ANTIGUA TO ILES DES SAINTES

The Start of the Windwards

April 25, 2008 Antigua – May 18, 2008 Iles Des Saintes

Ron and Ally had left the previous day and we were sailing the west side of Antigua headed back to the south end but not before we visited a couple of spots along the way. Antigua is incredible in that every time we sailed around another point there would be another amazing expanse of white sand. Antigua has more beautiful beaches than any other island we have been to so far. In fact, the guide book tells us that there are 360 beaches to explore! Believe me, if hurricane season wasn’t coming we would have stayed the next year and investigated every single one. Maybe next time around…..
We planned on anchoring a couple of nites at Fort James (which is very close to St. John’s, the capital of Antigua) as this was where the big, world famous and expensive race boats and anyone else who wished to race in the Antigua Race Week (not to be confused with last logs Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta) would end their first nite of racing in the “Race ‘Round the Island”. There would be a huge beach party with live entertainment and we planned on being a part of the action. The first 2 nites we were anchored at Fort James there wasn’t another boat around but the afternoon of the first race, we could see hundreds of boats approaching the anchorage. Lo and behold, we were in the middle of the action as all of the race boats anchored around us and the fun and games started.
We had decided that we were going to enjoy the party as well, so we dinghyed in to the party on the beach and enjoyed a couple of rum drinks and some great music. Everyone was feeling the music and the rum and there was lots of dancing and carrying on. After a while we decided to get something to eat and we had both agreed on “local” food. We wanted to really experience what the locals ate and so we chose a little hut far away from the beautiful restaurants. We could tell it was popular among the locals as they were all lounging about gossiping and drinking the local beer, Wadadli. We reviewed the menu and after a few shudders (yech!), more rum and a few giggles we ordered goat water (goat stew) and pig’s tail (pretty self explanatory). We waited in anticipation for our gastronomic delights to arrive….we were psyched up. When the food came the goat water was a very rich, dark brown with chunks of suspicious looking meat floating about. The pig’s tail looked just like a pig’s tail should but smothered in BBQ sauce, but the bones in the tail moved about much like one of those wooden snakes that wiggles when you move it. Doug felt like Indiana Jones, or something like that, and charged ahead with spoon in hand. We both tried the”goat water” and declared it acceptable but very rich tasting, until that is Doug discovered another kind of meat as well as the goat. We couldn’t figure out what the other meat was….we had seen a few rats around….hmmmm. I lost my nerve when it came to the pig tail….I couldn’t do it. Doug persevered and dug in, shortly after tho’ he couldn’t eat any more of the pig tail. It was grossing him out too much. Needless to say, another wonderful adventure that ended with Doug not feeling so well (really?) and we went back to the cat much earlier than planned.
During all of this adventure and exploration the last couple of months, we had watched as one of our little dogs, Willis, deteriorated. We both knew what was coming but I procrastinated as long as possible, as my little guy, and his brother Rollie, had been with me for 16 years thru thick and thin. I could not imagine not having him in my life anymore. But he got rapidly worse and I could not deny it any longer. It was a very tough time but we felt that he was suffering and so we went to see a very compassionate vet and that afternoon we came back to the boat without our Willis.
That same very tough afternoon we made flight arrangements for me to fly home to Canada. While everything else was going on we had also decided after emailing back and forth with my Mom that it was time for me to come home and visit with my Dad who is ill. I flew out 1 day later to Canada to spend a week with my Dad and my Mom. I also got to get together with my girlfriends one nite and got caught up with my girl gang and strangely enough a firetruck showed up with some firefighters. Hmmm....That was awesome! It was a wonderful week seeing my Dad and my Mom that went far too fast and although I missed Doug I wish I could have stayed longer and hung out with my Pops more.
I flew back to Antigua in time for a couple of days of much needed rest before we sailed further south to Guadeloupe. Coming back, I could see that Falmouth Harbour, which was jam packed with boats when I left, was now empty, with only 1-2 boats other than Mustang Sally. Everyone was making the trek south to get out of the dreaded hurricane zone and we were slightly behind schedule. I also noticed that the boat was a lot quieter now that my little Willis was gone and I couldn’t imagine leaving Antigua without him. It was very hard.
