Voyage 2010: Chapter 3

04 Feb 2011, Leaving Sint Maarten, arriving in the BVI, 18 27.642 N/ 064 31.7 W

As we readied for departure, we checked the Jule III's bottom and it was getting nasty again. Not sure if it is our bottom paint or the rich environment of the Lagoon. You know they have no pumpouts or regulations concerning dumping. That is true of everywhere we have been except the USA. Of course, we are not known for our number of pumpouts, just our regulations. Alberto and his team did an excellent job on cleaning the bottom. Roy from Simpson Bay Marina contacted him for us. Bob's earlier work was apparent so that was good also. Alberto is a very industrious fellow from Peru who also opened a hair salon/barber shop next to Simpson Bay Marina (Bob's barber). Everybody here is so nice and we are sad to go.

But go we must as it is a long way back home and there are many things to see. We caught the 1630 bridge opening on Monday and we were the second boat out. As we passed the Yacht Club, several of the folks said 'bye Jule'. We waved and they waved back. Moony already had her sails up in the Bay and was hading for the BVIs. We brought the mizzen and jib up as fast as we could and tried to catch up with them. Thought we were doing this trip together!

The coastline of Sint Maarten slowly gets smaller as we progress well on a northwesterly heading. Wind is around 10-12 knots with 5-7 foot seas, mostly swells. Before dark, we decide to bring up the main and then Jule starts to move. At 1900, Moony was about 2 miles ahead of us. By 0200, we were about 2 miles ahead of them. Only one problem; we would arrive at Round Rock in the dark. So now we had to slow her down. Dosing the jib brought our ETA to 0745. Not bad.

At 0800, we passed Round Rock and got a great view of the BVI's. Our first stop would have to be Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda as it is the closest port of entry. Anchorage was quite rolly as there was a lot of commercial traffic in the vicinity. We had to anchor in nearly 40' of water so a lot of chain and rope went out. The water was so clear that you could see the anchor set. The water was as clear as in the Bahamas. Customs and Immigration was the most formal so far but that was what we expected of a British territory. Not much to do in the town so we left for Gorda Sound on Wednesday.

However, Moony was having problems making their way North to the Sound and they suggested that we head for Marina Cay. Oh well, we wanted to go to Gorda Sound but Marina Cay was on our wish list also. This is one of the Pusser rum islands where their famous 'Painkiller' was invented. Before we went to shore to see the evening entertainment, we turned on Mo-Gene, our LED lantern given to us by its namesake. With so many anchor lights, it always easy to find Jule when Mo-Gene was lit.

Eric Stone (from Lats and Atts fame) was playing at the Happy Hour Bar on the top of the Cay. As Bob Bitchin has said, he is really good. But so were the painkillers and (believe it or not) Bob became the voice for moderation. But nobody did listen. After all pain was killed, we stumbled down the hill into our dinghys, found our boats, and secured Jule for the night.

10 Feb 2011, Cane Garden, Tortola, 18 25.632 N/ 064 39.60 W

We left Foxy's a couple of days ago and headed for Cane Garden Bay on island of Tortola. Have we mentioned that it rains almost every day here, even in the dry season. Most of the times it is a minor drizzle. But cruisers close all hatches before they leave their boat. We do also! Occasionally the drizzle changes to a downpour. Not good! We have learned the hard lesson to close the hatches any time we are away.

We arrived at Cane Garden Bay a little after 1100 local time. The areas was quite beautiful, much greener the Yost Van Dyke. Wonder why? The Bay was well contained with views from every direction. Our cruising friends, Jim and Karen said that we would not be disappointed and we were not.

Lots of wildlife here including lots of strutting roosters and their byproducts, even more little chickens. You can hear the roosters day and night doing their rooster thing. We also saw the mama hens and their chicks everywhere. Very neat as the roosters/hens/chicks were not afraid of us.

Poor Bob. Real work is always a 'blessing' but there is a schedule. Still we are happy that we can satisfy our obligations while we are underway. It costs the company quite a bit to secure the communications facilities but so far we have been successful. Not bad!

They talk about the old distillery in Cane Garden and how neat it is. Well, we found it and it is old but we were not impressed. There was someone there watching over it but was not very useful in describing the place. He was listening to his iPod. Nevertheless it was interesting and was free. Still we expected more.