe went ashore to clear everyone out. We departed Antigua for Guadeloupe at 10am. While protected by the island of Antigua the winds and sea were decent, but as soon as we got out from the lee of the island the sea state became quite unstable. The winds were over 25 knots so we were already single reefed, but the horizon had some squall clouds on it so we double reefed. We ended up hitting the tail end of 3 squalls. Some with gusts of up to 45 knots. Now this is not fun for seasoned sailors like us, so you can only imagine how it can incapacitate our guests. They were flat out on their backs for most of the trip.
We arrived in Deshaies, Guadeloupe at 4:30 in the afternoon. Thankfully the anchorage is well protected and our friends recovered from the passage fairly quickly. The following day we all ventured ashore and walked the mile or so up hill to visit the botanical gardens. No dogs were allowed so Paul sat outside with Charlie while the rest of us went through and enjoyed the plants and birds. First stop once inside is the feeding of the koi, and believe me when I say they are well fed. They are huge and there are hundreds of them in the ponds throughout the gardens.
This is just a few of the hundreds of Koi – feed me, please
Laurie and Joe enjoying the sights
Orchid – for real – not photo-shopped – amazing
Some amazing vines that became roots behind Gwyn and Laurie
The ever present goats
Now that is a really different tree trunk
Deshaies harbor from the botanical garden
I enjoyed the bright colorful birds they had in a large outdoor arbor. Most of them were busy eating the fresh grapefruit slices that were hung for them. A few were hopeful that we had food, but the food dispenser was empty so we had nothing to offer. I also enjoyed the plantings and it was particularly interesting to see the orchids growing in their natural habitat.
Colorful birds aplenty
Love the affection expressed
Hangin’ with the birds
Got his eye on us
Just push a half of a grapefruit onto a nail – voila bird food
Flamingos look surreal
Sleepy time, and its a struggle to do that in Yoga for us mere humans (especially on a boat)
We were all tired after trekking through the gardens. Paul and I started walking downhill with the dog, while Laurie and Joe organized a ride back to town on the free shuttle. Laurie managed to communicate to the driver to pick us up along the way.
We left Deshaies the following morning for Les Saintes (a small group of islands 37.1 miles from Deshaies). This sail was slightly better than our previous crossing, but the seas were still rough and the winds still high so we were double reefed again. Our guests faired better on this trip having taken some Gravol as we departed.
The required morning shower our first morning in Deshaies, Guadeloupe
Deshaies harbor on Guadeloupe as we were leaving
The French always have a better way – fishing boat, so says the AIS – outclasses the “normal” fishing boat
On the way to Les Saintes, this Caribbean 600 racer came flying by us like we were drifting. Didn’t realize we were on the race course
We anchored and I took Charlie aboard in the kayak to a small beach littered with sea glass (score). We spent one night at anchor and moved onto a mooring the following morning as soon as one freed up. We all ventured into town where we found a place that sold fresh baguettes. We also located some free WiFi in a new little creperie not far from the dinghy dock. We enjoyed crepes and galettes here a few times over the course of our visit.
A partial view of Terre de Haut from Fort Napolean
Les Saintes Pain de Sucre (sugar loaf) behind which we hid from the wind with Terre de Bas in the background
Bourg des Saintes on Terre de Haut with Fort Napolean on the hill right center and Guadeloupe in the background
Looking a bit more to the west is Fort Josephine on Ilet a Cabrit on the right and Pain de Sucre with Terre de Bas in the background on the left
A closeup look of Fort Josephine, we didn’t climb that one this trip. Spot Blue Sky just to the left of center?
A closer look at the town and to the right a house built like a ship’s prow. Colorful and fun with good food
The streets are busy with people from ferries that come over from the island of Guadeloupe several times a day loaded with tourists. There are many little shops and restaurants here and there are multiple grocery stores within walking distance. Scooters are the main mode of transport here and they are weaving around between those who are on foot throughout the village.
Les Saintes Anse du Bourg – beautiful except for the constant rain showers and wind. Not normal weather
A walk across the island to the windward side brought some nice surf
Interesting looking airport nestled between two hills and a mountain at one end. Behind me is the ocean
Loved the use of color in the homes
Charlie tentatively meets two other dogs who were just dying to make a new friend.
