I wrote this last week, but did not have a good connection to post.
06.22.12
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEJON!!
(Can it really be your 34th?)
LOVE YOU!!
Try as he might, Tim was not able to convince the folks at
the boat yard to fabricate the new bob stay.
We got the sinking feeling that we were in the film Ground Hog Day as each new day we heard that the part was going to
be made “tomorrow.” This went on for
over a week. We finally gave up and got
the old bob stay back from Tim, who felt very badly. We didn’t hold it against him at all. The upside is that we got to know him a bit
and hear some of his story.
A long time ago Tim built a sailboat from scratch, a feat
that never fails to amaze me. Later on
he raced sailboats – fast and expensive sailboats owned by others - quite often
here in the Virgin Islands. One wealthy man he knew bought a sailboat and
asked Tim to turn it into a racing boat.
Tim says that the first tool he used on it was a chain saw! He redid everything on the boat and skippered
for the man who really never raced it himself.
Tim won many races on that boat.
The man eventually wanted to sell the boat, and Tim ended up buying it
from him and he now lives on it in Red Hook.
It’s a sleek looking boat made with many carbon fiber (lightweight) parts.
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| Coming in to Soper's Hole |
From Red Hook, we went to Sopers Hole, on Tortola to clear
in to the British Virgin Islands which went
smoothly. From Customs and Immigration,
we walked past a little café with several locals inside – always a good sign
for tasty and inexpensive food. In the
glass case were several macaroni salads and some chicken stuffed pastries. We tried the pastries, which were delicious
especially paired with local chutney. We
shared a bottled fruit juice and were momentarily shocked when the bill came to
$19! So much for the local eatery
theory. Well, at least it was a tasty
and filling meal. The BVIs are islands
of steep, angular, dark green hills, so the harbors often have a nestled in
feeling. Sopers Hole is one of
these.
While in Red Hook, we researched metal fabricators in other
ports. We got a positive email response
from Nautool in Road Harbour, the main city of Tortola.
Tim recommended them as well. So
after clearing in, we continued on to Road Harbour,
where we anchored in the midst of a mooring field for Conch Charters. We met a quirky guy in the anchorage who is a
live-aboard. He’s a twenty-something
named Branson – so named because he was born on an island owned by Sir Richard
Branson – who was chatty and willing to tell all sorts of local
information. We thanked him and he
replied, “No worries.”
We took our old bob stay to Nautool at 8:30am and had it
back by 1:00pm. What a difference! First we thought, “Why didn’t we come here
sooner?” But then we realized that we
probably wouldn’t have gone to Lameshur
Bay on the south coast of St. John since it is out
of the way, and this was one of our favorite stops. So even though these bumps can be
frustrating, we try to see the positive.
Actually we just heard from our friends on Alibi, Ann and Darryl. When they attempted to check in to the BVI,
they were told that it would cost $200 (we paid $24.50) because of their dog
AND they would have to quarantine the dog.
They decided to turn back to the USVI, but Darryl had to pay $18.50 to
be told this and to check in and check out.
Since then, they’ve researched other islands and found that many have
similar restrictions. They are reevaluating
their plans and may not continue south.
It is not unusual for plans to change, certainly in minor and sometimes
in major ways. This is something that is
quite different from land based living.
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| Great Harbour, Peter Island |
We installed the bob stay and left the next day for Great Harbour,
Peter Island less than two hours away. Several catamarans were anchored there. We had a nice snorkel. Though there was a lot of boating activities
going on in the afternoon, it was pretty and peaceful in the evening. Dave blew his conch shell horn at sunset for
the first time, and got applause from the neighboring boat.
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| Dave announcing sunset |
The next day we motored up to Spanish Town
on Virgin Gorda. Since the wind is on
the nose and the hops are only a couple of hours, we motor rather than
sail. We are eager to get to St. Martin where we’ll have a better angle on the
wind. Early the next morning, we dinghied
up to The Baths. We tied up to the
mooring line and swam ashore. Large
granite boulders strewn along the coast create crevices and slots where sea
water pools. Shafts of light shine down
producing beautiful scenes. It was
wonderful to have these watery rooms all to ourselves.
We decided to stay through the weekend so we could talk with
a Yanmar engine repairman about our engine not coming to full RPMs when we
throttle up. He said to check the
secondary filter first (we’d changed the primary already) and if that didn’t do
it, he would take a look in the afternoon.
We got a slip in the marina as the anchorage was really rolly to change
the diesel filter among other things. It
worked! We felt proud that we fixed it
ourselves and dumb for not knowing to do this before. Ah, well…always learning.
It was the first time we’d stayed in a marina since Charleston, six months
ago, right before we left the States. We
“plugged in” and charged the batteries and turned on the air conditioning for a
bit. I did a lot of cleaning since we
could easily fill up the water tank.
Water costs 15 cents a gallon, and our tank holds 70 gallons. I defrosted the freezer since we could run it
for a few hours straight to get it cold again.
We did our laundry and enjoyed long marina showers. I always think that I’m going to have a
leisurely time on those rare occasions that we stay at a marina, but I usually
end up working my tail off. But it’s
always good to get the boat spiffed up for the next jaunt. Marinas
are usually too expensive for our budget, but once in awhile, it’s worth
it. This one charged $1.25 a foot plus
electricity and water. All told it came
to $100. At least we didn’t have to pay
a mechanic. And we’re getting good at
changing filters.
Right after we took the slip, I looked up and noticed the
boat in the next slip looked familiar.
It was a Freedom 45 with an unstayed mast, just like ours! We’ve seen just a few other smaller Freedoms,
but only one other 45-footer. We were
hoping we’d meet the owners so we could swap Freedom stories and pick their
brains a bit. Later on, they stopped by
so we chatted about things that would bore most readers of this blog, but we
were excited. They live here on Virgin
Gorda and are about to put their boat on the hard for hurricane season.
On Wednesday we headed north to Gorda Sound and anchored off
of
Prickly Pear Island.
This is the jumping off point to cross the
Anegada Passage to go to
St. Martin about 90
miles away.
We’re now waiting for a
weather window.
This afternoon we went into Leverick Bay Marina to use the
internet and check emails. As we were
leaving, we ran into the Freedom 45 couple who offered to let us use their
mooring ball while we’re here. It’s a
nice offer and we’ll probably move the boat tomorrow. They also told us of the good snorkeling
spots, so we’ll have a snorkel in the morning.
