Starting off with a bang

I know it's been a long time since my last post... we've been back in the states for a few months working, seeing family and friends and giving our house some much needed TLC (that's a whole different blog). But I'm writing this on Saralane as we bob at anchor in Mountain Point in Virgin Gorda. Nice.

I'll go back to the end of last season in a minute but first - our launch a few days ago.

Reuben picks up Saralane in the trailer

Maurice gives Reuben the high sign when the pads are properly placed

Riding in the trailer to the travelift

As has become our practice, we hang in the slings over the yard's lunch break so we can lower and paint the centerboard. Skip patched the "bite" in the centerboard while we were in the yard and it needed a few coats of paint too.

A long way up (or down, as the case may be)

Painting our much loved centerboard

With the centerboard paint dry, all that's left to do is raise the board before going back in the water. Skip climbs the long ladder and winches up the board as I wait below the boat with the Spectra sling in hand to secure the board in the up position. The board was most of the way up and that's where the BANG! comes in. It was the sound the centerboard made when the cable we installed last fall parted from the swage fitting and 800 pounds of board slammed back down in one swift soul crushing motion. There was a fraction of second of silence while we both registered what had happened; the next minute or two of conversation are unprintable. Needless to say this was stingingly disappointing. Visions of rough passages filled my mind and visions of expensive short hauls to try another fix filled Skip's. 

But... the travelift operator was waiting and other boats needed his attention. We had no choice but to pin the board back in the up position and go in the water. We're back to being a fixed shallow draft boat. 

All is not lost though. Everything else on the boat is in great shape (touch wood here) and we've mostly recovered our sunny outlook on life here in the Caribbean. We sat over drinks that night and started to think up new designs for a more robust cable system. We're open to suggestions. Seriously. 

There's lots more to cover, but I think a quickie summary of the end of last season will be enough for now. We spent some time in Lee Bay which is always quiet. The swimming here is great and we're often the only boat.

John H gets a refresher - the sun fades our non-marine grade Sharpie lettering/numbering

Burning man 

John H enjoys the fire too

Saralane alone in Lee Bay

With time on our hands we wandered over to St John to enjoy a few more nights in Francis Bay. Even with Maho Bay Camps closed, there are still lots of people on the beach and in the water.

Giant pelican? Mini yacht? Or is it just perspective....

Nope... it's definitely a giant pelican!

John H makes friends with the laughing gulls

We eventually hauled out and did all the grubby boat yard work we do each year. Sails off, dinghy deflated and put on deck, canvas cleaned and off, perishables given away, roach cookies made and spread around etc. This year we sanded and painted the bottom on this end instead of waiting until our launch to do it. This made us extra happy when we came back and didn't have to sand and paint. Why it took us four years to figure this out I'm not quite sure.

Skip paints. I photograph.

So - kind of a disjointed blog but hey, I'm out of practice! My repaired Mac is humming along nicely (more knocking on wood here) so I have no excuse for not blogging until/unless something else goes on the fritz. I'll leave you with one of many pretty night skies we still oooh and aaah at here. See you here again soon....

Ink Blot test

We've had no trouble getting back into "hanging around in one place" mode since our arrival in the BVI. An unexpected bonus was that early on our time here coincided with friends we haven't seen in a while. John and Fran from s/v Kia Ora, who we haven't seen since last year in St Bart's, have also gotten into the hanging around in one place mode and we sailed over to meet them in Cane Garden Bay. Our friends Tim and Nancy from s/v Larus were in the BVI to run a charter for a week and made a dash around for just a night to catch up with us too. No photos of Tim and Nancy this time.... they just move too fast! But here's the crew of Kia Ora...

Fran, John and Skip on Saralane (note the new cockpit cushions... sewn during my stay in Nanny Cay Marina)

Everyone has already headed off different directions, but it was really nice to reconnect even for a short time. We nudged John and Fran to make a stop at Mountain Point in Virgin Gorda which has become one of our favorite spots and we kept each other company for a few days there, snorkeling the clear water and taking turns paddling around on their paddle board.

Schools of little fishes are everywhere

Fran goes upside down to check on a lobster we came across under a rock

John goes upside down just for the hell of it. Something about being from Down Under maybe?

Swimming through bubbles from scuba divers below us

We were here for more than a week, during which time a school of squid took up residence under the boat. We'd snorkel around and just watch them each day; by the time we left there were 43 in the squid squad.

Mostly they seemed fine with us being there, as long as we didn't make any sudden moves or dive into the water on top of them (ahem, Skip).

Coloring on a calm cool and collected squid

Coloring on a recently-freaked-out-but-trying-to-calm-down-squid

The squid had at least one rough night while we were there. We felt a few thumps against the side of the boat and didn't think much of it, guessing it was probably just fish feeding around us, but in the morning we saw it was more than that. Somebody either got eaten, or barely escaped being eaten, and left an inky mess on Saralane's port side in the process.

Squid ick/ink.

This isn't really your typical household cleaning problem, and absent any handy "how to remove squid ink from gelcoat" guide, we just scrubbed it with everything we had and eventually got it pretty clean. Next time we'll know....

Scrub scrub scrub.....

Though we're keeping an eye out for a weather window for one more trip to St Martin, we'll more than likely just stick around here until we haul out in a few weeks. The water is crystal clear, the fish (and squid) are plentiful, the sailing is easy, the anchorages are calm and the wifi isn't bad either. That and.... well, we just like it here.

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.