St. Thomas, USVI

March 31, 2014

We are currently in St. Thomas, USVI in the main harbor.  We have spent the last 4 days here, Daniel working on various things on the boat and I’ve been reading and to shore to walk around.  Sounds a little boring, I know, but it is only for a short while longer.  I have plans to head back to the States for a few days to visit our grandchildren and children.  So we are staying close to St. Thomas, as I fly out of here.  We did move C-Time from the main harbor to a harbor close to the airport.  So it will be a short dinghy ride for me to get to and from the airport and now, we have the added enjoyment of watching planes take off and land.  With that said, it is a bit of a boring blog entry I know, but wanted to give you an update.  I fly out this coming Wednesday and will be gone 5 days.  Once I return to C-Time, Daniel and I will be more than ready to continue our voyage towards St. Martin.

Norman’s Island, BVI to St. Thomas, USVI

March 26, 2014

We left Norman’s Island early morning and made it to check out at Soper’s Bay, British Virgin Islands while it was still pretty early.  We sailed to Soper’s Bay in a short amount of time with the wind in our sails - the sky was blue, the ocean was smooth and the wind was brisk.  Going to be a good day! 

When we arrived in Soper’s Bay, we picked up a mooring ball and Daniel suggested I take D-Time into town and check us out with the local customs officials while he waited on board.  I was excited about taking D-Time by myself – it had been a while.  I loaded up our passports and all our documentation and hopped in D-Time.  Cranking right up, I made it to the dinghy dock (probably 200 yards from Daniel and C-Time) and tied up D-Time, hopped out and made it to customs and immigration.  It took a few minutes but $0.75 later, we were checked out of the British Virgin Islands.  I got back in D-Time, cranked up the engine, untied D-Time from the dock and the engine died.  Died.  I was like, oh no.  But, in my defense, I kept calm.  I pulled and pulled on that cord to start D-Time.  Nothing.  I checked fuel, it was fine.  I checked to make sure I was in neutral.  Neutral, check.  I did everything.  I pulled and pulled some more.  It just wouldn’t start.  By this time, I was getting pushed into some rocks – I had to raise the engine, just in case it did crank and I didn’t break the propeller. I pulled and pulled the cord some more. I’m sweating bullets and look at Daniel.  He is coming right at me, in C-Time.  Really close to shore – I’m thinking of the Costa Cruise Lines captain coming too close to the shore and turning his boat over…I’m thinking, my hero – coming to save me on a white horse (boat) (too many romance novels!).  Daniel started shouting for me to check all the things I had already checked.  I told him, it just won’t crank.  He was close enough that I could hand paddle out to him the rest of the way and just tie on to C-Time.  It wasn’t pretty, but I was back on the mother ship. 

So I’m getting ready to get onto the mother ship and decide to throw my expensive Croc sandals on board.  One makes it, and the second one…I can see it teetering…in extremely slow motion I saw it fall…into the water and start floating away.  It is a Croc, so it does float.   I’m thinking, no, that’s the end of that.  Daniel has other plans.  In this EXTREMELY closed in harbor with very, very little room to maneuver, I don’t know how, but he had our boat do a 360 degree turn and pull up right along side my Croc!  It was amazing!  Think, needle in a haystack.  I can’t believe I got my shoe back.  Yes, we could have swam for it, but where is the fun in that and I was dressed in street clothes.  He was my hero, in a white boat.  (Note, once I got safely back on board, Daniel climbed into D-Time and pulled one time and it cranked right up.  It was just low on gas.  Our dinghy hates me.)

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful (thank goodness).  We continued with a lovely sail to St. Thomas.  Again, the wind was going in the right direction, at a good speed – no complaints here.  We sailed into St. Thomas harbor right in front of 3 cruise ships parked for the day.  Really neat.  We dropped anchor, cleared U.S. customs and were set to watch the 3 cruise ships leave port from the comforts of our cockpit.

Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI to The Baths, Virgin Gorda to Norman’s Island, BVI

March 25, 2014

We left Savannah Bay and headed straight to The Baths on Virgin Gorda.  This is the top thing to see in the British Virgin Islands and we weren’t going to miss it.  We arrived by 9 a.m. and easily found a day-use mooring ball to connect to and we set out in D-Time to see The Baths.  Since there are so many people, you have to dock your dinghy 100 yards off the coast on a line and swim in.  Not a big deal, but I wanted to carry my iPhone so I could take pictures, so I put it in a water proof case and just to be safe, held it above the water as we swam in.  The Baths were amazing, so glad we stopped to see them!  They are huge boulders, with smaller ones, that form small swim areas with waves coming over some.  There is a trail that takes you up, over and squeezing sideways through the rocks to get to the other side.  They’ve built some ladders and installed some ropes to help you get through.  It was really neat.  We timed it well going early because when we were leaving the buses were arriving with lots of people.  We started heading back to D-Time and realized we had left the ladder for me to climb aboard D-Time back on C-Time.  There is no way I can get in D-Time without some help or a ladder.  There was a beach on the otherside of some huge boulders (the boulders were about 200 yards long) and I know Daniel could drive D-Time up there to pick me up so I said I would climb the boulders (how hard could it be?) and meet him on the beach, 200 yards away.  From here on out, I blame the cell phones.  If we had cell phones, the following events would have turned out differently. 

