Bill
07/07/2012, anagada passage

18 00.20'N:063 37.57'W

This is a short post while underway. We got underway from Virgin Gorda around 0830. Photo is from the next morning as we arrived at the north end of St Kitts.

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Bill
07/06/2012, Leverick Bay, Vigin Gorda, BVI

I'm not sure how she got up there and what she was doing... but she was having fun!! She must have watched me climb up there to get the sail cover off or on...

I did two main sail projects: We have adjustable batten cars... which I have never taken the time to adjust. So, we will have to see how the boat performs with tight battens...

Also, I replaced the lower nettles, those for the fist reef with some left over 5/16" yale cordage. Carol Hasse had suggested using different line for the first reef so I could differentiate it from the second reef by feel and by eye. I ignored the suggestion back in November... Now, I think it is a pretty good idea.

Lara has been cooking up a bunch of food for the little passage and the boat is as put away as it has been in months, including stowing all of our spare sheets and halyards in a compartment behind the book shelves in the aft cabin... another thing I have been meaning to do since the shelves were installed.

Dinghy is on the bow, Engine is on the stern rail. Trash is ashore, sail cover is off, sun shades are stowed away... and the forecast still looks like we will have wind just north of east to help us sail on one long tack south to Guadeloupe. There will be current against us, so if we don't make it to Guadeloupe by nightfall Sunday, we will go to Antigua or Nevis or Montseratte (the NW corner still has a community on it.)

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

Well, you must wonder... how do we wash up? Especially here in the tropics, we take a swim then go to the aft deck, where we have a hand-held shower. We do have a shower in the head (bathroom), but it creates another clean-up-project so if we have the privacy and it is warm enough the aft deck is quite nice... view is typically good too!

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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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