Dalton W. Williams
US Virgin Islands
St. John's
British Virgin Islands
Here it was Friday, December 13th when Quietly sailed into Cruz Bay, St. John's, US Virgin Islands. We had made it just a few days before the first anniversary of my purchase of Quietly. Quietly was finally home in her Caribbean waters. If you don't remember from the first part of the log, Quietly was purchased from Brian and Terri Schmitz who had lived aboard her in the Caribbean for five years. It is truly amazing the number of times we hear a knock on the side of Quietly and hear someone calling out "Brian - Terri". Quietly is well know in the Caribbean. I can only hope that we make as many good friends over the next five years!
Well,
here we are in the Caribbean, Quietly's home...
And our home for the coming year. I made this picture to give you a feel
for this special place. The picture was made at sunset on Christmas Day on Maho Bay on St. Johns, USVI as we walked up the mountain to
Christmas Dinner at Maho Bay Camp Grounds. Quietly is one of the boats in the bay somewhere.
But, I am getting ahead of myself here, for we spent our first week in the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas at the Crown Bay Marina with friends Bill and Judy from "Janus" and Tom and Christine from "Sea Wings". After a passage, even as short as the five and a half days down from Bermuda, it is nice to spend a few days in a marina where you can wash clothes, clean up the boat with fresh water, fill the fuel and water tanks, and eat a few meals that you don't have to cook. Such was our week at Crown Bay Marina which is an exceptionally nice marina with a gourmet grocery, restaurant, marine store, internet cafe, and wonderful staff who bring you the New York Times summary of the morning news.
From
there we sailed to Christmas Cove just off St. James Island where we anchored
just off the beach for the night. As night fell Christmas lights began to
be turned on on all the boats. We had not thought of that! One of
the boats was spectacular. After making the picture you see here of their
boat we took our dinghy over to give them the picture where we met Susan and
Richard. Susan is a local bookkeeper and Richard is the past manager of
American Yacht Harbor, really great people whom we got to know better over the
following days.
St. John's
The next morning we sailed over to Maho Camp Grounds on St John's for a beautiful place to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
On Christmas
Eve we joined several other boats from the Caribbean 1500 for a "dinghy raft
up." This is a really neat idea someone had where everyone brings their
own drinks and some hors d'oeuvres to share with everyone and piles in their
dinghy at the appropriate
hour. In our case this was at 4:30 just before
sunset. All
of a sudden looking out on the bay you see many dinghy's
leaving their boats and
heading for the center of the boats. At some point two join up and stop
and then all the rest join them rafting all of the dinghy's together in a big
star. As everyone gets settled the food starts being passed from dinghy to
dinghy along with great conversation. Quite a party! As sunset turns to
evening it is time to say goodnight and we all disburse back to our boats for
the evening.
Christmas
Morning dawns bright and sunny for a relaxing day of swimming, snorkeling around
the reef, and an afternoon nap. We all have dinner reservations at the
Maho Camp Grounds for their traditional Christmas Dinner. Walking up the
thousand or so stairs that wind up the side of the mountain among the cabins we
stop at several vistas that take one's breath away. Dinner was delightful
and served buffet style with all the traditional Christmas items in a large
gazebo style porch over looking the bay. Dress
was "cruiser formal" which means your best pair of shorts and a dressy shirt.
Gretchen went all out wearing her favorite straw hat to be even more festive.
We dined and visited with friends from the Caribbean 1500 that we had not seen
since Hampton.
Now after being away from the hectic world of work for most of a year, I am finally becoming a little acclimated to the slower life style of cruising. Perhaps 20% accustomed... {laughing} I have yet to be able to just doze off for a nap but I am getting used to the idea of a slower pace of life. Over the next three weeks we sailed around St. Johns Island stopping for dinner at "Skinny Legs" in Coral Bay one evening and spending our days sailing between two beautiful coves that would otherwise be ten minutes apart.
Tonight
we are in Leinster Bay on St. Johns where this afternoon Gretchen and I hiked
along the beach trail and up to the Annenberg Sugar Mill ruins which overlook
the bay. This was one of the dozens of sugar mills that was the main
industry of the Dutch owners of the islands in the 1700's and 1800's.
Slaves grew sugar cane on terraces on the sides of the mountains which when ripe
was harvested and taken to the mill where
it was squeezed in giant stone rollers
powered by windmills. The
juice flowed through wooden pipes to huge caldrons where it was boiled before
being poured into large sheets to cool and crystallize into sugar. If the juice
was boiled too long it turned into molasses some of which was sold and the rest
was used to make rum. Thus there were uses for everything, even when the
juices were over cooked. Perhaps there were times when the cook purposely
over cooked the juices when the rum supply was a little short. The views from
the old sugar mill sight are spectacular as are the flowers growing in and
around the buildings. Gretchen posed next to a Flaming Formosa tree. What
a spectacular picture.
