Long Time No Blog

We've done a lot of traveling since our last blog from Barbuda - both on Saralane and by air. But first, to bring you up to date on the IT front, the Mac magicians in St Maarten were not able to help, so we are limping along on my wimpy PC - that in spite of its shortcomings - works. Mr. Mac is now in the hands of a new Mac magician stateside who may be able to resuscitate, but a final repair decision has yet to be made.

After a season of few itineraries, we found ourselves balancing schedules and timing for much of April and May.  My mom (Kathy) turned 90 in early June and we celebrated in St Croix. Last year's trip to the Buccaneer was to celebrate my dad's 90th and this year we were invited again, along with my sister Cindy and husband Dan, for a week stay there to celebrate again.  A quick flight from St Maarten to St Croix - thank you Liat - and we were in a king size bed, had endless hot water, and were waited on hand and foot.

 



All of us... Maddie, Me, Mom, Dad, Cindy and Dan
 




Me, Mom, Cindy, & Dad




Cindy & Me

For a long time, Mom & Dad have booked their Buccaneer stay in late April and coincidentally, partners Tom & Giovanni also book the same period. Over the years they became acquaintances, and now are very good friends.  An unlikely foursome, but happily times are a-changin'.

Tom & Giovanni

Mom and Dad & "The Boys"



Helping hands

Almost 90!



Who is missing?

The birthday girl gets her cake

All in all it was a relaxing week with family, but now time to get back aboard and continue with our schedule.  My daughter Eliza was arriving in the BVI in a week and we also wanted to connect with Dave & Wendy, friends who were beginning a charter in the BVI. As soon as we got back to St Martin we cleared out of the Dutch side, checked out of the marina and moved across the Lagoon to the French side. To do so we made our first passage through the new causeway bridge that bisects the Lagoon. Very cool LED lighting at night!



Much better at night!

We promptly headed across Anegada Passage to Virgin Gorda - unfortunately the forecast was for light winds directly behind us. The trip was made easily in daylight and we dropped the hook behind Eustatia Island for the night, then cleared in at Gun Creek in Virgin Gorda. Once again we confirmed that the ocean is indeed fished out of mahi and tuna. 



Leaving Marigot at dawn



About 13 hours under power - the dreaded Anegada Passage

Dave & Wendy had just picked up their giant charter cat and met us at Mountain Point for the night before they collected their family/guests.



D & W's BIG cat dwarfs Saralane in the background

Evening  sky in Mountain Point... a change in the weather?

Eliza was arriving in West End on the Jet Blue red eye from Boston in two days time, so we meandered to Tortola via Benure's Bay at Norman Island - a favorite spot. It had not rained significantly for months and on the morning Eliza was due to arrive, we awoke to torrential rains that continued all that day and into the next. A lousy way for Lize to start her holiday, but things improved quickly and were more in keeping with the BVI.



Snorkeling the Caves at Norman Island

And the weather got better

Prickley Pear Beach

 

Eustatia Sound

YCCS at North Sound

This is what happens after a week in the BVI

After a great week, we put Eliza on the ferry back to St Thomas and home - then we had to hustle to our next scheduled activity - namely I was to deliver an Outbound back to RI while Maddie held the fort down in Nanny Cay marina where friends Ted & Claudia (and kids Max & Anya) work and live aboard.

After returning from the delivery, we left Nanny Cay, cleared out of the BVI and spent a week over in Francis Bay, St John. More about the delivery and Nanny Cay later. Hopefully this hasn't been to much of a travelogue, but it brings us fairly up to date. These images, from our vantage point in Francis Bay in St John, were taken within moments of each other as the sun set. Definitely a better view than in the HOT marina...

Barbudaaaahhhhh

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don't think I can overstate how much we love it here. If you've been traveling along with us then you know all about Barbuda by now.... the miles of powder soft beaches, the clearer than clear water, the haunting remains of the K Club... I'm at a rare loss for words here so the photos will have to do.

As much as it feels like time is standing still in Barbuda.... it's not, so after too few days anchored off Coco Point we headed back to Antigua to clear out and get underway to St Barth's. The forecast was for high winds and big seas and we had both.

Leaving Jolly Harbor with squalls all around



Big seas. BIG seas. Happily, they were following seas.

