And Then There Were Two (again)

Whew! It has been an eventful past few weeks! Since our good friend Jeannie left to return to Colorado, we have been entertaining our youngest daughter Ellie and her two delightful daughters, AJ (7) and Liv (4). We thoroughly enjoyed their visit albeit a brisk and busy time.

We had arranged to have our usual taxi driver take us to the airport to pick them up but somehow he got wires crossed and we were left to find another driver while waiting at the curb for the first guy. Not to worry, a friendly marina employee called his friend Rodwell, another taxi guy taking a day off, and he came to pick us up straightaway. We arrived at the airport with time to spare as it seemed to take forever to get everyone through customs and immigration. But before long, Ellie and our beautiful “grands” came bounding through the exit lobby, spied us, and ran straight into our arms with huge grins and hugs. A good start to the trip, for sure.

Ellie had hoped to show the kids some “not so American” scenes while visiting us on this trip and our drive back to the boatyard provided just that. We drove through small villages with less than idyllic schoolyards, neighborhoods that needed some paint and maintenance, and various roadside vendors selling all sorts of strange fruits and vegetables. The kids took it all in and perhaps appreciated their home living situations a bit more.

After arriving back at our boat for the first night, we experienced a rather rough first night, weather-wise. My previous blogs explained the crazy weather patterns Jeannie had experienced with us and they continued for the first few days of the girls visit. (Read most recent blog entry to see what happened their first night aboard!) Prior to their arrival, during Jeannie’s visit, we had arranged to have a local mechanic come to the boat to do some minor work. On the designated day, a very nice looking young man named Jage arrived to provide his mechanical skills and we welcomed him aboard. We quickly noticed his thick Scottish accent and commented about it. He grinned and told us he hadn’t lived in Scotland since he was 18 and that France was his home when not aboard his catamaran which was currently anchored near ours in the bay outside of Jolly Harbor marina. We found out that he was currently living on his boat while his wife and kids (girl 10 and boy 15) remained back in France for the school year. We learned that the boy was an upcoming young freestyle skier and explained that Steamboat Springs was a big hub for Olympic competitors. We hit it off nicely and enjoyed getting to know each other. We invited him over for several “happy hours” and he seemed to enjoy having company, especially with the girls, as I suspect he was missing his family some.

After he completed the necessary boat work and were chatting with him, telling him of the upcoming visit of our family, he offered up some of his kids’ lifejackets and floating toys for their use while aboard our boat. We were delighted as Ellie had worried about finding lifejackets that would fit properly and that she would be most happy not to have to pack two lifejackets in their luggage. He said he also had a two person kayak which we could borrow if we wished. We took him up on it and Ellie and the girls spend several times paddling around each harbor in the kayak, learning to synchronize their strokes to avoid banging their paddles together.

Since the girls had been working hard on their swimming skills prior to arrival, they were most anxious to display their progress. They spent many hours afloat off the back of the boat, playing on the floating toys and noodles, while splashing and displaying their newfound and rapidly increasing swimming skills. Little Liv seemed especially proud that she could paddle about in her tiny life vest, without anyone guiding her, allthewhile exclaiming “don’t hold on to me, I can do this by myself!” I am certain they easily doubled their swimming prowess while with us.

Since the weather and wind were so intense for the first few days, we decided to get a dock berth so they could all ease into the boat’s undulations and not get too green from it’s rolling about. That proved to be a good decision as the proximity to the marina and the local supermarket helped all get accustomed to the local food offerings. Since the girls are on a strict Gluten free/dairy free diet, we were concerned that there would not be adequate options for them while visiting. However, we found several gluten-free choices offered and with what Ellie had packed to bring with her, they seemed to be well fed and happy the entire trip.

After a few nights on the dock, the weather had let up some so we headed around the corner to English Harbor, the historic harbor which was once the home base for the famous Admiral Horacio “Hornblower” Nelson, famed pirate hunter. We did some historical sightseeing and hiked up to the fort one morning, but they especially loved the harbor and the adjacent beaches. On their first Sunday night in English Harbor, we all went up to Shirley Heights for the weekly steel pan BBQ and party. They seemed enthralled by the 20 piece steel drum orchestra and loved the views from the elevated location. After a big day of swimming, hiking and music, they were all too ready to head back to the boat for bedtime, as were we all.