We sailed for a little over six hours on around the north side of St. John’s and around to Coral Bay where we went to “Skinny Legs” for dinner and listening to country (not western) music. The small band (only four) included banjo, mandolin and fiddle players! I haven’t listened to real country music since I left high school in middle Tennessee. I hated the music then, but I certainly enjoyed it that night.
The next morning the dinghy outboard engine decided to quit. Don’t know why, but it would not start and when I did get it started it would not run. I checked the fuel, fuel filter, changed the spark plugs, and put new fuel in, but nothing seemed to help. Thus we are stranded on the boat unless we want to swim to shore, which in fact we did several times.
We
are enjoying St. John’s and tonight anchored in Lameshur Bay on the south side
just about six miles from Coral Bay, where we were last night. This bay is
pristine with no buildings and tonight no other boats moored. It is like being
in the middle of a lush jungle paradise… From
here we will be off to Red Hook to check the mail for the first time in over a
month and pick up the regulator part, and now, get the dinghy outboard
engine fixed…
We had thought about going on to the British Virgin Islands and Foxy's for New Years but after mentioning it to several local friends and seeing their knowing smiles we re-considered and tonight are anchored in Caneel Bay where I am planning on being sound asleep at midnight. Sounds like the days in the military when I got Officer of the Day duty on New Years as they knew I would not be out partying! Such is life... The weather on New Years Day was yucky with rain on and off most of the day and rolly conditions on the moorings. Not bad, but not real comfortable either so I spent the day writing the story of the Caribbean 1500 for this web page.
The following day we
sailed around and anchored in Hawknest Bay where I take perhaps the
longest swim of my life today, about
¼ mile into shore for a walk along the beach and then ¼ mile swim back out to
the boat through the surf. I was pretty tired by the time I got back on deck.
I was glad I was wearing my diving skins because while swimming on my back I scraped
across a coral head. My suite protected me with nary a scratch. For those of
you who do not know, a diving skin is not a wet suit, but a thin stretch suit
that covers your body just to protect you from scrapes and sunburn and they are
wonderful to swim in.
Tomorrow we are off to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands for dinner at "Foxy's". It will be Saturday so that should mean a good crowd and live music. But nothing like when "Foxy's" was listed as one of the top places in the world to be on New Year's Eve. They had over 6,000 people there and I was not about to be one of them! {laughing}
We have to check in when going in to the BVI's which means yet another stamp in my passport and another "courtesy flag" to add to my collection of flags for festive days. I now fly flags in the order that I have sailed: Bahamas, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Bermuda, USVI, and tomorrow BVI. I also fly the Bermuda Cup Rally flag and the Caribbean 1500 Cruising Rally flag and below them all a flag from the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games. Quietly looks most festive when I have all of them flying!
We arrive at Foxy's around 4:00 in the afternoon and Foxy is being
interviewed for a TV show and singing some of his famous rhyme songs. He
ask me where I am from and when I tell him Vail, Colorado he starts singing
about all the places in Colorado and ends his song by singing about renting his
skies from Virgin Island Ski Rental in Dillon, Colorado. Yes, there really
is a Virgin Island Ski Rental in Dillon!
In the evening we have a marvelous meal at Foxy's buffet including bar-b-que
ribs, chicken and Caribbean style Mahi Mahi. More than one could possibly
eat, but Gretchen and I do manage to clean our plates. It is just too good
to leave any! After dinner I am finally persuaded to join everyone dancing
reggae style. Reggae style is basically just standing on the dance floor and
moving what ever seems to want to move to the beat of the music... Foxy is
dancing with all the ladies and one young girl is fabulous even if a little
unsure of dancing with Foxy.
A friend, from Long Island, New York, is joining Gretchen and I for a week of sailing. We had planned to be in St. Martin by then but we am still waiting for the regulator and the wind direction is not cooperating either. There is a very important rule in sailing as in flying light airplanes ... your schedule must always be flexible and when meeting someone, they must come to you rather than you keeping a schedule that may put you and the boat at risk in unfavorable wind, weather, or seas. So we arrange with Janice for her to fly over to St. Thomas after she arrives in St. Martin.
Gretchen found a beautiful place to relax and enjoy
a few days off the boat at an island campsite on
Brewers Bay, Tortola. Her front door is literally the beach with the ocean
lapping at the door, so after
lunch, I took Janice over to Jost Van Dyke. The food at Foxy's is some of the best in the Virgin Islands and we had far
too much to eat of the wonderful buffet.
