More Virgin Islands

A hawksbill turtle cruising through a forest of Elkhorn coral (click on it to biggerate it). Even though they’re all on the endangered/threatened species list, we’ve seen them in most of quiet bays we’ve visited here in the VI, but especially in St. John.

The same turtle stopping for a snack in Frances Bay, St. John USVI. Observing these guys close up I learnt that they can hold their breath a lot longer than I can.

One thing that the Virgin Islands gives a cruiser is the tough conundrum: do you listen to NPR or watch PBS. Gotta say I miss both of these while cruising. OK, I’m an NPR and PBS junky. We are getting PBS TV in the US Virgins and half the British Virgins. NPR is playing on the radio as I write this. Listening over the past month I’ve learned that I was lax in not keeping a Happiness Diary; who knew you even needed one. I also learned that the Washington Healthcare Exchange worked better than most of the other Exchanges. Which is kind of depressing, as I’ve been battling with the Washington Exchange for two and half months now. I was hoping to write the definitive blog entry on getting a good deal with Obamacare for an ex-pat cruiser. So far I’ve ended up spending way too much time on hold and e-mailing about my appeal. I’m sure it all will be settled in our favor, real-soon-now.
Speaking of real-soon-now, I called the sailmaker who was repairing our sail on the day we were to pick it up– 9 days after we’d dropped it off. He was in his van driving to get the material to start the job. But he says it’ll be done on Tuesday... Real-soon-now.

These Parrot fish all seem to have distinctive, individual tail coloring

Tallships tacking up the Sir Francis Drake Channel on a windy day with St John in the background.

Paul

Peter Island

We spent a week over in Little Harbour, Peter Island with an anchor off the bow and the stern tied to the rocks ashore. This was a great place to duck out of the wind. In this bay the winds just swirl around at 0 to 12 kts while it is blowing easterly at 25 – 30 kts out in the channel. Not a lot to do here, other than boat projects and our daily snorkel.
There was a single coral head that was located by itself among some mushy green slime. It was small, but had a lot of sea life. Above is the local lobster peering out of her home there.

Next to the coral head was a flat rock that was home to this green eel.

Here’s the eel deciding if this squirrel fish could actually make a good dinner.

Deep in the coral holes lived this orange eyed octopus.

His mother loves him (porcupine fish)

You don’t see a lot of big fishes on the shallow reefs, but this guy came in for a look from the deep. Note the 6 inch fish tracking his tail.

This flounder variety was peacefully laying on the bottom carefully colored to blend in.  When I came close and took his picture, he got scared and decided to put on his defenses. That’s the blue rings all around. Apparently big fish don’t like to eat blue-spotted fish – proof that fish don’t like blueberries.

Check the little fish in front of Chris’ right mask lenses. We sat on the swim step of the boat and put on our swim fins. This fish came up to Chris and just started to hang with her. The fish swam along at least 150 yards to the point and then all the way back to the boat. When Chris dove deep, the fish went with. I think he wanted a girlfriend.

On a different day this yellow and black angle fish insisted on playing with my yellow and black fins.

On shore in the harbor are the remains of the 1950’s Chub estate. That’s Chub, like in Chub Insurance. The story is that back in the old days he used to come to the waters edge to take pot-shots at anyone who anchored in ‘his’ bay.

We dropped our genoa headsail off at Philips Sail and Canvas in Road Town, Tortola. The sacrificial cover was shot. This is the fabric that protects the sail from the sun when it is rolled up. We dropped the sail on the deck and Chris started resewing it. The more it got resewn, the more the material disintegrated. It needed replacement. Something much better done with a large room to lay it out. Hopefully it will be ready on Friday.

We left Little Harbour and sailed over to Sopers Hole so we could check of the British Virgin Islands with customs and immigration. On the way in we passed Venus. Venus is the super yacht built for Steve Jobs – but he never got to enjoy it. The bridge is at the top level. It has floor to ceiling glass all the way around. Great for the Silicon Valley look – not so smart at sea.

We headed over to St John and Cruz Bay to check back into the US of A. We needed to pick up mail that we had sent down – credit cards for the new year. On the way back out the outboard slowed way down. We weren’t sure we’d make the 1 mile run back to the boat. Turns out the propeller had hit the rocks onetime too many. In the old days props had shear pins that would snap when the prop hit something. This was to protect the gears in the outboard. Now the props have a rubber core that does the same thing.

The rubber ring on the prop (left) was trashed, letting it slip whenever you rev’d the engine. Fortunately I’d bought a spare carburetor and prop from a cruiser in Panama for a $100. So I stuck on this high-thrust (I know it sounds sexy, but it isn’t) prop and and off we were. More fixing your boat in exotic ports.

Our mail isn’t here yet – but it will be soon – for sure. Then we’ll head back to the BVIs to pick up our sail.

Paul

XMAS in Cane Garden Bay

Please don't say manaña if you don't mean it
I have heard those words for so very long
Don't try to describe the ocean if you've never seen it
Don't ever forget that you just may wind up being wrong.
….
I hear it gets better, that's what they say
As soon as we sail on to Cane Garden Bay.
…..
But I know that I'll get 'em, I know that they'll come
Through the people and places and Caldwood's Rum
Manaña, Jimmy Buffet

We spent XMAS in Cane Garden Bay on Tortola with friends from Skylark and Tivoli. Cane Garden was made famous in Jimmy Buffet’s song Manaña . Down here you’re more likely to hear on the local radio the The Best of Jimmy Buffet on Steel Drums. Chris and I got in our traditional Christmas day snorkel on the outside reef in the bay.
The bay sits on the edge of heavily jungled steep hills with a wrap around beach. Its a quite town on most days. When the cruise ships are in at Road Town, on the other side of the island, the beach chairs and sun umbrellas cover the beach early and the crowd arrives by the bus load.
The Callwood distillery, producer of Arundel cane sugar rum for over 200 years, is located in the bay. It is the oldest, continuously operating rum factory in the islands. Its small and does not pretend to be the Disneyland of breweries.

It does have clear signage like Disneyland. “Employees Only, Keep Your Ass Out”

Some of the rum actually appears to be aged beyond a week or two.

Rum tasting

That leads to the purchase of a small bottle of rum.

We’re in Little Harbour, Peter Island, British Virgin Islands now, with an anchor off the bow and a line from the stern tied to the rock cliff behind us. The airs about 82*F and the water is 85*F. We’ve gone from St Augustine, Florida to the Bahamas and back up north as far as Maine over the last year. About 7,000 miles total. The next year should put a few more miles under Georgia’s keel.
Happy New Year, and we hope it’s a good one for our reader.
Paul and Chris