Sunday, March 27, 2011

Jenny here at last

This post was started as an experiment on my iphone that ended up in Salinas harbor for just a second or two when I fell into the water, but that that was all it took to ruin that unit.  (Now I wish I had gotten the insurance.)  That was on our last full day in Puerto Rico when we were mostly putting the boat away for another year or so.  I will be finishing up this blog over the next week.

For now, here is a link to some photos, and I will add some more and put some in this blog.   

When Jenny arrived in Culebra, it started to feel like a real vacation. We got the engine fixed after a couple of days, and we got into island time.  I really appreciate that Jenny helped keep me on a vacation pace, with fairly short sails so we had time to swim or explore every day.  The first day out of Culebra was a Saturday and we were heading east with enough time to get to Jost Van Dyke when we realized that BVI Customs closes at noon, and we couldn't make it by then-- it's about 36 miles into the wind, so it takes at least 7 hours but more like 8.  Anyway, that made it easy to decide to stop in Magen's Bay on the north side of St. Thomas just after noon, after 4 hours or so.

Magen's Bay is not explained in the cruising guides very well, but it was very unique-- a bay with the far end being a sandy beach almost a mile long.  It's a public recreation area with lots of parking, and seems to be free.  On Saturday, the beach not too full with a mix of tourists and locals.  On Sunday, it was even more locals having barbecues under the shade of the palms at the edge of the beach.  Jenny swam the length of the beach both ways on both days we were there.

On Monday morning we sailed on to Jost and cleared in.  It was great to see most of the friends we met two years ago, the second time for Albert-- Foxy, Wendell, Erol, and Susan from JVD Preservation.  Some highlights:  Susan Chaplin paddled over from Tortola, and we had dinner with her and Erol on Magus, and played music at Erol's house.

Too soon, it was time to leave, and we went back to Magens Bay for a night, then on to Culebra.  We had a couple of good snorkeling events, had a good dinner at Mamacita's, then it was on to Salinas.  That was fun, too, checking in with old friends and meeting new ones.  Sophi and Travis know Barbara and Stew on La Luna, and they were anchored near us, so we visited with them a couple of times, including a guitar playing night.  We also went out to dinner with Mary and Fred.  Overall, it was another great adventure on Magus.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Cruising with Sophi and Travis

At the Annaberg Suger Mill Ruins
Sophi and Travis arrived on Friday, March 11, and Travis quickly climbed the mast to find a seriously corroded/broken rigging plate on the mast that really needed to be fixed/ replaced.  We found an abandoned mast at the boatyard in Culebra and were able to find a usable part that Travis installed the next morning, and we left reasonalby early.  That was 40 miles direct to Coral Bay, St. John, where we stayed a coupled of days, listening to the bar bands that were pretty good. When we got there, everyone we met was from Maine, or had some connection.  On Sunday, we took a hike to the Annanberg Sugar Mill ruins and met some more people on boats in Coral Bay.

The dinghy dock at Coral Bay, St. John
Other repairs we've had to do so far include a dead battery and bad electrical wires, and a disconnected cooling hose that caused a little flooding of the bilge and gave us a good scare.

We stayed one night in Haulover Bay
(USVI), and then sailed to West End, Tortola the next day, that would be Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Cleared Customs into the BVI here.
Motor sailing into Coral Bay


In the caves at Norman Island, BVI

Erol and his chicken Tiny at East End Harbor, Jost Van Dyke

We stayed one night there, then visited the caves on Norman Island, and spent the night at an anchorage off of Peter Island.

We got to Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke on Thursday, St. Pattys Day, which was a party at Foxy's of course. I caught up with a lot of the people that we met two years ago, including Erol, and Susan from the JVD Preservation Society where she is doing some really excellent things.  The Sloop Project is moving along at a good island pace, being built in a shed behind Foxy's.

On Friday we went around to visit Erol (see two years ago,) and hung out with him and his friend Pops, and went snorkeling before heading back to Great Harbor. It seems like he will be losing his great deal place, and he plans to go back to Montserrat in his 22 foot open outboard boat, with all of his worldly possessions; see photos in the link at the end of this post for photos of his place and his boat.

We discovered an engine problem the next morning, so we got a late start, only making it to the western end of St. Thomas that day.  The anchorage had quite a swell, and it blew hard the next day, like 18-20 kts NE-- standard tradewind conditions.    We were going almost due west, so the wind was on our starboard quarter, and we sailed with all sails and the "big" jib at 5 to 6 kts-- no engine except leaving the anchorage and setting the anchor in Culebra at about noon on Sunday, March 20.  The total sailing miles by the GPS with Sophi and Travis was 119.3. 

This needs to be fixed some more, but look at Sophi and Travis's web site here. I'm really looking forward to Jenny arriving in two days-- that's Wednesday, March 23.  They had snow in Maine on Monday night, and I know she's ready for a break.

