Laurie and Ken

Laurie and Ken

Saturday 29 July 2017

We have had a little look around St Martin.
 
We have been here 3 days and have had to do a bit of shopping and running around . Yesterday we walked around the town a bit and we were very surprised how nice it is here. It is very hard to walk around in the heat so we stop in a few stores or a few bars or any where to cool off or get a drink. For the next week or so it's back to boat work. I have to install our new water maker and Laurie will do some chrome polishing. Always work to do.

Here's what we saw when we woke up on Thursday morning.
Down Town
 Inner harbor marina
 Inner harbor marina
Here's a boat you can rent and drive around the inner harbor and have drinks and a BBQ
Watching the sun go down
 
 
When we left the BVI's we readied the boat and some preparation was done at night in a little bit of darkness. One of the preparation's was Laurie making sandwiches for the next day. She does a great job getting the food ready to grab and eat so we don't have to go below and make anything during the crossing. This time she made egg salad sandwiches on nice fresh bread. Early afternoon we had a few and some thing was not right. We both agreed that these sandwiches did not taste as good as usual. We ate them anyways because that's all we had ready. Yesterday Laurie made some lunch on the boat and with a sandwich she was going to serve some potato salad. She opened the container and to her surprise there was egg salad in the container! So for the crossing Laurie prepared some potato salad sandwiches and didn't know it. YUM YUM!
 
 

 

Thursday 27 July 2017

We are in St Martin.
We left The Bitter End British Virgin Islands at 5:30 Wednesday morning and arrived 2:30 Thursday morning.  It was a long day and night. The wind and seas weren't to bad but we wished they were better. Today we rest and relax and tomorrow we provision and explore. From what we have seen so far St Martin is a very nice island.

Tuesday 25 July 2017

We are ready to go to St Martin's on Wednesday.
 
We checked the weather again and also heard from our weather girl and it looks like it will be a good day on the water. Today is a day for checking everything twice and settle everything inside the boat.   
 We found a little beach bar around the corner from us and decided to get off the boat and have a look. When we arrived it looked like we were back in Salinas Puerto Rico. There were boats backed up on the beach with load music and people drinking beer in the water. Just as they do in Puerto Rico. We also found that every one of these people were speaking Spanish. We thought this was odd so I mentioned to some people we were having a drink with and they knew all about it. The Puerto Ricans celebrate Xmas in July! The BVI tourism people invite this and plan many events for them. These people all come by boat and they call themselves the Puerto Rican Navy. They call themselves this because the travel together, party together, and help each other when they are in trouble. Because the slow down of the charter boat business in the summer in the BVI's the restaurants and bars put on extra staff for these people because they really need the business this time of year.
 Here's a link to Xmas in July 
  http://www.businessbvi.com/business/tourism/item/543-christmas-in-july-as-the-puerto-rican-navy-invades-the-bvi 

(That was just a little bit of S.H.I.T.)

Saturday 22 July 2017


The Bitter End
We left Cooper Island on Wednesday after a two day stay and made our way to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda Island. We liked Cooper Island very much even though we were forced to take a mooring ball.  On our way to Spanish Town we wanted to anchor close to the Baths but the weather was not the greatest so we by passed that. The Baths are a beautiful beach area with very large round rocks. You are able to swim between and around them in the clear beautiful waters. We stayed at anchorage for a day near Spanish Town and then moved on to the “The Bitter End”. This is the area at the very end of the BVI’s. We fueled and watered up and did some provisioning to get ready to make our way to Saint Martin. The BVI’s are very beautiful islands but they are very expensive.  On Friday we are anchored near Saba Rock which is a big flat rock with a small resort and restaurant on it.
Saba Rock Resort

 
Over looking the anchorage 
 
 
A comfortable spot to look over the ocean
And so we did!
 
