The Baths

At long last we made our visit to The Baths.  This incredible place merits its own blog.  What a wonderful experience.  The Baths are located on the southwest tip of Virgin Gorda.  It is an unusual formation of large granite boulders.  The sea washes between these boulders creating pools with shafts of light shining down through the rocks.  It really creates a dramatic effect.  There is a trail guiding you through the boulders and pools.  Sometimes you climb, sometimes you crawl, but around each corner you are guaranteed another breathtaking view.  Once you make it to the end of the trail you are rewarded with the beach at Devil’s Bay.  This has to be one of the most beautiful beaches that we have ever seen.  White sand, incredibly blue water, palm trees and, adding something a little different, lots of large boulders.  It really is breathtaking.  We spent a whole morning there exploring the path through the boulders and swimming in Devil’s Bay. 

The boulders of The Baths were once embedded in volcanic lava, once the winds and sea wore the lava away and carved dishes and holes in the harder granite, we were left with the beautiful natural phenomenon. 

I had a hard time editing photos for this blog post.  There were so many beautiful shot of the boulders and the sea. 

Underwater view of The Baths

Sea Grapes

Stairway to Heaven or.... Devil's Bay?

Devil's Bay - I told you this beach was gorgeous

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Anegada (da Vita Baby)

The Island of Anegada

We had a great overnight sail under the super full moon when we left St. Martin.  We sailed on a beam reach and enjoyed the night, with the exception of a few thunderstorms in the distance, we didn’t encounter any problems. We made it to North Sound, Virgin Gorda early Sunday morning and spent the day getting caught up on our rest and getting the boat sorted back out after the overnight passage.  That evening we decided to sail to Anegada the next morning since it is an island that we had not yet visited.  

Anegada is a little different from the other Virgin Islands because the entire island is only 28 feet above sea level.  It is called The Drowned Island.  It is made up of coral and limestone and was created by the movement between the Atlantic and Caribbean plates, which meet to the northeast of the island.  Anegada is 11 miles long and has mile after mile of beautiful white sandy beaches.  It reminded us of the Bahamas, which is a big difference from the mountainous Virgin Islands.

One interesting thing about the island:  I guess because they are a remote island, we should expect things to cost a little more.  The prices we found were staggering, at least to us “value centered” cruisers.  A beer at the local beach bar will cost you five dollars, a lobster dinner, $50.00.  That’s not so bad for lobster you might think, but even the ribs and BBQ Chicken dinner was $28.00 per person.  Not in our budget.  We did end up at the beach bar on Cow Wreck Beach and found of the of “serve yourself” honor bars.  You make your drink and mark it down on your own tab.  It’s a good thing Troy and I only had one rum & coke each, because we discovered upon paying our tab that they were $8.00 each.  That was a drink made in one of the little plastic solo type cups (no, not the big red ones either).  We were shocked because usually that type of drink can be found at some bars for $1.00 - $2.50 at happy hour.  We also discovered that Anegada does not believe in happy hours at the bars.  They just say “every hour is happy hour”.  Too bad that’s not reflected in the prices!

The salt pond in the middle of the island is home to a flock of flamingoes which were reintroduced to Anegada.  They brought eighteen birds from the Bermuda Zoo in 2002 and the birds are thriving with a flock that far exceeds 100 birds because the habitat is prefect for them.  At least that’s what the guide books tell us.  We went looking and only found 2 birds.  We did see pictures of great flocks of them though.  Maybe we just didn’t look in the right spots.

The 8 of us decided to rent a vehicle for the day and tour the island and beaches.  We checked on motorcycles, bicycles and cars.  The best deal we found was a truck with bench seating in the back.  It was a perfect way to see the beautiful beaches and look for flamingoes.  As usual, Rene was voted as driver, this time Troy was navigator (I suspect that they were running the A/C while we were baking in the back of the truck!).  Anyway, what a fun day we had.  Driving around, taking in the scenery and eating lunch on a perfect beautiful beach.  What a life we are living.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story:

Stay seated until the vehicle comes to a complete stop







The word through John's eyes!



