US and British Virgin Islands 2016

Virgin Islands 2016

1/4/2016 We left St. Martin just before 3 in the afternoon to do an overnight passage to St. Thomas, USVI. We had a great sail with the main and jib up until about 2:30 in the morning when the wind died and we could only make about 3.5 knots. The seas went down from 4 to 5 feet to 3 to 4 feet making the wallowing better. We started the engine and motorsailed the rest of the way. We got to St. John the next morning and had thought of anchoring in Cruz Bay but there was no room. We tried Red Hook too but no luck so we went to our old standby in Brewer’s Bay on St. Thomas. We checked in with immigration by phone and rested for the afternoon. We found a laundry at the Nisky Center, a short bus ride away and had lunch at Tickles restaurant near Crown Bay Marina, all right there behind Nisky Center.  We also explored Charlotte Amalie the capital of St. Thomas which we had not had time to do on our previous visit.

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Sunset on our first night back in St. Thomas

Legislature building in Charlotte Amalie

Fort Christian, now a museum

Pretty home with a great view

Blackbeard's Castle

350 year old Dutch church

Dutch church

1/9/2016 We moved over to Lindbergh Bay which is a short walk to the airport so we could pick up Connor. We anchored near the Best Western Hotel and met his plane that evening then had dinner at the restaurant at the hotel which was quite good.  Unlike what we had heard, the folks at the hotel were accommodating and welcomed us to tie up to their seawall.

Yeah!! Connor brought a King Cake from Haydel's

1/10/2016 We sailed over to Great Lameshur Bay on St. John, had a swim and then sailed to Coral Bay the next day because we were looking for a place that would have the college BCS National Championship game on. We went in and ate at Skinny Legs—great burgers!! Of course, us old fogies were tired so we went back to the boat and Connor went back in later to watch the game which started quite late here. Unfortunately, Alabama won but Clemson put up a very good fight.  

Connor and Liz Ann sailing to St. John from St. Thomas

Yes, we made Connor do the face in the sign photo

The next day we sailed back to Great Lameshur Bay and walked to the Tektite Museum and VIERS camp. The museum is an exhibit of the underwater habitat that the government (NASA and the Navy) built in Great Lameshur Bay back in the 60’s to study the effects of isolation and confinement on small group dynamics, and to test saturation diving equipment and the effects of saturation levels over long periods. The scientists lived underwater for about 60 days and then other groups followed for various lengths of time. The VIERS camp is open to groups such as college students, hiking groups, retreats, etc to come for various lengths of time and stay at the camp while studying the environment etc. We met two groups of college students from New York who were there for two weeks doing studies. One was studying frogs and one was studying fish bats. How about 2 weeks in the Virgin Islands for college credit!  We weren’t allowed to take photos of the museum but here is a link for those interested:Tektite Program, 

Greg and I also hiked over to see the petroglyphs on a trail about 2 miles long going over some steep hills. At least it was shady most of the way. The petroglyphs were very worn with time and we almost missed some of them.

Gigantic termite nest on hike to the petroglyphs

The mass of vines were kind of creepy, looking like snakes

Old stone wall from a former plantation

 

These were the petroglyphs that were easy to spot

Nice pool at base of petroglyphs

Almost missed these petroglyphs at base of rock

Closer view of the lower petroglyphs

Looking at Little Lameshur and great Lameshur Bays on walk back

1/13/2016 We headed back to Lindbergh Bay on St. Thomas to go to the Fed EX at the airport to pick up Connor’s passport which he had left at home. We needed that before we could go to the British Virgin Islands. We got the passport and then moved over to Brewer’s Bay for the evening.

1/14/2016 We had Connor put in a route on the chart plotter from Brewers Bay to Jost Van Dyke, BVI and we sailed over there to Great Harbour. We checked in and had our obligatory drink at Foxy’s. We were actually disappointed at Foxy’s: the internet was lousy, the service was nonexistent and the prices were higher than most other places we have been. 

Foxy's decor

Having our drinks at Foxy's

 1/15/2016 We motored around to Little Harbour the next day and hiked up a path to the top of the hill where we had a 360 degree view around the island. There were pretty views but not much shade and it was awfully hot. That evening we went in to Sydney’s Peace and Love Bar for happy hour where you serve yourself. Connor made us drinks and then we went to Harris’s restaurant for dinner. You get a free mooring ball if you have dinner there. We were the only ones there but Ms Cynthia made us a great dinner and was a very good host. Connor had a great lobster which we had leftovers of the next day in an omelette. Greg had a grouper which he really liked.

