Busy Few Weeks

Just sitting here at Biras Creek in North Sound listening to the legendary Zamfire play on the Ipod while watching another 50 foot sailboat try and dock in front of us for the past 20 minutes. Its funny, they even have an African Grey Parrot onboard.

So the past few weeks have been a blur, have not had a steady internet connection to update the blog so here is what went on.

After the hurricane, we sailed over to St Thomas and on down to St Croix to view the devistation from a direct hit from the storm. Over 40 sailboats and powerboats were sunk or washed ashore, the waterfront was littered with boats smashed up against the docks or what was left of them.



We chated with the locals about charters, its pretty slow there and not much really happens on St Croix. We finally got the dingy fixed, not using it in Charleston had done a number on the carberator jets and it wouldnt run right. $60 later and 8 cold beers and it was like new again, he rebuilt the carb in about an hour.

Two nights on St. Croix was enough decided it was time to venture on to St John. 4 hours later we arrived at Coral Bay on the South East end of the island. The water wasnt very nice but the food was great at the restaraunt. The next day we headed over to Norman Island for a look at Pirates cove and the famous Willy T floating bar, not much going on there until mid November we are told.

We headed back to St thomas and got a slip at Sapphire Bay Marina to get some work done prior to the boat show.








Our first charter was a pickup at Virgin Gorda, we sailed them over to cooper island for a day of sunshine, painkillers and snorkeling. I love doing day sails as they are short and sweet. The views from the cabin of the island were dreamlike.

Water Spouts

Saw my first waterspout today, was walking along the road in Charlotte Amalie when I noticed a strange looking cloud, dark like a rain cloud but had what looked like a funnel cloud coming from the bottom. Its hard to tell from my phone camera but just to the right of the tower on the coast guard ship you can see the funnel. I looked much larger in person, and I guess they are fairly common around these parts.

Here is a picture of how we tied up Fate during the hurricane, we used 12 lines plus the anchor, she wouldnt budge in 1oomph winds but I'm not sure what a high surge would do.. ok so the picture wont upload so I guess you will have to use our imagination.

Not so bad

The hurricane was not as bad as expected, winds topped around 60kts from the North as the worst part of the storm was 50 miles to the East. I think a few trees fell over and some minor mud slides and the phone/internet was out for a bit.














We packed up and are now sitting in St Thomas Harbor just off of the new Grande Yacht Haven, the new megayacht marina which just opened. There is a live video feed from one of the buildings. You can see us anchored just off the dock in the middle of the screen. We are the largest boat in the pic. http://www.yachthavengrande.com/index.php?sv_path=4562
















There is a cruise ship in port, diverted from St Martin because of the storm, they are hanging out here for a bit. I just watched as they completed an abandon ship drill, lowered all the life boats and cruised around the bay.

Hurricane Omar Approaches.

Well we could not be in a better place. We are tucked up into Road Town Harbour on Tortola with our lines spidered about better then spiderman could do. We even have our anchor out. The winds should start late this afternoon but currently we have 6kts from the East. According to the forecast, the winds will top off around 100mph in the morning. THe eye could be a direct hit if the forecasts are correct.

Arriving in the Virgin Islands

Well, we made it finally to our destination, the British Virgin Islands.

We left on October first around noon after finding that both fuel gauges that we had St Barts install the days prior were both malfunctioning. As we filled the tanks the needles didn’t move and that’s not good. After a few words with St Barts (the boat brokerage) we had our good friend Rob at the boat to make things right. We never got the new gauges to work but Rob was able to get our original digital gauge working again. We left with 180 gallons of diesel, and we estimated that would be enough to motor for 5 days at 2300 rpms or approximately 750 nautical miles. The total mileage from Charleston to Tortola is about 1,300 nautical miles.

Along for the trip were two recruits, Josh and Austin from our STCW95 class the week prior. The STCW95 is a safety training for offshore vessels in foreign countries and is required to work in the BVI.

Josh was working towards his captain’s license, had just completed Seachool and had good sailing abilities, Austin was interested in finding work in St Thomas and had been a Bosons mate on the aircraft carrier Nimitz.

