Hard to believe we just have a few more days to our sailing adventure. We look at the temperature back home these last few days and cringe. Oh have we gotten used to the 80 degree air and water temps! What will be in store for us when we get back.  Although the view from our back porch at home will not change location from day to day as over these past 6 weeks, it amazes us how it changes from day to day depending on the season.

After our last post about Christensted, St Croix, we moved along the coast of St Croix and inside the barrier reef to Teague Bay, the home of the St Croix Yacht Club. They have a small club house where we chatted with a member about the youth sailing program. Despite the kids being able to sail all year long, she was sending her son to Long Island to sail this summer.

From there we sailed out to the national park, Buck Island. Being a weekend day, there were several local day tripper boats. We dinghied up a lagoon to a snorkeling spot that was full of stag horn coral and monster brain coral. We then hiked to the top of the island which had great views of the coral and barrier reef. As we were sitting on our boat, a neighboring boat, that had spent the previous night there and had just come back from a hike like we did, started drifting off. Come to find out his anchor chain had broken apart 4 links from the line splice. I helped him find the anchor as a dolphin came by to check on us. With that happy observation, we spent a quiet night on anchor there, the only boat.

Next day we reached 35 miles back to St John stopping at Salt Pond Bay for 2 nights. A trip like this is not like a trip in our waters at home. We did not have to contend with the tides, frontal system finicky winds, or fog. The wind down here is a predictable trade wind at 15 – 20, seas 4 – 6 feet ocean swells with numerous flying fish entertaining us. Also a big difference from our shoal waters at home was the water depth of up to 4200 feet!

Salt Pond Bay is on the south side of St John with room for 5 boats. We snorkeled and hiked to a promontory called Rams Head. We then went west around St John to Cruz Bay to restock our supplies before settling in Francis Bay for the night. On our beach walk we bumped into a 4 foot iguana with one of its chicks.

Next day brought us back to the BVI’s at Sopers Hole to check in. We met up with Erin and Jamie’s uncle and his wife who winter in the BVI’s on their boat. They tempted us to register for a Valentine’s Day race. I was even able to enlist Tommy Brownell for crew as he was spending time there while his wife was away. But then I discovered that our charter company did not allow their boats to be raced. That was the best Valentine’s gift the crew could have hoped for.

Not being able to race, we headed to the north side of Tortola hoping to spend the night at Green Cay, but the weather was squally and we started having an engine alarm going off indicating a battery problem. The belt was tight so we had to go to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola to have the problem looked at. It turned out to be an isolator/relay which they were able to replace. Luckily this did not happen at Culebra or St Croix.

We did make it to Sandy Spit, a very small island off Jost Van Dyke, the next day just in time for a wedding on the beach. This actually was our second wedding, the other at Salt Pond Bay. From there we went over to Leinster Bay on St John and hiked to Brown Bay which had great snorkeling.

Yesterday we went to Peter Island and today we are at the Bight on Norman Island, after stopping to snorkel at a well-known rock pile called the Indians. With a cloudy afternoon we had another long hike to great views of the “Bight.”

Only a couple of days left!

The backgammon tournament has been back and forth with some nail biting finishes and some annihilations. We are tied at 15 games each with 2 matches to go, unless sudden death OT is required.

We fly home this Thursday. Our journeys will continue in March as we charter a boat in Grenada. Our son, Dan and his wife, Alice, and 2 sons, Charles and Will, will join us as we meet up with Andy and his family – wife, Liz, Mira and Peter. They have been sailing the islands since November. We can’t wait to see them and get our entire family together to continue our sailing adventure.

We have passed our midpoint and have moved onto our 2013 Dufour 38 – Abacadabra / Abracadabra. This is a modern designed French boat with relatively flat hull, plumb bow, and sail drive and bulb keel sort of like Gut. It definitely sails much better than the Hunter . It has twin wheels and drop down transom making for a great back porch. Importantly, the head has the handle on the opposite side so we can balance out our shoulder muscle mass. It does lack an inverter, so no blender. The dinghy is smaller which is better for towing.

After dropping off the Hunter we taxied to Road Town to pick up the Dufour. We had a quick turn around and had a shake down sail back to Peter Island for the night. From there we went to Soper’s Hole to check out of the BVI. Then to Cruz Bay, St. John, to check into the U.S. Night was spent in Christmas Cove off St. Thomas, having pizza from the Pizza Pi boat there.