I headed for the boulders and Daniel headed for D-Time.  I got about 20 yards into the boulders and decided this wasn’t going to work, so I turned around and headed after Daniel.  By the time I saw him, he was climbing into D-Time.  I started swimming as hard as I could (and hold up my stupid iPhone) and made it about halfway and he never saw me, he drove off.  Crap!  I turned around and swam back to shore and headed back to the boulders.  I figured Daniel had headed to the beach and was waiting on me, so I better hurry.  (See how a working cell phone would have been beneficial here?)  I make it back to the boulders and make it about 40 yards, climbing like our boys did in the Smokey Mountains years ago.  Jumping from rock to rock, in my swimsuit, holding my iPhone – just a regular mountain climber.  I make it to a point that I just can’t go any further when a man shows up behind me and offers to help.  So he grabs my hand and pulls me to one big boulder, then the next and he said “you’ve got it now?”  and I said, “sure, no problem, thanks for the help”.  He goes on and is quickly out of sight.  I continue my little jumps and climbs, feeling very proud of myself until I get to a spot, I can’t go anymore again.  I realize, I can’t even turn back – I had climbed up and set myself on a big rock and literally, couldn’t go anywhere.  By this time, I turn to look at the water, desperate for some help, when I see Daniel back out where the dinghies tie up, holding the ladder I need to get into D-Time with.  (Stupid cell phones!  I could have waited on the beach while he got the ladder.)  He is way too far for me to holler for help – what do I do?  I start crying…and crying.  I must have stood there for 5 minutes trying to figure a way out of the mess I had gotten myself into and was crying.  Finally, a sweet young couple came around a big boulder and I was like, would you please help me get down from here?  I know they thought I was nuts.  The guy was so sweet, I was balling and he was helping me down.  I finally dried up, thanked my new friends, and made my way back to the beach.  Then I had to swim the 100 yards to D-Time, again, holding my stupid iPhone above the water.  I made it back, finally, exhausted and scrapped up, but I made it.

Once we got back on C-Time we headed for Norman’s Island.  It was a 3 hour sail, really nice sail. It was probably the nicest sail we have had on the trip.  The wind was coming from the right direction and steady about 10-15 knots.  Blue skies and not a cloud in the sky.  We put the sails up and didn’t have to touch them for 3 hours.  Amazing!

 Norman’s Island has “the Caves” and some excellent snorkeling, the guide book says, so we hop in D-Time to check it out.  We found the caves, they didn’t go far into the mountain side, just far enough to be neat.  We enjoyed snorkeling there.  We tied D-Time up to a line the National Park has out for you to tie up to, no place to land.  Daniel brought the ladder.  All was good.  We snorkeled and headed back to D-Time and came upon a man, woman and child who had parked their dinghy next to D-Time.  They were all 3 circling the dinghy.  They said, we didn’t think when we got out, how we were going to get back in our dinghy.  The guy was probably 300 pounds, his wife, 350 pounds and the son, very chunky.  The guy finally made it into the dingy, with Daniel helping to push him up.  The wife tried and tried and couldn’t get in.  Daniel was again, pushing, I was pushing, their son was pushing - she was not getting in.  D-Time kept running into them, so we climbed aboard D-Time and moved it out of the way.  We turned around and the man was pulling and the son was pushing and somehow the woman made it into the dinghy.  It wasn’t pretty. 

Little Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands to Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVI

March 24, 2014

After making some banana nut muffins for breakfast this morning, I took the kayak out for a short spin around the harbor.  There was no wind whatsoever so I really had no reason not to take it out.  I had a fun time and as soon as I got back on board, Daniel was ready to head off to our next destination in the British Virgin Islands.  Our first stop of the day was Cane Garden Bay where we dropped anchor and took D-Time to town.  It is a small town but had lots of color.  I saw a local policeman and asked for directions to a place that does blown glass.  It was really neat to watch the guy create some things.  After that we headed to the Callwood Rum Distillery.  Now before anyone gets any ideas, it is a landmark.  There was even a group of school kids there taking a tour.  It was a stone plantation era building that still distills rum the same way it did over 200 years ago.  It is the only place like it left in the Virgin Islands, so we toured.  The tour consisted of looking at a bunch of old wooden drums and in a dark building.  Didn't take me long to get bored.  We left and headed back to D-Time. 

 

After lunch, we set motor/sailing off to Virgin Gorda.  We stopped at Savannah Bay and enjoyed our first run in with "bitch wings".  An Aussie friend explained to us that when you pull into anchor and there are other boats already anchored and the women go stand on the front of their boat and put their hands on their hips, they make "bitch wings".  They stare as you drop the anchor and scowl at you.  Well, Daniel has dropped the anchor a time or two and since they were in a charter boat, I wasn't worried about our anchor drop at all.  We promptly put on our snorkeling gear and headed to see the beautiful coral and a nice long walk on the beach.  We just ignored the wing lady.

