Friday, January 24, 2014

Finally, after a 3 day delay Louise and Megan arrived from Chicago on Thursday…interestingly enough, dribbling a trail of what turned out to be Coffeemate creamer from Louise’ suitcase. Apparently, the pour hole opened in flight, and the little sucker just emptied and emptied out, fortunately inside the outer pocket, which needed to be emptied and cleaned before it was allowed on the boat.

Herman is here taking our wind instrument and shipping it to Raymarine for repair, and so finally on Friday we were off. We originally planned to hang in the USVI’s for a bit before heading to the BVI’s, but we decide to join OJ in The Bight, and so instead we head out to Sopers and then on to the Bight. We discover that one of us who didn’t think she got seasick…really should have taken her medicine this morning. It was breezy, the seas were VERY bumpy and the ride uncomfortable. In fact, one rogue wave snuck up and poured water into the helm station totally by surprise…it looked like someone had just tossed a bucket of water right into Jim’s face! Yeah, I guess it is time to zip the windows closed…

Finally, we arrived in the peaceful Bight..Megan recovered, we relaxed and had a swim then Happy hour over on OJ where the Wookie joined us..YUM!, and we played a hilarious game of ‘Heads Up’ with Denise’s phone.

On Saturday, the winds were still up, so we decided to stay here one more day, so in the afternoon, Frank dropped the girls off at Treasure Point and we snorkeled back. A little chilly, but we love it anyway!

Sunday we headed over to Jost Van Dyke and took a mooring in White Bay..it was pretty Bumpy and crazy crowded there! it was party, party, party here with the moorings full, people anchoring all over, and the small boats backed up to the beach with a stern anchor on the sand. We all (us and OJ) piled into our dingy and beached it, had lunch and chilled on the beach. Louise and Megan swam back to the boat. Then later Frank and Denise came over and chilled with us while Mark was napping…it was a bumpy night for sleeping, and so Monday Jan 13 we headed out early, but not before OJ left and Frank heaved a bag of goodies from OJ over to us as they left the mooring field…good arm man!

We headed back to Privateer Bay, Norman island and snorkeled the Caves where the silversides were massed in a school of thousands! Watch for the pelicans, as they will tell you where the fish are, and of course where the little fish are the bigger ones follow. Louise no more mentioned ‘Cue the Tarpon’ reminiscent of the tarpon experience we had last year at Monkey point, and viola, a DOZEN tarpon swam by us…amazing! I began my drubbing of the girls with a few games of rummikub…and then we had a filtered sunset thru the clouds here, and a lovely, peaceful nights sleep.

Tuesday, Jan 14th we decided to wait one more day before heading east, and so although today is a little grey we snorkeled the Sandy Ledges along the wall and back to the 1st cave to see if the silversides were still there…no luck, but we managed to spot a big school of jacks, a turtle and one speedy octopus zipping into hiding. And we were blessed tonight with an absolutely magnificent sunset that set thru a hole in the clouds…Amazing!

Wednesday….since sunset proved so spectacular…we are off to try for moonrise tonight, so up the sails go and east we head, tacking 6 times up the channel until we hit the North Sound. We take a can over by Saba Rock…then chill, and enjoy the show here. Our afternoon swim took an adventurous edge, as the current is crazy where we are…so we all stayed very close to the boat..but didn’t lose anyone. Then we enjoyed a beautiful Moonrise, out of the sea filtered thru the clouds. At one point, the moon was hidden by the clouds, but you could see the moonlight on the sea turning it to molten silver…spectacular!