We were able to take the kids into St. John’s, Antigua’s capital city, on the local bus and we think they enjoyed seeing the local people and sights along the way and the farmer’s market in the city with all of the strange looking fruits and vegetables that were offered.

When we sailed back from English Harbor up to Jolly Harbor, AJ wanted to “drive” so Rick had her sit in the helmseat and she was able to do the course corrections on the autopilot as he told her how any degrees to enter. He even taught her that she needed to respond “Aye, Captain” when she received a correction directive. Then, and only then, would she be allowed to push the buttons to make the course change. She found it to be great fun. She also learned that the sides of the boat were not referred to as “left” and “right” but starboard (right) and port (left). Lots to learn, but an eager and attentive student. Much of the rest of the time the girls seemed to really enjoy the beach time and all the swimming off the boat. AJ showed some real mastery of her snorkel gear and swim fins and Liv practiced paddling around without our assistance.

We invited Jage over for supper one night and he brought the adults a nice bottle of Chilean wine and a couple of storybooks from his kids’ boat library to read to the girls. He read them with such sincerity and with his beautiful Scottich accent that he quickly won the girls hearts, we’re sure.

The 10 days went by much too fast for everyone and we were all surprised when the end of the visit arrived. As the weather had begun to stiffen again, we decided to move inside the harbor entry to a mooring ball for the last day to allow them some sense of calm while preparing their departure packing. Then out of nowhere, Jage appeared in his dinghy with a bag of assorted foreign coins for the kids and a magnifying glass for the girls to examine their “pirate’s booty”. The coins were from places all over the world which he had kept in his change box as he traveled around the globe. They were delighted to have this wonderful surprise and after big hugs all around, he was gone and we were off to the taxi stand to meet up with Rodwell, our driver, for their trip back to the airport.

Overall, it was a terrific visit, albeit exhausting for us. We loved seeing the girls grow their sea skills in front of our eyes and having Ellie with us for some great quality adult time together.

That night, as we sat in the cockpit having our boat drinks, we spied Liv’s swimming vest hanging outside to dry and became a bit misty thinking about what fun it had all been. The good news is that there is always another time…

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night… (good grief!)

Our good friend from Steamboat Springs, Jeannie Berger, departed after a good long visit with us on Tuesday, February 20th. We had such fun with her initiating her to our sailing life with a few big crossings from St. Lucia through Guadeloupe, Martinique, les Saintes, and on into Antigua. The seas were quite high and we always had to sail double reefed to handle the continuing higher winds. She handled the rougher water like a trouper, never complaining, but surely wondering, at times, why we thought rough weather and tougher passages were “fun”. We arrived in Antigua safely after the roughest passage and settled into on of our favorite anchorages, Jolly Harbor. The wind continued to howl for several days but we made the best of it with some beach time, an excursion to St. Johns, the capital city, and a night up to Shirley Heights to hear the big steel pan orchestra (20+ players!) and to enjoy the big BBQ party there.

This is the steel Drum band, though it's when Ellie and the girls saw it, not when Jeannie saw it. Sadly, her time with us came to an end and we bid farewell as she taxied off to the airport for her flight back to the states on Tuesday. After an evening catching our breath, we set about prepping for our next guests, daughter Ellie and our two lovely grand daughters, AJ and Liv. Our youngest daughter Ellie and her two young girls (7 & 4) arrived on Wednesday at the St Johns airport. We made arrangements with a taxi driver to transport us to pick them up and we arrived in plenty of time to welcome them as they passed through the customs gates. We all came back to the bay by dinner time to Jolly Harbor and they got their first taste of boating by getting a wet dinghy ride out to the good ship A2C with the luggage and five people weighing it down. They laughed all the way out to the boat so I guess it was OK by them.