 

Great St. James Island, USVI to Little Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands

March 23, 2014

We left Great St. James Island about mid-morning and made our way to check in with the local authorities at Jost Van Dyke Island in the British Virgin Islands in about an hour’s time.  Check in was $15.00 at one spot, $0.20 at another (not sure what that was for) and $20.00 for checking in on Sunday.  When I gave the girl the 20 cents I gave her a dime, nickel and five pennies.  She said, “Don’t you have any more nickels?  No one takes pennies anymore.” 

After check in and dropping off our garbage, we headed to Foxy’s outdoor restaurant and had a $40.00 lunch.  It consisted of 6 conch fritters for Daniel, a 6” shredded pork wrap (with fries) for me and 2 diet cokes.  Pricey?  I would say, yes.  We left there, and walked the waterfront and came across a small grocery store and decided to buy a small container (each) of ice cream - $18.00 total.  We are leaving this place, we can’t afford it!

We got back to C-Time and motored over to Little Harbour and picked up a mooring ball ($30).  The wind has dropped off to about nothing so we had a very calm peaceful sleep last night, with the exception of the baby goat, off in the distance, calling its Momma throughout the night.

Great St. James Island, USVI

Another wonderful relaxing day at Great St. James Island.  More snorkeling and just general relaxing. I know, we are on an indefinite "vacation", how can sitting in one spot be relaxing?  Well as you go from place to place you have lots to do.  You have to stow everything in the boat from your time at anchor, you have to pull out charts and study, you worry about where  your next anchorage will be, if you have to clear customs that opens a whole new set of worries (especially in 3rd world countries). I like to read books and when I'm relaxing, I pull out the iPad and read.  When we are underway, moving from anchorage to anchorage, I almost never have time to read.  Cooking meals keeps me busy, as does occasionally relieving the Captain at the helm, watching where we are going and doing a little research on where we are going.  Some days it amazes me that I don't even open a book until bedtime, it's that "busy".  So to say we have enjoyed just sitting here at Great St. James Island for 3 days has been wonderfully relaxing.  Now, it's time to move on to the British Virgin Islands.

 

Great St. James Island, USVI

March 20-21, 2014

We spent the last two days here at Great St. James Island.  It is really one of our favorite anchorages, so far.  There’s room for about 15 boats, awesome snorkeling and it’s mostly protected from the wind and waves.  Daniel took advantage of this calm anchorage to do some boat repairs and order spare parts, and I spent my time rowing the kayak and snorkeling.  It’s been very nice to just be in a bit of a relaxed mode for a few days.  We will be moving on soon enough, but for now, we’re chilling!

 

 

Francis Bay, St. John, USVI to Great St. James Island, St. John, USVI

March 19, 2014

My fun with the kayak yesterday really wore me out and I was sound asleep by 8:00 pm last night.  Of course, that means, I’m up with the chickens the next morning.  So, before the sun rose, I set out in the kayak again for some early morning fun.  After I got back on board, Daniel was ready for some exercise, so we took D-Time ashore and went for a walk.  We walked about 2 miles ending back up on the beach and walking the length of the beach as well.  Daniel was ahead of me and as I was walking to catch up, I looked off into the woods right next to the beach and saw two donkeys.  I shook my head.  No, I had NOT been drinking.  There were two donkeys, not on any leash (do you put donkeys on leashes?) or anything.  They were just standing in the woods close to the sandy beach.  I tried to motion with hand gestures mimicking donkey ears over my head, but Daniel said, I thought you were telling me that there was a buck in the woods.  Kind of hard to simulate a donkey.  Anyway, it was a very weird feeling seeing them there. 

We motored around to Caneel Bay and picked up a mooring ball, and then took D-Time into Cruz Bay for some shopping.  Daniel hit the auto parts store and I hit the grocery store.  Prices here on St. John are about double what you would pay in the states.  A gallon of milk was $6.00.  A head of lettuce was $2.00.  A medium sized container of orange juice was $5.00.  I didn’t do a lot of shopping, just some essentials.

Back on C-Time we decided to proceed on over to Great St. James Island and spend the night there.  We like the anchorage and there is no mooring fee – even better.  As we left the protection of Caneel Bay and headed across the channel to Great St. James Island, the wind had really picked up and we were riding huge waves across the channel.  Suddenly, a steep 8’ wave hit us broadside and came into the cockpit – first time that ever happened.  We saw one sailboat that was ahead of us, turn around and head back to Caneel Bay.  We were so entranced by the huge waves (and holding on) we forgot to close the portholes in our state room.  So by the time we arrived at Great St. James Island, all of our bedding was soaked with salt water.  We spent hours washing, hanging sheets, pillows and a comforter out to dry.  We would almost get one of the sheets dry and before we could put it away, it fell in the water.  Do over.  We got the comforter almost dry, it fell in the water.  Do over.  What a messy afternoon.  Everything is back together now.  Daniel said, at least the sheets will smell really good from hanging outside all day.  Atta-a-boy, keep that positive attitude!