Three days after I got back from home we sailed to Guadeloupe, the next island south of Antigua. Guadeloupe is actually comprised of two massive islands, Basse-Terre and Grand Terre which are joined by an isthmus, so the island from the sky resembles a butterfly, I am told. Guadeloupe is dominated by mountain ranges which are inactive volcanoes, most notably La Soufriere. We enjoyed a lovely sail, close hulled at first with winds blowing 12-15 knots. Mustang Sally was averaging 7.5-8 knots but then the winds died and the seas were relatively flat and it was scorching hot. We landed in Deshais (Day-hay), which is on the northwestern coast of the island. Doug washed the cat off with our new wash down hose using the fresh water from our newly installed water maker. How wonderful to be able to wash all of the salt off your boat after a wet sail. We had never been able to do this before and we were both pleased as this meant no more salt water getting inside the cat and also that Doug could rinse off the stainless steel on the deck to prevent rusting from the corrosive salt.
We both enjoyed a swim and dinghyed to shore to check in with French customs, which was a very fast, simple and pleasant experience. We walked around the lovely little French town but unfortunately, all of the restaurants and boutiques were closed. We are pretty accustomed to the French way by now, of closing thru out most of the afternoon but this was 5 p.m. and everything should have been open. Must have been a holiday. Too bad for us as it meant no French wine or baguette at a little café so we went back to the cat and enjoyed a big BBQ steak dinner with our own wine to celebrate our arrival in Gaudeloupe. Poor us…..
The next morning we awoke to the sounds of lots of beautiful birds singing and chirping. For some reason there are hardly any birds in the northeastern Caribbean (probably a shortage of fresh water as the eastern Caribbean is very arid) and I had been told that the further south that we went we would see and hear a lot more birds. I had really missed the sound of the birds and was happy to hear them sing again. I decided to go for run to stretch my legs and enjoyed the small town of Deshais with lots of colourful flowers and pretty, well kept, pastel coloured houses. I said “Bonjour” to everyone I passed and received a pleasant greeting back….huh…imagine…. French people actually being nice. I knew it couldn’t last for long so as soon as I got back to the cat we lifted anchor and slowly motored down the western coast. I enjoyed one of the best seats in the house, the port bow seat. I stared into the water which was so flat and calm I could see the rays of the sun slanting thru the water many feet down.
We had noticed in Antigua and even more so here in Guadeloupe, the proliferation of palm trees. Yes, there were palm trees in the Virgin Islands and in St Martin, but not like this. This is what we had always imagined the Caribbean to look like. We learned from other cruisers that the further south we travelled it would become even more lush, particularly Dominica (Dom-a-NEEK-ah), which was the next island after Guadeloupe and Iles des Saintes.
The next day we continued to motor close to the western coast of Guadeloupe taking our time and enjoying the scenery. We took a mooring ball in Basseterre for the nite readying for our next day’s sail to Iles Des Saintes. The sailing between islands was like a dream come true. The longest trip between any of the Windward Islands was 35 miles, which is a half sail for Mustang Sally. The sailing is the best too, sailing beam reach or broad reach all the way. No complaints here!
The sail to Iles des Saintes was leisurely and we anchored in the bay of the beautiful fishing village. It was very hot with little wind as we explored the pretty village and I got to practice my French, which although was not great, was good enough that the locals could understand me fairly well. After walking thru the lovely village we headed back to the cat for a cooling swim, nap and then a sundowner.
The next day we hiked up to Fort Napoleon. This fort was spectacular. Probably the best reconstructed and cared for fort we had ever seen. The hike was a steep walk thru the outskirts of the village and we enjoyed the gorgeous foliage… wild hibiscus, flamboyance, heliconia, etc. At the fort they had collected whalebones from a whale that had been found on one of the beaches a few years back. Apparently, the whale had been struck by a boat and come to the beach to die. Also, we learned that the French don’t think much of Christopher Columbus, I would even go so far as to say that they are anti-Columbus. One quote from one of the historical documents at the fort said that the best thing Columbus ever did was to sail back to Spain. Hmmm? Where do these people think they would be if it wasn’t for Columbus? Certainly not on that beautiful island in the Caribbean!
We had considered having dinner out at one of the French restaurants but the Euro is excessively expensive so we decided to ixne that idea and moved the cat to Pain de Sucre, which is a mini piton at 200 feet high. We had a lovely dinner aboard. We woke the next morning to a gentle breeze on our faces, and the sound of the surf on the beach. Not a bad start to a day I’d say. We kayaked, explored in the dinghy and swam. Doug also spent time hunting for lobster, but he was unsuccessful and, we had to have something besides lobster for dinner. I had gone for a hike that morning and discovered a lovely beach and while I was there very dressed up people on scooters started to arrive. On one of the scooters was an older woman, who I assume was the mother, and on the seat behind her, hanging on, was a young woman in a short white satin dress with a white veil. How kewl! Wedding on the beach and so simple. They had a BBQ planned for after as well.
We were checking out the next morning and to make tracks for Dominica. Can’t wait.
Til next time, fair winds…..