We grilled some chicken, allowed them to get settled in and then, after they had been traveling for two days, they crashed into their beds for the night. As the wind continued to howl, the boat was constantly straining on the anchor set and our double bridle and the motion of the boat in the waves was very rough. The girls all did well when outside the boat but had a bit of queasiness when down below. Since it was bedtime anyway, I advised them that laying in bed with their eyes closed was the easiest was to get through a rough patch and that seemed to work well for them. I also had advised the kids that there would be many odd and unfamiliar noises throughout the night but that they shouldn’t worry as those noises were just new sounds to them. Some would be waves against the sides of the boat, some might be from the rigging “singing”, while others could be from other boats in the area. They seemed to understood my explanation and settled in to try to get a good nights rest. The wind had not abated since before they had arrived and we were still at anchor experiencing ongoing wavy conditions with high wind chop from the 20-25 kt sustained winds. That night while sitting in the cockpit after the girls went to bed, we even turned on the wind gauge to see how big the gusting was and saw several times that it rose well above 30 kts.

By 9:30 that night, everyone was finally in bed and ready for a good rest. Although a rough, bumpy night, all seemed well until 4:30AM when a very loud crunching sound emanated from directly outside our bedroom window. Rudely awakened, we hurried to the deck to find that, as feared might happen, our anchor had slipped from it’s previous 6 day hold and had allowed us to bump into the boat anchored behind us. Rick jumped to the controls and quickly got the engines running, while Suz hurried to the fore to attend to the anchor chain. She was able to pull the anchor under some very rough conditions while Rick held our boat as steady as possible to allow the anchor to be lifted. We had tried so hard to maintain a quiet environment for the kids to sleep through the night and here we were, starting engines and banging into neighboring vessels. We re-anchored after moving back into the previous position and only then could we somewhat relax and watch the anchor continue to strain to perform its duty. During the anchor dragging “fire drill” Ellie had come up to see what was going on and we assured her that all was fine and apologized for the noise. She checked the girls and they were not concerned as they said they were just laying there in bed trying to imagine what each new different noise was. To be doubly safe, Rick decided to maintain a watch to be sure we didn’t drift again as everyone else settled back into bed to try to regain some sense of sleep pattern. The rest of the night went without incident and as dawn came, we noticed several other boats had experienced similar difficulties during the night. What a crazy welcome to the sailing life for Ellie, AJ and Liv! The next day, we thought the girls might need to get some beach time so Rick dinghied them all ashore and returned to the boat to stand watch again, as the wind and wave action had actually increased some since the previous night. While the ladies played on the beach, went to the market and did some simple sightseeing, Rick found his decision to stay aboard to be the right one. After about an hour alone on the boat, a call came in from a neighboring vessel announcing to Rick that from his perspective, there appeared to be some difficulty with our anchor bridles. He had not heard or felt anything alarming but went forward to inspect and found one of our 1" bridle lines had broken clean and the other had somehow come loose from its chain position, rendering it inoperable. We were simply banging back from the anchor chain alone. That was a testament to how hard the wind and waved action was pitching the boat around, as one couldn’t feel any difference from a working bridle and no bridle at all!

Rick had to do some shorthanded rework on the bridle set up by rigging a temporary new bridle line for the broken one from an old halyard line and reattached the one that come loose back onto the anchor chain. A pretty exciting half an hour for this old boy, but it got it done without an additional incident. After all of this excitement, Rick decided that maybe a new spot for the night might be prudent. A call the harbormaster to see if there were any available slips or mooring balls proved the right decision. The mooring balls were all taken but they had an available slip in the marina, so even though we hate marina life, we bit the bullet, for our guests comfort. After retrieving the girls from the beach, we then headed into the marina and a settled spot on the pier. After a quiet night on the dock, everyone spoke of a very good nights sleep and obviously, a much more pleasant night's rest. Now, however, we will likely have to do some slick talking to get them off the dock again and back out on the anchor when the wind finally subsides. We don’t want them to think that all sailing life is about rough weather and bumpy nights at anchor. In the meanwhile, beach time seems to satisfy their time in on the island.

