A TALE OF A SAILING COUPLE
As I write this Elizabeth, my wife, and I are approaching our 15th wedding anniversary and have begun the year with more trips than either of us has ever taken in such a short period of time. As we rang in the new year of 2010, my lovely bride allowed me to take the trip of a lifetime and join a Brazilian friend of mine and his fiance' on a trip back to their home of Urusanga which is in the state of Santa Catarina in the southern part of Brazil. This trip allowed me the chance to learn the skills required for my third trip on a sailboat, but first monohull. Rogers, my brazillian friend and our comrade, Sondro were successful in commandeering a 31' Fast on the northern coast of Florianoplois in as area known as Jurere'. There we launched for one of the most pleasurable day sails I've ever experienced, which hadn't been many up to this point. The trip was memorable and mostly calm as 3 of the 5 soles on board had never been sailing, ever! I guess I was doing my job in sharing my enthusiasm for a sport that Elizabeth and I were quickly growing to love more and more.
Upon my return from Brazil, Elizabeth and I had planned our first bareboat sailing charter without a captain! I mean, WE were the "captains" as we had completed our ASA sailing Certification in Key West, Florida in August of 2009. This was simply our first opportunity to use our education for FUN! Believe it or not, we actually found two other couples who didn't know any better, and they decided to join us. Luckily, none of the other couples had ever sailed so they didn't know all the mistakes we made along the way. It was actually a GREAT trip and a GREAT learning experience. I would take both of the couples again because they were great company, fun to be around, and NOT the annoying type of people that you just get "tired" of. They were all quick to help and were active in helping with the requirements on the boat.
To explain the trip in its best light I must start from the beginning which was in Fort Smith where 2 of the 3 couples almost got bumped from the almost too full plane. The last time this happened to Elizabeth and I we WERE bumped from our flight to New York and ended up with $1,500 cash for the trouble. Fortunately, at the last minute they told us all we could board and we did make it safely to St. Thomas where at 9:00pm we found our Hotel via taxi but our Hotel couldn't find us thanks to the computer being down. I kept warning everyone about "Island Time" and how everything is a slower pace. Instead of waiting around for the computers to come back up, we decided to leave our luggage with the "Bell Hop" , which made everyone nervous. We walked to a great dinner at a place not more than a ½ mile away and soaked in the Island atmosphere. Upon arriving back at the hotel, we still didn't have computers back up to assign rooms to us so they literally opened the doors for us to some rooms in which we did not have keys to come and go. It was fine with everyone because we were tired from travelling and just wanted sleep after the long day of travelling.
Sunday morning we all met to catch a little breakfast prior to the late morning ferry ride to Tortola. We arrived around noon and checked through customs without too long a wait and quickly grabbed a taxi to take us around to Port Purcell in Road Town which is the base for the B.V.I Yacht Charters. The boat that awaited us was Serena, a 2008 Lagoon 440, a spacious 4 berth, 4 head, 44' catamaran including a generator for air conditioning while offshore. We had the crew do the walkthrough with us while the girls checked all the provisions from Bobby's Marketplace. They did find a mess up with our order but realized they had missed one box of groceries and were very quick in correcting the problem.
We set out around 3:30pm heading for "the bight" on Norman Island, a place known for tons of boats, mooring balls and the home of Willy T's floating bar. We made it to Norman Island without incident found a mooring ball near the back of the mooring field as Elizabeth and I were really still testing our skills as co-skippers. We made arrangements for dinner at Pirates on the beach and had a great dinner and a great time meeting the other Yachties and finding out where they were from. The second stop of the evening and the first of the "incidents" began at Willy T's floating bar but it's not what you may be thinking. No free t-shirts with this group for jumping off the top of Willy-T's topless. I was approached by a nice gentleman who informed me that we had taken the wrong dingy from the Pirates restaurant and he had been searching all over the entire bay to track us down. Fortunately for him we were at one of the two main hot spots of the bight. I'm still not sure how exactly he knew it was our group who took the wrong dingy, but I do know that our dingy was still safely locked to the dock at Pirates upon our return. Oops. So that's why the charter company recommended we lock up our dingy with the supplied cable and padlock. I guess it's also why the put the boat name and charter company name on a placard on the transom of the boat. See how quick we are learning?
