BVI continued: Boat surfing and The Baths!

I put away the camera shortly after this photo because the waves were really rocking the boat as we prepared to enter. We had radioed Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor about 30 minutes before and were told to go into the B dock where someone would meet us to help with the lines.

Once we got to the point to where the waves were actually breaking (not even to shore yet), things got a little hectic. Jared was at the helm and I was making sure we were in the right position to enter. You have to go straight and then turn 90 degrees fairly quickly. We tried timing the entrance in-between the breaking waves but they were seconds apart. Camera went away as I needed to hold on with both hands, we were rocking and rolling that bad. The most scary experience was right after we turned 90 degrees. A wave broke and we were caught in it. Scared that it would push us sideways into the shore, we had that motor full speed and just prayed we wouldn't be pushed too far. The boat rocked WAY over so that the deck was under a bit, but she rolled right back the other way and righted herself. I looked back at Jared as we cruised into the spot behind that little jetty and were safe from any more waves. Whew! What relief. Here is a photo of Jared right after that (we were celebrating the fact we did not run aground)!

See the waves coming in behind him? We are still rocking a little, but not as bad. #tensemoments

Nothing was marked, but we figured the staff member waiting at the end of one of the docks was our guy. So, we turned in and he told us we would need to tie the dingy to the bow and back the boat in to the slip. Ok, fine. I took the helm for a bit while Jared moved the dingy and then I handled the lines while he backed into the slip. It took us a few tries; the swell was still coming in (we were the first dock and the swell came right in and pushed us around.

Finally, we were tied up and hooked up to shore power. By this time, we were dripping with sweat  and spent a few minutes hovered over the AC vents in the boat. I took out our cruising guidebook and noted that the marina closed at 4:30 pm.
Oh crap, that's in 2 minutes, we have to go check in!

We scrambled up and out of the boat and over to the marina office. Once settled, we grabbed our shower gear and headed off to the marina showers. We had been showering off the boat, but let me tell you how awesome a real shower feels. We were feeling pretty darn great after that! Dropped off our stuff and decided to check out the area and find a place for dinner (our first meal out since being on the boat).

We ended up at the marina restaurant and watched another beautiful sunset. Island sunsets just can't be beat! You'd think we would sleep like babies that night with the AC and all.
Nope.
The swell coming in was causing the lines to slowly loosen--more like jerking around. The boat would move one way and then jerk hard as the lines grew taut, and then slam back against the fenders and the dock. Jared was afraid this might cause damage to the boat, so we added a few more lines to tighten things up. Finally, after that, the boat was snug as a bug and we could finally get some sleep.

Woke up around 7 am the next morning to eat breakfast and a mug of coffee before heading out to find a taxi. We needed to check out by 11 am, so we were pressed for time.

Let me just say that taxis are easy to find because they are everywhere! They are also MUCH more affordable than back in the states. For example, a ride from one end of the island to the other was $4 per person!

While chatting with our various drivers throughout this trip, we learned that the government sets the rates, there is a taxi union, and that most of them are self-employed and have other jobs as well. All of them were super knowledgeable about the islands, always friendly, and loved to share information.

We walked out into the marina parking lot and met our driver, Mr. O, who gave us a great tour as we drove to the The Baths. He said he'd meet us in 2 hours to take us back to the boat to check out. Perfect!

We had forgotten to bring our nature permit with us, so we had to pay the entrance fee, which wasn't that much, $6 total!

This is an awesome little hike. Immediately on the trail, huge boulders surround you. Nowhere else have I seen cacti growing among ferns. The ferns seemed to wind their way around the cactus like a feathery scarf. We had the entire place to ourselves, save for a couple of employees getting ready for a big rush of tourists later that morning. We came out to the beach and turned left to enter The Baths.

Magical. That is one word that comes to mind. Wandering through the twists and turns is just an amazing experience. The light dancing upon the water and splashes of light dancing off of the boulders is just spectacular.

Out of The Baths and onto the beach at Devil's Bay! Stef is looking on, wishing she could snorkel!


By this time, we had about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet Mr. O at the top of the baths. We turned around and just as we were heading back through the caves, we were faced with a huge group of people. So grateful that we had this entire experience to ourselves. Definitely bringing the kids back when we are cruising this way!

We headed towards the beach bar to get an icy blended, when we discovered they wouldn't open for another hour or so. Oh well, back up to the top.

