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.