Hampton Bay, Antigua

April 29, 2014

Antigua is a beautiful island - just what you think the Caribbean should look like.  White sandy beaches, colorful houses and gorgeous water to play in.  I like Antigua.

 

We spent the first two hours of the morning going through the formalities of checking into a country.  We had to take C-Time to the immigration and customs dock, then Daniel went inside and checked us in.  Paperwork, yuk!  After checking in, we had to move the boat back where we came from and dropped anchor.  We then took D-Time to town for a grocery shopping experience.  Never go to the grocery store hungry.  That's a rule, but I broke it.  We ended up getting some milk, fresh vegetables, croissants, fresh fruit, eggs, bread and a trip through the deli we bought some jerk chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese and some fried rice.  I told you we shouldn't have gone hungry.  We did end up with a yummy lunch once we got back on board.

We took C-Time to Five Islands, Hampton Bay anchorage, on Antigua to spend the rest of the day and the night.  Since it was still early in the afternoon, and Daniel was reading a magazine, I decided to take D-Time to shore and walk on a deserted beach and maybe pick up some shells.  I took a 10 minute ride to shore and even though there were a few waves crashing on me, I went ahead and took D-Time to shore.  Once on shore, the waves kept washing over D-Time so I decided to not stay and to hop back in and go back to C-Time or find another beach.  So I pushed D-Time into the water, but the waves kept pushing us back on shore.  I pushed again and was finally able to hop in D-Time, crank the engine and go - but I was so close to shore that to keep the prop from hitting bottom, I backed D-Time out...in crashing waves.  It was a mess.  By the time I finally got turned around I had a couple inches of water in the bottom of the boat.  I have never seen that much water in the boat before.  I started trying to get some out, but I didn't have anything on board except a small wash clothe to suck up the water.  Somehow I made it back to C-Time.  Daniel met me and handed me a hand held pump to use to get the water out.  Lesson learned - don't go on the beach with D-Time if there are a bunch of crashing waves hitting shore.

Ballast Bay, St. Kitts to Jolly Harbor, Antigua

April 28, 2014

5:00 a.m. was the wakeup call from the Captain – time to hoist the anchor and get under way.  It’s going to be a long day to Antigua.  So, once we raised the anchor, I slipped back off down below and slept another hour.  The water was relatively calm when we left and the winds were light so another hour of sleep was easy to obtain.  I got up at 6:00 a.m. and made the Captain some breakfast and went to the cockpit to enjoy the ride to Antigua.  That was a mistake!  The winds had picked up and the seas had too.  The wind was right on the nose of the boat so there was no raising any sails for our 40 mile trip to Antigua today.  The waves were very crazy – they were not consistent at all.   The trip lasted 10.5 hours today and after the first hour, when I got to sleep, the remaining 9.5 hours was like you were sitting on a tilt-a-whirl at the fair.  You could even compare it to sitting in the agitation of a washing machine.  It was a bit uncomfortable.  I had the Dramamine out and ready to take but held off as long as I could.  I made it without taking any but I was miserable most of the day. 

The upside is, once we made it to Jolly Harbor at Antigua the winds and waves died down and we are now sitting in a very relaxed setting in a very nice harbor.

Nevis to Ballast Bay, St. Kitts

We woke up early to some boat traffic in the harbor at Nevis so we decided to take C-Time back to St. Kitts.  It isn't a big trip, only about 45 minutes to an hour.  We anchored in Ballast Bay and enjoyed the free wifi from Christophe Harbour for another day.  We also took time to snorkel some.  Daniel saw a sea turtle and I saw a lot of little fish. 

I took the kayak out for a spin around the harbor and other than that, it was a quiet day.  Our neighbor was having a little trouble installing something for their auto pilot behind their boat and Daniel took D-Time over to offer to help.  After they worked on it for a little while, he headed back to our boat with an invitation to watch the sunset tonight from their boat.  So we watched the sunset with some new British friends, Mike and Kate.  One of the fun things about cruising is the people you meet along the way and the different customs and ideas you are exposed to.  We took some American "chex mix" food with us to sit in the cockpit and munch on, and they said, we have this, but we eat it as cereal.  Little things that make you smile.