More fun with the girls to come, when the weather turns normal in a couple of days. Stay tuned…

2 Guests leave, 1 Guest arrives.

We were finally able to leave Martinique to head across the passage to St. Lucia after hearing of 14-16 foot seas in that passage earlier in the week. Those high seas were the reason we opted to not deliver our recent guests, Steve and Lorraine, to the island of their upcoming departure back to the states. They opted for a ferry ride over which they said was not too bad but many of the passengers aboard the ferry would have likely disagreed. While we waited for a calmer passage, we were able to finish some of the needed work on our boat systems, primarily the battery concerns and elevating the exhaust hoses from our new mufflers. We knew of the energy issues since leaving the Virgins and the muffler situation was needed since flooding the one engine with sea water during an earlier, particularly rough passage. Our engine repairman had suggested replacing our new aftermarket mufflers with factory spec Volvo mufflers (at $500 each!) but suggested we make contact with their exhaust specialist, a technician in their Marin office, for further diagnosis and repair. Since we were fortunate to be in the boat fixing capital of the Caribbean at la Marin, Martinique so we knew we would have easy access to many quality technicians. We had made the appointment to meet with the muffler tech in Marin from the shop where they purged the seawater and saved the port engine. After his on-site review and diagnosis of tour exhaust system, he suggested that the mufflers we had should be fine, they just needed to be place further down on the floor of the engine compartment and added a long, elevated looped exhaust hose to help prevent seawater from backing into the engine again. Wow! Fixed with an extra couple hundred dollars of time and parts. What a relief! When we had our mufflers realigned in each engine compartment, we asked our mechanics for recommendations for electrical techs. He quickly offered a name and we contacted the fellow. Fortunately he spoke English and we made an appointment for him to come to the boat the next day. He was a younger man of maybe 35 but was obviously an expert in his field. He quickly set about examining and studying our electrical systems and reading the technical data from our technical specification documents. We found him quite amusing, as he would read the manuals commenting to himself in French as he read, almost to assure himself that he understood the English he was reading. He would then stop for a moment and stare into space contemplating what he had just read before resuming reading each manual. Once he completed his literary review, he undertook the physical challenge of following each wire and system to discover, then correct, each fault found therein. At one point we heard him from the salon, as he was working in the starboard engine compartment, say in beautifully French-accented English, “they just need to read the fooking BOOK!” We laughed and he replied that whoever had installed something electrical in that compartment had done so in error and if they had followed the instructions, all would have been fine. He completed his work in a couple of hours to proclaim the batteries as sufficient and good for the forseeable future and the charging system was now set up as it should have been originally. Another success! We were very happy campers!!! With the serious boat system concerns put to rest, we breathed a collective sigh of relief and made plans to head across to St. Lucia to pick up our next guest and long time Steamboat Springs friend, Jeannie Berger. The weather was good for the day before her scheduled arrival so we made the passage from Martinique to St. Lucia ahead of a developing weather front to pick her up in Rodney Bay. She flew into the airport at the extreme southern end of the island and Rodney Bay is on the northern tip. She made plans to take a taxi from the airport up to Rodney Bay to avoid us having to sail all the way to the other end of the island to get her. The hour and a half taxi ride also allowed her an opportunity to see the inland part of the island that boaters don’t get to experience. St. Lucia is a beautiful island with many high rugged mountains and majestic rain forests. She said she had a lovely trip from end to end with the taxi driver. We met her as the sun was setting at a local watering hole in Rodney Bay. We ordered a pizza and some drinks and welcomed her to the islands. Then back to the boat via dinghy and an early to bed night for us all. She had begun her travels 24 hours earlier, with a layover in Miami so she was really ready for bed and we were not to argue, as we were ready as well. The next morning, we listened to the weather guru give the news that the weather was thickening over then next several days so we decided that if we were going to get away from St. Lucia soon, that day was the best option for about the next week. We quickly prepared to get underway and headed out mid-morning across a rather bumpy and sea-sprayed passage back to Martinique. This was Jeannie’s first experience on our boat and she handled it very well through some rather difficult sea state conditions. 8-10’ waves and winds in the high teens gusting to 25. We made terrific time as the wind was coming from a good point of sail. We landed in Martinique around 4pm and were happy to be in a settled harbor, on the hook, enjoying boat drinks at sunset. So far we have been moving steadily along through the upper Windwards and landed yesterday at les Saintes, Guadeloupe. The weather has demanded that we keep moving and even suggested, at times, one might refer to sit it out for a couple of days. We knew the weather was just going to worsen so we opted to try to keep just ahead of the worst of it and so far, have done just that. We will now stay for a few days, at this beautiful area and let the weather catch up and pass us before we move on to another spot. We have had several high-speed sails in some pretty rough seas but all have faired well and the boat is performing like a young thoroughbred. A well deserved rest period is at hand!