Unfortunately, the engine issue will need some attention, and the parts are supposed to arrive on Thursday, and the project will take several hours, but then everything will be good to go.  [I knew the oil lines needed to be replaced but my solution to date was to have special high-strength repair tape which was a very good thing, but the lines need to be replaced so we don't have to worry about dumping oil in the bilge and the ocean.]  

When Jenny arrives, we will do more snorkeling than I did with Sophi and Travis, and the best snorkeling we've found is right here around Culebra.  We want to visit our friend Susan Chaplin in Tortola, too, so we will probably go up there (up meaning into the wind.)  I'm not sure if this will be updated until after we return to Maine on April 7.  Thanks for checking in.  A bunch more photos are here.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Singlehanded to Culebra

Departure was at 6:05 on Monday, March 7, planning to stop somewhere on the south shore of Vieques.  That's basically due east, which as usual is right into the wind, so it was bumpy, and things fell and broke along the way.  However, I made 52 miles in less than 10 hours, so that was good.  Motor-sailing the whole way, like this:





Stopped at Puerto Real, or the Town of Esperanza, and spent most of the day checking out the condition of Magus and doing a few little projects. Also went into the nice little tourist town and bought some groceries, the highlight being the discovery of a mango tree with enough ripe mangoes to spare.













After lunch, I left for a short 6 mile trip to Isla Chiva to spend the night, a little closer to Culebra. This place has a lovely beach, and not many people, day trippers only it seems.  The phosphorescence in the water is big in certain places along the south shore of Vieques, and it was very cool at this spot.  Once it was dark, the water was sparkling, and the big fish would make trails in the water, with the little fish doing occasional freak-outs and dispersing.  Never seen that before. 

Left sort of early again, but not until 6:45.  It's about 20 miles to Culebra, and I motor-sailed into the wind to the east end of Vieques, then actually did some sailing.  Slower, though, especially since I was still going as close to the wind as I could.  The wind went around to almost due north, so I motorsailed the last 5 miles or so.  And the tacking added 5 miles to the trip.  I got into the ferry harbor at Dewey on Culebra at about 12:30, Wednesday, March 9. I also almost caught a couple of fish on this leg, but they got away, of course.  I'm going to buy some more lures and equipment, though.  

Daughter Sophi and her boyfriend Travis will be here on Friday morning, so I'll get a few projects done in the meantime, in addition to this post. 

Friday, March 4, 2011

2011 First week or so

OK, I arrived on Sunday,February 27, and in less than a week I've gotten a lot done. On Monday, I rebuilt the carburetor on the dinghy outboard. It went pretty well and I'm very glad that I didn't pour the little bit of “fuel” from the gas container into it-- it was all water. I rowed into the marina, bought a few things including gas, and was thrilled that it worked fine for the ride back to Magus. In fact, its working better than it ever has.

My shopping trip included getting some produce at a little roadside place in Salinas. Another reason I really like Puerto Rico.



$5.50 for all of this. And fresh squeezed OJ for 4 days.

That evening, I tried to start the engine and found out that the engine battery was essentially dead. This was my own fault because I didn't have the solar charger on it. The system was set-up to just charge the house batteries, but that will change this trip.

I brought the battery in to Fred's house and we put it on the charger, then made an evening of it at Drakes. The next morning, it still didn't show any signs of life, so I bought a new one. As it turns out, two days later, it was essentially fine, and Fred didn't want it, so its now the fourth battery for the "house" system.

Before I bought the battery, I replaced the old running light fixtures with LED fixtures and bulbs. And on the way into the marina (by dinghy,) I stopped and talked to Gilbert on his boat about cleaning the bottom of Magus, which he was doing when I got back from the battery trip. [Thanks, Rick of Orion at the Salinas Marina who I didn't see somehow.]

Anyway, by Wednesday I was ready to do the engine work, which was nasty, but the engine works great, with the new water pump and other stuff. All with thanks to Fred and his tools and moral support. Thursday was a bunch of shopping, and Friday was a few more things and returning the rental car to Sydney-- see the story from last year. On Friday, Fred made some excellent rice and beans at his and Mary's house in Salinas.  Here they are in their backyard.



Saturday was the beginning of really getting ready to go, with putting up sails, rigging the anchors, etc, etc. Also did some laundry and had dinner at Drakes. Brought in a piece of canvas to Maryann at Tradewinds to have it modified to fit better when we put the boat away.

On Sunday, I had a tour of Barbara, the “live anywhere” boat designed by Michael Porter, tour by Barbara Porter, both of Chebeague Island, Maine. The boat is outrageous and I learned about a great little hatch screen that I want to get for Magus, among other things. Mike is still finishing out the interior, with a schedule to get a cabin finished in about a week for a visit from the grandkids. It turns out that Barbara and Mike are friends with some neighbors of ours in Bowdoinham, David and Allison Berry, because Mike designed and built a boat that Dave uses to sell vegetables in the summer; check this out.

Tomorrow I plan to leave early for parts east.