After 4 days split between Trellis Bay and Leverick Bay in the BVI's, we decided to visit Anegada, the only coral island in the BVIs. It was a wonderful beam reach (only 14 miles) and another spot that hasn't been totally touristized. We moored off the Anegada Reef Hotel at 10:30. By 5PM there were 25 boats moored and anchored - only 5 were cruisers, the rest charterers. (This represents a huge gain in population - only 250 residents here!)

We rented a car with Bonanza to tour the island. En route, we stopped at two great beach bars. The first was Cow Wreck Beach Bar. We had to ask why Cow Wreck Beach? Evidently in the olden days buttons were made out of cow bone. A ship loaded with cow bones wrecked on the coast and cow bones drifted ashore for years after.

The other was De Big Bamboo in Loblolly Bay. Regarding Loblolly - we don't know the names provenance. However, they had no shortage of shade, hammocks in the trees and bright blue cement walkways.
Both spots have oodles of character and you could chill out all day. Sadly for cruisers, both are on the weather side of Anegada (no anchorage) so you need a land yacht to get there.

The Gourmet's of the Caribbean struck again with a candlelight lobster dinner on the deck of the Lobster Trap restaurant.

The following day, Feb 4th we had a great 25 mile sail to Cane Garden Bay, where we rendezvoused with George and Kate (Magical) from the RNSYS. We spent the next day in their company at Great Harbour, Jost van Dyke - the home of Foxy's. This is one of the few BVI hot spots that does not have moorings - when the wind swirls or goes flat there are lots of close encounters - especially with folks driving rental boats who don't anchor very often!

The following morning we got away before anyone bumped into us and crossed over to Cruz Bay, St. John to clear into the USVI. From there we moved on to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, the alleged home of duty free shopping. We spent over a week anchored there shopping and sightseeing. We wandered through town, sprinted (well, sort of) up the 99 steps (see photo) to see Blackbeard's Castle and the ladies hiked around Hassel Island. The anchorage is hard alongside one of the cruise ship terminals and it is pretty neat watching those guys maneuver in close proximity to our little boats and each other.

The next step was a dead downwind run to Dewey, Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands.
The contrast is amazing. Dewey is laid back like the more undeveloped places further south, while St. Thomas is unabashedly busy and American. We hung in Dewey for 10 days, walking, cycling and visiting beautiful Flamingo Beach. We also took one of the best transportation bargains in the world. The 1 ½ hour ferry ride to Fajardo (about 20 miles) is $2 each way - half that if you are over 60!
Interestingly, the USVI and Puerto Rico have slightly different rules from each other and from the mainland US. The USVI does not require a cruising permit. You must clear in again when you go from USVI to Spanish VI (PR) and buy your US cruising permit. DO NOT bring any garbage ashore - verboten! We got our cruising permit at the airport in Dewey, Culebra.

On Feb 24th we set our sails for another downwind jaunt - to Fajardo, PR. We checked in to Puerto del Rey Marina - our first marina since we tied up in Grenada in November to visit Barbados. A good thing we tied up near chandleries - stuff started falling apart right away. The fresh water pump was running intermittently because the hot water heater had sprung a leak. The inverter was tough to get started, then died completely. Finally, the key fell out of the autopilot sprocket on the main steering shaft. I could never have replaced it if the water heater had not been removed for replacement!

Puerto Rico has been a neat stop. With Bonanza we rented a vehicle for seven days to provision and tour the island. We visited the radio telescope at Arecibo, spent a day at the El Yunque tropical rain forest including a hike to the top. We also visited the El Conquistador resort where Leona and I stayed in 2001 when I won a Nortel Master's award.

The highlight has to be the visit to Old San Juan. The town is neat, and the El Morro fortress is breathtaking. Thanks to son Steve for the recommendation we had reasonably priced accommodations right in town, and walked our feet off.

Water is free here, and shopping is almost as good as the mainland US. Therefore the boat has been spring cleaned throughout and sewing, provisioning and cetol are nearly up to snuff. Worn out clothing has been replaced and consigned to the rag bin. We are better stocked (and poorer?) than when we left Florida in December, 2007.

We have truly enjoyed travel with Bonanza. Leona and Roy take turns cooking up great meals whilst Michelle and Bill stress the groups pun tolerance.

