Hurry Up and Wait!

Seems like this has to be our motto for the past two weeks. We got to the Virgins two weeks later than planned and then, due to strong winds and boat work, we have been hunkering down here waiting for a favorable opportunity to head across the Anegada Passage to St. Martin. Tonight we GO! But first what has been keeping us busy for the past two weeks, you ask? Boat fixes, detailing, cleaning, and upgrades to the good ship A2C. We were somewhat sad, but also glad to be free of Puerto Rican waters yet anxious as to what the Virgin Islands would look like after the two big hurricanes of 2017. We left lovely Culebrita the morning of January 1st and the passage to St. Thomas was terrific. We have done that leg several times and it can be a beast! But this time, we made it in record time (around 3 hours) and dropped the hook upon our arrival on the west end of St. Thomas off of one of our favorite coves near Water Island. As we were sitting at anchor, enjoying music from the beach, we realized it was a band playing and not a cranked up sound system, so common in Puerto Rico. They sounded pretty good, so we decided to dinghy in and check it out. As we approached the beach to head ashore, Rick tried to raise the engine so it wouldn’t hit bottom in the shallows. The motor was frozen in the down position and wouldn’t budge! We couldn’t beach the dinghy without raising the motor so we tried to decide if the music was worth a swim to the beach and decided, because Suz had her phone with her, we would just head back to the boat and listen from there. The band played for hours and we enjoyed their musical stylings from afar, only wishing we had gone on in and seen them up close. Since we had been having some other difficulties with our dinghy motor recently we thought we should have it checked out at the local Yamaha dealer on St. Thomas. The next morning, we took the quick dinghy ride across the bay and asked one of the mechanics to have a quick look-see. He immediately diagnosed the problem of not being able to raise the engine to rusted parts on that mechanism and suggested replacement to remedy. We scheduled an appointment for the next day and brought the dinghy back early in the morning for the fix. We also asked them to look at the shifting arm as it seemed erratic and the engine also was not running as smoothly as usual. So we left the dinghy in their capable hands and went to wander the capital city of Charlotte Amalie. The ravages from a Category 5 hurricane are awesome to behold. Put two Cat 5 storms back-to-back and not much will be spared. This antique city, which seems so familiar to New Orleans in age and style, was devastated in places and untouched just blocks away. It seems the storm especially took easy prey on the older metal buildings of the industrial section. Entire blocks were destroyed with flattened buildings all around. Some still had their interior shelving intact with inventory in place, while the exterior walls and ceiling were collapsed. It was sad to see livelihoods’ displaced from such an “act of God”.

Broken Windmills The newer structures seemed to fare better, likely due to modern building codes and improved building techniques. Trash was still strewn about and mixed with blown-away building materials. Cleanup efforts were underway, but appeared to be mostly private individuals doing their own thing to try to restore their city to some sense of order. After completing our walkabout, we returned to the dinghy repair place and discussed what was needed to be done to our engine. Along with the lifting mechanism replacement, it seems we needed a new starting switch (had to order it!) and was highly recommended to install a fuel filter to help with keeping the engine supplied with clean fuel. The islands are notorious for selling contaminated fuels so this was not a surprise. We agreed upon a filter style and had him install it on the transom of our new dinghy and order the needed part. The part was supposed to arrive the next day, but of course didn’t. By now, we had to move on to try to maintain some sense of travel timetable so we made arrangements to have the part held for us to retrieve the following day, when it “surely would arrive”. The next day we had made an appointment with a mechanic to look at our engine alternators, as they were not supplying the expected power to our battery banks. Since we are our own “city” afloat, we must provide all the power, water, sanitation, and lighting whenever it is needed. Power is the BIG necessity and lack thereof can be a HUGE problem. So we made arrangements to have a slip at Red Hook on the East end of St. Thomas for the mechanic to come aboard and do his mechanic thing. He arrived and quickly confirmed my layman’s diagnosis that one alternator was not producing any power and the other was intermittent. We asked him to replace them both and he went about making our power system whole again. Several hundred dollars later, we were back underway, producing power like we should, heading up toward St. John, USVI.