Moving Down the Chain

The trip to St. Martin was the usual bash into the sea and wind as the prevailing winds seem always on the nose from the east. After waiting so long in the Virgins for descent passage weather, the trip across the Anagada Passage was still the usual 18 hour affair. Uneventful but long, just the same.

Once we made land in St. Marteen (the Dutch side), we rested for a while then went to customs to check in then to the inner harbor to explore the sights from the hurricane damage. There were boats upside down, sunken and de-masted aplenty. Since we had ordered a new shade for the back of the cockpit area from the sailmaker in St. Marteen, we went to find him and pick up our new addition to the boat. Once we picked it up, we headed across the street to the Island Water World chandlery to ick up a few items we needed to fit the new shade to the boat. We also took our laundry in to find a laundamat but there were none with available driers. They were expecting a huge delivery from the cruise port and expected their driers would be busy for the rest of the day so we just did the wash part and headed back to the boat with soggy clothes to hang. Once we got them hung we decided it was time to head in for a sundowner at some local happy hour establishment.

We found a couple of guys just leaving their boat, heading to shore, and asked them where a good happy hour was and they said “follow us” as they were thirsty as well. The bar was, oddly enough, called the Soggy Dollar. There is a famous beach bar in Jost Van Dyke, BVIs with the same name so we wondered if it was owned by the same people. We were told that it wasn’t, it was just a marketing ploy without legal ramifications. It was a lively night at the happy hour and we made quick friends with the two guys who directed us to the bar. One was an engineer fro luxury motor yachts who was having a bit of a vacation due t the hurricane and the other was his apprentice. We discussed some of the boat issues we were having and asked if he might be interested in making some under the table money troubleshooting some of our mechanical issues. He agreed and we made arrangements to have him aboard the next morning. He came to our boat promptly the next morning and we went after the continuing generator saga. He diagnosed the problem immediately and we set about making the fixes. After a couple of hours of work, he had to attend to another commitment and set a return time for 4 that afternoon. When he returned we discovered that we couldn’t completely fix the issues as we needed time to trace a power source to the starter switch and he had to leave at 5 to meet his wife. Since we were scheduled to leave earliy the next morning, his work with us was done, unfortunately. He did, however, find the probem and now we simply need to do the service when we get the time. All in all, he spent about 4 hours total working on our boat and refused to accept any money for his time. He said I could buy him some beers at the next happy hour for his pay. After he left, we cleaned up and headed into the happy hour spot and enjoyed meeting new people from different yachts and some charter people. Since we had made previous arrangements to meet up with some Steamboat Springs friends, if possible, somewhere around Guadeloupe, we were moving down island at a pretty steady pace. So, next morning, bright and early, we yanked the anchor and sailed on down past St. Barts to St. Kitts. We anchored in the same location we did the last time we came through when we were entertained by a fantastic lightening storm off our anchorage. It is a lovely bay outside of a new superyacht marina called Chritoffe Marina. Last visit, it was empty; this time it held about 10 huge motor yachts and sailboats of enormous size. We headed out early the next morning for Montserrat, chalking up another 10 hours of sailing and motorsailing.