Antigua Classic Yacht Week

March 23rd, St Martin – April 25th, Antigua

Our wonderful guests have left us and now we have until April 16th before we have other guests who will be arriving in Antigua. So, we had some time to get some tasks done on the boat, (St Martin is the perfect place to do this). But first on my list of priorities was dinner at our most favourite restaurant, Tropicana. We must go to Tropicana every time we are in St Martin. The food is very French, meaning decadent and the service is surprisingly good for a French restaurant :) and so far our favourite in all of the Caribbean.

We were able to catch up with some friends we had not seen in awhile while we were in St Martin. Seems like everyone was in the lagoon waiting for the swell to subside before heading further south, so, it was like a reunion of cruisers. There were many potlucks and cocktail parties on each other’s boat. In fact, we met up with one lady, Joanne, and met her man Dave, who was aboard her yacht “Walkabout”. We last saw Joanne on the Alligator River while transiting north thru North Carolina headed for Canada last spring on our monohull, “L’Attitude”. We waited out a gale with Joanne back then for 3 days and now we were waiting out high winds again combined with this incredible swell, which was then followed by another swell. Everyone was wearing foul weather gear everywhere they went. So much for tropical weather! Sad to say, that due to the poor weather this past winter a lot of cruisers packed it in and headed home for good.

While eating ribs one nite, one of Doug’s molars cracked. The next morning we were referred to a dentist who fixed him up. We figured that we should also get our teeth cleaned. I was first for my cleaning and the dentist was a wonderful man, although he doesn’t have the equipment I was used to at home…. we are spoiled at home and don’t know it. He kept trying to jam his big ham hock of a hand in my mouth all the while telling me that I needed to open my mouth wider (I know a lot of people would differ with me but I actually have a small mouth!) . All this was going on while I was holding the saliva sucker thingie, and choking on my own saliva because I didn’t know where the puddle in my mouth was forming. There was also a loud, sharp pinging in my ear and I couldn’t figure out what it was….I thot my ear drum would explode. I figured it out…. the dentist’s watch alarm was going off right beside my ear and he couldn’t hear it because of the dental machinery running….oh and the gagging. Oh well, my teeth got cleaned, no fluoride or polishing but just the basics. What was I expecting? Doug didn’t fare much better.

Cap’n Doug was very busy the 2 ½ weeks we stayed in St Martin, waiting for weather. He installed a water maker, which now means unlimited fresh water!! WooHoo! He also worked on numerous other projects. We had our mechanic, Pedro, fine tune our engines, took the dogs to the vet for a checkup, more dog grooming, did a big provisioning to stock the boat right up, and then fueled up. We sailed to Tintamarre which is an island at the north end of St. Martin, enjoyed a nite and day of rest and relaxation and then lifted anchor at 4 p.m. to sail overnite to Antigua. We were both excited as we had not sailed that far south yet and Antigua would be a whole new experience for the two of us and our two small dogs, Willis and Rollie.

