US Virgin ISlands

Greetings from St. John, USVI! We arrived in St. John on Friday and enjoyed one of our favorite anchorages, Leinster Bay. It was so pleasant just sitting on the ball that we actually stayed for 2 days. We spent time cleaning the boat bottom of barnicles and slime from it sitting at our dock space for the last several months. The bottom really needed some scraping as the buildup from algae and marine growth can really make a mess of it. It also will impede the boat speed so, as sailors, always seeking a bit more speed, we did a pretty thorough job of cleaning. We will still need to do it again next fall when we return for an extended cruise schedule, but, like any baby, it seems happier with clean bottom.

We are slowly making our way through the USVIs as we'll head over to Christmas Cove later today. This is one of our favorite places. Then it's a short hop across the way to St. Thomas. St. Thomas is the most populated of the USVIs and has lots of good shopping and boat fix folks. Our watermaker is still on the fritz and we need to get that fixed soon. We may not be able to get it done prior to putting the boat away for the summer (hurricane season) and may have to wait until we return next fall. So far we've just bought water at $.15/gal. We go through about 100 gallons a week so it isn't too bad, cost-wise. That allows us a nightly shower and plenty of fresh drinking water each day. With our watermaker working, we seem to use more since its so easy to make fresh water. So we're conserving a bit more this trip.

The generator is a continuing saga. It hasn't worked since we returned in March. The dang thing is always a problem. Fortunately, we have a pretty impressive solar array on the top of our boat that keeps us in good supply of power for our battery bank. We're actually considering adding some additional solar panels so we can have an even less reliance on generators. ONce we tire of St. Thomas, we'll head across the 40 or so miles to Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands for a few days. We've enjoyed the little island many times before and its sister island Culabrita. We hope to be able to also check out Vieques, another Puerto Rican off-coast island. This island was once used by the US Air Force as a bombing practice target. There are areas which are off limits as there is potential live bombs still in the area. We'll stay out of those areas for certain. Another cool thing about Vieques is that certain areas around the island waters shine from marine bioluminescence. We're anxious to experience that, for sure. Maybe I can get a picture of it. After Vieques, we'll start working our way west around the south side of the island to our summer marina on the very west coast of the island. We will leave our boat there through the hurricane season, until we return in the fall to take up cruising on a full-time basis. I'll try to keep posting on this blog until we depart for our summer so stay tuned...

OK... we're back out on the water again. Suz and I are trying really hard t be "retired" (whatever that means). Since we left Steamboat Springs April 2, we've been back in the Virgin Islands on our boat, the good ship Allergic to Cities, attending to boat fixes, dinghy fixes, and all that it entails all the while trying to stay off of mooring balls (expensive) and on the anchor (free). So far we've been successful avoiding the mooring fees and enjoying some beautiful anchor spots. Yesterday, we went back to harbor to have our boat guy, David, help us do some sail work which I couldn't do alone or even with Suz helping. Too heavy. We got it done and headed back out late yesterday to Peter Island, one of our favorite anchorages. Today, we found a really fast internet server in Great Harbor (on Peter Island) and have been getting some much needed internet connectivity completed. Since I still do the design work for my old partners company, Portfolio Publications, I needed to upload some pages I designed that needed to be sent to Korea for preparing for the printing of his 2018 calendars. The calendars look to be one of his best to date. Look for Jim Steinberg's "A Year in Colorado" wall calendar. Jim and I have been friends and business acquaintances for over 40 years. His photography is second to none and I am so proud to be a continuing part of his publications. This is my 26th year doing his calendars! Now, think about this: I'm sitting on a catamaran in the Virgin Islands, sending electronic computer files to Korea, for the production of calendars which will be sold all over the world. What a modern world we enjoy.

So where do we go from here? We'll be staying in the BVIs for another week, then head over the USVIs after that. Then we'll make the passage to the Spanish Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico for the last few weeks of our sailing season. We will be leaving our boat on the western shore of Puerto Rico this summer when we head back to Cape Cod to do our summer housesitting gig again. Since we enjoyed that so much last summer, we just had to return for another summer of "lobstas" and "oystas". Puerto Rico is a new place for us to put the boat but our chosen spot appears to be a really nice marina and facility seemingly very secure from the ravages of hurricane season. Best part is, it is about half the price of keeping it in the Virgin Islands. Then, late next fall, when we return to the boat for extended cruising through the winter months. We'll then be able to decide which way to head. We're considering sailing on over to Cuba from PR if the political conditions continue to open up. From there we'd like to see what Jamaica looks like from the water. Then maybe we'll head counterclockwise around the western Caribbean for a bit. It really is up in the air but we'll know where we're heading when we decide. That's the one of the pleasures of the cruising life. Decisions come in good time, not to be forced. Weather can help to make a good "decider", as can life and health's demands. I will try to continue to add info to the blog as we travel. I'm currently having trouble getting photos off my camera/phone but will figure that out eventually so please be patient. Check back when you get time and hopefully, there'll be some pictures and more gobbaldy-gook to read from two wayward sailors. 'Til then, fair winds...