The Greens visited us As we approached the volcanic island of Montserrat, we started the engines to assist with anchoring and found the port engine not cranking over. Rick exchanged the battery with one from the dinghy, then one from the other engine only to find that none of them would turn the engine over. Since we had one working engine it was not an unworkable situation, it just added a degree of difficulty. We arrived in Guadeloupe next and moved on down that island’s perimeter quickly the next day as time to meet our friends was approaching. We had made contact with them and they decided to ferry over to les Saintes, off the southern end of Guadeloupe, where we would meet them that next day. Still limping along on one engine, we met our friend sand dinghied them to our boat late the next day. We couldn’t find anyone to fix the diesel so we continued along to Martinique where we knew we could find qualified service people. Along the way we called a Volvo mechanic who came highly recommended and made arrangements to stop at his shop in the town of Case Pilote, Marinique. As we reached the marina, we were told to come straight in to and dock where a mechanic would come out to do some diagnostic work. Docking with one engine in a catamaran is like trying to drive a bulldozer with one track locked. To say the least, it was difficult but we got it done and the mechanic was superb. He came on board and found that the engine was seized, as we suspected. This was our worst fear. If seawater had intruded the cylinders, the salt could do severe damage to the walls and potentially ruin the engine. He was able to purge the sea water and after changing the oil, he attempted to restart the engine. Miraculously, lo and behold, it coughed, and sputtered and then started running smoothly again. He let it idle for an hour to see if anything was wrecked, then revved it up a bit and pronounced it good to go. We had dodged a HUGE bullet. During his diagnosis he noted that the new mufflers which were installed in Puerto Rico had been put too high in the engine compartment, making water ingress possible. This is likely what had happened. We got into some rough seas earlier, the boat rocked hard from front to back and sea water had come back up the exhaust hose and into the engine causing it to become locked. He suggested we make an appointment with his Marin, Martinique shop to have his guys there do further diagnosis and corrections of this problem. He also had suggested replacing the aftermarket mufflers with new Volvo factory muffler (@ $500 each!). We were prepared to do that as we had avoided an engine rebuild and certainly didn’t want another situation like this developing again. Once we arrived in Marin, we Rick went shore to pick up the mechanic and bring him to the boat for further testing and diagnosis. He quickly determined that the mufflers we had would work fine if they were placed lower in the engine compartment and a longer hose was fixed to them to prevent water coming back up and into the engine. Within three hours he had done the work and we had avoided another giant parts purchase, Bullet #2 dodged with this fix. Now, our remaining mechanical issue is with the house bank of batteries which store all the power we need to run the boat. We noticed, somewhere along the down-island journey, that our battery bank was not fully recharging after daily use. This was uncommon and we knew we had to find the reason and correct it or we would have a boat without power soon. We had a guy install new alternators in St. Thomas, USVI, which we expected would correct the problem but it only provided a partial correction. We also had the batteries tested and they were found to be “close to replacement.” Since new batteries are very expensive, we decided to see if we could find a way to make the recharge work more efficiently. They have been improving but not to the level we would like them to remain. Monday, we will have another tech come to the boat and do a new test and see if we can salvage them or not. Our boat guests, Steve and Laurane Green, have been extremely patient with our mechanical issues and made us feel we could take care of these issues without feeling guilty. They have become delightful friends and are great folks all around. Their time aboard, however, came to an end Saturday morning when they headed, by ferry, on to St. Lucia where they will fly home after a couple days on that island doing the tourist thing. They were great to have aboard and to get better acquainted with. We think we gave them some good sailing time with plenty of on water adventure. Hopefully, what they were looking for. It was sad dropping them off at the ferry dock but we know they will enjoy St. Lucia.

This morning as we finished breakfast and were readying to go ashore to do laundry, we noticed a gathering ashore with many colorful wooden boats being outfitted with traditional square sail rigs. Each boat had a crew of about 10 people and the course markers were being placed across from us in an open bay. We decided to wait and watch and before long the race was on. 13 traditional wooden boats with crew aboard began the dash across the bay and out the entry channel then back in and around the course marker bouys. Each boat was outfitted with long wooden poles which stuck out from the sides of the boats allowing crew to "hike out" as the boat would heel over in the gusty wind. It was fun to watch the coordinated efforts of each team and they made several "laps" up and out the channel and back around the bouys until the finish line. Very colorful.