 We went over for a drink and to have a look around. They have made this a very nice spot to visit but the menu prices were way high as is everywhere on these islands. Fish and Chips $30! At the restaurant on Normans Island they didn’t have prices on the menu there. The BVI’s cater to the charter boat industry and there are many companies and many charter boats. These people come to spend a lot of money and the BVI’s try and grab every dollar they can. We have missed seeing a lot here and maybe we will take more time on the way back. Right now I think the best thing to do is get to St Martin where there’s more hurricane protection. The new forecast is for a busy August for hurricanes and tropical storms.
I have contacted the weather person I have hired to make our crossing and she will start looking for a weather window starting on Monday. It looks like there could be a few days of calm seas. We will be making this crossing alone so forming opinions with other people on weather is not an option this time so I will use a professional weather person from Europe. She is supposed to be very good.
 Saturday we went over to the Bitter End to see what it’s all about and we were surprised how nice it is. Everywhere is very clean and the grounds are kept beautiful.
 The Bitter End Yacht Club
 
Beach Bar 
Some girl swinging around 
 Looking at Sabs Rock from The Bitter End

 Over looking the bay



 
 

 

 

Wednesday 19 July 2017


Relaxing in the BVI's
We sailed some of the way to get to Normans Island and it took about 5 hours from Jost Van Dyke. We arrived mid day and it was hard to find a place to anchor. The charter companies have taken so much space the only available spot was near the pirate ship barge called Willy "T". We were about 25 yards from the ship and that's where every one parties. They party load and late. Well it worked out ok for me. I had an ear ache from getting water in my ear. I couldn't hear a thing all night. Laurie didn't get sleep for 2 nights. Normans Island has improved since the last time I was here.
Willy T
Pirates Bar and Restaurant

 Looking over Normans Bight


Our next stop was Cooper Island witch is a great anchorage, but there's no room to anchor so you have to take a mooring ball. The first night we were on the outside of the mooring field and the second night we moved up right off the beach. This is a great spot.
 


 
Today was a great day, perfect weather and a great breeze. Tomorrow we will move to The Baths on Virgin Gorda. Should be fun
 
 


Saturday 15 July 2017

We made it to the British Virgin Islands!
We arrived July 14 and checked in at a small island called Jost Van Dyke Great Harbor.
This is me coming back after checking in.
This is a beautiful Island and the weather here is much cooler than Puerto Rico. We went a shore and had a look around.
Here's some girl on a swing on the beach!
 I met this guy and seems we know the same people!

 Foxy's Bar
 
 Never mind the sign in the back ground!



 
The next day we moved over to White Bay to get a sim card for my phone so we could have some internet. Another great beach. We went on shore to relax a bit.
Nice beach.
 Mauna Kea



 
Tomorrow we will sail over to the south side of the BVI's to Normans Island. We plan to make our way to the east end of the islands to the Bitter End and make out jump to Saint Martin from there.

 
 
 


Thursday 13 July 2017


SAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO “LET IT BE” 

We had a great time in Palmas Del Mar hanging out in the pool and the Tiki bar. Here’s a little video of what you can do while you’re waiting for lunch.
 

We left our friends Frank and Mary Grace in Palmas Del Mar Puerto Rico on Sunday July 9 to make our way into the Virgin Islands. Our first stop was Culebra in the Spanish Virgin Islands. We left the dock at 6am and we had a great day sailing, we almost forgot how nice it was to sail. It was a perfect day, the wind was 10 to 15 knots and the waves were 1 to 2 feet. Our speed was between 5 to 7.5 knots and the wind was off the beam, what a great day!

 
There are 2 main islands in the Spanish Virgin Islands and we decided to avoid Viegues because of reports of dinghy and dinghy motor theft’s. We arrived in Culebra around noon after our great sail and met up with friends Jack and Penny on the sailing boat “Ishtar”. Laurie and I were very happy to be out of Puerto Rico and finally in the Virgin Islands. We had a little rest then went to the bar with Jack and Penny for happy hour to meet some people they met the day before. Jack and Penny were going to sail with us to Saint Martin but they decided to stay in Culebra a little longer because they like it so much.

 Dinghy Dock Bar
 Penny Jack Laurie and I
 Heading in to Dinghy Dock Bar
 Looking out over the bay

 
On July 12 we left Culebra around 6:30 to sail to the Saint Thomas USVI. This day was not a great as our last sail but that’s how it goes. We had 30 miles to get to the east end of the island and it took 7 hours. We anchored in Red Hook bay and we are finding it’s not a great anchorage. This is a main port that ferries use to shuttle trucks cars and people to the island of Saint Johns. It’s very busy and they make a lot of waves so we will get off the boat and head into town to do some exploring and some internet work. 
Getting closer to USVI



We should be in the British Virgin Islands tomorrow or the next depending on the weather. Our first stop will be Jost Van Dyke to check in and then go to the beach. We haven’t been to a beach since the Bahamas, should be fun!