The weather was predicted to be 6’ seas, and winds 10-12 knots beam reach. Ha! Try very rough seas, more like 10’ and winds right on the nose. Made for a very lumpy nite, motor sailing for the first half until we past St. Barths and then we were able to shut off the engines and sail her which is a much faster option for us. Mustang Sally is fast when sailing but slogs along when motoring in lumpy seas. All in all it was a good nite and we landed at Jolly Harbour, Antigua at 7 a.m. Customs didn’t open until 8 a.m. so we hovered around the harbor eating breakfast, waiting to get checked in. We both really liked the looks of Antigua, so far. The properties were cared for, with beautiful palm trees, hibiscus, flamboyance, etc., and it seemed that there was some real infrastructure here…..and no garbage everywhere like some other islands.

We had an uncomfortable bit of dealing with customs when it came to declaring our two dogs, Willis and Rollie. Even tho all of our paperwork was in order for both boys (this paperwork cost a lot of $$, ask my vet who is a wealthy man), customs informed me (which I knew already but was unable to comply) that I should have emailed them 24 hours in advance to notify the federal vet of our exact time of arrival, so the federal vet could come and “inspect” the boys and make sure they were fit to “land”. Excuse me? Did I fail to mention that we just sailed over nite from St Martin, where email and phones are out of the question? It was a Saturday and the fed vet had better things to do with her personal time than to come and inspect two dogs right then. So both boys were not able to “land” until Monday, which thanks goodness they have some experience in and we managed just fine on the cat until Monday.

Our friends on “Gypsy Blues”, Rene and Cheryl, were anchored in Jolly Harbour so we enjoyed some of their wonderful hospitality again and had dinner and drinks and lots of laughs, as always. They were heading off the next day for Falmouth Harbour, Antigua, as the Classic Yacht Race Week was about to start. Quite a few of our good friends would be there, Joel and Kathy on “Triumph”, and Mike and Kylie on “Meggie”. We hadn’t seen Mike and Kylie in over one year so we were really excited to see them and catch up. Classic Race Week means lots of after race parties, a chance to race on one of the yachts as crew (kewl) and see these beautiful historical yachts in action. In fact, we were excited that “Meggie” would be racing in the vintage division for her size. We would be joining everybody as soon as the vet had inspected the dogs.

Monday morning came, and so did the vet, she came, she took our money and she looked at the dogs and left. Off we went to join the gang in Falmouth. We had a pretty rough sail there as the seas were coming round the headland and were quite lumpy with big steep waves, but we got to Falmouth just the same. We had dinner with “Triumph” that nite which was great. Then as we were heading back to the dinghy dock we ran in to Mike and Kylie from “Meggie” on the street outside the popular local hang out “The Mad Mongoose”. There were lots hugs with everyone talking over each other as it had been so long since we had last seen each other and there was lot’s to catch up on. Paul and Leanne were friends of Mike and Kylie’s from home (Thornbury, Ontario), which was also very close to our home port, and they were down visiting and also to help as crew for race week onboard “Meggie”. Everyone loaded into our dinghy and we headed back to Mustang Sally to show her off as Mike and Kylie had not yet seen her. Needless to say, the night went quite late as we got each other caught up on everything happening in our lives and all of the adventures everyone had been on and the kewl places that they had been to.

The next nite we hosted dinner aboard “Mustang Sally” with “Gypsy Blues”, whom we owed many dinners too and were playing catch up with, and “Triumph” too. It was another great nite getting caught up with friends.

The next day Doug’s Dad, Ron, and his wife, Allyson, were flying in and we were excited to have them stay with us for 9 days, especially throughout the Classic Race Week, as Ron is a Classic Yacht nut, and also because we had not seen them since the past summer and we were really looking forward to hanging out with them two of them.

