Well almost 7 days to the hour from leaving Bermuda and a 1 ½
months from leaving Hampton, VA, we dropped our anchor in the British Virgin
Islands!! The weather had been getting
increasingly warm as the latitudes decreased but it was great to finally be
where we were warm. The sail down was
mostly uneventful (don’t ask Pedro about having to fix the head in the middle
of a rolling ocean) and with the exception of about a day, we were able to sail
the entire time in about the direction we wanted to go. We took off from Bermuda with about 5 other
boats we’d gotten to know (everyone was also waiting for a good weather window)
but quickly lost touch with 2 of them.
We kept our buddies Alison and Dan aboard Equus within sight or at least
radio distance for the entire trip and another boat Julia Max, we were able to
talk to on the single side band radio twice a day (we set up our own little
radio net for a little extra safety and comradery). All in all, everyone made it to the Virgin
Islands unscathed and about the same time.
We checked into customs in Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda and
walked around some then decided that it would be best to head over to Trellis
Bay on Tortola to try to get an anchorage spot (luckily we did because it
filled up very quickly) so we would be able to attend their monthly fireball
party to celebrate the full moon. What a
great party! The local artist sets up
these metal sculptures that are filled with wood and lights them on fire. They also had a Moko Jumbie working the party
as well as an acrobat. The art gallery
was open as was the restaurant and bar.
We met a ton of great people and even met a guy who gave us a lot of
information on where to visit in the islands.
The next morning we walked all around the bay checking out
the numerous boats that had been destroyed during the hurricanes. There were many!!! Leaving Trellis Bay, we headed over to Marina
Cay to visit the Pusser’s Rum store and just walk around the island. The hurricanes did a lot of damage here and
not much was open. It was still a fun spot
to see and we did get some Pusser’s run since we had to have the ingredients for
pain killers!! Next, we found Buck
Island with the hope of snorkeling. Not
so much! The reef was almost completely
dead. There was no real live coral and
only a very few fish that we saw. Very
sad. We believe this was again due to
the hurricane.
From Buck Island, we decided to head into Road Town on
Tortola so that we could do some shopping.
This town too was suffering from the effects of the hurricanes from
numerous destroyed boats almost everywhere and many buildings that had yet to
be repaired. We were able to find enough
stores for our shopping and even managed to find an Indian restaurant for
Christmas Eve dinner (yes, MaryAnn admits that she may have a problem but it
was delicious). On our way back to the
boat MaryAnn and Alison attempted dinghy Christmas caroling but there were no
other occupied boats in the area to hear them (probably not a bad thing).
Christmas morning, Alison fixed an amazing brunch of smoked salmon (it was the last of the salmon that Pedro smoked before we left Hampton) eggs benedict and fixings! We had mimosas to top everything off. Pretty perfect morning!
We left Road Town and headed over to Norman Island where we
were told we would be able to hike to the top of the mountain for a great
view. The hike was fun and the view was
great! Back from the hike, we found
evidence of previous bonfires on the rocky shore beach and decided that we
would have our own. What a great time
that was! We roasted hot dogs with all
of the fixings and got to sit around the bonfire for a few hours enjoying the
cricket serenade and the crystal clear night sky!
Next, we decided to head back to Virgin Gorda to snorkel the
Baths area. The Baths were so crowded
that we decided to try the area just outside of them (we’d all been there
before so it wasn’t necessary to try to squeeze in). Again, the coral was mostly dead and very
little fish life. The granite boulders
are cool to snorkel around but not a lot of life.
From there we headed over to Gorda Bay where we told we
might see some flamingos in the salt ponds at sunset. We walked the beach, found the salt ponds, and
enjoyed happy hour but no flamingos. We did, however, find a unicorn!
We
then took the dinghy over to Leverick Bay where we were able to dock the dinghy and
hike up another (paved roads but much much steeper) mountain. Again, the view was pretty fabulous. Back down the mountain, the bar at the marina
at Leverick Bay served up the best painkillers we’d has so far (could have been
the exhaustion of the hike but they were great).
The next day, we decided to head back west. We stopped in Soper’s Hole to check out the
little town (it too was badly damaged by the hurricanes but they are definitely
trying to rebuild).
Then onto Cane Garden Bay.
This town was the most reconstructed one we’d seen and several restaurants
and bars and a great grocery store were all open. In addition, they have a very nice and large
beach. We had planned to stay only one
night before heading over to Jost van Dyke where Foxy’s has an annual New
Year’s Eve Party that is renowned. A
few restaurants in Cane Garden Bay were also planning New Year’s Eve events
(one was to be a masquerade party) and reports from Jost van Dyke, eluded to
the fact that Foxy’s was the equivalent of spring break with no room for
anchorages so it would be a long wet (it was a really windy night) dinghy
ride. So we decided to stay put and
Alison went to work making us masks using some of her old sail cloth (www.sailmates.org
or sailmates on Facebook to see her other creations). The parties were a little more subdued but
were still great and we even met up with some old friends whom we’d last seen
in Bermuda. Turned out to be a great way
to end the year!!!
The next morning we made our way over to Jost and realized
that the party was still going on. We waked
the beach, hiked a little and went snorkeling.
Again, the island is rebuilding but the reef is mostly dead after being
destroyed from the hurricane. Very sad!
Finally, we decided to head over to the USVI. We pulled into St. John’s cleared customs and
remarked that we were back in the US after almost exactly 2 months. We found a great anchorage in Christmas Cove
where we were able to get Pizza Pi pizza and enjoy a pizza picnic on the
beach. Pizza Pi is an old sailboat that
has been converted into a floating pizza restaurant. The pizza was really good
too. After lunch we decided to try
snorkeling again! Finally some life! The reef, while damaged, was still alive and
gorgeous. We saw a small (about 4 foot
wing span) eagle ray and swam for the longest time with a turtle. Best snorkeling we’d had so far!
When were in Maryland we’d met some friends who own a Cabo
Rico 56 named Quetzel (our boat but bigger). We’d kept
in touch with them and when they heard we were in the islands, they talked us
into meeting them in St. Croix for the J’ouvert Carnival Parade. It’s an annual event on St. Croix that marks
the end of the Christmas season. We
decided to take a nice 6 hour sail and see what it was about. WOW!!!
They really go all out for this and we really enjoyed ourselves. They even had a great fireworks show that we
could easily see from the boat.
The next morning, we walked the beach finding a ton of great sea glass and walked around Frederiksted some. Very interesting architecture and not too touristy. Definitely some damage from the hurricanes but also appears to have suffered from economic downturn too. Could be a a really neat city and it looks like they are trying to come back.
We
stayed one more day to visit the Cruzan rum distillery too. We thought it funny that Jim Beam actually
bottles the rum (it’s made here and shipped there for bottling). Pedro’s parents live just down the road from
the Jim Beam distillery. We didn’t
really explore much more of St. Croix as we plan to stop there again later and
really needed to get back to St. Thomas to attend to some boat chores and
repairs. Nothing too major thankfully
but it is a boat! We are settled in here
in St. Thomas in a great comfortable marina easy walking distance from Red Hook
and not too far to walk to our friends on Equus anchored in another harbor for
the next month so we’ll hopefully get to explore some more in between boat
chores.
Until next post!