The next morning, Monday, we all took our time in getting up as we did have too much fun the night before, but I was determined to stay on schedule and make our way around the islands and visit every tourist spot possible in 7 days. Next stop was the caves just around the corner from our mooring ball where we enjoyed snorkeling and kayaking around the caves. Our previous trip to this spot with Festiva Sailing Vacations 18 months earlier was our first scuba dive in the BVI but numerous Jelly Fish in the water and my buoyancy problems prevented us from enjoying the dive to its fullest.
After our lunch on board we decided to beat it up wind all the way to the southern part of Virgin Gorda in order to experience the Bath's. This day sail proved to be much more exciting than the previous day as we were motor/sailing into the wind of almost 30 knots when the dingy we were towing decided to break loose from the lines securing it to the boat. While I quickly tried to decide the best course of action I realized after just putting up most of the main and the jib, I needed to bring them down again to safely make the turn to retrieve the lost dingy. Now, you may not realize what a challenge it is to retrieve a 10' long dingy with a 44' long, 25' wide catamaran in almost 30 knots of wind in the Sir Francis Drake Channel which is very busy with boats everywhere. Trust me. It's fun. As we approached the dingy and realized that even without sails up we were getting blown more than I could control as quickly as I would have liked. So, as the dingy approached very fast and started departing again just as fast I yelled to Clay "Jump!", he only hesitated briefly while trying to decifer if I was serious or not and dove for the dingy. Minutes later he successful returned the lost dingy to the stern where we securely re-attached it to the davits.
Nearly 3 hours of beating into the wind later we approached the Bath's at Virgin Gorda only to discover the red flags flying above the anchorage signifying it wasn't safe due to the wind speed and waves. I kind of even expected that one. So we changed plans slightly and headed slightly north of the Bath's to Spanish Town where we dropped our anchor after a splendid bit of maneuvering between numerous boats and a perfect drop of the anchor with plenty of scope. I was quite proud of the job as a relative newcomer to this bigger boating world but I should have known Elizabeth would spoil the proud moment by informing me that "we were NOT gonna over night on the anchor alone and we HAVE to pick up a mooring ball if you expect to get any sleep". So, when the next mooring ball came available we picked up and moved straight to it in order to appease the "Admiral".
We took the dingy into the marina where we walked to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called the "Rock House". Dinner was served to us in the back patio of the facility among the rock atmosphere.
The following day we took a cab to the baths to explore the paths from the top of the overlook to the ocean and the beautiful scenery at Devil's Bay. We enjoyed watching many of the boaters attempting to bring their dingy in to shore to drop off and pick up passengers while not swamping boat. Some did, some didn't.
That Tuesday afternoon we headed for the safety and security of the dock at Leverick Bay in Gorda Sound just another short sail of a couple hours. This trip was a nice sail still up wind with multiple tacks past the Islands known as the dogs. While sailing casually along Clay said "Hey, what's that?" as we stared at the gas can for our dinghy floating in the water behind us and slowly getting smaller and smaller. Once again, I dropped sails and made a 180 turn to retrieve the gas can. The winds and waves were enough, I guess, to launch the can from the dinghy and into the Sir Francis Drake channel. The only problem was that it broke loose the fuel line and we never found it to retrieve. So it was fortunate that we were heading to a dock and not required to use the dinghy to get ashore. Fortunately for me my Garmin 396 was performing flawlessly as we found our way to the narrow north entrance of the sound. As we approached Leverick Bay we radioed ahead for directions as to which dock as we were unfamiliar with their numbering system. I had only been to Leverick Bay on one other occasion and it was 18 months previous and to be honest I hadn't paid that much attention. As we got closer to the docks the lineman instructed me to turn out to port and reverse into a large dock space big enough for 2 cats. My maneuver was flawless right up to the point when I felt the wind blowing us across our starboard bow and start pushing us quickly to port rotating us in a counter-clockwise direction directly into the other catamaran. To stop this motion I advanced the port engine control and got little to no response. Everyone on board and the lineman and the captain and crew of the other cat saw what was taking place and jumped into action as Serena nearly made its mark on a sister Lagoon 440. A nearby and obviously experienced captain offered to take the helm of which I willingly and hastily forfeited, he began shoving port and starboard engines forward and back in an attempt to get the boat to react and spin the other direction but to no avail. The boats continued closing the gap as everyone grabbed each other's boat and began to push and prevent a collision. At that moment, I looked up and immediately recognized the captain of the other boat and his wife as Chris and Nabela, our captain and chef of the very boat we sailed on with Festiva only 18 months ago and had learned of this very place on that trip. What a coincidence! We soon were able to man handle the boat back into position without incident or damage thanks to the help and quick feet of everyone around. Chris later jokingly stated "I guess you should have stayed with Festiva". I was embarrassed but also consoled by both of the experience captains who explained that it appeared the boat we had chartered was possibly having some issues with the "cone clutch" or it had some serious sensitivity issues with giving full throttle when needed. I felt better knowing a salty skipper like Chris concurred with the diagnosis and confirmed that there really wasn't anything else I could do. I took Chris a cold drink later as a thank you and as an apologetic gesture for the close call and we exchanged other pleasantries as we enjoyed a little bit paradise together and Chris introduced me to the captain that tried to assist in our failed engine plight, but he did help me find a replacement fuel line for the dinghy which worked perfectly for the rest of the trip.