Thursday, after a lazy morning watching a gorgeous sunrise (which, frankly, I rarely see) we saw an orange speck in the sky, and while we watched it turned into a flamingo and flew right over the boat! OK – now that is something I have never seen before! WOW! We headed across the bay to Leverick and grabbed a can there, then rented a car and headed off to The Baths. We were much later in the day then we like to be there…but as it turned out…NO ONE was there…weird..and wonderful to be able to be there in the middle of the day with hardly any people. we had a great hike. Met a cute newly-wedded couple (Charlie and Leigh) from NC who were staying over at Scrub Island, and just had a great time. Now off to Hog Heaven for a great lunch, with a stunning view. Finally, 3:45 we headed back to the boat, did a quick clean up, then off to shore for happy hour and the Michael Bean show! While we were waiting we watched a moorings power cat heading into the dock at oh, about 8 knts…good thing too, as wood really starts flying when you hit the dock that hard…BAM! Right into the end of the finger pier he went – that’s gonna leave a mark. It was funny to watch the captain in his dingy colleting the pieces of wood now floating away from the docks. Jim took a walk by the boat a little later and sure enough, a long brown scar now decorates the starboard bow…hmmm.
On the way back to the boat we were able to catch the moonrise again…huge and low over the hills…A perfect end to a perfect day!

Friday, Jan 17…off to Trellis bay, by way of George Dog. We stopped here to explore a new spot and enjoyed this snorkel spot very much. Then to trellis, where we were able to catch up with some local friends who we haven’t been back to see in a while. A bright and beautiful sunset that set the airport tower afire with light..very cool.

Sat, Jan 18…we headed over to Monkey Point to snorkel this morning. We spotted a lobster, and Megan and Louise found another speedy octopus slipping under a rock…they are so quick. When we left we sailed down the North side of Tortola. This we have never done, since a good portion of time in the winter there is a north swell running , and well..this side can be pretty uncomfortable. But today it was wonderful and we enjoyed the peace and quiet and almost no other boat traffic. We ended up at Sopers, and checked out of customs, then went to Pussers for a late lunch and shopping before heading back to the boat. We discovered that Megan is slightly sunscreen application challenged as she had a few weird fingermarks on her arms and back…like you can see where she couldn’t reach, and a nice stripe, right down the center of her forehead…hmmmm…we’re going to have to work on this.

Sunday, Jan 19th…we headed off to check into USVI customs which requires us to take a mooring in Caneel, then dingy around the corner into Cruz Bay. Fortunately it was not rough, but still…the trip is a pain in the bottom…we prefer not to do it this way. After check in, we headed up and took a mooring in Cinnamon Bay. This is a BEAUTIFUL spot, but the weather generally never allowed it as a good stopover. However today is perfect so we enjoy the view with magnificent hills and beautiful beaches and good snorkeling. We enjoyed Kayaking, and a great long snorkel around the key, and then off to the beach. It is pretty deep here, and there are several BIG turtles which we were able to see up close briefly while they surfaced for air. Louise had one very close that she was able to follow…a wonderful experience.
In addition to Megan’s sunscreen challenges….we also discovered that she was molting the skin on her hands…this led to many serpentine comments…that really wern’t very nicesssssssss! But were hilarious!

Monday, Jan 20…and we’re off to Christmas Cove. A short uneventful trip finds us at Christmas Cove, where we open the beauty salon and get haircuts and other treatments…then enjoy a relaxed swim in the beautiful water. From the deck we caught a spotted Eagle Ray swimming by, just off the bow. Later in the afternoon, the girls headed out to snorkel and were rewarded with multiple Turtles all swimming together…one surfaced not more than 3 feet from Louise and winked, actually winked at her…or so she says.

Tuesday we did some kayaking and more snorkeling that yielded turtles, eel, octopus, and a 3 rays all together with a school of Cowfish foraging along with them…It is amazing what God has created in the magnificent underwater world, and how you can cover the same piece of ground repeatedly, and each experience be different. I never get tired of it.

The sunsets also here are wonderful. This is one of the few places here where you can see the sun set into the sea and while we haven’t seen the green flash the colors and sky is different every night. Plus you get to see the cruise ships entering and leaving St. Thomas harbor.. a new show all the time.

Wednesday, Jan 22nd…well, the sad day has arrived, and we are headed back into CBM to prepare for their departure. After we arrive, we take a walk along the Cruise Ship docks to see the thousands of tourists pour out of the 2 ships over here and jump on the excursions and taxis so they can explore St. Thomas…fun to watch…but glad we are not travelling that way. Sadly, it is eventually time for them to leave and with tears and hugs we say goodbye…..and wave again to their plane as it flys overhead at 5:40 pm. Bye…thanks for a great time!