Maybe if I pick Charlie up, the other dogs will stay home. Nope, followed us all the way into town.
Laurie and Joe as we sample some restaurant food on the sea’s edge
Paul and Gwyn at the restaurant in Bourg des Saintes
Our days were spent wandering the town, enjoying galletes and baguettes. We did the hike up the hill to visit Fort Napoleon. This time Charlie and I sat outside while Paul did the tour with Laurie and Joe. Our evenings were spent playing Farkle or scrabble after a short swim.
The mandatory football field in Terre de Haut
Always the goats in the bush on the way up to Fort Napolean
Taking a break just before the summit on our climb to Fort Napolean (Guadeloupe in the background)
First you go down into the moat then scale the walls and that only gets you to the inner fort – I’d call it a losing proposition
Fort Napolean inner fort seen from the fort walls which also had a moat on the outside. Guess they didn’t like visitors
Marigot Bay on the other side of Fort Napolean. Bit of a hike straight up
Iguana standing guard inside the fort – about 4 feet long
Before we knew it the week with our guests was over and it was time for them to leave. They opted to take the fast ferry over to Trois Riviere, Guadeloupe rather than do another passage in the rough seas. Good choice I’d say. So we bid them goodbye and we dropped the mooring and moved to an anchorage called Pan de Sucre. Here there was a small beach and some snorkeling. The winds continued and boats were coming and going. Each evening we were kept busy watching that no one fouled our anchor while setting theirs. Boats often drag in this bay so it was nerve racking.
Another marvel of French innovative marine engineering, Laurie and Joe said the rides was quite smooth despite the heavy weather on the way to Trois Riviere
Thanks for wearing the bright blue shirt, Joe! Bye for now L & J
Pain de Sucre protecting us from the high winds in Les Saintes
Uncomfortably close anchoring in Pain de Sucre but he didn’t see it that way
The good news (for us) is the wind shifted and he dragged into another cat while the captain slept in the morning.
They are just getting ready for the marriage vows (we think). Gotta like the wedding attire. Although he had on no shirt, he sported a bow tie and long pants.
Day after the wedding managing the kids – still in bow tie
I’d finally had enough and really wanted to get somewhere with more protection from the winds that never seemed to let up. We chose to sail back over to Guadeloupe on March 3rd. While on route we were hailed by Ullyses in French. Paul responded in French, much to my surprise, and eventually both parties converted to English. They were asking for us to take some photos of their boat while under sail. We were happy to comply.
Our plan was to sail to the Jacques Cousteau marine park, but we ended up stopping in a bay just a few miles south of there. It was well protected from the winds so we actually had some time to kayak Charlie ashore and to deliver the photos to Ulysse who’d also anchored here behind us. They invited us for wine that evening and returned our USB key with a few photos of us. They had sailed recently sailed across the Atlantic and still had their crew with them. Nice people and we did our best to communicate. Thankfully they all spoke better English than we spoke in French.
Ulysee wing on wing in the rough water of Canal des Saintes between Les Saintes and Guadeloupe
Ulysee in calmer water in the lee of Guadeloupe
That night the winds were really high and we dragged. Usually it’s simple to haul the anchor and reset, but to my surprise we had snagged a tarp full of muck. It took me about 10 minutes to get it off the anchor while Paul kept the boat pointing into the wind. In the end we chose a place behind all the other boats to reset in case we dragged again. Thank goodness for our anchor alarm. We weren’t the only ones who dragged that night. We certainly didn’t get much sleep here.
With winds still high sustained to 38 knots and gusting to 50 knots, we passed by the Jacques Cousteau marine park and made our way back to Deshaies. Here we cleared out on March 5th and sailed back to Antigua. No squalls, but we were double reefed all the way back and still made an average of 8 knots. We’d have another week or so of these higher winds to endure before they finally abated. You just can’t predict the weather.
While cruising, we (mainly Gwyn) keep experimenting with new recipes, mostly vegan, and a few have become our favorites. So we have added new blog pages (see on the header above) to provide easy access to an alphabetical sort of the various recipes to make them easy to find after the blog post containing the recipe ages. So you will start seeing recipe posts as we get around to writing them up. First ones will follow this post. Enjoy.
