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
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
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
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
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.

Annapolis to Hampton

A fun evening with good friends
A fun evening with good friends

Before leaving Annapolis we enjoyed an evening out with Tommy and Amy of Sail Away Catamarans. We went to a little Honduran restaurant ‘Sin Fernandos’. We all had delicious margaritas with our food, and I definitely had one too many. Wasn’t sick, but happy the ride back to the dingy was short.

The week before we left Paul also made a quick trip to Canada to take care of a few things. We rented a car before he left so I could drop him at the airport and pick him up. While he was gone I took advantage of the car and began the provisioning. Each day I would dinghy ashore and go shopping and running other errands like filling the propane tanks. I also took Charlie to his favorite park for a long walk each day. I had everything restocked and stowed before Paul got back. We then returned the rental car and got ourselves ready to depart the South River by refueling and topping off the water tanks.

We departed on Sunday, October 26th around 9am and had a gusty but quick trip to Solomon’s on the Patuxant River arriving at 3:30pm. It was a nice quiet anchorage for the night.

We left Solomon’s at 7am the following morning and mostly motor sailed to Deltaville for another overnight. By this time Charlie is wondering why we aren’t going ashore at any of our stops. Not to worry, next stop Hampton and a play date with Zoe from Sapphire.

Arrived in Hampton at 2pm on Tuesday, October 28th. Refueled and settled ourselves in on the dock in order to enjoy the Salty Dawg Rally events. Charlie was so excited to get off the boat. We immediately went for a walk and found Zoe. The two of them had a nice romp. Even though they hadn’t seen each other for over 5 months, they definitely did not forget each other. Happy dogs.