So here we are, moored, getting ourselves ready for the day. Paul is making breakfast and I am taking a swim/bath in the ocean off the stern. Charlie is being the lifeguard, keeping the birds off the boat and warning me if any dinghys come by. He spots his friend Zoe from Sapphire and he gives a bark which gets her barking back. This is how the friendship goes. She’s heads off to her boat with her owner and Charlie proceeds to chase the birds. Next thing you know he goes sliding off the back of the boat and into the drink. Now, I must admit, his timing was perfect. I was only a few feet away and already in the water. He took a pretty good dive too, with a flip and all on the way down. As soon as his head popped up I called him and he swam straight to me with that ‘rescue me’ look in his eyes. It was like he couldn’t believe he just did that. It took him a bit to recover letting me hold him close while I had him wrapped in a towel. So he gets the award for being the first to accidentally fall off the boat. We are thankful that it didn’t happen while under sail.
Turtle and Ray
We explored Trellis Bay and opted not to spend another $60 to stay two more nights on a mooring just to see the full moon party. There just wasn’t enough to do there while waiting. It was noisy from the airport and crowded, as the mooring balls are so close together to fit as many boats in as possible for the monthly party.
We left there and headed back to North Sound, where we spent a few days with an almost disaster one night. (P)I awoke abruptly hearing the sound of a halyard slapping on the mast – very loud very near (usually happens loudest when a boat is sideways to the wind). Since there was no one near us when we went to bed, I dashed madly up the stairs only to see the stern of a catamaran moving slowly past our port side about 2 feet from hitting us sideways to the wind of course. There was a person at the helm but the engines were off. I suspect he was disoriented and trying to grasp what was happening. What was happening was that he had anchored late the night before about 500 feet in front of us and at that moment was clipping along at about 2 knots with the anchor totally free. I heard him swear as he turned around and saw how close he was to me but then he ran below and turned on his spreader lights which of close blinded him to other boats around. He ran back up to the helm just as the anchor grabbed something and spun the boat rapidly causing him to lose his balance. The good news is it grabbed and held before he hit the next cat in line. The bad news is he did nothing else and went back to bed – didn’t add any scope or test the anchor set. But now that he was behind me it wouldn’t affect us. Watching him pull up his anchor the next morning, he had maybe 90-100 feet of chain out in 50 feet of water. He is lucky he stayed put for the night in the gusty high winds.
(G)We needed to get propane and really wanted to see some other islands so we left bright and early and got to Road Town before 11 am. We left Charlie on board to make it quicker to shop. I headed straight to the Rite Way grocery store while P got the propane tank refilled and returned it to the dinghy, then met me in the store to help collect the items from our list. We were back on board with provisions loaded within 75 minutes (record time). Lesson learned – it’s much less stressful on everyone if Charlie stays behind while provisioning.
After loading the groceries and propane back on Blue Sky, we hauled up the anchor and headed over to Peter Island and anchored in Benures Bay for some quiet time. It was fairly full of boats when we arrived so we stayed in the lesser popular part of the bay which normally has more swell, but the winds finally calmed and the ocean was nice and flat (waiting for this all season), so it was a pleasant anchorage which we had to ourselves after the first night. While here we did some snorkeling. The excitement for me (G) was seeing my first Stingray .. very cool. We also did the hike again over the island to ‘The Bight’ where there is a nice sandy beach for Charlie to run and swim. It was hot and Charlie needed lots of water and rests while en route. He was happy when he saw the beach.
A few days later we headed over to Little Harbor on Peter Island. We stern tied for the first time on Blue Sky. Here we had a sea turtle swimming between our boat and shore almost daily. This anchorage was also has great snorkeling which we did daily. (G)With the calm of the water, I enjoyed several paddles a day on the SUP with Charlie. I beach combed and found quite a lot of sea glass. I also found a lot of litter on the outer beaches, which bothered me so much that I went back with a plastic bag and collected it but even with flattening the many plastic bottles, my bag was completely filled on just one beach. I decided that I would bring an extra bag with me to collect the trash when I can, since I’m enjoying the place, the least I can do is participate in keeping it beautiful. Paul kayaked and explored an old fort (?) of some sort. It’s a bit of a mystery what it was built for (as you can see from the pictures).
April 30th we snorkeled early in the morning. Here they have dinghy moorings near the snorkeling area. I paddled over with Charlie and P followed in his kayak. P tied his kayak to the dinghy mooring while I dragged Charlie around on the paddleboard while we snorkeled. This has a few advantages: 1) Charlie doesn’t bark his head off while we snorkel, 2) we have the paddleboard to hop onto if we get tired while swimming, 3) boaters can see you so they don’t run you over. Here we had the pleasure of seeing a sea turtle swimming in among the fish. What a treat, this really made our trip worthwhile.
After the snorkel we pulled up anchor and sailed back to Virgin Gorda. We are now settled in for 10 days as we attend events with the Salty Dawg Spring Rally fleet and prepare the boat for our return passage to the US.
Bugs
(G) We left Benures Bay on Wednesday, April 9th to head to Soper’s Hole to pick up our mail from Soper’s Hole Yacht Services. We’d had our boat painted there in January and they were kind enough to allow us to use their address for a mail delivery. We decided not to stay overnight, so it was a quick pick up of a mooring ball, Paul getting in the kayak and picking up the mail, and we were off to Jost van Dyke (pronounced Yost) Island.