Nevis

April 26, 2014

We left St. Kitts this morning and motored the 5 miles across to Nevis, another of the volcanic islands.  We anchored just off Oualie Beach, a well-protected bay on the northwest corner of the island.  Unfortunately, it appeared we anchored in the middle of the ferry lane, as ferries kept splashing D-Time as they passed close by.

Ever since we started getting ready for our journey, I have been sharing our plans with one of my best friends, Sarah.  Every time I would mention to her about our plans for our sailing trip she would say, “I have a brother and sister-in-law that live on Nevis.  Let me know when you get close I will tell them you’re coming.”  Usually when someone tells you that, you’re like – sure, right, I’ll tell you but nothing will happen, right?  Well not so with Sarah and her family.  I told Sarah a few days ago, “We’re leaving St. Barts and heading towards St. Kitts and Nevis – just wanted to let you know”.  She said, “I will e-mail my brother”.  This was on Thursday this past week.  Today is Saturday and we just spent a wonderful day with Newell and Rhonda (Sarah’s brother and sister-in-law).  They are definitely two of the sweetest people you will ever meet.  They didn’t know us, at all, but agreed to come meet us at our boat and show us around Nevis, basically giving up a whole Saturday for complete strangers.

When Newell and Rhonda said they could pick us up this morning, and to bring our laundry with us, well we were thrilled and knew we had made some friends.  Laundry is not fun, but to have a home to do some in, well it is a real treat! 

They picked us up at the dock this morning and took us to their home.  A gorgeous home surrounded by the tall mountain on Nevis and the ocean.  The views from their home were amazing.  We put in a load of laundry and then set out to discover Nevis.  There is nothing like discovering a new island with locals.  We stopped for gasoline and johnny cakes (a local’s fried unsweetened donut).  Then we looked around at the development where Newell is the Director of Construction (Four Seasons Resort Estates) – an absolutely gorgeous development.  Next stop was a local lunch spot called “Blessings” where we feasted on jerk pork, coconut dumplings, and local vegetables.   After lunch we headed back to Newell and Rhonda’s house – there are perks to living on a small island, you are never far from home – where we put the clothes in the dryer and went for a lazy swim in their pool. 

After the laundry chore was done, we headed out for more touring of the island.  Newell took us to the local airport which had a small herd of sheep in front of it.  He also took us to a “private, locals” beach.  It had white sand for as far as you could see and not a sole on the beach…on a Saturday.  Wow! 

We so enjoyed our day with Newell and Rhonda and cannot even begin to thank them enough.  As if it wasn’t enough to show us around all day, Rhonda loaded us up with some DVD movies (current ones!) and some fresh local juices.  Thank you guys – it was a wonderful day!  We love Nevis!

White House Bay and Christophe Harbour, St. Kitts

April 25, 2014

Unknown to me, as I was sleeping in this morning, my wonderful husband loaded our folding bikes into D-Time.  He had an outing planned.  We took D-Time to land and a really, really nice boat dock in White House Bay to go for a bike ride to explore.  As we were going up a hill I was thinking about all of those hours and hours I spent downstairs at work riding the stationery bike to get me in shape just for a moment like this - not so much!  I could feel the burn, that's for sure. 

We had read great things about the development of the land in Christophe Harbour so we decided to look around.  As we made our way to the sea and Cockershell Beach we came across a bunch of monkeys.  All along the road, but they were very skittish of humans.  We got close a couple of times to get a picture or two but as you can tell below, they weren't great pictures. 

As we returned to the dock we ran into Jamie Beck, Razo Construction's Senior Project Manager, of Christophe Harbour.  Jamie shared with us the plans for the future of Christophe Harbour and about what had already been accomplished.  The awesome dock that we had D-Time locked to was gorgeous.  It was made 100% out of epae wood (more expensive and durable than teak wood).  It had built in hammocks and the buildings that will house a beach bar were made out of the tin from an old sugar cane plantation in town.  The whole place was just beautiful.  The neat part for me, in addition to the free wifi and garbage dumpster they make available to cruisers, was that Jamie Beck is from Charleston, South Carolina, as is a large portion of the management team.  They really have a Caribbean gem!  The beach bar is scheduled to be open June 1st of this year and is sure to be a very popular gathering spot for cruisers and locals.  There will also be a new marina, a very large lagoon with building sites along the edge, and possibly a golf course.  Although we didn't visit it, there is also a very nice restaurant at Turtle Bay that is open daily.

