Bill
07/05/2012, Leverick Bay, Vigin Gorda, BVI

We left our mooring, dropping the line and furling out the genoa... testing the Monitor as we did the short sail back to Leverick Bay. We returned there because it is easy access to the pass through the reef to leave, there is an OK WiFi connection and there are turtles.

Today there were two turtles near us, one quite big and the other little. It is hard to get anything done because you just want to watch for them for another moment. We have noticed that they surface and pop their head out of the water two or three times to breath... then dive for a minute or two... beautiful.

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Bill
07/04/2012, Gun Creek and Bitter End

Ice, now that is another pleasure that we can afford. I have always wanted to take the time to calculate how many amp/hours it takes to freeze a quart of water... There are several things that allow us to have ice. This is a big deal on a boat... often only a dream. It used to be a dream for us too, until:
-We installed a 12 volt, "keel cooled" freezer/refrigerator made by Frig-a-boat.(during the 2008-2009 re-fit)
-we installed the solar panels (2010)
-We redesigned the galley counter-top (2011) so we could put an ice tray into the freezer.
-Our friends on Rouac gave us one of their vertical ice trays (2012). (remember, we are a sailboat, and we may lean over (heel), so a normal ice tray would not work well!)

So, we often make iced coffee in the morning... a real treat!

Today we had to go back to BVI customs and clear in and out, again. We had told them in Road Town that we were leaving by the first... and we didn't. So now we are cleared back in and out to leave by Saturday. Currently the forecast looks like the wind will again go north of 90 degrees east which will make for an easier trip to St Martin. After the visit to customs and immigration in Gun Creek we motored across the North Sound to the Bitter End Yacht Club.

We heard they were having some live music and we (especially Isobel) has been starved for live music. Since we don't have our supplemental anchor rode ready to deploy we only have 200' of chain.It was clear that the Bitter End Yacht Club had put moorings in every spot 50' or shallower... so, for music, we coughed up the $30 mooring fee... only to find that they DON'T have music tonight!! Ah well...

It is a much more peaceful anchorage than Leverick Bay, so I was able to complete my work on the Monitor wind-vane steering... reinstalling the water paddle with a new release cord. With the boat still, I also went to work on the toilet. On this boat, the flush is manual, and we were having a water leak around the pump piston. That job was easier than I thought... whew!

Oh and Fourth of July... well we figure that is a date the British choose to ignore!
18 29.830'n:064 21.669'w

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Bill
07/01/2012, Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI

After our post office visit we wandered into the Michael Banzhaf Studio which was near the Sun Dog Cafe...

Michael and Claudia are wonderful people with a wonderful art and jewelry gallery. Michael does produce some of the most beautiful jewelry. Isobel was very interested in trying on the 2" gold bracelet that was encrusted with diamonds... I suggested that she get a job...! Not a great photo... but you get the idea! It was great to meet them

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Bill
06/30/2012, The Baths, Virgin GOrda, BVIs

after spending a rolly night at Cooper Island jammed in amongst the partying Charter boats, we left early to be at the Baths on the West end of Virgin Gorda. We went in early to have great snorkel, a wonderful walk through the caves, pools and caverns of the jumble of Granite rocks that the Baths are so famous for. There were four boats when we arrived at 0915. When we returned to the boat at noon, eatery mooring was full maybe 30 boats and the beach, rocks and pools were crawling with people. The early start was worth it!

We will head up to Gorda sound this afternoon to see if we can get a good nap...

I will post photos when we pick up some internet. We can't wait to try out our new WiFi antenna which was sent to us by our friend at Towndock.net. Thanks Keith!!

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06/26/2012

go back a bunch and look at the new photos loaded!

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06/26/2012, Francis Bay, st John, USVI

What a sunset.

We have noticed that there is lots of brown dust here... maybe making the sunsets nice. someone said that it is Sahara dust....

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Bill
06/14/2012, Francis Bay, st John, USVI

This is a beautiful anchorage! We have snorkeled with Green Sea Turtles and checked out the reef... With Isobel in tow. There are only three boats here although there are 30 moorings here and another 28 in Maho Bay, next door. I hitch hiked to Cruz Bay to pick up mail, which was sent here via USPS General delivery. Funny, tourists in their rental Jeeps, passed me by as though I didn't exist... The guy who gave me a ride in didn't have room in his cab because he had another rider... So I stood on the bumper and held onto the roof rack! Roads are so twisty, 20 is about max speed. Same thing on the ride home, picked up by a woman and her two kids who live on a boat in Johnson Bay.

Almost all the other boats here are charter boats... Apparently most cruisers are south or in Coral Bay a funky community on the east end of the island.

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Bill
06/13/2012, St. John, USVI

We tied to a US Park Service mooring and the pool was open. Does it get better than this?

We had some really nice lake sailing today. By that I mean that the water was flat the the wind swirlly. Now we are sailing among the islands... They break the swell and play with the wind.

We used the engine to pull the anchor, then shut it off to sail all the way to a mooring in Francis Bay. One advantage to being here now is that there are very few other boats here. In this bay there are about 30 moorings and only four boats... Only one looks like a charter boat.

Soon after hooking to the mooring, we went for a dip in the 84 degree water. Air temp in the cabin is 88... Leading us to wish we had cockpit cushions that would be suitable for sleeping on at night.

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Bill
06/12/2012, St. Thomas, USVI

Lara sails as close as she can to the wind as we exit Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

We are always surprised when we come into a city from the sea... And we keep being surprised. My memories of St Thomas are not kind to the place... And yet, arriving by boat, allows you to take the whole place in from afar. We arrived just before sunset and as the lights came on we were all struck by the beauty of this mountain in the ocean lit up like some Gerry squat Christmas tree.

When dawn broke the next morning, Isobel said, "The houses everywhere, and such great colors." The only places without buildings must be very steep hillsides. At around 0630, the cruise ships pull in... A little later the sea plane flights start taking off. And you have all the other sounds of the city: car horns, trucks backing up, motor cycles racing around.

Our expedition ashore yesterday netted us some very good Thai food and a very good green grocery, The Fruit Bowl, something that we have been wanting...

We had not planned on staying here for more than a day, yet there are some things we can find here that we might not find elsewhere...

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Bill
06/10/2012, Saint Thomas, USVI

Underway, Isobel has to put up with her parents saying, "Are we there yet?"

We started the day with a hike to the light house at Culebrita... Which was hot even at 0700 hrs! And worth it. The building was beautiful, even though it had been let go for some time. The marble floors were still in good shape and the copper light roof was still in repairable shape off to the side. It is one of those places that would not take much to stop the decay and with a few dollars could be brought back to it's original form. A photo will come when we have Internet.

Then we hiked to the Jacuzzies, a place where the waves fill pools of water that slowly drain into the bay behind. Lots of coral growing in the pools...

A little after noon we set sail for St. Thomas. At first the wind allowed us a long tack bringing us to the west end, then we tacked out, against the current... It was slow going the rest of the way. We arrived in Charlotte Amalie at 7 pm.... 14 miles as the crow flies... In 7 hours...

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