The first 24 hours at sea are always a headache, especially since we were to be crossing the gulf stream for around 12 of those hours. We had a nice 15kt SW wind which got us a top speed that first day of 13.5kts and covered over 200 nautical miles. Our first squall hit in the early morning hours of the first day which set the mood for the next 24 hours. The seas were quite rough but the winds were good as we sailed South East towards I64. (aka 65 degrees west) The goal is to sail as far east as possible before hitting the easterly tradwinds creating a nice beam reach for most of the trip.

By the second day some of us were getting our sea legs while others were still losing what food they had left In their bellies. Everyone is usually a bit green for the first two days of an offshore trip, it sure is nice to get a full meal in once you feel better.

On day 4 we decided to start turning more southerly as the XM weather showed NE winds at 15kts which if actually happened would be perfect. The winds were a bit late moving North and continued East for another 24 hours causing rough seas on the nose along with a large N swell creating confused seas causing the boat to pound, shake and rattle over every wave for over 24 hours. It is hard to sleep when you feel like the front of the boat is being torn off. We could have turned more Southerly but going south too soon only prolongs the pain as nobody wants to beat into the trades for 5 days.

On the morning of day 5 Josh and Austin witnessed a strange occurrence, Austin was on watch when the electronic autopilot went on the fritz. The boat started veering in circles. He immediately went to Josh who was sleeping on deck. Josh awoke and immediately looked about and saw a small erratic light off the port beam about 50ft away. As the boat came about again the light was on the starboard side then disappeared. At first I didn’t believe the story as the Garmin GPS didn’t show any anomalies but later in the day I reviewed the ships Raymarine and noticed two tight circles in the track corresponding exactly to their story. We are not sure what happened but it didn’t happen again. We did however see two strange bright flashes days later within feet of the stern and one in the cockpit, we could never figure out what it was.

Day 6,7,8 were uneventful as the trades dissipated slowing our progress to about 4 knots and eventually disappeared all together. We were 400 nautical miles from the BVI and we had 55 gallons of diesel left. We decided to motor at 5kts burning about ½ gallon per hour. With luck we would have some wind to help push us along. The wind didn’t show up until the morning of day 8 and brought us safely into Road town with 20 gallons of fuel to spare.

We had to clear customs before the crew could leave the boat and of course we had to declare the boats arms or the sawed off pistal grip 12 guage with 25 rounds of 3inch 00buckshot. The check in at customs took way too long especially after a long trip to the police headquarters to lock the gun up until we leave.

The only way to work n the BVI is to have a VISA which can take up to 10 months to acquire, fortunately we found an attorney of sorts to help in the matter promising a three month turnaround. We should be good as the BVI allows up to 7 charter pickups without Visas.

That night, after a good meal of pizza we had a few drinks at the Village Cay Marina and happened to meet back up with the customs agent Brian who helped us earlier in the day. He and his friend Deon were extremely nice and we all exchanged stories and thoughts on the current economic crises that has pleagued the past few weeks. We plan to take them for a day sail sometime soon after we finish exploring the islands.

Josh and Austin decided to head off in the morning on their way to more adventures, Josh is contemplating a delivery to Brazil from Charleston and Austin already found work in St Thomas and possibly San Juan PR. After they headed out, Joey and I went shopping to refill our daily consumption, filled the fuel tanks at $6.00 per gallon and headed off to Peter Island.

Peter Island is a nice little spot just across the channel from Tortola, about a 30 minute sail. We anchored in Deadmans Bay next to the Peter Island Resort. The resort and Island are owned by the Amway Company and I believe a one night stay including meals starts around $500. We scouted out the different bays by dingy looking for a place to stow our 17, 5 gallon jerry cans which helped us to the islands. We decided on Deadmans Island just a short ride from Deadmans Bay. I felt like we were doing something wrong or would be thought of as drug shippers as we put 3 cans each in black plastic garbage bags, loaded them all in the dingy and unloaded them on the island. Brian from Customs had mentioned that there are certain bays where people do drop off loads of cocain and other stuff which is picked up and sent north to America. We dumped them all behind some bushes and can pick them up later when we need them.

The next islands were Spanish town on Virgin Gorda, Salt Island, Cooper Island while we didn’t anchor at the Baths yet we will later as the weather was pretty bad.