Cockershell Beach



 

One of the "locals" (Hope you can see the monkey)

View from our morning bike ride

Gorgeous Traveler Palm - the only one on the island, at Christophe Harbour

Beautiful epae wood gathering area in front of buildings at Christophe Harbour

Dock and Beach Buildings at Christophe Harbour



Beach buildings made from tin from sugar cane plantation

PICTURE TIME!

On the beach, in St. John (donkey)

Great St. James Island anchorage, a favorite of ours

Skinny Legs restaurant - really busy the day we went

Sunset in the British Virgin Islands

"The Baths" on Virgin Gorda, BVI

Arrival into St. Martin - we were greeted by a small rain storm

Welcome to St. Martin - Dutch side entrance

The air strip in St. Martin - really close to the beach!

And yes, there is a danger sign not to get too close to the fence when the planes take off. 

Exiting St. Martin, via the French bridge

Me and some "friends" on the waterfront in St. Martin

St. Barts, view from Fort Louis

We ran upon this "turtle crossing" on the trail on our hike  (St. Barts).

Our anchorage on St. Barts

St. Kitts, on our way in to visit

Downtown St. Kitts, main square

St. Barts to St. Kitts

April 24, 2014

We left our anchorage this morning at about 7:00 a.m., trying to get an early start on the day.  It was a fabulous day for sailing.  We had the sails out most of the way and just went in a straight line to St. Kitts.  The winds were pretty steady but as we got closer to St. Kitts the winds did some funny things by picking up and then dying off drastically.  We arrived at about 3:00 p.m.  Daniel gave you more specifics of today's sail in the post below. 

 

We pulled into the main harbor, Port Zante, and dropped anchor and took D-Time to town.  We easily found customs and immigration and I must say, St. Kitts has made it easy to check in and check out.  I was able to go online before we arrived and filled out our paperwork and they were ready for us when we arrived.  We paid $30EC (or $12 U.S.) for the privilege to come into St. Kitts and Nevis and we paid the same to immigration.  We informed the officials that we would like to leave on a certain day and they went ahead and cleared us out for that day.  This was easy.  We left customs and immigration and went in search of a new data card for the phone, since we are now in a new country, new data card.  While I took care of that, Daniel went walking around and found Domino's pizza!  What a treat!  He ordered us a pizza and we sat in the Domino's location and ate a couple of slices, and saved the rest for the boat.  We spent a little time walking around downtown but school had just let out and the streets were packed.  We stopped at one roadside vendor and picked up some fresh veggies and headed back to D-Time.

 

The harbor at Port Zante was too rocking and rolling for us so we continued another hour to White House anchorage.  It's a little rolly, but near as bad as Port Zante. 

And Now, A Word From Daniel

I just want to throw in a couple of words here for those who might be interested in the "Rest of the Story".  First, please notice that on the Google Maps showing our progress there is now a Page 2 (scroll down to the bottom of the list of Placemarks and then click on the Page 2 button).

In Carla's post yesterday she talked about how close the planes come to the road, but she failed to mention the really awesome part.  The main road that the planes fly over is on a ridge about 200 feet above the runway.  A normal approach would have the plane at about 100 feet above the runway at that distance, so the pilot must come in as close to the road and ridge as possible at the slowest speed possible, then drop out of the sky and set the plane on the runway before running into the bay.  The plane in this picture didn't touch the wheels down until about two thirds down the length of the runway.  If you don't believe me, zoom in and you can see that he still hasn't touched down yet.  This plane is LANDING, not taking off.  To land at this airport solo, a pilot must receive special training from an instructor specifically at this airport.