View from the hike in Little Harbour: our boat is to the left

Farther up the hill

Liz Ann and Connor

Connor mixong drinks at Sydney's Peace and Love

Nighttime view of Harris's dock in Little Harbour

1/16/2016 We set sail for Norman’s Island and had to take a mooring in the Bight. There are so many moorings and mostly very little deep water outside of the moorings so we couldn’t find a place to anchor.

The caves at Norman's Island

Mister Bean and his Happy Arrrr show

1/17/2016 We left the next morning for Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda to meet up with friends, Carl and Leslie on S/V Frolic. Greg has been friends with them since his Navy days. We had to cheat a bit and motorsail to outrun a squall. We anchored in Leverick Bay and visited with Carl and Leslie on their boat. The next evening we went to the “Happy Arrrh” show with Mister Bean at the marina. We also met Lance and Karen from S/V Bon Temps. Many people dressed as pirates for the occasion so we loaned Greg’s pirate costume to Connor and he fit right in. We went back to Jost Van Dyke to check out and then sailed back to the USVI the next day.

Connor meets Mr. Bea

Liz Ann and Leslie with Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean singing his pirate songs

Carl gives his parrot a drink

Another table of pirates

Liz Ann and Leslie drink for having to put up with their captain husbands

Connor takes a shot at the conch horn blowing contest

our group at table: Lance, Liz Ann, Karen, Leslie, Carl, Connor, Greg

1/20/2016 We motorsailed again to Caneel Bay on St. John, took a mooring temporarily so Greg could take Connor into Cruz Bay to check back in to the US. We checked in by filing our float plan online and then calling in but since Connor doesn’t have a local boater card, he had to go in in person. Then we went over to Christmas Cove, anchored and ordered a pizza from the pizza boat for lunch. After lunch we went over to Honeymoon Beach on Water Island (part of St. Thomas) and anchored for the evening. It took us 3 tries to anchor as the bottom is not great holding and it was crowded so we couldn’t get very close to shore. We went to the beach and had dinner at Dinghy’s Restaurant. We had lionfish sandwiches that were excellent!

Dinghy's Beach Bar at Honeymoon beach

Relaxing on the beach and watching the sun set

1/21/2016 Greg and Connor took the propane tanks in to Krum Bay to have them filled and then we took the boat into Crown Bay marina for fuel. Boy, was that convenient.  only had to walk a hundred yards from the dock to the filling station. We then sailed over to Lindbergh Bay and anchored and had lunch before walking with Connor back to the airport. We moved over to Brewer’s Bay and watched his plane take off a couple of hours later. 

Walking back to the airport. Had a great visit. Sorry to see it end!

1/22/2016 We found an orthopedist on our medical plan here in St. Thomas and Liz Ann got her cast off. She has to get a splint made because it is not totally healed. In addition, the base of the little finger also had a fracture that was missed by the doctor in Antigua.  We spent the weekend catching up with friends Mike and Kate on Horizons and whom we had met in Salinas, PR last May. They clued us in to the Anchor bar in Charlotte Amalie which has great free wifi and we went on a Sunday and even though the bar was closed, the wifi was on and we sat in their little courtyard using the internet. We also ate at a great little Mexican restaurant called Greengo’s in Charlotte Amalie. On Monday Liz Ann had her splint made and we spent the rest of the time there waiting for weather to go back to St. Martin and start our trip south back to Grenada.

Enjoying another happy hour at sunset

Antigua

 Antigua

12/28/2015 We left Des Haies, Guadeloupe at 0635 to head to Antigua. The winds were good most of the way, allowing us to make 7 knots most of the time. However, the seas were sloppy with waves hitting us from forward of the beam and swells hitting us on the stern quarter. We were rolling a bit but not too badly.  Greg fixed us some oatmeal and while I was eating, the wind blew the oatmeal off my spoon. As I leaned over to wipe it up, a wave hit and knocked the seat I was in over and me with it. My hand smacked up against the metal framework of the bimini and bent my last two fingers in ways they were not meant to go. I could feel the crunch in my hand and figured I had broken the 4th metacarpal (bone from the wrist to the fourth finger) We decided to continue on to Antigua rather than turn back to Des Haies because we thought we would have better access to medical care there. I dug out the medical kit and made a splint from our S.A.M. splint material and wrapped it on with an ace wrap. Once it was stabilized it didn't hurt too much. Just had to be careful not to bump it or bear weight on that hand. 
We arrived in Antigua and anchored in Falmouth Harbor. We made it in time to check in so Greg walked over to English Harbor to clear in with Customs and Immigration.  It was too late after that to get to a doctor's office but friends on Skitter Scamp put us in touch with Jonathan from ABSAR (Antigua Barbuda Search and Rescue) who has an office in Falmouth Harbour. He recommended a doctor and even called his office and we went for noon the next day (December 29). 