Last night we stayed at Trellis Bay on Beef Island, interested little place with a few shops and restaurants and all within a stones throw of the airport. I guess its kind of the unofficial airport waiting room. Internet is easy to be had at most locations but is hard to keep it for very long from the boat.

Today (10-12-08) we sailed from Trellis Bay up to North Sound on Virgin Gorda, about 1.5 hours in 22knots of wind, all upwind of course. North Sound is a beautiful place with a few different high end resorts. The season hasn’t quite started yet so its still pretty dead. The grocery stores are not even open in some places until next week. There is a small passage between the Bitter End and Necker Island where I saw some kiteboarders today, I guess that is one of the best places in the Islands. I still can’t figure out where they launch from. I brought along my kites and boards so hopefully I will get some time to play.

Fate has some very cool features but my favorite has to be the 3 underwater lights at the stern. At anchorages we turn the lights on which penetrate 45 feet into the water, creating a bright blue glow around the boat. Large Tarpon and other smaller fish constantly swarm beneath in what seems a feeding frenzy. Makes me think twice about swimming at night with those lights on.

Joey's cooking is great! Here is some pasta with medium rare stake, I am so glad I dont have to cook. If we ever get guests for a charter I think they will be pleased.

Tuesday, 10-14-08

Yesterday we left the North Sound on Virgin Gorda and sailed downwind to Yost Vandyke, about 20 miles and 3 hours later we pulled in to an empty bay. We checked out with customs and sailed over to Caneel Bay for the night. The hotel is extremely nice from what I could see from the bay, we had not yet checked in with customs in St John so we could not leave the boat. We turned on the underwater lights as soon as it was dark and jumped in the water with all the fishes. I got spooked when I saw a 12 inch jellyfish swim by my head. After getting out of the water the generator started acting up saying low oil pressure. We shut everything down and went to bed. In the morning we changed the oil and she seems to be ok now.

After checking in with customs we headed by dingy down to Great Cruz Bay so Joey could get a cup of Starbucks Espresso (4shots on ice with low fat milk)… That really puts him in a good mood!

We have been looking for a good anchorage to settle in with a good internet connection (free) and good cell service which is compatible with our US services. We headed to Red Hook on St Thomas, anchored and went ashore for lunch. While ording we notice a lot of excitement over on the tv and after walking over the check it out noticed that a tropical storm would be hitting in the next 24hours. Now it looks like it will be a Cat 1 hurricane. We quickly ate lunch, got back to the boat and headed for the fuel dock. $350 later we were topped off and headed straight for Road Town on Tortola, to the sheltered anchorage of Village Cay Marina.

In all the excitement, I happened to smash my little toe on the genoa sheet block and heard a popping noise. Not sure if its broken but it sure as hell hurts.

We got to Tortola in under 2 hours where our protective moorage awaited us. Luckily the slip was available as the only other option was to wait out the storm at anchor which would not be fun.

After getting fate tied up like she is caught in a spider web, we decided to lower the Genoa (jib sail) but after 3 attempts she would not lower and seemed to be catching on the furling track set screws which came undone. Off I went up the forestay with my allen wrench and tightened about 30 setscrews which were all lose or almost falling out. The Genoa came down without a hitch after that and we flaked it and put it away.

The storm should be here in the next 24 hours and I hope its not too bad. They report expect 60kt plus winds so most likey a cat 1. I feel pretty secure here and hope everything will be ok.

Getting Ready

Well, after 4 months of preperations and countless $$ dumped into the boat she is finally ready, well not really. We are still wating on a new pipe birth that we are installing in the stern cabin for a seabed and extra storage. We are also missing our brochures and a few other things.

We plan to leave Wed October 1st around 10am on the outgoing tide, I sure hope we have everything completed by then.

We have picked up two crew, Josh and Austin, who we met in our STCW95 class last week.

Our trip should be fairly easy as the weather forecast seems to be pretty quiet for the next 180 hours. We have enough fuel for 4 days motoring plus reserves for 4 hours a day to charge the batteries. Our route takes us ESE to 25N 65W and then hang a right for a downwind run or beamreach to the VI. We esitimate 7.5 days if we have consistant winds.

Here is our charter site http://www.virginislandsailingcharters.com