No doubt Carla will mention the trip from St. Barts to St. Kitts today, but the facts may get in the way of her writing style.  We sailed out of the anchorage and had a great 5-hour close-reach sail with 15 knots of wind and 3-4 foot seas.  When we drew near St. Kitts, the high mountains funneled the winds along the north side of the island and the winds quickly rose to 20-23 knots.  We reefed both sails twice and were still making nearly 8 knots with the toerail occasionally in the water.  When we reached the shadow of the island, the wind dropped to less than 10 knots in just a couple minutes.  We furled both sails and motored the rest of the way along the south coast for about 2 hours with 14 knots on the nose.  Needless to say it was an interesting sail.

St. Barts

April 23, 2014

St. Barths

Our day started bright and early this morning.  We wanted to get a FaceTime call placed to our son, Justin, who turns 30 today (Happy Birthday!).  So, I set my alarm and got up at 6 a.m. our time and called him.  “Happy Birthday”!  Why do you sound so sleepy?  Mom, it’s 4 a.m. here.  Uh oh.  He did laugh when I told him 30 years ago today he woke me up early, just consider it payback. 

While anchored in Anse de Colombier at St. Barth’s, we did some research and saw that there was a great hiking trail to the top of the mountain, just off of the beach.  So we set out this morning at about 7 a.m. taking D-Time to the beach and then walk.  We walked straight up hill.  You would think that would get your heart pumping but when you come across 4 large turtles in the middle of your path, that wakes you up.  Daniel said, be careful “turtle crossing” slowly.  They were fun to watch.  We made it to the top, took some great pictures and then turned around and came back down.  We were gone about 30 minutes when we came to the same place the turtles were previously and they had gone about 10 feet.  They were so cute!  It was about a 2 mile walk and by the time we got back to the beach we just pulled off our shoes and went swimming.  We followed that up with a long walk on the beach and we were pretty worn out.  At least “I” was.  I took D-Time back to the boat and Daniel swam to the boat.  What a show off!

After we got back on board, it was time to head to the city of Gustavia and clear in/out with customs and immigration.  20 Euros later and we had cleared in and out of St. Barts.  We plan on staying over night, but St. Barts lets you clear in AND out at the same time, if you’re staying less than 24 hours.  Nice!  No more trips into immigration for us. 

We finished up the formalities and then went for a walk around town to see the beautiful shops and the beautiful people.  We enjoyed walking through the town.  After that was done, we wanted to go see the airport where the planes’ flight path to land is right over a main road.  Sounded neat, so more walking.  We walked, straight up the hill again, probably a mile or more and arrived at the spot in the road where the planes flew over.  It didn’t take long for a plane to approach and boy did they fly CLOSE to the road.  It was a little scary almost, how close they came.  Well, we decided to wait for another one and I sat on a fence rail, right in the middle of the road thinking it would be cool to see the plane – it didn’t come “that” close to the road.  So I sat and watched and watched and the closer that plane came to me – the more it looked like it was heading straight for me.  I let out a little “eeek” and jumped up and ran out of the way.  Daniel said it didn’t come close to me, but it sure felt like it. 

Back to D-time and then back to C-Time.  We sat in the harbor for about 30 minutes and enjoyed some free wifi with me contacting some people back home.  Then we set back off to go back to Anse de Colombier.  It was a lot smoother than Gustavia and we couldn’t get out of Gustavia fast enough because of the rough harbor. 

St. Martin to St. Barts

April 22, 2014

We left Grand Case this morning and sailed to the main harbor to check out of St. Martin.  After we were anchored, we took D-Time towards the marina where we had checked in with a quick stop at a local marine hardware store.  We arrived at the marina office at 8:30 and the door said they opened at 9.  Since we were yelled at last time for arriving during lunch, we sat and waited for the 9:00 a.m. opening.  Another couple walked up and we watched as they walked in.  We just knew they would be right back out but they weren’t so we went on in.  The same lady was there when we checked in and she was just as nice as she could be.  Maybe she was having a bad day the other day.  We checked out with the marina, paid our $7.25, and headed to immigration to get our passport stamped.  The time on the door said they opened at 8:00.  It was just after 9:00 so we were feeling pretty good about getting stamped and moving on.  The gentleman that works the checking out area was going to be late.  Come back at 10:30.  Really?  We just need a stamp on the passports.  Come back at 10:30.  So we walked around downtown and visited Fort Louis.  It had a 130 steps to the top, but well worth the morning workout to get there.  The views were gorgeous.  We made it back down to immigration and the man we were supposed to meet said, all you need is a stamp, you don’t need to see me.  Urgh!  We got our passports stamped and we left.