Rene has a glass of wine at the beach - why not?

"The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place." -Arthur Ransome

St. Martin / Sint Maarten – The Friendly Island

Storyville is out there somewhere

The island of St. Martin is about 7 miles wide in each direction. It is divided across the middle, the northern part is French, the southern part Dutch. The story (completely unsupported by historical fact) is that the French and Dutch were so civilized that rather than fight over the island, they had a Frenchman armed with a bottle of wine walk in one direction and a Dutchman equipped with a flask of gin take the other. Where they met became the boundary. The French ended up with a bit more because the gin was stronger than the wine! In the early days the Dutch mined the salt ponds and the French produced tobacco and sugar.

In 1939 when the island became duty free a whole new industry was born. St. Martin became the Caribbean’s number one shopping mall. Hotels, casinos, cruise ships, mega-yachts, duty free shops (We’ve never seen so many jewelry shops on one street). All of this sounds like the opposite of what we are looking for as cruisers, but the island also has beautiful beaches, a protected lagoon (where Storyville was anchored) and nice grocery stores and two chandleries (boat stores).

We had a great time during our visit to this beautiful island and we also got to check off many items on a long boat to-do list. I re-stitched our dinghy chaps (cover) and main sail cover, Troy got our bright work done, installed LED lights throughout the boat, removed a 75 gallon water tank that we can now use for storage. That was quite a big job that required lots of sawing, which produced lots of sawdust and tools scattered over every surface. Fun times while living on the boat. We spent so much time working on boat projects that it seems strange to me that we can sum it up in this small paragraph. Like childbirth – you forget the pain so quickly. LOL

Troy singing at open mic

We discovered plenty of cruiser happy hours with some of the cheapest drinks to be found in the Caribbean. Our favorite was Barnacles Greek Bar. Just a short dinghy ride from Storyville, they hosted cruiser happy hours on Wednesdays and open mic where Troy played on Fridays. We made good friends with Cali, the owner and the two bartenders, Stina and Ilona. It’s always so sad to make friends and then have to say goodbye so soon.

We signed the wall at Barnacles

There are plenty of nice restaurants there. One day we had a decadent lunch of cappuccino and pastries from a fabulous French restaurant. It was amazing (and so much fun to have chocolate for lunch!). We also discovered our new favorite food. We fell in love with lamb shoarmas from a small out-door restaurant called Little Jerusalem. The restaurant is a family affair, cooking takes place in a railroad car with a covered deck attached for dining. The owners, Abraham and Kathy, are wonderful. Abraham always made sure that he gave us a little something extra each time that we visited, a piece of cake, samples of different dishes or a free beer. Rene was his favorite, so Abraham always made sure that he got extra lamb on his shoarma. That was fine with the rest of us because it was all that we could do to eat a regular one. And all of that for only $6.00, what a bargain! We made it a habit to see them a couple of times a week.

We have continued to travel with Rene and Stacy on s/v Pipe Muh Bligh and with Patrick and Darnell on s/v Island Dream. We also met John and Jolanda on s/v Joho while we were in St. Martin. They have circumnavigated the world so check out their web site by clicking here: syjoho.  We consider them lifelong friends and are already making plans to meet up with them next year since their plans will take them south soon and we will be heading back to Luperon for hurricane season. It is always amazing to me how you meet some people along the way that you connect with and know that you will always remember them and that, somehow, even though you sail away to different part of the world, you will see them again someday. The funny thing about it is, we may be from different parts of the world, have different backgrounds, different political and religious views, but the cruising life that we love makes all of that just disappear. We are so blessed to have made so many new friends during this cruising adventure.