We decided to anchor over near Sandy Spit (aptly named) next to Green Cay. We spent the next two days paddling between the island and our boat with Charlie who loved to run on the sandy beach. We were quite comfortable with the exception of the wasps that decided our boat was to become their new home. At least until I (G) noticed and put a stop to that. They discovered a small hole in the boat where our outdoor shower hose is inserted. Remember for my birthday in January, P bought me a bug zapper tennis racket thing. Well, I got a few and then I discovered about 20 hanging out around the hose. So out I went with my racket, and zapped away. After disposing of at least 20 wasps and delivering them to the fish below our boat (wish we could have got a picture), I filled the hole with an old rag to dissuade them further entry. This was the first night. Over the next two days wasps arrived with regularity to have me continue my rant with the racket. The fish under the boat were pleased. I believe I fed them at least 50 wasps, if not more. (P) Talk about hunter/killer, watching my step these days!
(G)After two days of battling wasps, I decided to take it as a sign to leave. We left it up to the winds to decide which direction we would head. Off we went to the east as the winds were east to south east. As we approached noon, while under sail with fickle winds, I suggested we stop at Monkey Bay-Guana Island for a break and a snorkel. We’d heard good things about this location for snorkeling, but knew it was not a likely overnight spot. We were hungry upon arrival, so I suggest we eat first, then relax to digest, and then snorkel.
So I decided to make tomato soup with macaroni noodles. To my displeasure when I poured the macaroni noodles into the boiling water, suddenly up floated about 10 or 12 small black bugs. Okay, so I thought I’d had my share of bugs with the wasps, but karma or whatever had other ideas. I was about to discard the macaroni and try with another type of noodle, when P says, just rinse them off. Well, that won’t do, so I worked painstakingly to remove every bug from that water while the noodles cooked, then rinsed the noodles like no tomorrow before adding them to our soup bowls. I know, you’re thinking, WTF. But we’re cruising and this is not the first time we’ve had to deal with such things. We believe it’s due to the boxes that the noodles are stored in at the stores here. I bring them home and immediately restore everything into mason jars. I figure the bug larvae/eggs/or whatever are not hatched at this point, because there is no sign of anything when I remove the noodles from the boxes, then they somehow hatch before I use the noodles. Needless to say, I’ve had enough of bugs.
After lunch we snorkeled in Monkey Bay while Charlie was tied to the dinghy mooring on the paddle board. He’s much quieter with us snorkeling if he can be near by. The fish were incredible and the water was so clear. We then departed and headed to Trellis Bay. That is where we are now. Next we’ll decide if we stay here until April 15th for the full moon party (what this bay is famous for). Tomorrow we’ll go ashore to explore.
Antigua to BVI passage
(P)We just made the decision to return to the States with the Salty Dawgs at the end of May. We were going to zip to the Bahamas next and work our way back but we dilly dallied too long in Antigua (enjoying it immensely) and have some other issues to resolve so yesterday we leaped from Jolly Harbor to West End Tortola. Forecast winds of 15-20 kts in 5-8 seas – thought it would be a walk in the park – Ha!. Let’s try winds 20-30 with two surprise sustained blows at 38 knots + gusts (no clouds or squalls, just bang from 25 to 38 under clear skies). We had a challenging gibe when the first one hit at about the same time as a ~14 foot wave hit that slewed us faster than the autopilot or duty watch could react. Continued under doubled reefed everything and were ready for the next one. Such is sailing. Nothing broken, no one hurt, except egos. So we got here in 27 hours (took us 47 hours to go the opposite way direct upwind), the whole way at 150 degrees apparent, always dicey in a cat (and slow, but not so slow this time in those winds) but more comfortable motion than our previous Catalina 380 in a following sea – so we were all fine. We will stay in the BVI, deal with business, relax, wander a bit, join the Salty Dawgs pre-trip event and try the big leap back to Hampton tentatively scheduled to launch May 17. Last year we went through the Bahamas then direct to Hampton and found that easy. Hoping the direct shot back will not be as challenging as the ride down last Nov! We can always hide out in Bermuda for a bit if the weather becomes too challenging. Now to do some work/snorkeling/learning/relaxing. Haven’t been in the hammock for a bit so need to get rid of these “taxing” stresses.
Leaving Antigua
Last night we joined Molly , Baxter, and Kala the dog on their boat Tarrapin. We kept looking at their boat anchored next to us saying, ‘that boat looks so familiar’. It turns out that they we’re in the rally to the BVI and we may be remembering the boat from the marina in Hampton. They invited us and a few others for drinks and appetizers. We enjoyed great conversations and learned we are not the only vegan cruisers out here. What a delight.
Today we met with the vet to clear Charlie out of Antigua. He provided us with an updated health certificate for clearing Charlie in to our next destination. Next we cleared ourselves out with the Port Authority, Customs, and Immigration. So we are set to depart in the morning for the BVI.
You may be wondering why we are returning to BVI when our original plan was USVI and then the Bahamas. Well while we were sitting here in Antigua we signed ourselves up with the Salty Dawg Rally for the return trip to the USA. We tentatively leave from the BVI on May 15th and there are events beginning May 1st to organize the fleet. Besides we want to go back for the snorkling and hiking that we enjoy there, plus we need to get our mail and do our taxes (that doesn’t go away just because your cruising).
Antigua and Barbuda have so many sandy beaches and we’ve enjoyed it here. But it’s time for a change of scenery. So we’ll be offline for a few days while we make another passage.