A year ago today, we were in Georgetown saying farewell to son Doug and the Bofix gang. We were wondering if we would ever get to Grenada before hurricane season. Well, been there, done that! However, after the big investment in time and energy just to get here, the suitability of Voyageur C (as now equipped) for extended cruising, and the number of places we haven't visited, we have decided to spend another season in the Islands before setting sail for home. So, Puerto Rico is our northwest terminus for 2009, and tomorrow we are heading back southeast through Vieques, maybe St. Croix, St. John and St. Martin before wandering down to Antigua for the Classic yacht regatta.

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NOTES:
If you want to see where we are, copy the following link to your browser:
http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionreportsDetail.aspx?callsign=VE1VOY

Also, our first post, titled "Learnings" has been updated.
Finally, many of our pictures were taken by other folks. We make no apology for selecting the very best!
______________

We left Falmouth December 29th for Jolly Harbour, Antigua and continued the following day to Cocoa Point, Barbuda. Barbuda will be remembered as another spot with spectacular beaches.

We celebrated the arrival of 2009 in Barbuda on board Bonanza with fresh fish (pompano) caught by Dreammaker on the sail over from Antigua. Since cruisers midnight is 9PM, we decided to celebrate the New Year based on GMT, which was 8PM local time. We enjoyed a great bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne from Guadeloupe. Thank god for the French islands. Good thing we celebrated early, since we both were asleep at midnight for the first time in nearly half a century!

On Saturday January 3rd, we went in to St. John's and returned to discover the boat coated with volcanic ash. While Montserrat is downwind from Antigua, the upper level winds run the opposite way. If the ash cloud gets high enough, Antigua gets a dose of ash. Thankfully it was short lived, but left us in the unique position of hoping for rain in Antigua!

We rented a car and toured Antigua for a day. Great beaches and the landscaping and architecture at the Stanford cricket grounds are outstanding.

We left Antigua early on January 7th, stopping overnight in St. Kitts and continuing on to St. Maarten the following day. We anchored in Simpson Bay in time to await the scheduled 5PM opening of the bridge to let us (and our escorting mega yachts) into the lagoon.

Bizarre - We cleared in on the Dutch side and anchored under the Witch's Tit on the Dutch / French border enjoying French baguettes and Dutch duty free. Like a Heineken two-four (330 ml cans) is $17 US! Grocery shopping is better than home. Funny though, the Dutch side is the worst served place from an internet and WiFi perspective - but the French side cafes have great connectivity. Go figure.

Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again, this time for lunch on January 9th at La Main a la Pate in Marigot, St. Martin. Leona and Michelle dove into buckets of PEI mussels, while Roy sampled a crème brulee foie gras. Bill went for the seafood.

We hauled out on Tuesday January 13th to refresh the bottom paint and lube the aging feathering prop and launched on Friday morning. We finally washed away the remnants of Montserrat ash!

We had a chance to visit Destination Fox Harbour Too at Isla del Sol marina. The furnishings, layout, decoration and fittings of this 161 foot beauty are absolutely spectacular. There were 20 or so of these mega yachts on the north docks alone!
And there are two other marinas with more mega yachts plus a couple anchored outside that can't fit through the bridge into the lagoon.

On Sunday the 18th we headed over to Maho Beach to watch the planes land - some 50 feet overhead. Hundreds of people hang around the two bars on either side of the runway or in the middle on the beach at the very beginning of the runway. They actually post the arrival times on a surfboard on the beach!

But, the piece de resistance is takeoff. The planes spool up at the airport fence - folks hang onto the fence or stand on the beach to see if they will be blown out to sea - or at least sand-blasted. Can you believe it?

On Tuesday we sailed over to Anguilla to see Kitty and Andy, friends from Halifax who now live there. Andy kindly took the day off and toured the six of us (Bonanza, Daniell Storey and Voyageur C) around the island to see some of the upscale resorts and fabulous beaches. We started at a rum factory, had a delightful lunch along the way and capped the day with a great dinner at their place. Thanks for your hospitality to our extended family!

On Friday at 3AM we left Anguilla for Virgin Gorda with Daniell Storey. After an uneventful 12 hour motor sail we arrived at Leverick Bay. Since then we have made major passages (up to 8 miles) around the BVI - just chillin' out. (Actually, it is chilly here. Leona just noted cabin temperature of only 80F at 5PM!)

We plan to wander around the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico for the next month or so before resuming the trip toward the DR and Cuba.

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We finally left Le Marin, Martinique with a full load of wine, cheese and sausage on December 14th bound for Xmas festivities in Antigua. After an overnight stop in rolly, shifty St. Pierre we crossed over to Dominica and trundled up the coast to Portsmouth. Leona will attest that the 25 mile crossing was one of the wettest, bumpiest we've had so far.