Once Ron and Ally arrived, we got them settled on the cat, enjoyed a cold drink and then headed back to the walk docks and admire all of the beautiful yachts. The historical yachts “Ranger”, “Velsheda”, “Ellinora” and “Adela” (all of varying length but 135’ and longer) were all present and shined to a high polish not to mention countless other classics in their various classes. “Meggie” lovingly restored, by Mike and Kylie (see cruising World’s article entitled “Meggie’s Youthful Makeover”, November 2007 issue) is a 30’ Bermuda Choy Lee and she was at the dock as well, looking bright and perky beside all of the big guys. The 4 of us enjoyed a wonderful meal ashore at a lovely, elegant restaurant (a real treat for Doug and me) and wrapped up the evening with night caps on board the cat.

The next day, the four of us joined Joel and Kathy aboard “Triumph” and with picnic lunch in hand we motored out to watch the races. This was fantastic as most people don’t actually get to see the whole race because it is outside the very protected harbour. Even then, if people came out on their boats to watch they would only see the start and finish. “Triumph” has two big powerful engines and we were able to motor alongside the yachts at 10-12 knots and see all of the action. Even at that speed we still could not stay caught up but it sure gave us the best seats in the house. Everyone was very excited but no one more than Ron who would intermittently shout out, “Can you believe we are here watching this? This is once in a life time stuff!” After the race there was a party with free rum drinks and had a fabulous local band, “Itchy Feet” which had everyone up dancing. What a great nite dancing amongst these beautiful boats. We went to bed pretty tired but happy that nite, replaying portions of the race thru our head.

Next day, Ally and I headed to the local grocery store which is always an interesting event. You can ever plan what you are going to buy; you just buy whatever is available and think up what to do with it all back at the boat. This makes it fun and interesting. We bought some local lamb chops and a variety of good stuff and lugged it all back to the dinghy, so that we were set for the rest of their stay with us. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, reading, sunning and resting up after our big nite and in anticipation of another party at the Antigua Yacht Club that nite. What a tough life!

Next day we were on “Triumph” again to watch the races but with a whole slew of people aboard this time as everyone realized that this was the place to be. It as another incredibly exciting day of racing and just the thrill of seeing these magnificent yachts with their crews of 45 or more running around like mad, racing against each other was overwhelming.

After the end of the races a few days later, we sailed to Green Isle for a relaxing evening at this gorgeous anchorage. This is where we saw a Wharram (James Wharram is famous for designing a certain type of catamaran, think Polynesian boat) catamaran that Doug and I had seen many times in our travels but most recently in the lagoon in St Martin. Sadly, she was hard aground on top of a reef that was on the windward side of the island and although the winds were down significantly that day it was not hard to see that she was getting damaged already, but when the winds came back up she would be broken to bits. What a sad shame.

The next day was Ron and Ally’s last full day with us so we sailed to Jumby Bay on beautiful Long Island. This anchorage was spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure of spending our last day there with Ron and Ally.

We were very sad to see Ron and Ally leave as we loved their easy going relaxed company and the many laughs we had over dinners.

Till next time......

The Big Swell

The Big Swell

After the Barrie gang left us we had 10 days to relax and get ourselves to St. Martin where we would provision the cat again for our next guests, which would be a gang of 6 coming to enjoy beautiful St. Martin and St. Barths from various parts of north east US.