We enjoyed the night at Leverick Bay having access to laundry facilities and a dive shop and gift shop as well as a small marketplace to finish provisioning any items previously forgotten. The only problem for me personally was the constant squeaking of lines connecting the boat to the dock all night long.
The next morning we prepared the boat to head across Gorda Sound to The Bitter End Yacht Club by making sure everything was stored properly and started undoing the dock lines with one of our crew on the docks helping with lines. We were fortunate to be pointing directly to our destination for an easy departure out of the docks. Knowing we were handicapped with a "bad" or "misbehaving" port engine I prepared and anticipated as we started the engines forward, but to no avail, the wind got the best of us again and the boat began spinning in a counter-clockwise motion, luckily the other catamaran had already departed and we had the whole slip to ourselves for me to complete the maneuver. I let the boat turn a full 180 degrees and then reversed all engines full and IT WORKED! Evidently the problem in the port engine didn't affect its ability to go backwards. So there we were leaving Leverick Bay in reverse. I continued backwards for probably 150-200 yards till I was confident I could turn it around with only one engine if necessary and continue the very short trip across Gorda Sound.
Everyone enjoyed being connected to the dock at Leverick Bay and wanted to do that again at Bitter End, but I didn't want a repeat of what just happened again so we opted for a mooring ball. We took the Dingy in to the BEYC and walked around checking out the shops and hotel lobby and then enjoyed several hours in the afternoon soaking up rays at the BEYC swimming pool. Later in the afternoon Elizabeth and I decided to rent a Hobie Cat and sail around the Sound. It was late afternoon and the wind had died down and it was somewhat hard to find the wind. On occasion we would peak out from the island peaks blocking the wind and all of a sudden we would get launched across with all the wind and quickly grasp for a hold anywhere we could to keep from falling off or getting tipped over. On our way back in it was quite slow and difficult finding the right wind to return us to the shore but we eventually did much to the disgust of Elizabeth. If I remember right she said something like, "That took way too long" or "That was a waste of time" anyway I can't remember exactly what she said, only that she could have gone without it.
For dinner that Wednesday night we took the dinghy over to the restaurant at Saba Rock, a small island just big enough for a restaurant, a small hotel, and a gift shop. We had a great dinner and then walked to the water's edge where they had large lights in the water attracting some of the largest Tarpon fish I have ever seen. I think the girls were a little freaked out knowing that we were motoring back to the big boat in the dinghy at night with these big tarpon in the water with us. Needless to say we made it safely.
We enjoyed BEYC so much we would likely spend more time there given the opportunity. We did go ashore the next day and let the girls get in a run to the next resort to the east called Biras Creek. Elizabeth and Susan went on and on about how beautiful it was and how they wanted to stay there next time. We checked out a brochure that showed the nightly rates of $500-$1000. I think I'll stay with the boat.
We left the Bitter End on Thursday late morning and began another great sail to Marina Cay where we looked forward to experiencing the music and entertainment from Michael Beans, a performance which includes a "pirate" theme and lots of crowd involvement including the "shake-arrrrs" and toasts from the crowd that end in "aarrrrrgghh". It was a fairly short trip at Marina Cay where we did some snorkeling and found several conch shells, which is a whole other story of the trip. How many people does it take to get a conch out of a conch shell? Doesn't matter, none of us knew the trick to doing it... So we left most of the conch shells in the BVI where they belong.