Gorgeous view and a pool to cool off in!

After a fantastic ice-blended drink, we headed back to the marina to check out.

Leaving YGYH was much easier than getting in. The waves were still breaking but not as close together. We headed out in-between the waves and out into the beautiful turquoise water, pointing the bow towards Marina Cay. Little did we know that we had stowaways on board...but that's for the next post.

Such a beautiful color!

Boat Shopping in the B.V.I. Part Three: How a broken fridge led us to our new boat broker!

Waking up to the cool morning air and the gentle lapping of the water on the shore was glorious. I was getting ready to pour my mug of coffee and go sit on deck to enjoy that cool air (because that doesn't last long in the Caribbean), when Jared asks "Hon, do you think the creamer is ok"? Wait, what?
Turns out, the fridge was not cold at all, meaning that we had lost all of our perishable provisions. Not the best thing to wake up to, especially when one is looking forward to that coffee! Jared can drink it black, but not this girl. I need my creamer.

We pulled everything out of the fridge and tossed it into a garbage bag to dispose of once we made it to Nanny Cay. Let's just say that the odor of spoiled fish stuck with that fridge for the remainder of the trip. It was foul!

The charter company said we would need to run our engine for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening to keep the fridge working. We did more than that and it still didn't work. I think it was dying anyway, so no matter how much the batteries were charged, it just couldn't keep up with the heat.

We pulled anchor shortly after a quick breakfast and pointed to bow towards Tortola and Nanny Cay. Yes, the fenders were out because I like to get everything ready before we enter the channel. That's just the teacher in me I guess, always planning ahead.

 An hour or so later, we radioed the marina and received our slip assignment, B6. Once Amethyst was secure and hooked up to shore power (yay for AC), we checked in at the marina office and then headed over to BVI Yacht Sales to meet with a broker who would show us one of the boats on our list.

We liked this guy immediately. Clive knew exactly what we were looking for, has helped other families find their cruising vessel, and despite our current broker not confirming anything with him, he said he would work with us and get us on at least one boat while we were here (we have since decided to work with Clive instead of the original guy, who by the way we STILL have not heard from since before our trip). 

As we were chatting, it started to rain pretty hard. Jared and I had become used to these small squalls and knew they'd pass over in a few minutes. We decided to head out into the boatyard anyway, because you tend to dry off pretty fast in this heat, and the rain wouldn't last too long.

We wound our way though boats up on the hard (stored for hurricane season) and came upon our first boat, a 2009 Leopard 40 catamaran. Leaving our shoes on the wet grass, we climbed up the ladder into the cockpit. It was in ok shape, but turns out, it was an owner's version. Owner's versions only have 3 cabins, and we need 4 (these are called Charter versions). At any rate, it was still fun to tour the boat and get a feel for the size, see how much storage there was, etc. By the time we were climbing down off the boat, the rain shower had turned into quite a downpour. The broker took us over to another boat to stand underneath, but since we were wet anyway, we thanked him for his time and headed to re-stock our provisions and get some ice. We also wanted to check out Island Roots, where we heard was the absolute BEST place to get coffee on the island. Well, who wouldn't want to check that out?

The grocery store is tucked amongst a few small shops near the marina, and we tried to shake off as much water before walking inside. Fortunately, they are used to cruisers coming and going, so we didn't look too strange. We loaded up our packs and headed out to grab a coffee on our way back to the boat. Once we put everything away (we avoided the fridge), into the ice-filled cooler, we headed out with coffees in hand to explore a little more and hopefully find something to bring home to the kids.

We ended up going back to Island Roots. Not for a second coffee, but to purchase these adorable handmade necklaces for the kids. They were little turtles made out of a tree nut, woven string, and beads. Super cute and we always prefer to support the local economy when possible.

It was sprinkling as we walked back to the boat. After checking out of the marina, we untied the dock lines and set sail for the island of Virgin Gorda. Our destination: The Baths. This was our view as we left Nanny Cay. We sailed a route to skirt around the rainstorm and into some sunlight on the other side of the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

En route to Virgin Gorda (leaving the storm behind us) Yes, it seriously was this dramatic of a difference:

The water was like glass...