Hurricane Hole to Leinster Bay, St. John, USVI

March 17, 2014

We left Coral Bay this morning in route to Leinster Bay.  It was a lovely day and we had the jib up and took our time around the island.  We were close enough to the British Virgin Islands that we could see lots of boats and people milling around, but we weren’t ready to go through the customs clearance thing yet, deciding to stay with the U.S. Virgin Islands for now. 

We arrived at Leinster Bay early and were able to enjoy some snorkeling at Watermelon Cay.  It was a really nice time, lots of pretty fish and coral.  After our snorkeling, we took D-Time ashore and went for a 2 mile hike to see the old ruins that made up Annaberg Sugar Mill Plantation.  After that nice walk, we settled down with our chairs and dinner on the bow of C-Time and watched fish jump, pelicans dive and deer come to the beach – and the sunset. 

Little Lameshur Bay, St. John to Hurricane Hole, St. John, USVI

Today we set out for Hurricane Hole, via Coral Bay, on St. John.  The wind is supposed to pick up to 20 knots or more, so we were looking for some wind protection.  We stopped at Coral Bay because we had a recommendation from our friend, Marshall, to try a restaurant there called Skinny Legs. We arrived in Coral Bay and heard hymns being sung in the local church.  The church was on a hillside and the windows were opened.  The bay was quiet, no dinghy noises, it was very serene to hear that lovely music first thing in the morning.  Since we were a little too early for lunch, we decide to just walk around and see what there was to see in Coral Bay.  We walked the road on the inside of the harbor from one side to the other and met lots and lots of locals, okay, local goats.  The goats were everywhere.  There was no such thing as a fenced in goat.  On the upside, the yards were all nicely maintained by the goats, as was the local football field and cemetery.  We saw probably a dozen or more on the football field chomping away.

It was a hot day (probably about 85 degrees) so I had my favorite Alabama "A" hat on.  As we sat at Skinny Legs eating lunch (Blue cheese hamburgers, yum) along comes in another Bama fan with his Alabama "A" hat on.  No matter where you are in the world, the good guys are always around.  :-)

After our delicious lunch we made it back on board and set out across the bay to Hurricane Hole.  We picked up a mooring ball, Daniel made water and I went snorkeling.  It was kind of a lazy day for me. Daniel had other boat jobs he was working on, the best of which was my anniversary present - a new fan!  My new fan sits just above my head as I sleep at night, it is wonderful!  Some women crave jewelry or fancy cars, I wanted a fan.  My Captain knows how to keep his crew happy.

Great St. James Island, USVI to Little Lameshur Bay, St. John, USVI

March 15, 2014

After a restful night, we set off for Great Lameshur Bay this morning.  We made a quick stop in Chocolate Hole (anything named “Chocolate” has to be good) to take some pictures for our friend, Marshall, of the house he and his family used to live in (nice place!) and then we continued on to Great Lameshur Bay.  As we motored by Little Lameshur Bay (right next to Great Lameshur Bay) we noticed only 1 sailboat moored there in front of a white sandy beach.  We continued around the edge of some rocks and saw Great Lameshur Bay with about 10 boats moored and a peeble beach.  My feet said, go back to the white sandy beach and the unbusy bay so we turned around and went to Little Lameshur Bay.  We basically had our choice of mooring balls and chose the one right next to the beach.  Ahhhh.  We put on our snorkeling gear and jumped in.  The snorkeling, though not magnificent, was amazing.  It’s hard to find a mediocre spot in which to snorkel  in the Virgin Islands.  After we finished snorkeling, it was time to put our feet up and rest a bit.  NOT!  Daniel already had the trail map out for the mountain we were staying next to.  Yes, I said mountain.  He found us a trail.  A bit “strenuous” of a trail, but we could do it, no problem.  He promised me a waterfall, so I was game.  I put on my swimsuit, a cover up and put my socks and walking shoes in D-Time, we were ready.  WAIT, I forgot, a bottle of water, just in case. 

We arrived at shore and no matter how you did it, your feet ended up wet and coated with the lovely white sand.  No big deal, I brought a water bottle.  I sat on a picnic table and poured that cold water all over my feet to get the sand off for the long hike.  Slipped on my socks and shoes (ahhh) and then we set out for our hike.  We had plans to see a waterfall and petroglyphs (ancient writings carved in stone).  In the past, I’ve hiked and Daniel says, we’ve gone about a mile or a half mile – all kind of general, nothing specific,  so I decided to turn on my app on my iPhone (Map My Run) that keeps up with how far you go and what kind of workout you are doing.  We started out and went nice and flat for about .10 a mile where we saw a deer run in front of us, we saw cages that the park service was using to capture mongooses (which we saw in some of the cages) and we saw lots of beautiful plants.  This was going to be a great hike!  Then it went up hill, way up hill – for over a mile.  My iPhone chirped out “one mile, very strenuous workout”.  No duh, I was thinking.  We finally leveled off and then went steeply downhill for about a mile – iPhone:  “two miles, very strenuous workout”.  About this time, I’m wishing I had that water bottle full of that cold water.  Oh well, we push on. 