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Lots of pretty boats in Falmouth Harbour

Beautiful house as we entered the harbour

We took the bus to St. John's and then another to the strip mall where the doctor's office was. We ran into Mike from Alley Cat there. He was going to the dentist because he had broken a tooth in Guadeloupe. The doctor was from India but spoke English well. They x-rayed my hand and sure enough, the fourth metacarpal was broken. I also pointed out the intense bruising on my baby finger but he didn't see anything wrong there. He casted my hand with the last two fingers in cast. Looked like the Vulcan greeting "Live long and Prosper."

 

 The cast was terrible. My two fingers were squished together inside the cast. Half of the edges were raw fiberglass and he had not padded over the edge, making it very irritating to my skin. By Wednesday evening my fingers had swollen more and they were throbbing inside the cast. I tired to contact the doctor but his home number was answered by another Indian person who told me the doctor was off island. He told me to go to the office in the morning. Unfortunately, the next day was New Year's Eve. The man I spoke with could not tell me if the doctor would even be there. I figured if he was off island, his staff would not even have the office open. Sooooo, Greg got out his reciprocating Fein saw and we cut the cast along the little finger. I spread it open about 1/8 inch and it was just enough to stop the throbbing. At least now I didn't have to worry about losing my fingers from lack of circulation. My fingers continued to swell for a couple of days but no more throbbing. A little Tylenol took care of the discomfort. 

On the 30th we walked around Falmouth and English Harbour and visited Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour. There were so many beautiful and huge sailboats and motor yachts!

A yacht that supposedly the British Royals were on

Mega Yachts in Falmouth

In English Harbour

 

Beautiful classic boat in English Harbour

On New Year's Eve, Antigua has the Nelson's Pursuit Race. The boats are rated and the "slowest" boat starts first with a French flag on it. Then the other boats start in order of their handicap to "chase"the "French" boat as if they were Admiral Nelson's fleet. The first boat to cross the finish wins. Greg walked up to the top of Shirley Hill to watch the race and wound up helping the guy up there who was the race committee. They signalled the start for each boat and documented the finishes.

Announcing the winners

One crew receiving their prize: rum, of course

Comparing injuries

After the race, we went to the post race party at Nelson's Dockyard. We met quite a few of the racers and had some good rum punch. (For medicinal purposes of course, for my hand). 

On New Year's Eve, we were invited to S/V Nightwatch. We had met Mary and Ralph way back when we were in Marathon when we first started cruising. We spent some time with them in Grenada last summer and ran into them again here in Antigua. Anna and Hawken from Sweden on S/V Unicorn, joined us on Nightwatch. We had a really nice evening and Mary made the most delicious yeast rolls we have ever had. We returned to our boat about 9:00 but managed to stay up long enough to see the fireworks at midnight. That is the latest we have been up in a loooong time other than for night passages.  

1/2/2016 We wanted to spend more time exploring other areas of Antigua but needed to move on toward St. Thomas to be sure we were there in time to meet Connor who was due to arrive on January 9th. So we left Antigua at 10:30 in the morning to do an overnight passage to St. Maarten timing it so we would not arrive before dawn. The seas along the south side of Antigua were about 6 feet on the stern and very sloppy. At about 1130 when we turned to the northwest to head to St. Maarten the seas were lower but hitting us on the quarter and making us roll.  We couldn't sail the rhumb line until about 1300 when the wind picked up and finally clocked a bit to the East. By 2200 the wind had picked up to 17 knots and we were making about 6 knots which was going to get us to St. Maarten before sunrise. So we over-trimmed the reefed mainsail  to slow us down a bit.  We arrived in Simpson Bay and anchored about 0800 the next morning. We did not check in because we were leaving again the next day. We probably would have continued on to St. Thomas without a stop in St. Maarten or at least left that afternoon but didn't want to push ourselves as Greg was having to do a lot more of the work because of me being essentially one-handed.