Two years (plus) post Irma

Anyone still out there? I realize it's been more than a year since our last post, but I haven't abandoned you (or the blog). I even started a post once or twice but got tired of editing hurricane photos and set it aside; before I knew it more than a year had gone by. However.... it's October and I'm dangerously close to letting an entire calendar year go by without an update, so I'm co-opting the beginnings of a post that Skip started ages ago that picks up where he left off last September. We've got some catching up to do.

I'll start with non-sailing news and the absolute antidote to hurricane photos.... baby Hayden arrived in July of 2018! She's sweet and adorable and completely fearless.

Five day old Hayden, full of milk and happy.

Here she is on her first birthday, getting the hang of eating birthday cake with a little coaxing from Easton, who is quite experienced at it, having had two birthdays already. 

Celebrating Hayden's first birthday

Eating banana bread is much simpler.

They're great kids and we're lucky to spend so much time with them. There's a pint sized  aquarium nearby where the kids can touch all kinds of sea life and like any kid worth their salt, they both love getting their hands on everything there. We're (not so) secretly prepping them to come to see us in the islands where they can see all kinds of sea life.

Very attentive at the aquarium.

Please touch!

Now that you've sufficiently oohed and aahed over our grandkid photos (right?)... back to Saralane and the islands.

Skip had enough confidence in the engine now to motor Saralane from Manuel Reef around to Trellis Bay to pick me up and that's when I got my first look at the damage there.  Battered boats covered the shoreline.

More than explicit warning

Boats littered the entire beach

As in most areas, the moorings in Trellis were still in place, but the Loose Mongoose had sustained damage and the Last Resort had been completely destroyed. The small market was still functioning though and the rotis were as tasty as ever.

From Trellis we headed over to Mountain Point to see how things looked. The goats were still there and in much bigger groups than before. Normally we'd see 6 or 8 together, but this time there were 30 or more in a group.

No goat yoga for this crowd

Underwater at Mountain Point was pretty bleak. We don't trust the seal on our underwater camera anymore so I don't have any photos but all the coral we'd photographed years back was completely white and much of it lay in pieces in the sand.

We planned to visit Clinton and though we'd had more than our fill of VGYH, we still wanted to say hello to Maurice, so we decided to rent a car out of Leverick Bay to avoid the rolly anchorage (and new dinghy landing fee) by VGYH. We motored to North Sound and did a quick tour of the Sound before anchoring off the resort in Leverick. 

There was some clean up going on at Saba Rock and from what we heard, it's been bought and plans are underway to rebuild. These photos are from May 2018 so a lot may have changed by now.... or not. Bitter End was still barely in the clean up stage at this point.

Saba Rock

During our drive around Virgin Gorda we gave a lift to a woman who was trying to get to work at Hog Heaven, which was up and running much to the delight of everyone who likes barbeque (hogs) and gorgeous mountaintop views of North Sound (heaven). 

The shoreline on the windward side was choked with sargasso; a problem several of the Caribbean islands have been coping with. You can see Clinton's house here; it's the second from the left and practically right on the beach. A fabulous spot when there's no hurricane coming. The red house is such a curious place... practically everything on the property was either red to begin with or has been painted red. I mean RED red, not just plain old regular sort of red. The house, the cars and trucks, the palm tree trunks, even the dog's house is painted red.

 
We got a look at Clinton's old boat La Boheme which had finally been lifted out of the water. She was a beautiful boat and it was sad to see her in ruins.

Top two - La Boheme, Bottom two - around Virgin Gorda

Clinton's house repair was still in the works but there was a lot of progress since we'd last seen it. Still a killer view.

A picture window will replace the sliding glass doors on the sea side

Simba - no longer a kitten but still feisty and loud

We said our goodbyes to Clinton and spent the afternoon roaming around the Coppermine and the beach at Spring Bay. We stopped in at the Top of the Baths where we were the only customers. 

Coppermine ruins

Palm tree and halo around the sun at Spring Bay

No need for open umbrellas at empty tables at Top of the Baths

 

Apropos of nothing... this was a mystery can still on board Saralane. We decided not to chance it.

Before clearing out in West End, we spent a few nights anchored in Little Harbor, Peter Island, an old favorite spot. We did the requisite walk up to the ruined house and got a good view of Saralane. I even found a flower or two to restart my flora (and sometimes fauna) photos.

Saralane with half her mast in lovely Little Harbor

Some things have improved at West End customs since I took these photos in May 2018. For one thing they now have a prefab building instead of a makeshift tent so the customs officials no longer have to weigh down their piles of paperwork with rocks and hunks of concrete to keep the wind from blowing it all away. Other things haven't changed. If you want to clear in or out here you still have to climb up the truck tires onto the dock. Nice.

 

We climbed the tires, cleared out, and headed for St John

For the first time since Irma, Saralane was leaving the BVI. We felt we'd come a long way since the day we spent watching the hurricane track over the islands and the days following when we scoured the internet for information, only to do it all over again two weeks later when Maria made a pass at the islands. 

I'll leave it here for now and pick up in St John next time. Sorry for the long wait for a blog post... thanks for sticking with me!