I mentioned mega yachts earlier. We have seen our fair share of them, especially in the Virgin Islands, but we were amazed at the size and number that we saw in St. Martin. There are many businesses there that cater to the mega yachts and with the protected lagoon and the duty free shopping, what’s not to love if you are a multi-millionaire that happens to own a yacht? We saw sailing yachts that were hundreds of feet long and giant mega yachts with crew that spent all day, every day, shining, polishing, cleaning, varnishing, until the yacht is so sparkly that you need sunglasses on just to look at it. It is mind boggling, the amount of money that is spent on these yachts, just the upkeep and the cost of full time crew for a year would take more money than I will earn in my lifetime.

Darnell and Pat on s/v Island Dream

Yummy Yummy Lamb Shoarma (Sworma)

Jolanda and John on s/v JoHo

Troy, Deana and Patrick

Darnell, Deana and Stacy - Island Girls

Rene and his mom, Tini (she visited from the Netherlands)

Wild Card - We met Capn Fatty!

Lunch!

Lekkerbek - That Dutch! LOL

Rene is jealous - John got his Shoarma first.

Mega sailing yacht

Island of the Spices

Yet another mega yacht

Queens Day Parade

"I just steer the boat…don’t really navigate. ‘sides, if you do get lost, you just pull in somewheres and ask directions." -Captain Ron

What an Adventure - The British Virgin Islands

We are having so much fun, I just don't know where to begin a new blog post.  We didn't make it to St. Martin for the birthday celebration, the weather just would not cooperate.  For the sailors reading this - imagine motoring into 25-30 knot winds, right on the nose with waves over 10 feet.  We decided that we would just spend the time in the British Virgin Islands.  Our friends Geoie and Sarah from Kemah came down to spend the week with Rene and Stacy so we spent the week of our birthdays sailing around the BVIs.  I can't complain, it's so beautiful and we literally spent the week going from one beautiful island/beach, to another.  Nights were spent at beach bars, searching for the best happy hour.  We enjoyed time at Da Loose Mongoose, Foxy's, Foxy's Taboo and Willy T's.  What a week!

One of the highlights was the Full Moon Party at Trellis Bay on Beef Island. They have a full moon party there every month.  Local artist Aragorn creates beautiful fire sculptures, there are dancing mocko jumbies (dances on stilts), fire jugglers and all kinds of entertainment.  What a fun night.  We are hoping that we will be back for another full moon party before we move on.

We enjoyed our time in North Sound (Gorda Sound) on Virgin Gorda also.  The Leverick Bay where the Michael Bean Happy Arrrrr is great fun.  On our second visit to his show I won the conch blowing contest!  The prize was a bottle of rum!

We had a visit from more friends from back home, Keith and Brenda Veseleny (s/v Beauty and the Geek) happened to be chartering a boat in the BVIs for the week.  We finally met up with them on Peter Island and we all headed over to The Bight on Norman Island for a fun night a The Willy T, a floating restaurant/bar that is a converted 100 foot schooner.  By the way, Norman Island is believed by some to be the island written about by Robert Louis Stevenson in Treasure Island.

We sailed by the island Dead Chest Cay (Dead Man's Chest) on the south side of the Sir Francis Drake Channel.  Dead man's chest was the name of a coffin in the days of yore.  This island was given it's name as long ago as the late 1700s when folklore has it that the infamous pirate Blackbeard marooned fifteen men on the cay with nothing a bottle of rum.  Some apparently tried to swim the 1/2 mile to Peter Island but didn't make it.  The cay became immortalized in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island -

     Fifteen Men on the Dean Man's Chest,
     Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!
     Drink and the devil had done for the rest.
     Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

So much fun in one week that we needed to take a few days to recover!  After our recovery period we finally got the weather we were looking for so that we could head over to St. Martin.  It was about an 18 hour passage.  We left Virgin Gorda late afternoon and sailed all night so that we could make it to St. Martin the next morning.  We wanted to make it into the Simpson Bay Lagoon, but there is a bridge that only opens to incoming boats 3 times a day (unless you choose to pay the $1000.00 fee for an unscheduled opening!)  We were ready for the 9:30 opening and made our way into the lagoon where we are currently anchored on the French side of St. Martin.