We spent two nights anchored in Columbier on the northwest tip of St Barth's waiting for some moderation in the wind and sea conditions and were lucky to have found ourselves in a good spot to watch some of Les Voiles de St Barth's racing going on that weekend. Gustavia was packed full of yachts for the races and it seemed that even some of the big motor yachts couldn't bear the rolling in the anchorage there and came over to Columbier for calmer conditions.

 

Hanging with the big boys in Columbier

Racing upwind

 

Slipping behind the waves

The high winds and big seas were still in force during our sail from St Barth's to St Maarten and made our downwind trip fast. Squalls slipped past us giving us a little extra wind, but we managed to stay dry. 



Squall and big waves between St Barth's and St Maarten

Tomorrow we tuck Saralane into a slip for a week and fly to St Croix for a visit with Skip's family. One last chore here in St Maarten before we go is to take my ailing MacBook to the Mac magician here and hope for the best. Fingers crossed.

(Still) On the Move

We sailed into Portsmouth still a little glum from losing our entire reel of fishing line when we snagged Seabird on our way in. Still, we were a little cheered by the fact that we'd finally caught something.

 

After we settled in we realized we were smack dab in front of the noisiest bar on the beach - and it was Friday night - so we pulled up the anchor and moved to a more peaceful spot. Out of the noise, but not out of the roll. Another north swell tracked down into the island chain and we rolled along with everyone else in the anchorage.

 

Clearing in on the weekend means overtime...

Even the customs office has pineapples growing out in the front garden.

We didn't plan to spend much time in Dominica on this pass, but still wanted to get up into the rain forest (and of course visit the hot pool!) so we headed for Segment 11 of the Waitukubuli Trail in the company of an Australian guy we'd met who was traveling with friends of friends (there's a lot of that out here). Jason was great company and I'm sure we slowed him down a bit on the uphill sections of the trail.

This section of the trail takes us past Johnson's farm and we shouted out for him but didn't connect this time. We did however check in on his pigs.... or rather, his pig. He's down to one and we're wondering if the other one is on the menu somewhere in town.

 

Skinny pig... perhaps trying to avoid becoming a meal for someone?

We came across two guys working on keeping the trail clear... even in the dry season it gets overgrown... and stopped for a chat.

Jason chats up a trail maintenance guy

This guy was filling us in on which birds to find where, when he tilted his head back, half closed his eyes, rolled up his tongue and did the most spot on imitation of one of the birds we'd been hearing all during our hike.

 

Expert bird call imitator and excellent trail tender

The trail ended by the Picard River where we had a well deserved cool down in the fresh water.



We always hate to leave Dominica but we're still aiming for St Maarten on a schedule (nasty things, schedules) so off we sailed to the Saints in Guadeloupe. The forecast was for big winds and big seas but was it surprisingly (and happily) less aggressive than anticipated and we had a fast sail up.

We always make time for a snorkel behind Pain de Sucre... there are loads of fish and always a few lobsters hiding here.



Election season in Guadeloupe... wonder if Hilaire's stylized poster helped him win?

It was here in the Saints that I first realized I'd better get the blog up to date. We gone to a little café for wifi and as we were leaving we heard "Saralane?!" Our friends Theo and Irene from s/v Sotirius were walking down the street and spotted us. "We thought you were still in Bequia!" they said. Um.... better get the blog up to date. We're traveling different directions but it was good to catch up with them for a few minutes.

Still on the move we only spent two nights in the Saints before continuing north to Pigeon Island where we picked up a mooring ball for a snorkel in the underwater park here. I'm skeptical about underwater parks since our stop in Dragon Bay in Grenada, but it was pretty nice here. Full of fish, like most protected places, which is always nice to see.

View from below

Saralane, with centerboard down, swinging on her mooring

Little squid trying to act big.

The anchorage here is always prone to wind shifts around the land so we sailed on to Deshaies to spend the night instead. This shortened our sail to Antigua the next day too.
The unexpectedly pleasant sail we had from Dominica to the Saints was balanced out by the unexpectedly crappy sail we had from Guadeloupe to Antigua. Forecast was for winds 17 to 22 knots from the east and seas 4 to 6 feet. Perfect. The actual conditions were winds from 25 to 30 and seas 8 to 10 feet with a swell countering the waves from a southerly angle. It was a giant washing machine out there. On the upside, we made it to Antigua in a hurry.

So here we sit, in Jolly Harbor, getting ready to sail to Barbuda. Pretty happy about that. Next post - all about Barbuda. Pretty happy about that too.