Our Last Visitors

We are back in St Thomas after spending a week in the BVI's with our daughter Jessica, her husband Ryan and his parents, Lonnie and Gene. And before you ask- yes we had the dogs on the boat too.  It was a bit crowded and I was a little nervous having that many people on our little bitty floating home but it was a lot of fun and nobody fell overboard. We checked in at Jost Van Dyke and it had to be the easiest check in I had with the dogs this whole trip. We spent a day at the Soggy Dollar drinking painkillers and the evening at Foxy's. Then the next day we headed over to Cane Garden Bay on Tortola after stopping at the bubbly pool, which wasn't too bubbly because there was hardly any wind the whole time they were here. Had dinner at Myett's which is one of my favorite places (theirs too now I think). Then we headed over to Norman island and actually spent Wes's birthday at the Willy T and needless to say we had a blast.  It was a great week and we did a lot of snorkeling. Knowing that we weren't going to back to the BVI's in who knows how long, we wanted to make sure we enjoyed it and we sure did.

Unfortunately there was hardly any wind the whole week they were here so we weren't able to do a lot of sailing. We motor sailed most of the time and on one engine because YES once again we had engine trouble. Wes ordered a heat exchanger because the starboard engine kept heating up and we had it rushed delivered hoping we would get it a few days before they came but of course it gets here the day before they came. Wes installed it but the engine was still overheating. Then the port engine belt kept slipping after we got over to the BVI's but Wes was able to switch the belts so at least we had one engine for the week. 

They all left on Wednesday and it's now Thursday and Wes spent the morning getting the engines working and was able to get everything fixed.  Then this afternoon we ran around getting the boat loaded with food, beer, wine and dog food because we plan on leaving St. Thomas in the morning and heading to Fajardo, Puerto Rico to start the last leg of our journey.  We were both a little sad yesterday with the kids leaving then realizing we were going to be leaving St. Thomas.  It's kind of been our home away from home since we have spent so much time here but I think we are both ready to start heading back to Colorado.  We will be stopping in the Dominican Republic for a couple days after Fajardo then to the Bahama's.  The plan is to spend about 3 weeks making our way up the chain and hopefully get to the US around the first of June giving us a month to make it up to Maryland through the Inter coastal Waterway, spending as little amount of time in Florida as possible since our experience there last time was not so good.  But we definitely need to be in Ocean City Maryland by July 9th because the whole family is meeting there for a week on the beach. 

Dinner at Myett's in Cane Garden Bay

Having cocktails at Quito's on Cane Garden Bay

Lexie found a new napping spot

Ryan, Gene, Jess and Wes jumping off the Willy T

Wes doing a backflip off the Willy T

Wes Snorkeling through the cave at the Indian's

Hanging out at Foxy's

At the Baths

Jess and Ryan trying to find shade on the boat

We opened Wes's 16 year old bottle of Rum he bought at the Bacardi factory.

and had a toast for his birthday

a couple of sunsets along the way

Loving the USVI's

We spent the last couple of weeks hanging out on St. Croix and loving it. We kept saying we were going to leave in the morning but then we would end up staying another day.  We spent most of the time in Frederikstad, which really isn't the main port but it's where the cruise ships come in and we really liked the anchorage. They get about 16 cruise boats a month, which really surprises me that more don't stop on this beautiful island. It gets a little crazy when a boat is in. The beach gets packed and shops open just for that day. They also set up a bunch of tents where the locals sell their stuff.
We did spend a couple of days at Christiansted, which is the main port.  We rented a car but this time we made it to the Cruzan Rum factory.  We tried last time we were there but it was closing just as we got there but this time we made it.  It was a lot of fun even though they weren't making any rum at the time but they were delivering molasses and we were able to taste it right out of the tank. They have been making rum there since 1760 and you pretty much just found it in the West Indies. But in 2008 Jim beam purchased the distillery and they brought all the bottling to the states. So they everything over on a boat to be bottled and then they send 20% back to St Croix to be sold in the islands. Needless to say we purchased several different flavors to try out.

Christensted fort

Old sugar mill made into a bar on the boardwalk in Christensted

The molasses you could taste right off the truck

Lots of rum aging

almost pure alcohol

The sugar mill at the entrance to the Cruzan rum factory

I Must Be Color Blind

I must be color blind. I have been looking for the green flash for two years now and still haven’t seen one.  For those of you who don’t know what a green flash is, its at the moment when the last bit of sunlight  goes under the horizon, there is supposed to be a green flash that I’m told goes up from where the sun goes down and proceeds across the sky very fast. That is why it is called a flash.  Oh, this only happens when the sun goes down on a clear night, no clouds near the sun.

I was at a restaurant on Friday watching the NCAA basketball tournament and we had such a sunset. I watched it very carefully. I didn’t blink or anything and I still didn’t see a green flash. Other people around me said they saw it but I didn’t. Some of me wants to believe that its like the emperors new clothes and they just say they saw it but really didn’t. Its either that or I’m color blind and can not see a shade of green.

Here are some resent sunsets.