We had a very nice sail most of the way to St. Barts.  We went around most of St. Martin and then we saw beautiful little rock islands all along the way.  The waves were a little rough but Daniel had our sails out and was tacking us back and forth – keeping it pretty smooth for the crew.  It was so smooth, I pulled out a book and started reading.  I was so engrossed in it that when we arrived at our first island, Daniel said “this is it” and I was shocked we were already there.  It was gorgeous.  Small beach and beautiful rocks.  Just kidding, he said – this place is too rough we aren’t at St. Barths yet, we will continue on. 

Our anchorage was at Anse de Colombier.  Another beautiful beach and a really nice anchorage.  A little rolly, but not too bad.  The marine park has free mooring balls for everyone.  We put on our swim and snorkel gear and went snorkeling.  Beautiful clear water with manta rays and starfish galore!  There were lots of fish and Daniel has gotten so good at holding his breath, he can go  below for what seems like forever to me, and swim with schools of fish!  Really neat to watch him. 

Grand Case Bay, St. Martin

April 20, 2014

The wind has really been running high these past three days.  We’ve been at anchor in Grand Case Bay, which we really like, but the wind has been unbelievable.  It has been about 15-20 knots most of the day with gusts to 25 to 30 knots – and not just during the day, all night long as well.  C-Time is sailing on anchor, which means she is moving around almost all the time.  Even though we are in a protected harbor, the sea swells still make it to us so when the wind isn’t pushing us around, the waves are. 

The past few days we’ve rented a car and drove around the island stopping at shops and stopping at the local  beaches.  We met a nice couple on the beach one day, Steve and Kelly from Massachusetts, down here on Spring Break (Kelly is a school teacher).  We really enjoyed a nice dinner with them on the boat last night.  This is the best part about traveling – the people you meet along the way.  By the time we parted, we have plans to meet with them when we make our cruise up the east coast of the U.S.  Thanks, Steve and Kelly – see you soon!

If you’re stuck in a harbor because of weather or whatever reason, Grand Case is not a bad one, at all, to be stuck in.  We’ve almost become like locals.  For lunch on the beach, we had a baguette and cheese – we felt very French.  Everywhere you look in town, especially early in the mornings, you see people walking around carrying a couple of baguettes.  So we tried it.  We liked it. 

Marigot Lagoon, St. Martin to Grand Case Bay, St. Martin

April 17, 2014

We decided to leave the lagoon at Marigot in St. Martin this morning, the lagoon has such nasty water that we didn’t want to use our watermaker to make water for the boat from the lagoon water.  It was raining off and on as we pulled up the anchor and headed towards the French bridge to leave the lagoon.  It took us about an hour or more to make it to Grand Case Bay.  It is a beautiful bay with lots of colorful Caribbean type houses in it.  We took D-Time to town and walked the town in search of a restaurant my friend, David, from work recommended.  We found “The Talk of the Town” BBQ restaurant but sadly it had been closed down so we ended up having lunch at another nearby restaurant.  For $10 U.S. dollars each we had BBQ chicken, salad, rice and beans, vegetables and plantains, it was really good.  After lunch, we headed back to C-Time for NAP TIME and to make some water. 

The wind has really picked up this afternoon with gusts up to 25-30 knots.  We are rolling at anchor, but so is everyone else.  Good news is, with all of this wind we’ve made a lot of power through our wind generator so tonight is movie night!

St. Martin

April 16, 2014

Today was "Discover St. Martin" day.  We made plans to rent a car ($20 a day) and see the island.  We just had to arrange to pick the car up.  Usually it isn't hard picking a car up, but when you live on a boat, it's a little more difficult.  We both can't go to the car rental place because it is located near the airport and the place to park D-Time is located on the opposite side of the bay.  So Daniel took me in D-Time and let me off on "Airport Road" and we were pretty confident I could find the rental car place (it was located on Airport Road), rent the car, and then drive to meet him on land near where he was parking D-Time for the day.  Piece of cake!