St. Martin, or Sint Maaren (depending whether you are on the French side or the Dutch side of the island) is beautiful and we have having a great time here, but I will save that for another blog post!

We are planning to return to the Virgin Islands in April/May for more exploring.  We are looking forward to spending more time in this beautiful place.

Here is a link to some pictures: http://photobucket.com/albums/bb448/SailwithStoryville/Virgin Islands

I am still trying to find a good solution to posting pictures using the iPad. The link to photobucket is the best I can come up with at the moment. The problem is that I can't figure out how to add captions. I will still work on finding a solution when my busy schedule allows!

Now - it's time for happy hour!

Leaving Luperon

Well, we finally did it.  We left Luperon on Saturday, February 11th and headed out for the passage to Puerto Rico.  We would have to cross the dreaded Mona Passage, but we had a good weather window and, even though Storyville had not sailed in many months, we felt like we were ready.  We left at 7:30 in the morning and sailed for three days and two nights (actually we motor sailed since there was very little wind and it was all on the nose).  The Mona Passage was very calm and we didn't have any trouble at all.  Troy saw a whale, but it only breached once and I didn't get to see it.  I sure was hoping to see one.  Oh well, maybe someday.   We did see lots of flying fish.  They are really amazing to watch as they fly across the waves.  We were very happy with our crossing and we made it to Boqueron, Puerto Rico late Monday afternoon.

We stayed in Boqeron for a couple of days, got checked back in to the US and celebrated Valentines Day there.  We were surprised at how dead the town was during the week, but we had heard and read that it is a happening place on the weekends.  We could see a little more activity each day, but we decided to leave on Thursday since we were anxious to catch up with our sailing buddies Rene and Stacy on Pipe Muh Bligh and Pat and Darnell on Island Dreams.  They were waiting for us in the US Virgin Islands.

Leaving Boqueron at 8:30 in the morning on Thursday, we sailed all day and overnight and decided to stop in Vieques, Spanish Virgin Islands for a rest.  We had a really rough night with a north swell that caused Storyville to pitch and roll.  Not a comfortable night.  We sailed into a beautiful little protected cove (Puerto Ferro) on the island of Vieques at 10:30 in the morning on Friday.  We spend the day there kayaking through the cove where we saw sea turtles and even had a visit from a dolphin.  Such a beautiful, secluded cove with only a couple of other boats for company.  We had forgotten what it is like to feel so peaceful and still.  This is the life.

The next morning, we got up at 2:00 AM so that we could head out for the Virgin Islands.  Not a bad crossing.  The most exciting part was that we saw the Southern Cross for the first time.  It kinda felt like a milestone and made me start thinking about all the other "firsts" that we have experienced on this trip.

 We made it to St. John by about 11:00 where we found Pipe Muh Bligh, Island Dreams and a surprise, our friends Chris and Robin on Toucan Dream.  We hadn't seen Chris and Robin in several years, where we had run into them by chance at the Miami Boat Show.  Just goes to show that the cruising world is a small one.  We all had happy hour on Pipe Muh Bligh to celebrate our arrival.  Actually, happy hour turned into several happy hours!  How great to be here where the water and islands are so beautiful.

We have spent the last week cruising between the beautiful islands of the US and British Virgins.  For the first several days we didn't spend more than one night in an anchorage.  The anchorages are so close together and each one is more beautiful than the last.  We've been to Caneel Bay, Hawksnest Bay and Trunk Bay in St. John, US Virgin Islands and to Great Harbour,Jost Van Dyke, Sopers Hole and Road Town, Tortola and to White Bay, Peter Island, British Virgin Islands.  We have been snorkeling, swimming, doing boat projects and having fun letting PMB and ID show us around.

We are making plans and watching the weather so that we can make the overnight jump to St. Martin / Sint Maarten.  We hare planning to celebrate Rene's 50th birthday and my, umm, I forget which birthday I will be celebrating.  Our birthdays are one day apart and since Rene is Dutch and this is a big one to celebrate (for him) we are really looking forward to a great time on a Dutch/French Island.