The next day we headed west downwind along the busy coast of St Thomas for Culebra over 25 miles away. We spent the night at a small uninhabited island off Culebra called Culebrita. We stayed in a horseshoe bay facing NE with the most perfect beach and a lighthouse overlooking it. At one end there is a collection of very large boulders making a pool where surf rushes in, called the Jacuzzis. There we met childhood friends of Michael and Susan Stranz. Amazing what a small world.

The next day we climbed up to the lighthouse built in 1882. Being a non US boat we had to check in at Culebra so we sailed in to the main harbor on Culebra and anchored in the town area.. We had to walk over to customs at the airport. We were the only ones there yet it took the 2 agents about 20 minutes checking us in shuffling papers back and forth between the 2. We spent 2 more nights at Culebra – one behind a reef near the main harbor and the second behind another reef. We snorkeled along mangroves for the first time. Quite eerie with a fair number of fish.

The next morning after a windy night we reached 45 miles with winds blowing northeast in the mid twenties settling to upper teens by afternoon to St Croix. Mid way along we were joined by a dozen dolphin that played with us. With the wind from the NE the anchorage was rolly the first night, but tonight is better as the front has passed with the wind shifting back toward the SE trades.

We explored the old Dutch city of Christiansted with the mid 1700 neo classic architecture. In preparation for a trip to a protected reef area at Buck Island tomorrow, we had to apply for a special permit which took all kinds of paperwork. Now we have to wait for approval. Another day or 2 here then back to St. John.

As many of you know, sleeping on a monohull in the Caribbean can be something else at times. Many of the anchorages are not that protected or allow the swell to wrap around into it. This can lead to various motions from a rhythmic mild roll to rather violent sloshy rolls when you line up taking the swells to the beam. Besides the rolling there is the creaking and groaning of the boat. You quiet one creak, and another appears…

The Backgammon tournament continues with the skipper getting down 4 games but clawing back to a draw by throwing doubles on the last roll to win last night’s match.

We are trying to resize the photos smaller, so hopefully they will upload better.

Hard to believe we have been here for 3 weeks already. Boy we settled into the laid back, minimalist boat lifestyle. Our immediate goal the past week was to find a spot to watch “that” game last Sunday. A little known fact about the game in Denver was that it was played on the day of a full moon. Could that have been a factor in the result? The full moon solved where to watch the game. Trellis Bay on Tortola has a full moon celebration.

This week we have been on the move to stop at so many of the great spots that make up our backyard down here. The distances travelled varied from a couple of miles to 10 at the most.

From our transmission repair we headed to Cooper Island where there is a beachside restaurant and a fabulous snorkeling site. Then we went for a brief stop at Fallen Jerusalem, an island near Virgin Gorda, which we call our own Baths. We named it after a well known section of Virgin Gorda where there are huge boulders stacked on top of each other forming caves. Our Baths consists of a small beach with boulders ringing it.  We snorkeled ashore and explored the island. Then we sailed onto White Bay, Guana Island for the night. This island is named for a rock formation that looks like an iguana head. A great place to swim and walk on a 3/4 mile white beach.

We then backtracked a bit to Marina Cay, a small island at the east end of Tortola that has a coral barrier reef making for a protected anchorage. It has one of the best snorkeling sites in the area. Next door is Scrub Island that has a new resort on it. Like Norman Island it has a road bed cut in that makes for great hiking. We went from 0 to 285 to 0 to 436 feet over about a 3 mile hike at 85 degree temperature. So at the end we had to stop at the resort pool bar to rehydrate.

Just a short hop brought us to Trellis Bay on Tortola. We jockied for a spot at the bar to watch the game. The bartenders were not too excited with our club soda orders, but by the end of the game we almost downed a few drinks. Tough game when Brady is the leading rusher with Manning running for more yards. At least we won’t have to worry where to watch the Super Bowl.

Luckily we had the full moon party winding up to get our minds off the defeat. The party consists of music and barbecue along the beach culminating in bonfires set in steel globes on the water at 10 pm – quite a sight.

From there onto Jost Van Dyke again to Great Harbor, a quiet local village, fun to walk the streets. This is also home to the famous Foxy’s, a beach bar and restaurant. With still some northerly swells we had to stop at Little Jost Van Dyke for a dip in the “Bubbly Pool.”  A half mile hike takes you to a small beach surrounded by large boulders with a small opening to the ocean swells. The surf blasts through the opening making the bubbly pool. What fun except Judy managed to break a toe as she was swept by a wave into a rock. It only slowed her down for a day.