We came upon some old ruins of a sugar plantation and looked around a bit then back tracked to the right trail to the petroglyphs and waterfall.  By this time I’m sweating like crazy and really looking forward to the waterfall and was so glad I wore a swimsuit to hike in so I could just jump into the waterfalls on cool off.  We make it to the petroglyphs and see one big rock with carvings on it.  It was neat to see, but 2 miles worth?  Not so sure.  Anyway, I start looking around for the waterfall and well, there isn’t one.  Apparently it isn’t rainy season so there is no water, only a disgusting black pond with mosquitos flying around it.  Really???  I want my waterfall!  No choice, we turn back and head, you guessed it, uphill for a mile.  Daniel says I’ve made a decision.   I’m thinking airlift me out of this hike via a helicopter or he’s going for a 4-wheeler to haul me out.  Either is fine with me.  Nope, I get to keep walking but he has decided to start out with two glasses of water when we get back to C-Time and follow it up with a coke and a glass of milk.  I think he is thirsty, but thankfully he doesn’t say anything about the water I poured out over my feet before we left.  iPhone:  “3 miles, strenuous work out”.  Ugh.  By the time we get back to D-Time we have gone 4.70 miles.  We are both guzzling water.  Next time, I won’t empty the water bottle on my feet before I go.  Lesson learned.

Picture Time!

View of St. Thomas harbor.  C-Time is in the right of the picture next to the mega yacht.

99-step walk in historic area of St. Thomas

C-Time at anchor, next to mega yacht, St. Thomas Harbor

C-Time, the only boat in harbor, at Little Lameshur Bay, St. John

View from hike to Petroglyphs, Little Lameshur Bay

Ruins of old sugar cane plantation, Little Lameshur Bay

me and the Petroglyphs

The waterfall that wasn't, until rainy season anyway (notice nasty mosquito pond).

On our way to Coral Bay, St. John

Daniel with some "locals" at Coral Bay

I just wanted to say "hi" - Coral Bay "locals"

On our way to Coral Bay

St. Thomas, USVI to Great St. James Island, USVI

March 14, 2014

Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas was our first stop this morning for fuel.  Then we slowly meandered our way into St. Thomas’ main harbor.  Daniel pulled along side a huge “mega yacht” and dropped our anchor.  He said, ”want to go into town and walk around”?  Huge smile across my face was enough of a response.  We took D-Time to town and within 5 minutes of leaving C-Time, we were walking the streets of St. Thomas.  Daniel wanted to see the fort and some other local sites and I wanted to shop – so we split and went different ways with the intention to meet a little while later at a certain spot.  He went right, I went left.  I shopped the outdoor markets, he went to view the fort and climb the famous 99-steps.  I went to a lot, I mean a LOT, of jewelry stores – there appears to be a zillion of them in St. Thomas and over an hour later we ran into each other in the same souvenir store.  Small world, huh?  We got a good laugh out of it.  After some local lunch, we headed back to C-Time and continued on back to Great St. James Island.  We liked the island from before and the mooring balls made it a simple stop.  We snorkeled our afternoon away and I got to see my first manta ray, under the water WITH me.  I’ve seen them previously, from the boat – this was really awesome.  I watched the manta ray swim around for a while and then swim away.  We sat on the bow of the boat and watched the sunset.  Really nice day.

Great St. James Island, U.S. Virgin Islands to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

March 13, 2014

Time to take Tim and Blenda to the airport.  We left Great St. James Island this morning and made the two hour trip to St. Thomas with no problems.  We enjoyed fresh fruit and hot apple cinnamon muffins on deck.  We saw the cruise ships coming into dock and lots of ferry boats loaded with people going to work.  We anchored closed to the airport – I mean CLOSE.  We can now sit and watch planes take off and land and most likely see the smile on the faces of those landing at St. Thomas.  We took D-Time to shore and Tim and Blenda were able to walk about 5 minutes and they were at the checkin desk at Delta.  Nice. 

We had a bunch of laundry to do, more than our one little machine could handle so we loaded up our dirty clothes in our backpacks today and set off to find a laundromat.  $7.75 a load to wash clothes – I know it has been a long time since I’ve been to a laundromat, but I don’t remember it costing that much to wash a load of clothes.  After the fun wash and fold experience, we found some lunch (Daniel a road side vendor and me a Chinese restaurant).  We met in the middle and scarfed it down.  Off to the grocery store for me.  Daniel was the “anchor” – he stayed with all of the clothes while I grabbed a few items.  We caught an expensive cab ride back to D-Time and then proceeded to load D-Time with our freshly clean clothes and groceries.  The tide must have been coming in as we were trying to get loaded because we came very close to getting all of those fresh clothes soaking wet.  We set the backpacks in the bottom of D-Time to get it pushed out in the water from shore but the waves were breaking over D-Time and filling the boat with water.  We couldn’t snatch those clean clothes up fast enough.   In the end, the groceries got wet, but we guarded those clean clothes like gold.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning and doing some boat maintenance.  We enjoyed the anchorage because it was so close to the airport and we enjoyed watching the planes land and take off.  Even after dark, it was pretty to see.  The mountain side in St. Thomas, after dark, lit up with thousands of little lights was a sight to see.