We thought we would have lots of time to get some tasks done in St Martin prior to our guest’s arrival but the weather this winter in the Caribbean has been rough. High winds (30-40 knots regularly) with lots of rain, torrential rain. As a result, we waited for a weather window to cross the Anegada passage(passage between British Virgins and St Martin, a.k.a. the “O My Godda” passage, as it can be very rough) for 6 days before we felt it would be comfortable passage to sail to St Martin from the BVI. The Anegada passage is only a 90 nautical miles crossing from the most northerly island of the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda, which is usually a 12 hour trip depending on winds and how fast a boat can sail/motor. However, the prevailing winds are out of the east here in the Caribbean and we are also heading east, so the wind is right on our nose, making sailing pretty much impossible. Because the winds had been so strong for so long, the waves also out of the east were pretty sizable at 10- 12’, and to add to this, there was a large swell (8’) running out of the north. These things on their own are not so bad but together are a recipe for a miserable crossing with very confused seas….something I personally am not fond of. So we waited……finally, when we left, the seas had lied down and the winds dropped to 12-15 knots. We had an uneventful crossing but, unfortunately, it was a motor the whole way.

We arrived in Philipsburg harbor on the Dutch side and spent the next few days enjoying the fabulous shopping and the great bars. What fun to behave like a tourist! We also provisioned the boat for our guests with fresh fish, thick slabs of meat and lots and LOTS of wine and French cheeses and baguette. Yum!

Our guests came aboard Mustang Sally at noon on Saturday, tucked their bags into their cabins, got comfortable and we enjoyed a lovely lunch before we lifted the anchor and set sail (motor sail, we were heading east again!) to the beautiful Anse de Columbier (Columbier Bay)western side of the island of St Barths. After a few hours of enjoying the sail we took a mooring ball and our guests were more than happy to have a swim, take advantage of our water toys, relax, and enjoy themselves.

The next day after a big breakfast we sailed to Grande Saline beach. Just another incredibly beautiful beach, where the sand is white and the water azure blue….and some people are NAKED!! Oh the French!! LOL! Everyone took the opportunity to walk the beach, enjoy a swim and snorkel and then lunch before we had a lovely downwind sail to Gustavia Harbour, the charming little main town of St. Barths.

Next day after a quick stroll of Gustavia and the millionaire’s row of mega yachts tied stern to along the quay we sailed to Ile de Forchue, one of my favourite places. Once we were securely tied to the mooring ball everyone enjoyed a refreshing snorkel and some kayaking while Fred, the local barracuda kept an eye on us and begged for scraps from the back of the cat, just like a neighbourhood dog. Not much later 3 of our guests, the adventurous, Eric, his lovely bride, Judy and their good friend, Jobie, decided to hike to the top of one of the large hills on the island (in the hot baking sun!), while Greg, his better half, Mary Beth and Jobie’s husband Mike stayed behind to enjoy cocktails and play Scrabble. We stayed at Ile de Forchue over nite and enjoyed the isolation and “Marslike” desolation of the island, caused by goats which ate all of the vegetation and then starved to death, leaving only red rubble in their wake.

We set sail early the next morning to sail around the southern tip of St. Martin headed for the French side of island to the capital of Marigot where we checked back in to the country and then head up the northwest coast of St Martin, planning stops at Friars Bay, Grand Case, the secluded Tintamarre, Ile de Pinel and finally Orient Beach.

After checking in with customs, we anchored in Friars Bay, looking forward to a fun nite with our guests…. that is until the French coast guard pulled alongside our cat with a strong suggestion (not really a suggestion if you’re readin’ my mail) to move into the lagoon for protection due to a 20 foot swell out of the north which was to arrive that nite and would steadily build over the course of the next 3-4 days. A swell of that magnitude is similar to a small tsunami and could cause severe damage to shorelines and any buildings, boats or people near the coast. There had never been a swell this size in 42 years! Swells are caused by large storms on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Large waves form and roll unheeded to the south, getting bigger as they go. Once they reach more shallow waters, such as the coastlines of the Caribbean islands they become huge as they no longer have the depth of the water to roll in. The French bridge, which is on a schedule to open, was opened early and often to let boat traffic into the lagoon regardless of the delay to car traffic. All boats were directed to the lagoon and all water activities were banned, coastal roads were closed and buildings all along the beaches and coasts were boarded up with some low lying areas completely evacuated. We considered ourselves very lucky to have been in St. Martin when this occurred as the lagoon is considered one of the safest places to be in all of the Caribbean in severe weather.