We departed Virgin Gorda after the full moon and headed to Road Town for some shopping and then island hopping to Peter Island and Norman Island on our way to Soper’s Hole for the haulout.
Full moon rising over Virgin Gorda in North Sound
As with most of this sailing life, challenges arising from constantly moving in a salt water environment are definitely the norm. So while attempting to leave Peter Island and head to Norman, our anchor windlass went on permanent strike. The good news, is that we had just retrieved 194 of the 200 feet of chain we had out when it died. That is good for two reasons: First, the anchor and two hundred feet of chain weigh in at close to 400 pounds and pulling that up with the manual feature of the windless would have been challenging. Second, the way the windless died was destruction of gears in the gearbox and the manual feature of the windless was inoperable. So we had to hand over hand the last 90 pounds – better than 400 pounds!! But now finding a replacement was proving difficult but our friend Anthony at BVI Yacht Charters helped us out locating some new parts. So we decided to install replacement parts during the haul out. We did stop at Norman Island but had to grab a mooring ball, having no anchor. But the view of Pelican Island and the Indians and the serenity of the bay was worth it.
Sunrise view of Pelican Island and the Indians with St. John in the background
We made it to Soper’s with a beautiful smooth sail and were hauled out on Friday with an acid wash scheduled for Saturday, paint and windlass fix on Sunday, and saildrive seals on Monday – 3 days and we’re back in the water, or so we thought. The removal of the old windlass was a simple matter of removing 4 nuts and sliding the gearbox and motor down off the shaft that turns the gypsy (the part that winds up and down the anchor and chain). Right? Sounded like a 5 minute job to me with another 15 minutes to put it back together and rewire. However, remember this is a BOAT so after quickly removing the 4 nuts, I discovered the gearbox and shaft remained as firmly entwined as a young couple discovering love. So I called in some professional assistance, expecting to be embarrassed as he would separate the parts in 2 minutes giving me a “what was the problem” look. Not so. It took almost three hours of continuous pounding and levering before the gearbox suddenly give up the ghost and split open releasing the shaft. Yay! Of course once again this is a BOAT, so the unexpected demise of the gearbox also released a pile of gear oil all over the chain and people in the vicinity. In the end, the expected 20 minute job took the better part of the day before all was apart, re-installed and cleaned up. But the new windlass is so quiet, I now can’t tell when G is dropping or retrieving the chain – but I am not complaining!
The paint job went swiftly but our mechanic for the sail drives showed up to check the boat and said he would be back later in the day. Remember we are on island time here so that means tomorrow or so. Chalk up another day on the hard – day 3 was done. Next day we got to enjoy another BOAT experience as the straightforward job of replacing the zincs and saildrive seals went very quickly until it was all apart (gears again – beginning to understand the old expression “being given the gears”). Lo and behold, the bearings in the gears of both drives were shot, partly due to age but accelerated a bit by the beautiful but very heavy bronze flexofold props I installed last year. Love those props because they fold nicely when under sail giving us a speed boost – but because they are on a BOAT, which is by definition the epitome of compromise, there was a small price to pay in accelerated bearing wear.
The good news of course is that we discovered this during routine maintenance rather than by finding water in our gearbox or worse (remember the windlass) in some remote location. The really bad news surfaced rather more slowly. This is an in stock local part, right? After all the BVI has many hundreds of boats with this drive. With assurances from everyone and a promise to have them the next morning, we found our departure delayed again as day 4 came to a close. Of course the next day came only to discover that the parts were not in the BVI, they were not even in St Thomas. Nope, sorry but they have to be fedexed from the US (ka-ching). But it will be overnight – so day 5 passed. Of course the Thursday came only to find out that the bearings “got stuck” in Puerto Rico, so didn’t show up. Sigh, day 6. They didn’t even show up on Friday, so now we had a weekend on the boat to add to our stay as days 7, 8 and 9 wandered by.
You must understand the “on the hard” environment we were in. For any non-sailors, picking a boat up out of the water and storing it on land is considered on the hard. If you live on a boat as we do, it feels very unnerving at first to be on the hard. Your body and being are used to the soothing constant motion on the boat so when that is suddenly gone, your brain tries to convince you that you are still moving which is very unnerving when you aren’t.