St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands to St. James, U.S. Virgin Islands

March 12, 2014

March 12, 2014

We were up and moving around about the time the sun came up this morning.  It was a beautiful sunrise near St. John Island.  We let go of the mooring ball and made our way over to St. James Island.  This island is close enough to St. Thomas for us to be to take Tim and Blenda to the airport tomorrow and yet, far enough away that we could spend the day enjoying another beautiful island.

We snorkeled off and on throughout the day with at least one of us spotting numerous manta rays, really large (like 5 feet or more) fish and an absolutely amazing sea turtle.  The sea turtle was my favorite.  It was in about 30 feet of water and we hovered over him while we were snorkeling and just enjoyed watching him eat and eventually, swim away.

We all decided to partake in a siesta with Blenda and I crashing on the couches inside and the guys in the cockpit.  Blenda and I woke up to an empty cockpit – Daniel and Tim had gone snorkeling.  We were not to be out done – I cranked up D-Time and Blenda and I took a spin out to find them.  We found them at the end of the island having a blast snorkeling.  Blenda and I enjoyed our ride in D-Time, and I didn’t crash or sink or anything!

For our last night of our guests’ stay, we made homemade pizzas and then watched a gorgeous sunset over St. Thomas.  We have so enjoyed having Blenda and Tim on the boat and the week has gone by way too fast.  I’m not sad about them leaving because I believe they have fallen in love with C-Time and will be back to visit us really soon.  They better!

Culebrita, Spanish Virgin Islands to St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

March 11, 2014

We had a six hour trip ahead of us so we set out just before 7 a.m. this morning.  The trip really flew by – we spent the time viewing the pretty coast lines and watching the cruise ships coming into St. Thomas.  After we passed the opening to St. Thomas we were even rewarded with seeing 2 whales!  What an amazing sight!  They hung around and we just backed the engine down to idle and watched them.  We weren’t the only ones.  Once the news was out that there were whales in the area, a lot of the tourist boats came and watched too.  (Tourist boats are like the 50’ catamaran that is filled with 75 people getting ready to go snorkeling somewhere.)  Then we continued on with traversing a small passage way through St. James Island and then on to St. John.  You knew you were at St. John because it got really crowded with a lot of sailboats sailing and some mooring.  There were lots of other boats around as well.  We picked up a mooring ball in Caneel Bay and were set for the rest of the day. 

We took D-Time to shore and decided to follow one of the park trails to the park’s visitor’s center.  It was a little over a mile walk over a dirt and rocky trail.  Once we made it to the visitor’s center we also explored downtown Cruz.  It was a nice port town that has frequent ferry boat service to St. Thomas and some of the other islands.  We made it back onboard and started working on showers and cooking dinner.  Tim stayed up in the cockpit and the next thing you know, he was coming down to show us the amazing pictures he took of a rainbow in the sky, fish all around our boat and an amazing sunset.  I was like, REALLY?  We were with you all day and in the last 5 minutes of the day you take pictures of the most amazing things that none of the rest of us saw in person!  It was like he was on his own vacation, and sharing the slide show after his vacation.  Good pictures, Tim!

 

After dinner it started pouring rain and Daniel threw on his swimsuit and ran topside to work his magic at capturing some rainwater for the boat.  I hope it worked well because we’re down to about 30 gallons left right now and if it didn’t rain enough, somebody is making water in the morning!

Picture Day!

Happy 2 month birthday to our grandson, Joshua!

Sunset over the rainforest, Puerto Rico



Finally here!  Say hello to Blenda!

Culebra, one of our anchorages

Sailing buddies!

 

Our anchorage at Luis Pena Cay

Luis Pena Cay anchorage

One of many beautiful sunsets from the Spanish Virgin Islands

Luis Pena Cay anchorage, different view

The "crew", Tim, Daniel (Captain), and Blenda

The canal going into town. The red and white thing raises and lowers the roadway for large boats. 
Calebra, Spanish Virgin Islands

Flamenco Beach - 2nd most beautiful beach in the world (according to Discovery Channel).

Sherman Tank on Flamenco Beach

My handsome fella on Flamenco Beach

Our anchorage on Culebrita, Spanish Virgin Islands - notice the coral?

Lighthouse on Culebrita

The sailing duo

The natural Jacuzzi is a tad off to the right behind the big rocks.  Culebrita.

Dewey, Culebra to Culebrita, Spanish Virgin Islands

March 10, 2014

We set out this morning from Dewey with little to no wind.  We motored to Culebrita, in the Spanish Virgin Islands too.  We were able to arrive at Culebrita in just about an hour.  We were the only boat in the anchorage, having our choice of free mooring balls, and we were anxious to get started exploring the little island.  We loaded ourselves up in D-Time and took a very short trip to land.  We packed a lunch, because we had big plans on the little island.