I got out of D-Time and started walking.  I walked about a block and said, this is stupid - I'm asking for directions.  I walked into a competitor rental car place (I have no shame) and asked them if they knew where my rental car company was located.  The guy that was giving me directions finally gave up giving me directions and just said - get in, I'll take you.  I now have to take back the mean thing I said about the French yesterday, because this guy was super, super nice.  He drove me, probably a mile to his competitor.  I told  him if I had not prepaid for my car, I would definitely have rented from him.  I pick up our tiny little car and started driving.  Daniel and I had prearranged a place I would pick him up - but honestly, I wasn't feeling really confident I would ever see him again.  I drove about 5 minutes and found him standing on the side of the road in Marigot.  I was so happy to see him!

We then set off to discover the island.  It is a beautiful 7 mile long island and we enjoyed about every mile of it.  We saw a couple of signs along the way "Entering the French Side" - kind of strange for us to remember that there are 2 countries that own this 7 mile island. We stopped at Orient Bay and went to the beach and enjoyed a long walk.

We hit a couple of marine supply stores and checked out some other local shopping.  Then it was time to go to the famous beach where the airplanes land and take off right over the beach.  We were pretty excited to stand in front of the gate to the airport grounds and feel the jet blasts as the planes took off.  We waited long enough to see one plane land, none were taking off, but it was really neat to see how low they fly.

We turned our rental car back in and found D-Time.  We made it back to our boat in time for dinner and watching a gorgeous sunset.

Virgin Islands to St. Martin (Saint Maarten)

April 15, 2014

We left our anchorage yesterday afternoon at about 3 p.m. and we pulled an all nighter.  I don't know if I'm spoiled or what, but the past month in the Virgin Islands where there were no overnighters was wonderful.  Overnight sailing trips are hard.  I don't care how rested you are, it wears you out.  The winds were 15-18 knots most of the way and the sea started at 3-4 feet (later on going to 6 feet).  The beginning of the trip was quite lovely.  The weather was wonderful and we were able to just sail, sail, sail.  Later on during the night, the seas picked up and then it wasn't as much fun.  I ended up with Dramamine to help me through, which, of course, made me sleepy.

I started to fall asleep in the cockpit, at one point, but decided to go below to see if I could sleep a little better.  I woke to hear the sails luffing in the wind and noise in the cockpit.  I got up to check on Daniel and he smiled - a flying fish decided to ride with him in the cockpit.  The fish landed right where I WAS sleeping.  So glad I went below.  Back off to sleep for me and more luffing and more noise.  I get back up to check on Daniel again - another flying fish landed in the cockpit.  This was getting weird.

Later into the night we were able to witness a total lunar eclipse.  It was amazing to see from the middle of the ocean and Mars was the brightest it had been in 6 years.  It was a nice celestial night to be at sea.  After that, the wind picked up and the waves picked up - we turned into a moving washing machine.  Daniel finally lost his dinner and I was still below trying to hold on to mine.

We finally made it to St. Martin at about 10 a.m. but had to wait until 11:30 for the bridge to open for incoming traffic.  We found a really nice anchorage in the lagoon next to Marigot Bay and took D-Time to town to check in with immigration.  We pulled up and walked to the local checkin spot, arriving shortly after noon.  The lady behind the desk said "we're closed until 2:30 p.m.".  No, "hello", "could you please come back later"....just a snappy "we're closed".  She probably said it 3 times before we could get out the door.

We left the nice lady and found find a restaurant for an extended lunch.  We made it back to the check in spot a little after 2:30 p.m. and the man behind the desk said to go upstairs and get on the computer on the right, it's in English, and just type in our information in the spaces provided in the form.  We climb some rickety stairs and sit in front of the computer and I'm typing while Daniel is reading me the information we need to input.  Most everything is pretty easy to understand (it's in French and somewhat in English) and we muddle through.  Our biggest problem was we couldn't find "USA" or "United States" or "America" to choose from as our home country and the place where our passports were issued.  I searched through a long list of names and all I could find that came close was "America de Norde".  I said, that has to be it, it looks like North America.  So we chose that, printed the form and went to see the lady down stairs.  She mumbles something in French and comes back upstairs and points to a list (under the keyboard where I was typing) with the name of the United States in French.  Apparently, I was supposed to chose "Unis Etats", which is French for United States.  Seriously??  You send me to an English computer but the answers are in French?