So now, as we have one major mechanical issue resolved, we have one more to take care of. Hopefully on Monday we will know the extent of our next purchase. “Boat Bucks” just seem to be flying out of our hands. The redeeming factor is that our boat is running better than ever now and is still a pleasure to sail.

This was found on the boat, it is a rotten piece of French summer sausage... bleh!

you can rent these things, for parties--complete with a grip and party platform. We didn't get one, you wouldn't they be fun? Our next guest, Suz’ “bestie”, Jeannie Berger, will arrive in St. Lucia on February 4 and we plan to pick her up there if the weather allows. Otherwise the ferry ride to Martinique is waiting and available. We will surely have a fun time with her aboard, as she and Suz giggle like little school girls when together.

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!

New Year's Eve in Culebrita, PR and on Into The Virgins!

We motored (mostly) from Ponce, PR across from the southeastern end of PR and up to Culebrita. One of our favorite harbors in the entire Leewards. We made terrific time in our easting and wound up in the pretty little harbor on Friday the 29th. We stayed there through New Year's Eve and hopped across to St. Thomas on New Year's day. Culebrita is one of those picture postcard spots with white sand beaches and the clear blue water one would expect in the Caribbean islands. It didn't disappoint. The island has become a favorite for the Puerto Ricans as well. They come from the mainland, mostly in larger outboard rigs with all their friends and families. Arriving around 9 AM, the steady stream of motor yachts arrives until around noon, when the party swings into full speed. There must be over 50 boats, all stern tied to the beach, so close to each other that you could almost step from one to another. Then at around 4 PM they start to pull out until at around 6, we are left alone again in the harbor for the night, a most welcome relief. We enjoyed PR much more this trip than we have in the past. We found the people to be friendly and industrious. Their spirits seemed unfailing from the hurricane damages, and they just seemed to take it all in stride. Damage was evident all around and yet life moved forward, however slowly. We were fortunate to have a harbormaster (the boss of the marina we stayed in at Cabo Rojo) who was very aware of the PR government's activities as he advised us well regarding the sales tax abatement in place since hurricane Maria caused so much damage The PR government decided that as a stimulous option, they would forgo collecting sales tax on purchases made from the hurricane through the end of the year. This provided us with a terrific opportunity to purchase several of our larger items without having to pay sales tax. Sales tax in PR is over 10% so that was a BIG deal. Since we had already planned on buying a new dinghy and having substantial boat work done (labor is taxable in PR), we figure we have saved over $2000 on sales tax alone through this deal. Not a bad way to stimulate the retail and service economy, I'd say. In Ponce harbor, we saw several boats that had been destroyed by the storm, still resting against the rock walls or partially submerged in the harbor. It was very sad to consider that one day in the not so distant past, these boats had provided their owners some sense of pleasure, much the same as ours continues to do. Now, they are to be plucked from the water by cranes and smashed into rubble for the landfill. It was obvious that the boats have all been stripped of anything valuable as gaping holes where electronics had once been were quite evident. We wondered where these items wound up as there must be a tremendous collection of still useable parts somewhere, awaiting an eager buyer.

Sunken boat On New Year's Day morning, we hauled anchor and motored across the 15 miles to St. Thomas, arriving at noon. We found a favorite anchorage available and dropped the hook for the next couple of days. We will be in this anchorage for a couple of days as we get work done on our diesel engine alternators and reprovision with food and the always popular, and oh-so-necessary liquid refreshments. Then, we intend o heading on through the Virgins to see, firsthand, the extent of damage the hurricanes caused. Likely, we will head across the Anegada Passage to St. Martin and on down island within the next 10 days. I will try to be frequent with blog posts but some places are not easy to access wifi for posting so be patient. Stay tuned...

Moving On!