Portsmouth was great - we rendezvoused with Nancy Dawson (Randy and Sue). Some will recall that we crossed over to the Abacos with Nancy Dawson in January 2006 on our first trip south. They are smart, Nancy Dawson has been in the East Caribbean ever since. After a rum reunion that evening, we took the local bus into Roseau the following day. On the bus we met a lady who travels the Islands on a small freighter selling Dominican produce to other less favored places. A very take charge type, she stopped the bus at a roadside stand, insisting that we try fried plantain. It was great, and she insisted on paying. Dominica is like that - minimally touristy, rather poor but proud people who are very concerned that you have a good time on their Island.

The following day, we were off to Bourg de Saintes, a really neat town with a not very great anchorage. As you can see, Leona enjoyed the many small shops with unique craft items for sale. This commenced the déjà vue part of our trip, since we had chartered out of Guadeloupe years ago, visiting the Saints and English Harbour, Antigua.

Next it was off to Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe. We met up with there with Wanderlust. Bill in the midst of replacing a head gasket (ultimately a new head) so we expect to meet up again up Island. (Who says we travel in packs?) Point a Pitre is the home of the Cora super market - the alleged biggest in the Caribbean and on a French island to boot - we could not miss that, After a quick shopping excursion, we upped anchor to move up to a position close to the South bridge on the Riviere Salee before dark.

If you look at Guadeloupe on a map, it resembles a butterfly. The Riviere Salee is a mangrove channel that runs right up the middle of the butterfly. Although it is relatively shallow (we saw 8' minimum near the first anchorage with about 18" of tide) the real challenge is the bridge opening times. You must be underway prior to the DAILY 5 AM opening of the south bridge. If no one is underway, the bridge does not open. The south bound traffic (in our case a cat and another mono-hull) has priority, then we (all alone) headed north. Immediately the bright city lights are behind us, and we are in pitch dark mangrove swamp. The navigation buoys (thankfully) are all lit, but the flash pattern involves long enough periods of darkness that you lose sight of the buoy. Twenty minutes later the second bridge opens when they see your nav lights approach. Both bridges have a narrow 24' channel and are at an angle to the channel. The rumored mooring buoys at each end of the bridge run were not in evidence. We anchored in the channel north of the north bridge to wait for daylight so we could run the rest of the channel which included the reported shallowest part - which we never found.

We arrived in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on the 19th, two days ahead of the fabled Christmas Winds which have blown ever since. Bill bought a mooring buoy for a week as a Christmas gift for himself!

On Sunday nights, a visit to the party on Shirley Heights is mandatory, so away we went. Along with a gang of cruisers we knew, we met Paul and Cheryl Shard (Distant Shores TV show) and later toured their new boat, Distant Shores, a Southerly 42 that draws as little as 2' 8" with the board up. She is definitely an exploring monohull.

Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again with an excellent dinner at Trappas.

Until now, we never realized that yachts with masts over 100 feet are required to show a red light at the masthead, just like a hydro tower. Lesson learned - each of the three marinas here has half a dozen red lights at night. The mega yachts here are awesome - of the thirty or so that would cause a stir in Halifax Harbour a few could easily be confused with a cruise ship. Some are plastic boxes, others are testament to awesome design and craftsmanship. The highlight was watching the Maltese Falcon get underway UNDER SAIL from Antigua Yacht Club Marina, heading out of the harbour into the 20 - 25 K G30 winds and 9 foot seas. We'll stay parked, thank you.

Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is a real treat, and is only a five minute walk from here. We attended the Xmas Day party, which featured copious quantities of champagne (well, some was real champagne.) with the proceeds going to local charity. This is how you lay down a foundation for Xmas Dinner?

Guess Who's Coming To (Xmas) Dinner?

Three days before Christmas we were three boats in Falmouth Harbour with loose plans for Christmas dinner together - Voyageur C, Dream Maker and Bonanza. Then Cheetah II arrived on the 24th from around the corner at Jolly Harbour. Also Bill and Cathy from Dream Maker met Peter & Katrina a German couple on Endless who had recently crossed over from Europe and didn't know anyone here. Christmas morning we awoke to discover Daniell Storey anchored behind us.

We twelve from six boats had a gastronomical orgy aboard Dream Maker - the neat part is that no one planned it, no one knew everyone else prior to dinner and we all had a great time! (Albeit a few of us tossed and turned the night away - perhaps we over dined.)

Cruising is unpredictable, the people are wonderful and that's what makes it all so neat. It's like a big family where you don't know all your relatives. When you meet you already have much in common.

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