Where we like to be hauled in Soper’s Hole, the “hard” has been created by chiseling a roughly 100 foot level area out of very steeply rising terrain (as in very, fit mainly for goats). Having removed this material, a concrete retaining wall of some 40-50 feet high was built to keep the rest of the terrain from attempting to fill the ramp back in so nature could be happily back to normal. Of course on top of this wall sits a road, barely better than a jeep trail, with its own retaining wall so that people can access their homes cleverly hanging on in other nicely chiseled areas. So here we are, aft end of the boat against the wall on a concrete ramp, a beautiful bay in front of us with lots of ferry traffic. So what do you have? A perfect sound reflector! You can here every engine in the bay as if some heavy metal rock guitarist just cranked up his new amp! Ok, not quite the bad but walk 100 feet to the water and all is serene. Sit in the back of the boat and watch the goats impossibly walking down the steep hillside and you almost have a ferry concert. Of course the normally windy Soper’s Hole which keeps the area naturally air conditioned chose to be not windy during our extended stay thereby promoting a healthy mixture of perspiration with 3 billion mosquitos, dust from the road, and assorted other creepy crawly things that seemed to fall out of the sky. Not that we weren’t entertained!
Oh no, cruisers can always find the little nuggets in what we may have felt was intolerable in our previous lives. Charlie of course kept a watchful eye on the goats that managed to wander into the “hard” area. (click on the small image for a slide show and Esc to come back)
Goats above retaining wall 1 and below road retaining wall. They go anywhere/everywhere
Goats invading the ramp at Soper’s Hole
Charlie keeping an eye on the goats while on the hard
We temporarily adopted K’Mani whose Dad did a great job repairing gelcoat dings left over from the charter days (since we were stuck on the hard, this was great to get taken care of). K’Mani, at first scared to death of Charlie, ended up rubbing his tummy and finding much to do with Gwyn.
K’Mani giving Charlie a tummy rub and deciding dogs are ok – after a game of dominoes with Gwyn
We also took him out in the dingy for a frolic at a beach where Charlie played with Zoe a few times.
Zoe and Charlie heading out to retrieve their toys at their favorite beach
Heading out to retrieve those toys
Zoe and Charlie heading back with their retrieved toys
What happens when the ball is thrown too far – the old man gets to retrieve it. There is no “too far” for Zoe – but Charlie has limits.
We wandered through town and found a rather ingenious chair made from two discarded pallets.
Creative chair at a bar made from 2 pallets
We took a hike to the south side of the island (about 10 min) where the pelicans were having a feeding frenzy.
Peter Island in background with Pelican starting a dive for a meal
Pelicans flying and diving/feasting on schools of fish
We were entertained by the magical transformation of our boat from blue to grey (barrier coat) to black (new bottom color), not to mention ecstatic when we finally got off the hard.
Blue Sky with last year’s paint
Blue Sky sporting her new barrier coat
Blue Sky with her new black bottom paint
Blue Sky on the beast about to head down the ramp to the water
Blue Sky heading for the water on the beast.
Sharp left turn and into the water she goes. Glad I’m not steering the beast with a 33,000 pound boat.
We headed immediately to Benure’s Bay on Norman where only two other boats shared the anchorage. Delightful to get into the water for a snorkel and swim. The next morning before leaving, the usual crowd of small fish were under the boat but with a rather large black shadow.
The usual crowd of little 5 inch fish – but that dark shape is new.
So I stuck my hand in the water with the camera for a better look. Oh, geez, its a barracuda! Note rudder in background for size reference.
Poor photo, picked the wrong hull window to shoot from. But that window over there is 22 inches so with a little measuring the barracuda comes in at 4.5 to 5 feet long.
Then it was off to Road Town for errands and food and a bash back to North Sound for Christmas Eve. We arrived too late and too tired to participate in the festivities but enjoyed all the lighted boats and the boat parade. Next morning we peaked out the back to see Santa relaxing after a hard night’s work.
What does Santa do after a long night delivering gifts? Why a little kite boarding in North Sound, of course.