Unfortunately tho, this meant that the remainder of our guests stay aboard Mustang Sally would be in the lagoon. Not a great place to swim due to the great number of anchored boats and certainly not a very pretty place with more of an industrial feel, as there are many rusted out hulks of work boats. For safety reasons tho, we had to make the best of situation, which we did, by listening to music, playing Scrabble, reading books, engaging in some serious discussion and some not so serious, soaking up sun on the trampolines and eating lots of good food, not to mention imbibing in some of that wine mentioned earlier. We never felt the effects of the swell in the lagoon other than murkier water than normal, but instead, heard and read about the damage. The swell peaked at 13’ in St. Martin which was significant enough to cause some damage but thankfully not as much as was feared if the swell had reached 20’. Other more northerly islands suffered more damage than St. Martin.

We felt sad to see our guests go at the end of their stay with us and although our travel plans to show them all of the beautiful sites were scuttled we still had a great time with them and hope to see them back again so we can show them more than just the lagoon or perhaps other islands.

Till next time….. fair winds.

Barrie Babe's Birthday Cruise

Playing catch up again….and probably always will. Today is March 27th (all ready!) and we are in St Martin but this log will catch you up on what we were up to when the gang of 4, Mike and Christie, and Mike and Christine (I know, it’s hard to keep straight), from our home town, Barrie, Ontario who came to visit from February 24th thru to March 5th.

This cruise was called the birthday cruise as many of my gal pals from home, me included, will be hitting the big 4-0 this year and as we can’t all be together on each other’s actual birthdays so I decided to have a birthday bash while a few were here. I should clarify that Christie was not close to approaching 40 (bitch) but she was more than happy to join in the party. We did a fine job of celebrating. Way to go girls!! The guys didn’t mind at all either!

So, on the 24th of February we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our guests by ferry in Sopers Hole, Tortola. Mustang Sally was loaded with all kinds of thick cuts of meat and fresh fish for the BBQ, cheeses, pates and lots of fresh fruit….not to mention all the wine and beer our lockers could hold. Everyone arrived as scheduled and it was a very kewl feeling to see them on top of the ferry waving like maniacs at us, while we were waving like raving idiots from Mustang Sally back to them. I think the other ferry passengers were snickering at our displays of emotion. Too bad for them and their boring existence!! Unfortunately, Christine’s checked bag was lost. Oh well, this was to be expected if flying thru Puerto Rico and we had encouraged our guests to travel light with carry on only. Maybe they had to check the bag due to all of the goodies they were bringing from home for us? Hmmmm. Seriously tho, when travelling down for a visit on our catamaran, you really don’t need to bring much. Just a couple of bathing suits, flip flops, a sundress for the ladies and t shirts and shorts for the gents. Turned out that Christine didn’t really miss her bag at all after the week was out.

We barely got everyone on board with drinks in hand and appetizers on the table and slipped off the mooring ball headed for the Willy-T’s on Norman Island! No time to waste! WooHoo! It was Sunday nite and we knew that the Willy-T’s would be rocking. We motored as fast as Mustang Sally could go as it was already 7 p.m. and we didn’t want to miss a minute of action. I should know by now that the party doesn’t really start until we get there. Don’t get me wrong, the party is always good at the Willy-T’s but it seems to get kicked up a notch when we show up. With our posse nothing could stop us, and nothing did!!

The next morning was foggy. Not the weather tho, it was gorgeous as usual. It was our heads that were foggy from the nite before! Nothing that Eggs Benny and Mimosas couldn’t cure!! After brekkie we headed to Treasure Point (also on Norman Island) for some serious snorkeling and to further clear any lingering cobwebs. It was the first time for a few to try snorkeling (let’s face it, not much good snorkeling at home on the great lakes)and with noodles for some and a little practice session we all got underway to see the beautiful world that awaits us just below the surface.