Approaching The Baths was a different story. Once we were out of the lee of the islands, the swell from the open Caribbean Sea was quite large and we definitely felt a change in the waters. The forecast was large swells for the next few days. As we approached, we noticed the huge surf crashing upon the shore. Guess we wouldn't be snorkeling into the baths from the boat after all...

Note: there was only one other boat moored here. They tried to dingy over to the mooring closest to the entrance, but ended up turning around due to the rough surf.

Jared and I decided to head to Spanish Town and take a slip for the night at the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor. It was really rolly out on this mooring and we didn't want to spend the night like that. Of course, we were about to have the scare of our sailing lives entering that harbor...

Cruising Friends

While writing up our B.V.I. trip, I thought I'd better fit in a quick post about a cruising family we befriended. It's always nice finding like-minded people who have similar goals.

Jared met the family from s/v Odyle a few months back while they were anchored in Monterey Bay. They are hanging out on the central coast until they head south next summer. Susan and Abraham have a son and daughter, somewhat near our own children's ages. Susan is working as a nurse, filling up their cruising kitty, while Abraham watches over the kiddos and works on their list of boat projects.

We invited them to hang out for Feast of Lanterns and then they invited us to watch fireworks for Santa Cruz's 150th anniversary (they ended up pulling anchor and moving to Santa Cruz for a less rocky anchorage). We met them on the dock around 5:30pm, and headed off to their boat in their dingy. Waves were a bit rough on the way in, so we all got a little wet.

Their boat looks like a pirate ship, complete with two masts and beautiful craftsmanship. We all had a great time chatting it up, while the kids played down below. Eventually, after some snacks, they settled in for a movie while we waited for the fireworks show to begin.

Around 10pm, the fireworks show ended and we hopped into the dingy to head back to our car. We had a great time and look forward to keeping in touch as cruising families!

Boat Shopping in the B.V.I. Part two

We left pretty early the next morning, desperate for the sea breeze out away from the island. Great Harbor makes for a very sheltered anchorage, however, not if you're looking for a breeze to go with it.
Coffee in hand, we sailed over to The Bight to check it out. The famous Willy T. bar was anchored, although all was quiet. It wasn't party time for awhile yet. We set in about 15 feet of water, so crystal clear and took off in the dingy around Treasure Point to check out the caves. We'd heard that it is a great snorkeling spot and who wouldn't want to snorkel in caves?! Well, after tying up to the dingy mooring ball, provided by The National Parks Trust, we noticed that the last dingy load of people were leaving. There was a rough chop on the water and then they mentioned that there were lots of jellies. Jared hopped in to check it out and quickly came back into the dingy. Yep, lots of jellies out there. Moon jellies have a mild sting, but we weren't too keen on experiencing that without vinegar on board to neutralize the nematocysts.  We decided that we'd stop in to get some before snorkeling with jellies.
We snorkeled around our boat a bit back in The Bight and then decided to take off for Salt Island to check out the old salt ponds.

Salt Island is named for the island's three evaporation ponds. It was once an important source of salt. The residents of the settlement have all moved off to the more populated islands, yet the crumbling remains of the buildings and one home still remain. Just around the corner, on route to Lee Bay lies the Wreck of the RMS Rhone. 
The Bight, Norman Island. The famous Willy T. was anchored just to the right of the first photo.

We anchored in a patch of sand in Salt Bay (it set the first time, wahoo!). What a beautiful anchorage! Calm and sheltered, but the middle section of the island was lower and allowed for a wonderful ocean breeze to pass through. This was one of our favorite places. After making sure the anchor was set, we set off for the dingy dock to explore the island. We tied off and jumped into the water to wade up to shore. We could have climbed onto the dock, but the water sure felt nice! We walked around the island awhile, checking out the lower salt pond, which was a dark shade of purple. Sea glass and shells lined the water's edge, so tranquil. It was fun beachcombing awhile and we decided we'd stay the night, rather than sail on to Cooper Island. We relaxed as the afternoon wore on and enjoyed a lovely sunset, all by ourselves in this lovely anchorage.

 
We snorkeled a bit, but there wasn't to see other than sand. Didn't see a single fish.

We experienced some wind and thunderstorms in the late afternoon. It was lovely to take a shower in the rain off the transom, instead of inside the boat. While preparing dinner (we made a beef and veggie stir fry), we learned that the fridge was not staying cold, despite running the engine 4 hours per day as instructed. We decided to head to Nanny Cay in the morning to get ice and replace our lost provisions. Didn't want to take a risk with spoiled food. Besides, we had another boat to check out!