We returned to Quietly and sailed across to Brewers Bay where we
anchored and took the Dinghy ashore to find Gretchen. We found her campsite and and she took us on a long walk around the point of Brewers Bay where we
climbed up to a cave in the side of the rock wall looking out on the ocean.
A truly spectacular place where we sat and talked for most of an hour in the
mouth of the cave before hiking further up to a beautiful vista at the top of
the point. That evening the tree of us had a wonderful dinner at the
campsite restaurant before returning to Quietly for the night.
The next morning by
10:00 AM we had the anchor up and were sailing north on a long tack to get
around the north side of Tortola on our way to Trellis Bay. We arrived at
Trellis Bay around
4:00 in the afternoon. The weather was not looking favorable for a passage
across to St. Martin before Janice's return flight, so we took the dinghy into the Tortola airport and arranged
for Janice to fly back to St. Martin in two days to catch her flight home.
That gave us two more days and much more to see!
The next morning we pulled the anchor early and were sailing east across to Virgin Gorda and The Baths getting there early enough to still find a mooring. Arriving just before 10:00 AM we picked up one of the last day moorings and put on our swim suits for a morning of swimming and exploring The Baths. Gretchen is wonderful teaching Janice how to snorkel as Janice has never been snorkeling. In a few minutes Gretchen and Janice are having a great time swimming with the fish in and around the huge boulders that make up The Baths.
By 12:30 we are all exhausted but thrilled with the experience swimming among the boulders, coral formations, and the brightly colored fish all morning. While sitting on deck eating lunch a small power boat twice scares us when it tries to set an anchor and ends up drifting down on us. I think it is time to leave as more and more boats are anchoring around us and anchored boats mixed with moored boats are a recipe for disaster. We released the mooring and set sail north up the west coast of Virgin Gorda for Gorda Sound on the north side of Virgin Gorda. We anchor in the protected waters off Prickly Pear Island, just across from Saba Rock and the Bitter End Yacht Club.
While exploring the Bitter End Yacht Club, Janice meets two fellows when she is making a phone call to confirm her flights tomorrow. They ask her if she knows how to call Vail, Colorado. They were of course surprised to learn that she is sailing with a fellow from Vail! A little later we run across the two fellows at the bar and Janice introduces me to them. Vail is a very small place, and though we do not know one another, we have many common friends and enjoy visiting over drinks during a brief rain shower. Then it is back to Quietly for a nice dinner cooked on the grill in between rain showers. The following morning we sail back to Trellis Bay on Tortola and take Janice to the airport to catch her flight.
Gretchen and I decided to make one last attempt to find out about the regulator. So we head back towards St. Thomas to check on it and stop in White Bay on the south side of Peter Island, a beautiful bay where we are the only boat anchored for the night. Peter Island is primarily a private retreat with a few spectacular homes and a large private resort. As the last of the resort guest board the small golf cart bus for the trip over to the other side of the island where the resort is, Gretchen and I dinghy ashore and take a four and a half mile walk up the winding road to the top of the island. The view is spectacular and we watch the sun set and the full moon rise before walking back down to our dinghy and Quietly. Of course we forgot the camera!!!
The following morning we downwind sailed to St. Thomas, stopping in Soper's Hole to check out of the British Virgin Islands. Our goal was to check on the regulator, have the stabilizing fins from our old dinghy engine mounted on our new engine and prepare for our passage to St Martin at the first weather window. After two days anchored out in Red Hook, we get our weather window and set sail for St. Martin a little after noon. Well we actually motor sail with the wind and waves on our nose. It might not seem like much of a weather window with wind and waves on you nose, but conditions were only forecasted to get worse over the next week. As evening begins to fall and we are now passing the last of the Virgin Islands, we see the sails of several other boats all heading for St. Martin.
Quietly's autopilot is giving us a lot of trouble so Gretchen and I take turns hand steering Quietly for the 20 hour passage to St. Martin which is known as the best place in the northern Caribbean to get things worked on. Steering a steady course is very easy most of the night. During the night we pass six cruise ships sitting like fence post along the route. Leaving St. Martin or St. Thomas at 5:00 PM, the trip for cruise ships between St. Martin and St. Thomas is only about five hours. So they pause their journey most of the night, sailing almost motionless about 7 miles apart, waiting for time to arrive in port at 8:00 AM. For us, it is almost like sailing from city to city out in the middle of the ocean as they light up the sky and horizon with all of their lights.
As dawn breaks we can see the island of St. Martin, our passage almost complete. Thus it is time to finish up this section of the web page and invite you to come back again to read about St. Martin and the Leeward Islands.
The adventure continues in Sint. Maarten.