Finally Learned how to sail

I haven't blogged in a while, We have been in the BVI's for about three weeks and we didn't really have internet access over there. At least not enough to do a blog. So please excuses my tardiness for not blogging.
During that time in the BVI's I think I finally learned how to sail. For most of the two years we have been on our boat we mostly motor sailed. You have the sails up but you also have the engines on. For the most part we would average about 5 knots. That was in most points of sail. Sometimes we would do a little more but never over 8 knots.
For the last two mouths I have been doing alot more pure sailing. Most of the time I'm on a beam or broad reach and  doing 6.5 to 7.5 knots with just the sails up. I don't really know what I'm doing different but I seem to be able to adjust the sails so much quicker. I have also found that just a half turn on the winch can make a huge difference in speed. I don't think my boat will ever sail fast on a close reach. Catamarans are known not to sail well into the wind and I think that is definitely the case for our cat. But I have also found some techniques to help with that. Pulling in the sail from the windward side sometimes, which I just learned how to do, and it really helps with speed. I can also get the head sail up alot closer to the wind.
I don't know if I ever will be a great sailor. I think I would have to crew on a race boat to really dial in the sails. But I do think I'm at the point were I can sail to most places and leave the engines off.

 

 

Finally got to Anegada

It’s been a pretty good week because we got to check a couple of things off our bucket list.  We made it over to the BVI’s on Friday and we anchored in Trellis Bay on Tortola Sunday and Monday night.  We planned it so we could finally get to the Full Moon Party on Monday night.  We have been to the BVI’s numerous times but we never made it to the Full Moon Party before.  It was a lot of fun with lot’s of food and music.  Then around eight they start lighting several of these metal balls on fire. 
The other thing that we we wanted to do is get to Anegada.  We always talked about doing it on the bareboats that we rented but there was always someone that got a little sea sick so we were never able to get there.  It’s about 15 miles north of Virgin Gorda and all open ocean so it can get a little rough.  We had really good wind on Monday and sailed (without engines) all the way over.  It was awesome.  We rented a motorbike and explored the island (all 11 miles)  It’s a very flat island with a salt pond in the middle where there are pink flamingos.  We couldn’t get close enough too them to take pictures though.  It’s a nice island and I’m glad we finally made it.

The steel drum band at the full moon party

The fireballs at the full moon party

Enjoying the USVI-Puerto Rico

I know we haven’t blogged in a while and sorry about that.  We have been sailing around a bit not just hibernating on the boat on some exotic island.   At the end of January we headed over to Puerto Rico by way of Culebra.  We stayed a couple of nights at some very nice anchorages on Culebra, which is well known for all of it’s awesome snorkeling and nice beaches.  Once you get out of the main bay, which is Encinada Honda there really aren’t many boats around.  We totally skipped Encinada Honda this time and went around to the northwest side of the island and stayed a couple of nights in some nice bays.  Then headed over to San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I actually flew out of San Juan to San Francisco on the 27th to surprise Amanda for her birthday.  She planned a birthday trip to San Francisco with some friends and family to celebrate her golden birthday (she turned 29 on the 29th).  It was great because she didn’t have any idea I was coming and was totally surprised.  We had four really fun days of running all over the city, going to Alcatraz, fisherman’s wharf, China Town, Little Italy and the super cross races in Oakland.  Then we all flew back to Loveland and I stayed there for 3 more days. 
Wes stayed on the boat with the dog’s but his sister flew out from Rochester to keep him company.  They rented a car and ran all over Puerto Rico.  Wes finally got back to the Bacardi factory to buy his 15 year old bottle of rum that he had been wanting since the first time we went there-haven’t cracked it open yet though. 
So now we are back in St. Thomas and we have been going around the island from Charlotte Amalie to Red Hook.  Getting a lot of things done on the boat and running into some friends.  Hopefully we will be heading over to the BVI’s in a couple of days because we still want to get to Anegada, which is the furthest north of all of the islands and the only island in the BVI’s that we haven’t been to. 

A tiny island we stopped at so Wes could walk the dogs on our way to Culebra

A lighthouse on Puerto Rico

The fort coming into San Juan harbor

The brightly painted buildings by old San Juan

Back in the US

  After 8 months we are finally back in the U.S.  Well, U.S. territory that is.  We made it into Red Hook, St. Thomas early Sunday morning.  It feels really good to be back in the U.S. though. 

When we left St. Martin we noticed that the starboard side starter was going out so when we got into Red Hook we ordered a new one, which is suppose to be here on Friday.  That’s the other good thing about being back in the U.S., you can get parts shipped down at a reasonable rate and time frame.  Wes is still dealing with a couple of other things that are needing his attention while we wait for the starter-the autopilot isn’t working so that made it for a long 99 knots over from St. Martin to St. Thomas being that you had to stay at the helm and steer the whole time.  We left St. Martin at around 9:30 am on Sunday and there was little to no wind so we had to motor the whole way.  It took right around 20 hours to cross over and we got into Red Hook while it was still dark (very dark since there was no moon) but luckily we were familiar with the anchorage and we were able to drop anchor without too much trouble.  We probably should have planned that a little better and left later in the day so we would get in when it was light, but we made it ok. 
We are now in Charlotte Amalie’s bay because Wes was craving Pizza Amore’s pizza since we haven’t had really good pizza in quite some time and boy was it good.  Charlotte Amalie is pretty nice and it is where most of the cruise boats come in so there is quite a bit of shopping and many other conveniences such as a Kmart, big grocery stores, home depot, Wendy’s, Subway and Hooter’s (which will come in handy for watching the Bronco’s on Sunday).  But we plan on hanging around here for a week or so.  

This guy takes his horse for a swim in the bay at Red Hook every morning

Red Hook

The Marina in Charlotte Amalie

Charlotte Amalie Bay