After another beautiful sunset, we set the anchor alarm and went to bed.

Boat Shopping in the B.V.I. Part 1

We continued our search for our floating home this past week, traveling all the way to the British Virgin Islands! We left the kids in the care of their awesome grandparents while we headed off for a long overdue vacation. Well, it was sort of a working vacation, as we had boats to see and things to research. Still, a vacation none the less! =)

Our school district has a fall break in October, so we decided to take advantage of this time off. We had been in contact with our broker and he was setting up a list of boats to view. Hours were spent on the internet locating other boats to see, along with preparing for the trip. We had decided to charter a boat rather than stay in a hotel, so that we could easily move about the islands and take in as much scenery as possible. Plus, these were unsailed waters for us, so we were happy for the new experience.

After spending the night at the grandparents', we kissed the kids as they slept and slipped out the door. At 4am. Yep, we had a 2 hour drive to San Francisco to catch our 8am flight. Lots of coffee was involved. 

After checking in and getting through security, which didn't take that long, thankfully, we made our way to the gate. We boarded fairly quickly and settled in for the long flight to Miami, our first stop on this journey. We had only about 30 minutes to get to our connecting flight to St. Thomas, so we were hoping that this plane didn't get delayed.

The plane we were on had this cool interactive screen in front of each seat. I loved playing around with the map, which provided all sorts of info such as length to destination, airspeed, etc. You could also watch a variety of movies (free), or play games. Future note: this will make flying with kids a lot easier.

We landed in Miami with just enough time to get to our next gate, which was already boarding.  Noticed that not all of the planes have the upgraded tech we experienced on the first flight. Oh well, it was only 3 more hours. By now, it was dark, so there wasn't much to see out the window. This plane had overhead screens every few seats and played the new Star Trek movie. However, they did not provide sound, and our headphones were in our backpacks overhead. Didn't really feel like getting them out anyway, as we were tired by this point. Amazing how traveling can wipe a person out.

We landed in St. Thomas around 9:30 pm and exited the airplane outside. The heat hit us in a huge wave. Wow, what a difference from our cold weather on the California coast. After picking up our luggage (just one bag, that held stuff for the boat), we walked out into a flurry of activity. Taxi driving in the islands is a popular career and there were no less than 20 different taxis outside of this tiny airport. We hopped into one of the vans and sped off to our hotel for the night, Emerald Bay Resort.

What a beautiful place! Right on the beach (Lindbergh Bay) and the people are great! We put our stuff in the room, called the kids to check in and say goodnight,  and headed out to check out the beach. We were given a welcome drink upon arrival, so we took that to the beach and enjoyed the view. The water was warm, again a stark contrast to our 50 degree waters back home. After spending about an hour relaxing, we decided to grab some sleep before continuing on our journey the next day. The time difference of 3 hours did not affect us as much as I thought. It was surprisingly easy to get up at 7am to find breakfast, despite it being 4am back home. We ate at Caribbean Fusion, which was on the hotel property, a lovely beach front restaurant. We sat at a table closest to the water and had our coffee. While we waited for our breakfast, it began to rain, so we moved inside. The food and staff were wonderful.

Around 8:30 am, we were checking out, when a couple offered to share their taxi with us to the ferry terminal. After chatting a bit, the woman mentioned her dad lived around the corner from us! What a small world! They left at the Charlotte Amalie terminal, but we had a boat to see in Red Hook, so David took us all the way to the other end of the island, "no problem".

David, our driver, was a cool guy. He talked about his visit to California and his hope to buy property there someday, how he grew up in Florida and moved to St. Thomas as a teenager and met his wife, how he splits his time working as a taxi driver and a construction worker, etc. He had all sorts of fun facts about the island and by the end of the short trip, we had a nice friendship going. He gave us his card, so that when we needed a ride back on St. Thomas, to give him a call. 

We arrived in Red Hook and the terminal happened to be right next to the marina, where the boat we hoped to see was berthed. This is where we began to learn that our broker was not really doing his job. In fact, he hadn't confirmed anything with the owner's broker at all. Needless to say, we only saw the boat from the dock. The owner's broker said that they could possibly arrange for another viewing on our return trip to St. Thomas on Thursday, so we set that up and went on our way to secure tickets for the ferry ride to West End, Tortola.