We started out with a nice long walk to the very top of the little island to a beautiful old, almost demolished, lighthouse.  We walked a very nice trail that included lots of cactuses, hermit crabs and beautiful views.  By the time we got to the top we saw what must have been a very beautiful lighthouse years ago.  It was in bad repair and falling apart, but the architectural components of the lighthouse were awesome to see, old brick and a beautiful design.  Daniel saw some stairs leading to the top of the light house and he was going up.  I was behind, but was going to wait until he checked the stairs out to make sure they were really safe.  While I’m watching him climb the stairs, I’m not paying any attention to the surrounding area, and apparently I’m standing just below a beehive and the bees were not happy to see me.  One got me on the forehead and I screamed out.  Daniel came down the stairs and pointed out the whole beehive, with honeycombs attached.  Yikes!

As we were leaving, we walked around the outside of the lighthouse where we saw the “No Traspassing” (no, I did not spell that incorrectly, the sign actually said, “No Traspassing”) sign.  A little too late, my bee sting was hurting me all the way down the small mountain.  The only thing that kept me from whining too much was knowing that we were now headed towards the “natural jacuzzi’s a/k/a Daniel’s Jacuzzi”.  Daniel has been reading about the natural Jacuzzi provided by the ocean swell and he was anxious to try them out.  We walked through to the other side of the island in search of the jacuzzi and saw the most beautiful beach.  A huge lagoon, with white sandy beaches and only a couple of boats in the lagoon using the beach.  The jacuzzi was at the end of the beach, nestled in lots of rocks.  We had some rock climbing/jumping to do and made it to the spot.  It was a natural rock formation with a pool of water that came about chest high.  You could sit on one end of the rocks, near the ocean swell, and the water would very lazily spill over the rocks and over you.  It was such a beautiful setting we all wanted our pictures taken.  Daniel and I went and sat on the rocks and put on our best smiles.  Next it was Tim and Blenda’s turn.  It took a couple of minutes for us to change places and for Tim and Blenda to get in the right position for the best picture.  Daniel snapped the pictures and they sat there, just enjoying the smooth water pouring over them as each wave came ashore but the next thing you know a “rogue” wave came over so high and so fast it covered them and Blenda’s previously perfect hairstyle was now wrapped all around her face.  Tim was spitting out sea water and looking for his hat that was washed away.  It was a real eye opener to say the least.  We figured about every 10 to 15 minutes the really big waves came to shore and washed over that portion of the jacuzzi and Tim and Blenda had timed it just right. 

After our time in the jacuzzi we had a nice picnic lunch on the rocks and walked back across the island to D-Time.  Call us old?  I don’t think so, no siesta for us today – we put on our snorkeling gear and snorkeled in some of the most clearest water you have seen.  The coral and fish were again, unbelievable.  I’m really loving these Spanish Virgin Islands! 

Later in the afternoon, we decided to take D-Time to another portion of the shore and do some shelling.  Daniel dropped us off and the rest of us went shelling.  Tim made his way all the way around to some huge rock cliffs and came back with some awesome conch shells.  Blenda and I meandered along the beach picking up a few shells and coral that had washed ashore.  The next thing I knew, my second bee sting of the day occurred.  I’m not sure why the bees were out to get me today, but I hope they leave me alone tomorrow.  As we settled back on C-Time and all of us were below except Daniel, he was top side putting stuff away from the day’s fun, he comes below and proceeds to tell us about the 50 year old couple in the boat next to us that were “bathing” off the back of their boat, no clothes – neither one of them.  Definitely not in Charleston, South Carolina anymore.  Welcome to the Caribbean!

Isla de Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands to Dewey, Culebra

March 9, 2014

[Happy 2 month birthday, Joshua!]

 

We were moored in 35 feet of water last night and the water was so clear we were able to see the bottom.  We even enjoyed a couple of dolphins who came by to wish us a good morning. 

The winds calmed down last night, way down, so much so that we had no sailing possibility from our mooring on the west side of Isla de Culebra to the town of Dewey.  We were able to enjoy the view of the beautiful island of Culebra as we motored to our next anchorage.  We even saw cars on the roads on the side of the island mountain.  Blenda commented that it had been “three days since I’ve seen a car” – welcome to the cruising life, buddy!  We motored about an hour and came into a beautiful open harbor that was “guarded” by a reef.  We found a spot close to town to drop our anchor and we were set for the day. 