Friday morning we departed Marina Cay enroute to Monkey Point for Lunch and a great snorkel around the reef. Elizabeth and I were snorkeling around while holding hands as is our practice to make sure we stay together, when I felt a TIGHT squeeze on my hand and looked around to see a Barracuda only 10 feet away checking us out. We froze. Not really knowing what to do other than not wear shiny jewelry. We just sat there as still as we could be until the fish with giant teeth lost interest in us and slowly swam away.
After Monkey Point we made sail for the island of Jost Van Dyke where we made a short stop at the Sandy Spit, a very small island that you can literally walk around in about two minutes. Kite surfers had setup on the island to capitalize on all the strong winds surrounding the island and were shooting all around the boats zipping in and out at lightning speeds. It was great to just watch them jump the waves and catch the wind and simply skate across the bright blue water. Just behind the Sandy Spit lies Diamond Cay known for the son of Foxy with a second restaurant called Foxy's Taboo after the better known and famous Foxy's restaurant located further around the island in Great Harbour. The sole purpose of the stop in Diamond Cay was to find the "Bubbly Pool" that we had read so much about. After following the trail (mostly) for several hundred yards we finally found it as did our tourists in a small open area surrounded by trees and rocks as the natural formations made a path for the waves to enter the area and bubble up to create a natural bathing pool. It was well worth the stop and a fun excursion.
We made one last afternoon sail around the corner to the little harbor and found a mooring ball for the night. We got a taxi over to great harbor where I actually met Foxy Caldwell sitting in the middle of Foxy's restaurant. I walked up to him and said "Aren't you Foxy?", he said "No man, Foxy's a nigger" I laughed and he asked where we were from. When I said Arkansas, he said Bill Clinton country, huh? We talked briefly about the current day's politics and the current economic crises and what the country needs to do to fix it. We hung out at Foxy's and learned of the huge BBQ buffet dinner planned for that evening and decided to stay. The meal was a ton of food and tasty as well but we stayed till dark and returned to Little Harbor by taxi and retired for the evening on the boat.
Saturday morning we sailed over to White Bay to allow everyone a chance to make the short swim from the boat to the Soggy Dollar Bar. We tried our luck with the rind on the string game on the tree in front of SDB while our dinghy tried to escape the beach a few times.
We left White Bay early in the afternoon heading for Cane Garden Bay in the hopes of attending a full moon party that evening. We made the short sail in about an hour and picked up a mooring ball in the Bay. We made our way to the restaurants and walked around that afternoon exploring the Island. We had dinner that night at one of the restaurants in the upstairs dining area while we listened to very loud music coming from downstairs. It sounded like a Jamaican version of Jimmy Buffet about 200 decibels too loud. By the time dinner was finished we all decided we were too tired to make it to the full moon party and retired once again to the boat. We had hoped to make it to the West End of Tortola for a shorter sail on Sunday morning to return the boat but after calling ahead they said all mooring balls were occupied probably due to the full moon party that evening. So we sat tight for the night in Cane Garden Bay. The next morning we left out early to make our way around the island and back to the base of BVI Yacht Charters at Road Harbour. The sail took about two and one half hours and we arrived ahead of schedule being one of the first to arrive back which allowed our check in to go faster. Upon arrival we were required to refill the boat with fuel at the fuel dock. The dock was already crowded with other boats making the only open spot in front of the fuel tank very small. I could see the look on everyone's faces questioning my ability to fit that big boat in that small space after the exciting week we had already had in regards to big boats and small spaces. But I inched the boat forwarded very slowly and made a perfect landing with a few feet to spare on the bow and stern as the port side gently kissed the dock. This ended what was arguably the best vacation ever. The working vacation as I call it was my favorite because it challenged us and relaxed us at the same time. It helped us experience new places with new friends and teach us the skills we needed as we went. Being the type of person who can't sit still for very long and hates to be waited on hand and foot, I would prefer this type of excursion to just about anything. The biggest problem now is figuring out how to go again and for much longer.
-Kevin King
Kevin and Elizabeth King currently live in Fort Smith, Arkansas where they manage their own real estate company, King Realty Group and daily try to figure out a way to sell it all, buy a boat and sail away. Their dreams include taking their three kids around the world in a sail boat for life may be a greater teacher than school.