We then passed Sandy Spit (see picture), a 30 square yard island with sandy beach surrounding it. We motored on to Judy’s favorite, Cane Garden Bay,  with its hard sand beach great foe walking. Then back at the boat we were entertained by a group of dolphins frolicking around us and by a foolish 20 something that tried to ride the surf in his dinghy but crashed and burned – but was not hurt (pics to follow).

Last night we spent at Soper’s Hole on the west end of Tortola with a great view from our back porch. Today before moving on to Peter Island we had a 45 minute treadmill hike at 30 degrees on a hill next to Sopers. After a 5 mile beat to Peter Island we hope our next boat which we pick up tomorrow will sail better than 50 – 60 degrees apparent upwind.

We do keep up with the weather back home. You were lucky in New England. Around Richmond and Washington DC schools were closed most of this past week.

Our backgammon tournament has had a dramatic turnaround with crew now solidly in control at 9 to 7.

This post will go out without pictures but hopefully we will be able to upload photos soon.

Since our last post, we have been on the move. After a rolly night in White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, a peaceful night was spent in Little Harbor, JVD. We then stopped at Sandy Spit, a small island between JVD and Tortola. This has a beautiful beach but showed tremendous erosion this visit. We were not able to get to a path that winds around the island. The northerly swells had been continuing so the swim back to the boat was interesting.

We had to get back to Tortola to have the transmission checked so we sailed to Cane Garden Bay, a beautiful beach with over hanging coconut trees lined with multiple beach bars and restaurants. What would our charter be without some boat problem. This time the transmission inconsistently engaged.  Always it would eventually engage, but a little nerve wracking when trying to pick up the anchor, etc. Yes, the mechanic confirmed it was the transmission and adjusted some cable, but…

Next stop was North Sound on Virgin Gorda which was about a 15 mile sail upwind. I quickly confirmed that a Hunter 41 with an in-mast main does not sail upwind. The best we could do to get any vmg was to sail 60 degrees apparent. This has led to a lot of motor sailing. We stayed on a mooring at Saba Rock which included a “free” bag of ice and 200 gallons of water for the boat. With the inverter and blender on board, we discovered smoothies for cocktail hour. At Saba, during happy hour, they feed Tarpon fish that are 4-5 ft and have a tank with a pet green Moray ell. Not having a reliable transmission, anchoring has been out. We stayed in North Sound for 3 nights mandated by the Patriots. We had to be somewhere that had good TVs. This was the Bitter End Sports Bar. We watched the game with Jack and Tommy Desmond of Marion. So now we have to plan our trip to be somewhere to watch the Denver game this Sunday. We snorkeled around Eustacia Island and climbed a hill (550 feet) with great views of North Sound. We were surprised to see the once posh Biras Creek resort shut down this year.

From North Sound we headed to Anegada about 15 miles reach from Virgin Gorda. Anegada means sunken island. It is a coral island with maximum elevation of 28 feet, which makes it very different from the other mountainous islands. There are fewer than 200 residents on this 10 mile long island that is ringed by a coral reef. It is noted for its spiny lobster which is so good grilled. We were treated to watching the Denver – Steelers game while we devoured our meal. We rented a car so we could do some exploring of the island this time. Not much to see except a beautiful, continuous beach around the island. This is one of the habitats for rock iguana. They are being threatened on the island by feral cats who eat the young. There is a project ongoing (Iguana Headstart) that collects the young iguanas after hatching and raises them to a size that cats can’t get them.

Discussions with the charter company about our transmission problem ranged from switching boats (only a 42 foot cat was available) or fixing the transmission. So here we are in Fat Hog Bay Tortola to get the transmission rebuilt. We arrived from Anegada yesterday and had the transmission removed. It was rebuilt today and back on the boat today – working. Not your typical “island time” repair. We rented a car today and drove around Tortola while the boat was being repaired. We spent a few hours at Josiah’s Beach. The beach is perfectly oriented to the north east to take advantage of north swells. Beautiful sandy bottom and gentle surf for body surfing. Good people watching as the real surfers ride the waves on their surfboards.

Poor WIFI doesn’t allow us to add pictures.  We will update if possible later.

We moved on to Jost Van Dyke (JVD) yesterday after two more nights anchored in Benures Bay on Norman Island. We had two great days with little wind so it made sense to stay put and enjoy the peaceful bay away from the crowds.  We snorkeled in several different spots.  The coral seems to be still recovering.  We found elkhorn, staghorn, fire coral, several hard corals including brain, lettuce, tube.  Fans and sponges were plentiful.  There are still zones of bleached (dying) coral with healthy next to it.