We took D-Time into town and tied up at the city dock.  We started walking to “the 2^nd most beautiful beach in the world”, Flamenco Beach, according to the Discovery Channel.  We were anxious to see it and since we couldn’t find a taxi or a bus, we thought walking was the way to go.  The sun was up, it was about 10 a.m. and it was turning out to be a really hot day, and a really long walk.  After about 20 minutes when we saw a bus coming by that said “Playa Flamenco”, no one’s Spanish was lacking – we all 4 jumped in the front of the bus and threw money at the driver begging him to take us to Flamenco Beach.  He didn’t disappoint us.  It was probably a 5 minute bus ride, but seemed like a really long ways, so I was glad we found the bus.  At the entrance to the beach area there were a few stand alone type, walk up, fast food eateries – we eyed them over good but since it was only about 10:30 a.m. we decided a walk on the beach would be best.  The beach was absolutely beautiful and the walk was really nice.  There was even a Sherman tank on one end of the beach, left over from when the U.S. Navy used the island for target practice and assault type practice. 

After the beach walk, we were hungry so we headed back to the local eateries.  Daniel tried some fried shark, Blenda and I went for the pizza empanadas, and Tim had the chicken with rice and beans.  It was all very good.  Since we’ve been to deserted beaches, it was really hard to just spend time on the weekend with the rest of Puerto Rico that had come to Flamenco Beach, so we called it a day and left the beach.  We headed back into town for some ice cream and a little shopping and taking in the local color.   

Later we headed back to C-Time for a siesta and to get ready for dinner.  We did spend part of our afternoon watching lots of other boats arriving in the harbor and trying their hand at dropping an anchor – it was quite comical at some points.  Blenda and I had gone below to read when Daniel and Tim called us up on deck to watch the man in the next boat, sitting on the stern of his boat, taking a shower, wearing not much more than a smile.  Two words – bathing suit.  Enough said. 

We took D-Time back into town to have dinner at Mammacita’s.  It was really good food and we all waddled out of the restaurant after filling up on steak, salmon, grouper, and the house chicken specialty.  A short D-Time ride later and we were back on C-Time to enjoy some quiet cockpit relaxing time and Oreos.  Then it was time for the cutthroat game of Shanghi.  Another wonderful day in paradise.

Cayo Luis Pena, Spanish Virgin Islands to Isla de Culebra

March 8, 2014

After a hard fought game of Shanghi (card game) last night with Blenda and Tim, my heart was pumping and I had a hard time falling asleep.  It had nothing to do with the boat rolling back and forth, back and forth but I was up until after midnight.  I finally fell asleep about 12:15 a.m. and then at about 1:00 a.m. Daniel wakes up and semi-yells, “it’s raining”!  All the hatches are open.  We hop up, he runs top side and starts closing hatches.  I’m moving slowly but am closing hatches – Blenda opens her stateroom door and says “it’s raining” – we all start mopping up the down pour that came in the hatches.  So, we slept in a little this morning.  We woke up and saw more rain showers in the distance, so we really weren’t in a hurry to move to our next anchorage.  After breakfast, we unleashed ourselves from our mooring ball and did set out for the long trip to Isla de Culebra.    Our friend, Marshall, from a “neighbor sailboat” at the Cooper River Marina, told us – “if you hurry through the Spanish Virgin Islands, I will shoot you”.  So we are taking Marshall’s advice and are going slow.   

It actually took us less than an hour to arrive at Isla de Culebra but it was another wonderful anchorage waiting for us to explore/discover.  It was, at first, another anchorage we had just to ourselves.  Later in the day other people showed up, but it was ours first.  Blenda, Tim and I rowed (actually Tim rowed, Blenda and I acted like princesses and let him row) D-Time ashore (just because we wanted to carry a bunch of stuff to keep dry) otherwise, we would have just swam to shore.  Tim (with Blenda and I following) decided to hike to the top of the closest mountain and after Blenda and I saw it just went “up”, we decided to head back to the beach to just walk the beach.  Where’s Daniel you ask?  He was on board making water and doing laundry.  Somebody has to do it.

After a walk on the beach, I decided to start snorkeling, it was right off the shore and there was a lot to see.  While I was snorkeling, Blenda and Tim were watching a manta ray play close by me.  I never saw it and I’m glad – it would have scared me for sure!   I finally snorkeled back to C-Time to check on the laundry boy but as I’m standing on the back of the boat calling his name, he comes up from behind me,  in the water.  He couldn’t wait to go snorkeling either.  I asked Daniel how’s the snorkeling from the direction he went (because it wasn’t by me) and he said “magnificent”.  Since Daniel doesn’t embellish his descriptions like I do, when he says “magnificent” it MUST be good.  After lunch, the rest of us put our snorkeling gear on and headed out in the direction Daniel had explored and we were not disappointed.  The coral and the abundance of beautiful colorful, large/small fish was just, well, magnificent.  We thoroughly enjoyed our snorkeling adventure today. 

As our anchorage started to get “rolling” again, we decided to move C-Time around to the other side of the island.  There we met up with half a dozen other boats already on their mooring balls.  We picked up the last mooring ball and started grilling dinner.  We enjoyed watching the sunset in the cockpit and listening to some really awesome jazz on the stereo.  Before you knew it, it was shanghi card game time again and I was ready.  Tim and Blenda taught me the rules – there are quite a few – and we played for over an hour.  I really love it. 

 

We are really enjoying have Tim and Blenda on C-Time with us this week and we are really enjoying the Spanish Virgin Islands with them.