We take the final corrected form downstairs and I pay the lady $7.50.  She mumbles "merci" and I get ready to leave when I see that one of the answers still stays America de Norde.  I point that out and she looks me in the eye and mumbles a BUNCH of French words at me with a glare in her eyes (at this point Daniel says he will just wait outside until I'm done - I called him a chicken).  She went back up the rickety stairs, made the change, printed the form, stamped it and handed it to me without another word.

Now that we have her form, we have to take that form to the immigration office at the Ferry Dock - probably about 6 blocks away.  After some discussion, they finally stamped our passports and we left.  One of our fellow cruisers said "I hate the French, they aren't happy to have you visit and they're just miserable and not friendly - at all."  I waited to form my own judgment and frankly, she is pretty close to hitting the nail on the head.

Great St. James Island, USVI en route to St. Martin

April 13, 2014

We let go of our mooring ball at 7 a.m. this morning.  The winds were down, the seas looked calm and decided it would be best to get underway as quickly as possible to enjoy the calmer weather.  We made our way over to Cruz Bay on St. John, USVI, and once we got to the harbor, Daniel let me off the boat on D-Time to go ashore and “check us out” of the United States.  I must say, there was a bit of a sad feeling saying good bye to the USA.  I walked into Customs and Immigration on the main street of Cruz Bay and was the only person in line.  It took me all of about 5 minutes to check out.  We have to have our “check out” papers from the USA or St. Martin will not allow us to enter their country.  So we are all set.  After a quick stop at the grocery store for a gallon of milk, I made my way back to D-Time, and then made my way back to C-Time.  I’m an independent girl!  There is still a little bit of anxiety on my part as I come up on a dock and have to lock up D-Time to the dock by myself – but I must say, I’m doing a pretty good job of it now. 

After the formalities were taken care of in St. John, Daniel put the sails up and we have enjoyed a marvelous day of sailing.  The winds are steady about 15-20 knots and the seas are less than 2 feet.  Later in the afternoon a couple of squals came through and we had wind gusts up to 26 knots and the seas picked up to about 4 feet.  We found a nice place to anchor for the night and will set off for St. Martin tomorrow. 

I love the Virgin Islands but I must say, I’m ready to see some other islands.

 

Great St. James Island, USVI

April 10, 2014

It looks like the winds won’t be dying down until at least Monday next week, so we are here at Great St. James Island still working on boat projects (Daniel) and reading and swimming (Carla).  When Daniel gets done with his project for the day, then he will put on his swim fins and go snorkeling with me.  We did that yesterday along with each of us taking the kayak out for a little spin around the harbor. 

Late in the afternoon, a group of about 6 tiny sailboats came across from a nearby island’s yacht club with a young child on each.  It was so neat watching these little ones and their sailboats.  There was a grown up in a power boat yelling directions at them and the kids were handling all the moves perfectly.

After a hard day working, swimming and snorkeling we take our reclining chairs and head to the bow of the boat.  We will sit there, enjoying the harbor, watching other boats coming and go and just generally taking it easy.  (Yes, we have been taking it easy most of the day, but this is different.)  The harbor is full with about 25 boats – different kinds, sizes, shapes and we enjoy looking at them.  We will take the binoculars with us sometimes so we can get a close look at the boats on the other side of the harbor.  As we were looking around last night, there was a guy on the bow of his boat playing a saxophone.  Just standing there, playing for the whole harbor.  That was neat.  I was looking through the binoculars at him and Daniel said, what’s that other guy doing on the bow of his boat?  So I move the binoculars to see what he is doing…I focus the binoculars really well so I can get a good look – I hit Daniel.  The guy was “whizzing” off the front of this boat.  Seriously?  In daylight – off the front of your boat?  Oh brother!  So glad I focused in on that!

We were watching the sunset when a boat came into the harbor that had 5 German speaking people on board.  It looked like a captain and 4 teenagers.  We watched as they all quickly hopped in the water and swam to shore.  One kid was about halfway there, stopped, looked at us and gave us the biggest smile and wave.  Then he took off swimming with the others.