We are finding the area much busier this year so far.  The West end of Tortola, Sopers Hole and Great Harbor JVD were full.  We spent our first night at White Bay (JVD) one of our  favorite beaches.  30 yrs ago there was one beach bar with a few rooms, the famous Soggy Dollar Bar.  Its name was for the fact that the only way to get there was to swim into the beach with your soggy dollars.  Today there is a road from the town and there are multiple beach bars along it.  All the cruisers and day trippers from the US virgin islands descend on it daily but clear out at night.

The down side of this spot is exposure to northerly swells this time of year as demonstrated by the porch view.  It was a bit rocky but so beautiful that it was worth it, we think.

We continue our hikes.  Norman Island is an undeveloped mountainous island. Someone cut a system of narrow trails across the island which have become overgrown.  These make great paths to explore the island.  This time we did the eastern end of the island.  On JVD we had a great hike today up a 635 foot hill (mountain). The roads on this more developed island go straight up with no switch backs The views are incredible. Pictures don’t always reflect the true beauty.

The backgammon tournament goes on with 3- 2 in favor of the Captain.

We thought we would get this out while we still have cellular data.

 

 

This is a view from our new back porch.  We have cruised here in the BVIs probably more days in the last few years than around home.

The trip down is so easy with a nonstop flight from Boston on Jet Blue (even got to watch Bridge of Spies) to St Thomas.  Then an hour ferry ride to the West End of Tortola.  A small customs office and easy check in.  A 15 minute taxi to Sea Cow Bay and hop about our Anne’s Turn, a Hunter 41.  We chartered this 3 week block from a small company called Seabattical.  The on the ground staff consists of David George and his delightful wife Rebecca.  They had the boat in great shape for us.  Instead of going to the major supermarket about 5 miles away we did our initial provisioning at a local shop at the marina and next door at Nanny Cay giving us a chance to try out our great 12 ft dinghy with 18 horses (fast).

Our new back porch has a different view than home.  We left with sea smoke on the water and here blue water with cactus on the walls of the shore. Our initial  shake down sail was a blustery 7 mile fetch to Norman island Bight with wind in the 25 range so only used the jib for the crews sake. Yesterday with.  lighter winds we went for a sail to adjust leads and take a closer look at the sails.  Ugh!  Note the primary winch for the jib.

So yesterday we anchored in Benures Bay and found great snorkeling along the north side of the island.  We then returned to the Bight for a hike up the highest “mountain” on the island (427 ft), most of it straight up a dirt-rocky goat path marked by a string that has been there for years.  What view and what a feeling to still get to the top.  We remember our first hike up there with our boys 30 yrs ago.

It is so great not to have to rush on.  We watch the one weekers dash in and out. We can take our time to explore and enjoy.  We treasure the weather, water and time together. The competition has started with our Backgammon tournament with a win by the captain.

We hope to send this out by our ATT hot spot. Click on the picture for caption.

Just 12 days to the start of our 2016 adventure.  We are trying to figure out how to blog.  This will be a work in progress so stay tuned.  We hope to keep a blow by blow of our trip.  Posting frequency will depend on wifi access and speed which tends to be spotty at best in the islands.

We will each have a bag to include a few clothes (mostly bathing suits), dive gear, books, electronics, spare boat gear, our own EPIRB for off shore and our own inflatable life vests etc., etc..

With the warm weather we have been experiencing this year, 67 today on Christmas, some “friends” say why bother head south.  Ha, Ha we know better.  I just hope the snow holds off until 1/7.

 

Judy and Ted, The Other Herlihys, are about to start another Virgin Island sailing adventure, while Andy, Liz, Mira and Peter (Herlihy Sailing at herlihy.me) work their way south to Grenada.  We will not meet up with them this trip as they are long gone from the Virgin Islands.  Currently they are spending Christmas sailing around Antigua.

This trip will be our 3rd extended stay in the VIs since Ted retired.  We started with 4 wks, then 5 wks and this year 6 wks.  Note the trend.  What a place to hang for the nasty part of the winter.  As you may glean from the crew list and boats (more on these in later posts), this adventure is not about racing but short sails with lots of time to swim, snorkel, hike and read. Of course the crew will insist upon go fast sail trim.  We will be spending the majority of our 6 weeks in the British and US Virgin Islands and hope to get to a couple of the Spanish VIs  and St Croix depending on the weather and mood of the crew.

In March we will be joined by the Richmond Herlihys (Dan, Alice, Charles and Will) on a charter from Grenada to meet up with Andy’s gang  in the Grenadines.

We can be reached by email (tjher@comcast.net) that we will check when wifi is available.  If we are in sight of the USVI our ATT phones may work.