It was now around 11 am, so we grabbed a cold drink (ice water and soda; which by the way, we probably drank more cold soda on this trip than we've had in the past year), filled out the customs forms, and waited for time to board the ferry. 11:45 am rolled around and it was time to go. We initially sat up top, as we wanted to take in the view of all the islands, but a rain shower and lightning put a stop to that plan.

We sat inside the air conditioned cabin and watched the islands and colorful water pass by. We docked around 12:45 pm where it was pouring. Thankfully, there were many taxi drivers waiting. One lady motioned for us to go to her van, where we escaped the showers. Another couple joined us, and turns out they were from Gilroy! Again, what a small world. We were treated to a scenic route of the island, going around Cane Garden Bay and eventually cutting down along the middle of the island towards Road Town. Port Purcell is where the boat we chartered was located. All in all, it was about an hour's drive.

We chartered Amethyst, a Beneteau 34, through BVI Yacht Charters (used VI Sailing initially and they set it up through BVIYC). By now, it was around 3pm, and if we wanted to leave port anytime soon, we had to get a move on. Sailing at night is not allowed.

Since we have our sailing certification, checking in was a breeze. We had a quick chart briefing (we also took a course online, so this made it even quicker), Tony took us through the boat and showed us all the systems, etc., and by 3:30pm, we had our empty packs on our backs and were walking to the nearest grocery store, Rightway.

It was about a 10 minute walk, (watch out though, because there aren't any crosswalks, and we had to remind ourselves to adjust to the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road) and we thoroughly enjoyed the AC once inside the store. Provisioning in the islands is definitely more expensive than the mainland. I enjoyed comparing the prices though, when I could. Many of the items did not have a price on the shelf, so we were sort of guesstimating how much things cost. For the prices I did find, you can basically double the cost from the mainland. There were many brand names we recognized, although definitely not the big selection we are used to. One costly item was apples. It was $2 for ONE apple! One roll of toilet paper was $1.79 (yep, one ROLL, not a package).

We met another cruising couple while shopping and chatted up awhile. When we got to the butter, we both exclaimed how we couldn't possibly use up the double containers that they were sold in, so they said to meet them up front and they would give us one of the tubs. Cool! We checked out and all in all, it was about $170 for the week. We filled our packs and ended up having to buy a couple of plastic bags to carry it all. Our menu contained fish, sandwich makings, salad, bbq items, eggs, pancake mix, jam, coffee creamer (we brought our own coffee and pasta from home), pasta sauce, and light snacks. We didn't get ice, but since the boat had a fridge and freezer, we figured we didn't need any. We bought the nice couple their bags (to pay them back for the butter), and headed out. Next door, is a store called Cash and Carry, which sells bulk items (sort of like Costco). They had closed by the time we finished shopping, so I waited with our purchases while Jared went back into Riteway to get a case of water. We were advised NOT to drink the water on the boat. While reading online, I read about how you never know when the water tanks were last cleaned, so its best to use bottled water for drinking.

We made it back to the boat around 4:30pm and Tony said that since we knew what we were doing, he'd let us go ahead and leave port. He recommended sailing to The Bight on Norman Island, but we ended up going straight across to Peter Island and picked up a mooring ball in Great Harbour.

Turns out others had the same idea, because we had about 10 other boats in there with us. Not exactly the solitude we were looking for, and wow, did those people like to party. At one point, two catamarans had a music war going. A LOUD music war. One even upped the ante with a rainbow colored light show. It made fun entertainment for all of about 5 minutes, before we swore we would do everything possible to ensure we never anchored or moored with these people again.

We don't begrudge them party time, however, we were tired from traveling and trying to sleep with all that racket was difficult. It was also HOT. So darn hot, because we failed to notice the entire anchorage was sheltered by the island, and to add to that, the boat did not have much ventilation. A couple of tiny hatches and a few even smaller porthole windows. Even with the windscoop up and fans going in the cabin, we were sweating like crazy. Jumping in the water to cool off didn't really help either. So, we kept everything open, despite warnings of mosquitoes (which by the way, we only saw ONE the entire trip, thankfully). Jared tried sleeping up on deck, but that wasn't any better. We learned an important lesson that first night: find an anchorage where the island is lower and allows wind to pass through!

Torola off in the distance.