Yesterday we snorkeled at The Indians, part of a BVI National Park.   The Indians are rock pinnacles that rise from a sandy bottom at 50 feet to a height of about 50' above sea level and we saw lots of pretty coral and lots of fish.  It was the best snorkeling we have seen since we left the Bahamas and we are ready for more!

It is so great to be back to cruising in the clear waters and exploring the coves and islands.  We are looking forward to spending the rest of the winter and spring doing more of the same.  I am really hoping to get more blogs posted so that we can share some of our adventures.  I am using my iPad exclusively now and am still having trouble getting my pictures to post the way I want them to on blogger.  I will keep working on it though.  This time I will see if I can get a like to my photos on Photo Bucket and post a link to the Photo Bucket page.  Wish me luck!

For a couple of pictures from the crossing see:  http://photobucket.com/albums/bb448/SailwithStoryville/Sailing to Puerto Rico

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time, you realize now why you came this way. ~David Crosby

Test for the APP

This isn't a real blog post. I am testing the Blogger app on my iPad. I want to see if I can post a blog and add photos. I sure hope this works because it will make it easier to post blogs from my iPad. It looks like I can add pictures but I can't find a way to add labels to the photos.

How Many People Can You Fit in a Gua Gua?

Troy and I took a little trip the other day with our friends Shaggy and Camilla.  We went to Cabarete, a little tourist town thats about 50 miles from Luperon.   In fact, it kite surfing capital of the world.  A friend that we met through other cruisers, Tony and Rosemary (actually Tony's brother), Michael lives in Cabarete and he has a regular gig on Monday nights.  He plays music at a little restaurant there and had invited Troy and Camilla to come and play with him.  Camilla is a very talented musician and she plays with Troy every Saturday night here in Luperon.  

We decided against taking the motorcycle since the weather looked promising for rain.  The next best, and least expensive way to get there is by gua gua.
Luckily for us, Camilla is from the DR and, of course speaks fluent Spanish.  We would need to take 2 different gua guas and one bus to get to Cabarete.  The total cost was 150 pesos per person, or about $3.85  in US Dollars.  What a bargain.  Gua guas are personally owned cars and vans that run a route, usually between two different cities.  What a cultural experience.

On the bigger vans there is one guy on the gua gua whose job is to collect money, tell the driver when to stop to let off or pick up passengers and to make sure everything goes smoothly.  On our ride from Cabarete to Puerto Plata, we were on a mini-van with 23 other people.  We were packed in like sardines and our guy was hanging out the open sliding door of the van.  He has a big wad of cash in one hand, he keeps up with how much every owes, who has paid and who hasn't, takes money, gives change and taps the roof to signal the driver when he needs to stop to pick up or let out passengers.  When there is a stop he pulls, pushes, tugs, shoves, moves, whatever it takes to get everyone out or in or out, then back in and settled again.  It's really a pain when the guy in the far back corner wants to get out.  Everyone - out, back in, scoot closer to your neighbor and hope they didn't have too many habichuelas (beans) or ajo (garlic) for lunch.  Meanwhile, the driver is talking on his cell phone, listening to the radio, driving as fast as he can, all while honking and trying to pass all other vehicles that he encounters.  In fact, it seems like the objective of driving here in the DR is to make sure that you pass as many vehicles as possible.   Wow! What a ride.  The only thing missing was a chicken or two (trust me - chickens and small livestock are transported via gua gua).

Troy and I have had so much fun here in the Dominican Republic.  The people are so friendly and we have really enjoyed practicing our Spanish.  We have made so many good friends here, Dominicans and Gringos from all over the world.  It will be hard to say good-bye, but we are planning a return visit for next hurricane season, so that makes leaving a little easier.

So - - - how may people can you fit in a gua gua?  Two more!!!

If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home.  ~James Michener