 

 

Great St. James Island, USVI

April 9, 2014

We really like this island.  It offers nice protection from the high wind and waves we have been experiencing here in the Virgin Islands recently.  It also has some really great snorkeling. 

Daniel and I went snorkeling today, leaving the boat and looking at the huge colorful fish, the pretty coral – a really nice snorkel time, close to shore.  We were gone about 20 minutes or so and decided to head back to C-Time.  We were a ways across the harbor and started out just at a regular pace.  We’d be back at the boat in about 10 minutes time.  About halfway across the harbor, Daniel and I both spotted a 5 foot barracuda (with a mouth full of teeth).  After we are back on the boat Daniel tells me that the barracuda is swimming about 6 inches from my foot.  In the meantime, we are watching the barracuda and it is watching us.  I get a little (lot) nervous because he doesn’t go away, so I pick up my swimming speed.  Lucky me, the barracuda decides to swim along with me.  It’s kind of like “Jaws” …. I could hear the music in my head…he would swim away and I was looking all around, swimming as fast as I could and here he comes and swims about a foot away from me – turns around and swims back in front of me.  I’m not really comfortable with this and the boat looks like it is forever away from me.  I decided to splash and make bubbles so he wouldn’t see me and I could swim away.  Stupid.  I then remember the splashing scene in “Jaws”.  Eeek!  When he couldn’t see me through the bubbles, he came closer!  By now I’ve tripled my speed to get back to the boat and then if the darned thing doesn’t start swimming right in between me and the boat, blocking me from getting there.  I look at Daniel, he’s a good 20 yards behind me and I look at the barracuda again.  I make a “dash” for the boat and couldn’t pull my fins off fast enough and climb aboard.  I’m breathing so hard from my fast swim, I’m just about sweating – getting out of water!  Daniel comes up to the boat and is having a blast watching the barracuda and now that I’m out of the water, it’s watching him back.  They swim, for a long time – checking each other out.  A fellow cruiser told us that they’re very “social” fish.  I don’t feel social, I feel frightened.  Daniel is the social one – he swims along with the barracuda and has a blast.  The barracuda is swimming all around the boat, I can see it from the deck and Daniel is swimming right along side it, watching it. 

Later in the day, a large tourist boat shows up with about 50 or more snorkelers on board.  They all get off, snorkel and have fun.  As they make their way back to the boat I hear one of them say, “oh cool, a barracuda”!  Next thing you know, they’re all gathering around too look at the huge barracuda.  None of them were freaking out – they were loving it.  All I could think was, well it’s not chasing you! 

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

April 8, 2014

April 8, 2014

After 5 wonderful days in Atlanta with two of our children, their spouses and our 2 grandbabies, I am back on C-Time.  Daniel met me at the St. Thomas airport yesterday afternoon and I greeted him with my carry-on bag, weighing about 35 pounds, and a “personal item” (that’s what Delta airlines calls my purse) that weighed about 10 pounds.  Daniel was waiting for me at baggage claim and said, well that’s it, right?  I was like, oh no, I have another bag that I checked.  It weighed just shy of 44 pounds.  I enjoyed my trip to the local Atlanta Wal-mart and filled up my bags with lots of “necessities” (like peanut butter, pop tarts, coffee – things that were double or triple the price in St. Thomas).  I also brought back some parts for the boat. 

The airport is about a 5 minute walk from the beach where Daniel left D-Time and then about a 20 minute ride back to C-Time.  We covered my precious cargo in plastic garbage bags to keep them dry for the ride back to C-Time.   I was so happy to see C-Time!  We spent the night next to the airport and after I woke from sleeping late this morning, we raised anchor and headed to Crown Bay, in St. Thomas, for diesel, and then to the main harbor for grocery shopping.  With all of those errands accomplished, we set out for one of our favorite anchorages, Great St. James Island.  We made the 9 mile trip in just under 2 hours.  We had 6+ foot seas and very strong wind.  It was a bit of a bumpy ride, but we picked up our mooring ball and enjoyed an afternoon of sitting on the bow of the boat, just relaxing.  It’s good to be home!