Removing the Genset We motored slowly past several of our old favorite places like Cannel Bay, a former high-end resort where we would moor out front to snipe their wifi years past. The place was in shambles with blown down buildings, missing docks, and private homes destroyed. It was a really sad sight, to say the least. It seemed that everywhere we looked, there was damage. The resort would be a long time in coming back, if they even decide to rebuild. After seeing the devastation there, we stayed the night further up at Leinster Bay on St. John, and tied to a mooring ball for free as there was no pay station available. Another casualty of the storm evidently. We stayed there for an extra night, as it is such a lovely spot, but felt we should keep moving the next morning. Next morning, bright and early, we motored into Soper’s Hole to clear into the BVIs. We arrived shortly after the customs officials arrived to their makeshift tented “office” at the sight of their former official cinderblock building. The cinder blocks were gone with only a tent to allow them refuge from the morning sun. Rick dinghied over to the site, with a bag of trash to dispose of. After placing the bag into the dumpster, he approached the officials who immediately chastised him for going to the dumpster prior to checking in. Evidently, a big no no. Claiming a fine could be levied for his actions, Rick apologized profusely and avoided the fine. The clearing in charges, however, were significantly higher than last visit. In May, clearing charges were $10. This time they were $46 plus a $20 fine for arriving into BVI waters before the customs office was open. We crossed from the USVI onto BVI waters around 8:30 and they claimed to have seen us come into BVI waters before they opened. I had to go back to the boat to get more money to satisfy the fine and was not pleased with the attitude shown by these officials. If they want tourists to return to the islands, one would think some friendliness would go a long way in making that return imminent. We left Soper’s Hole after reviewing the destruction of Pusser’s Restaurant and Bar as well as all the cute shops that lined the walkway. The grocery, which was always well stocked, was knocked down as well. Another casualty of the storms. We then went to Nanny Cay, where we had placed a special fuel filter on order to help control future dirty fuel problems for the main diesels, which we had previously not experienced but were being warned about. Nanny Cay is a hub for charter boat activity and it, too, was a mess. Many boats were upside down in the harbor, sunken hulls tied to the docks, docks that were half missing, and debris everywhere. The boats that were stored on land for the past hurricane season were knocked down like dominos, leaning one against the other. Many masts were broken off or bent in half. I would imagine that for every smiling boat repairman, there were several saddened boat owners. After topping up our fuel at Nanny Cay, and picking up our new fuel filter, we headed to Road Town, Tortola. Upon arrival, we hooked a ball at the breakwater outside the main entry to town off the Cruise ship dock, and went to town to have a look around. Three months after the storms, there was devastation and debris everywhere. The marina at Village Cay was in shambles with boats still upside down in the water, and many sunken hulls all around. The Moorings base was operational but just barely. One could see MANY damaged boats awaiting repair to their hulls or rigging and we wondered how many of these would actually ever see open seas again. Very sad, indeed. Earlier, when we had discovered that our fuel polisher was leaking diesel into the bilge under our bunk, Rick made a by-pass fuel line to accommodate its removal for repair. That seemed to work fine but was only a temporary fix. While in Road Town, we dropped the polisher off at a welding shop to have the offending hole welded shut so we could reinstall it before we head across the Anagada Passage to St. Martin soon. That is an 18-hour passage and running into bad fuel half way across would present more than a minor inconvenience. While in Road Town, we also did some grocery and boat parts provisioning and headed back to the boat. We then took off to Peter Island for the night and found the beautiful resort on the beach completely gone. The island had large “Do Not Trespass” signs on the beach and was clearly not welcoming any tourists. The anchorage was quite rolly so we only stayed one night there. Back into Road Town to get the welded fuel polisher and the “final” parts so Rick could prepare to complete the new fuel filter installation. It seems that no store has everything needed to get the job done. Like any good plumbing job, several trips to different stores are always needed to make it an “official” plumbing job. Plumbing for a boat seems no different. Parts in hand we headed to Norman Island where we knew we would have a quiet and flat mooring to do the below decks work. We arrived at Norman Island and moored off of the Willy T. The Willy T is a famous, or should I say “infamous” old Lake Michigan lumber schooner which was brought to Norman Island to be a floating bar. It provided many fun nights over many tourist seasons to vacationers arriving at the Pirate’s Bight. Now, however, it laid quietly ashore, hull out of the water, upper deck missing, in quiet disrepair, likely never to float again. The main restaurant on shore was missing part of the roof and walls, but was being repaired. The other building was in tact and functioned as the new bar/restaurant for the Bight. We met and chatted with our old friend, Jesse, one of the wait staff, whom we had gotten to know through the years and heard her account of the storm’s passing. What an unbelievable story. I can only imagine the horror and fear as 200MPH winds passed over and through your home with you inside.

Downed Mahogany tree With Admiral Suz assisting, the new filter and repaired polisher was reinstalled and tested. To everyone’s surprise, all was in good order and working as designed. Not bad for a couple of non-mechanical types! After completing the install we headed on up to the north sound of Virgin Gorda. This is by far our favorite spot in the Virgin Islands. It is home of the famous Bitter End and Saba Rock, two unique and delightful stopovers for many traversing the Virgin chain during their visit. We were saddened to see the sights up there as well. The Bitter End Yacht Club was totaled! Buildings were flattened and those who survived with walls had no roofs. Docks were gone and boats up on the shore like toys. Saba Rock, where, in the past, we loved to take our boat guests, was also trashed. The docks were gone, fuel dock included, roofs were missing, many walls were down. Looked like a bomb had been detonated and this was ground zero. Don’t know when it will be operational again but surely not for at least a year or more. Hopefully the rebuild will be done with better construction techniques. Such a beautiful place it was. So, now we are ready to head to St. Martin, once the weather presents a reasonable window for the passage. Weather forecasting shows that that window opens this Sunday night, tonight. Tonight we will hoist anchor and head around the north side of Virgin Gorda and begin our 18-hour passage around midnight so we can arrive before the sun goes down tomorrow night. Hopefully, the winds will not be severe and not too much on the nose, and the waves will not beat us senseless as we head directly into the prevailing trade winds from the east. With good fortune and good seamanship, we will be safely at anchor off of St. Martin tomorrow night. Stay tuned…

Super Moon St Thomas USVI UPDATE! We arrived in fine shape after a 18 hour trip across the Oh-MY-Gawd-A passage to St. Martin as planned. Follow up blog post to catch us up to follow. Currently in les Saintes, Guadelopue, heading south toward Dominica and Ma rtinique soon!