Adventures with David & Gail

Vessel Name: Wildest Dream
Vessel Make/Model: Caliber 47 LRC
Hailing Port: Dallas, Texas
Crew: David & Gail Dodgen
Home Page: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/wildestdream47
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL
20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida
18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida
14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico
10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize
05 May 2013 | Guatemala
01 May 2013 | Ram Marina, Rio Dulce, Guatemala
26 April 2013 | Livingston, Guatemala
23 April 2013 | French Harbor, Roatan, Honduras
20 April 2013 | Le Bight, Guanaja, Honduras
18 April 2013 | Vivorillo Cays, Honduras
10 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
01 April 2013 | Providencia, Colombia
23 March 2013 | San Andres
22 March 2013 | Off Nene's Marina, San Andres, Colombia
12 March 2013 | Red Frog Marina. Bastimentos
10 March 2013 | Boquete, Chiriqui, Panama
10 March 2013 | Cruiser Casa, Panama City
10 February 2013 | Panama City, Panama
02 February 2013 | Red Frog Marina, Bocas del Toro, Panama
Recent Blog Posts
15 June 2013 | Dinner Key Marina, Miami, FL

My how time flies!

My how time flies! – Well, I must confess to being a little overwhelmed and getting mixed up into the real world pace again faster than expected. Here it is mid-June, we have been back in Miami for almost 3 weeks, back in our house for almost a week, and I have not updated the blog. My sincere apologies! [...]

20 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas Nat'l Park, Florida

Back in the US, kinda!

Back in the US, kinda! - We are on US soil! There is no immigration or customs office out here so there is no way to clear into the US. So we are kinda' illegal aliens! But we are flying our Q flag and no one seems to care. Or maybe they don't know what it means. Anyway, we are getting closer to [...]

18 May 2013 | Dry Tortugas, Florida

Isla and beyond!

Isla and beyond! - We stopped in Isla Mujeres to officially clear into Mexico, wait out some weather and do some provisioning. Actually US immigration really doesn't care about where we started from to reenter the US, and they don't ask for a Zarpe so we could have gone on to Florida without stopping [...]

14 May 2013 | Puerto Isla Mujeres, Q. Roo, Mexico

The last flag!

The last flag! - Having skirted along the outer cays and atolls of Belize, we headed north to Mexico. I went to the flag bag that we have been using for the whole trip to store our courtesy flags for each country and it only had one flag left. It was the Mexico flag. All the others had been used and [...]

10 May 2013 | Lighthouse Reef, Belize

Belize it or not!

Belize it or not! - Sorry. I could not resist! We planned an 18 month trip and we are now into the 18th month so it is time to head home. We have about 800 miles to go with Belize and Mexico yet on the itinerary. We could go nonstop or we could take our time. Or we could stop a few places as we [...]

05 May 2013 | Guatemala

Guate!

Guate! - The ride into Guatemala City, or Guate for short as the locals call it, takes you along the Rio Montagua river valley as it winds is way up to the mountains. The Rio Dulce is at sea level and Guate is at about 6000 ft. so the climb is steep at times. Plus it's mostly a rural two land road [...]

The forbidded island!

28 April 2012 | Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI
David
The Forbidden Island! – Sounds foreboding doesn’t it! During our first charter to the BVIs in 1985, we were told the island of Anegada was forbidden to charterers. Four other charter trips over the next 10 or so years resulted in the same thing. Anegada was too dangerous for the common charterer and was a forbidden destination. So, after 27 years, we finally get to visit Anegada. But first we have to get there because we are on the west end of the BVIs and it is way on the north east end.

As of our last blog, we were in West End, Tortola (again) and clearing immigration (again). The transmission was purring along and doing all the things a transmission is supposed to do. Mainly go forward and neutral and then reverse and back to neutral. Easy peasy. So it was decided that we were good to go!

We scooted across the Sir Francis Drake Channel and back to Norman Island and the bight. Gail picked a new dive site out of the dive guide off the southwest corner of the island called Angelfish Reef which was easy to stop at on the way. It turned out to be a pretty good dive site with lots of canyons and neat rock formations. Then we went on into the bight for the night! That sounds cool.

Next morning we were off early to Salt Island and the Wreck of the Rhone. This is considered one of the top dive sites in the world and we had been here on each of our previous trips. In fact, my first open water dive after getting my certification at Squaw Creek in Texas was on the Rhone during our trip in 1985. Now almost 275 dives later we were back! And she did not disappoint. The site is well preserved for having so many people dive there.

As we finished and were heading back across the Channel, we decided to make a quick stop on Salt Island itself. We had never done this in our other trips and we were curious to see the salt ponds. It was (or still is) owned by the British crown and story goes that every year the queen gets her pound of salt from the island in tribute and tradition. Check the gallery pictures as the island and bay are very interesting.

Finally we pulled into Trellis Bay off the end of the runway for the BVI airport on Beef Island. We had been there before and wanted to have a good place for the night to leave from for Anegada and to check out Dick’s Last Resort again. Well, things have changed in 15 years and it is now only The Last Resort and the donkey (actually the second donkey) had passed away and was not replaced. So it was a little bit disappointing. To pass the time, we walked on the beach and looked into the little artist shops before retiring back to WD for the night. Tomorrow we were going to Anegada!

We were off early again for the 18 mile trip to Setting Point on Anegada. The sail over was a real treat. We were not sailing into the wind but had a perfect beam reach in 15 kts of wind. WD did her thing and got up over 8 kts several times. It only took about 2 ½ hours to cross. One unique thing about Anegada is that she is flat. The highest point is only 28 ft above sea level. She is dubbed the “Drowned Island” because of that. Even about three miles away we could barely see the trees on shore.

Another feature and the reason to keep the charterers away is that the island is surrounded by reefs that have claimed over 300 wrecks! So we too were nervous about entering, but the channel was well marked and we picked up a mooring easily. It seemed a perfect time to get out the bikes again because the terrain was really conducive for a ride. The roads were (at first) well paved cement but as we got close to the north shore, the pavement went away and we were on a sandy, rocky unpaved stretch. We persevered until we reached the north shore at Loblolly Point, a beautiful curving beach with reefs. It was worth the trip and we got some exercise at the same time. Back at the anchorage, we had a great lobster and grouper dinner at one of the beach restaurants and had a pleasant evening to relax after the ride.

But after all the waiting, it was a little underwhelming. The anchorage was rocky with the east wind and the water in the anchorage was a murky blue that was not inviting at all. We are glad we went and we met some new people there and I got the T-shirt! So, we can mark that off the list.

We crossed back to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda with plans to clear out of the BVI’s (after three trips and almost two months) and cross the next 70 miles or so to Anquilla. But the winds are back to over 20 kts and the seas are forecasted to be over 8 feet for the next 3-5 days. So here we are waiting again. Darn. Stuck in the islands!
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