We finally left Cabo Rojo on Thursday, December 21 in the afternoon. Went to Boqueron for the first night to check on systems and functionality. All seemed well so early Friday we started motoring around the Cape and around the southern side. Ended up at Coffin Island on Friday night (11 hours with the last 4 hours VERY difficult with swells, head winds and bashing!). Saturday morning I went below to check on the fan belts as we hadn't added much power all day and found a small diesel drip coming from the fuel polisher (port engine side). Turned the diesel off above the polisher and decided to remove the polisher and see if I could tighten the drain valve enough (where it appeared to be leaking from). The manual called for plumbers dope to seal the fitting which,of course, we didn't have. So I tried silicone. Reassembled and waited. No return of the drip! Relaxed on deck for the rest of the morning and around 1 PM decided to fired up the engine to add some charge to the battery bank, and the drip began again! Damn! Decided to head on over to Ponce harbor for the night in hopes of getting some pipe dope to properly seal the valve fitting. Had a roaring good sail across from Coffin Island and into the harbor. Tried to start the engines to assist in anchoring but only the starboard engine would start. (We think air in the port side from the leak.) Got her safely on anchor around 3, with some difficulty maneuvering with only one engine. Tried to start the dinghy to go ashore to try to get to WalMart for plumber's dope and the dinghy motor wouldn't start. Finally got it to start but only run at idle. By now it was 4:30 and we were exhausted.

Mojito's in Walmart! Thought we'd wait until Sunday morning to go ashore, rowing if necessary!) Sunday morning, the dinghy still only runs at idle but will propel us shore. We get to the inner part of the harbor and find workers rebuilding the docks and they assist in allowing us to dinghy dock off one of the still functional docks. One of the workers was from PR, now living in Connecticut, was very helpful in offering to have his Dad (who was sitting watching the workers) drive us to WalMart for our necessary stuff. We took him up on it and drove through Ponce to the local SuperWalMart which was right next door to the local Home Depot. We decided to try Home Depot first and get what we needed for the fix it plan (as well as parts for the back up fix plan of removing the polisher completely from the system). They had everything we needed plus I got to do some needed tool buying s we found that nearly everything toll-wise we needed to do the job was inadequate. Returned to the car and decided to head next door to the WalMArt to get a few groceries since we were there. We had a lovely return trip to the marina through old Ponce where the Dad did his best tour guide impression in broken Spanglish. Was delightful! Arriving back at Ponce Yacht Club, we gave the driver $20 for his time, which he reluctantly accepted!) and was talking with the guy who set us up with the ride. He offered the services of anyone at the club who might be of assistance to us. We mentioned we might need some mechanical help with the dinghy motor. He pointed out a guy in the depths of his big fishing boat as the "go to guy" for anything mechanical, and took us over to introduce us to him. I explained the dinghy idle problem and he said he would look at it. I said what time should I come in to meet him and he said let's have a look now. Within 10 minutes, we had the cover off the Yamaha, some of my new tools in use disassembling the carb and parts all over the floor of the new dinghy. He immediately diagnosed the problem as a probable air leak in the carb. He discovered that the newly installed, brand new, carb had been put in without a necessary gasket on one side of a spacer. Since he didn't have another OEM gasket, he proceeded to cut one from some old rubber dinghy material he had. When he finished cutting it (with a razor blade from a carpet knife) it looked just like the original factory made gasket. He then reassembled the carb, explaining each step to me in his wonderful Spanglish, and WHAM! up she started. Problem fixed in only one hour. Asking how much he wanted, he said "oh, nothing, it's Christmas". I said I would not feel right accepting his generosity without paying him something so he said how about $20. I agreed and gave him $30. These people have a heart of gold. So now we sit, on Christmas morning enjoying a beautiful day on the hook in Ponce harbor. (Previously this had been one of our least favorite places to be, having been stuck here for two weeks in 2008 awaiting parts). We will be here until at least Wednesday as we have put out a call to the mechanics from Marina Pescadaria to come fix some things that we thought they had done3 while we were there, but evidently weren't. Have not heard from them as when we sent the message to the shop it was Saturday and they were closed. Hopefully, they will come on Tuesday morning and take care of those fixes. Hopefully we can then continue on around PR and down through the Leewards and Windwards as planned. UPDATE TO FOLLOW!