Once we all had our fill, we were off to secluded Key Bay on Peter Island. Key Bay is a good spot to chill and relax after a nite of partying. There was only one other boat in the anchorage and so it was close to perfect. We spent the rest of the day sunning, swimming and reading, that is, until the crew on the other boat, Winsome, dinghied over to ask for a small bag of ice for their cocktails. How could we refuse? So, we invited Rolland, Cindy, Adrian and Dave aboard with their cocktails to join us for sundowners. Before you know it, we had a regular party going on. So much for a quiet nite…..

The next morning, we said good bye to the crew on Winsome and had a beautiful close reach to The Baths on Virgin Gorda. Our gang swam into to see the huge granite boulders and everyone appropriately oohed and aahed as we followed the trail that leads thru the boulders. (I would talk more about The Baths but I have written about them many times before in previous logs).
Once back on board we headed to Marina Cay to catch Michael Beans Pirate Show at the Happy Arrr Bar. We had all practiced blowing the conch horn earlier in the day and Cap’n Doug and I had tutored everyone on pirate lore in preparation for the show. We wanted to win shots of rum and maybe even the coveted bottle of Pussers Rum! Doug, Christie and me answered some of the pirate questions correctly and so at one time all three of us were up on stage doing shots together! How fun! Christie was also “volunteered” for the conch blowing contest as she had displayed the most skill at this time honored sundown tradition (?!), and although she didn’t win the contest she got an “A” for effort and many admiring looks from her fellow competitors and audience members who could hardly focus on the task at hand. Way to distract Christie!! This show never fails to send us all back to the cat half in the bag and so to make up for not winning the coveted bottle of Pussers we cracked open our liquor stores and broke out the Pussers Rum and drank some anyway in Cap’n Dougs delicious Painkillers.

We must have looked like a fun bunch on Mustang Sally as we had visitors again that nite from the boat anchored beside us. Bob (who is an acquaintance of ours) and two of his buddies that he was teaching to sail thot they would come around and say hi. Cap’n Doug swears that all the pretty girls on board bring the riff raff around! Needless to say, we had a very late dinner of BBQ shish ka bobs and off to bed quite late to see what the next day would bring us.

Turned out, the next day brought fog again, again not the weather. After a scrumptious breakfast, that not all could enjoy, as it seemed some were a little more sensitive to the gentle sway of the cat after the previous nites libations, we headed out, bound for Gorda Sound. We were happy to leave Marina Cay as the wind had piped up and there was quite a swell rolling thru the anchorage despite the protective reef. Again, we enjoyed an exhilarating close reach with the wind blowing a steady 18-20 knots, while Mustang Sally, even while loaded for bear with all of our provisions and 6 people aboard still hauled ass at 11 knots. The sun was high in the blue sky and conditions couldn’t have been more perfect for our sail. Mike and Mike enjoyed the best seats in the house for the ride of their lives. The two each chose bow seats to really feel the salt spray and enjoy the view. Unfortunately what they didn’t know was at this point of sail they would get a lot more than just salt spray. Depending on which tack we were on, each of the Mike’s received torrents of water crashing over him. Cap’n Doug, who was at the helm and the 3 ladies, who were sunning themselves on the sun pads high and dry in the cockpit, watched with tons of enthusiasm as each wave crashed over the Mike’s. With Cap’n Doug yelling “Here’s come a REALLY big one, Mike’s gonna get it!” the three girls would point, scream and laugh every time. After a few hours, I got to wondering why the guys didn’t come back to the cockpit and dry out. I mentioned that perhaps the guys didn’t feel safe enough to maneuver to the cockpit from the bow seats. Hmmmm. Sure enough when we sailed back into the lee of the island the guys came back to the cockpit, cursing us for leaving them stuck up there. Between the salt covered deck and the how fast the cat was moving, they didn’t feel it was safe enough to leave the bow seats and seek shelter. The poor Mike’s were freezing but after toweling off and sitting in the warm sun out of the wind with a bit o’ rum in their glass they were warm and happy as clams again in no time.

We anchored in the lee of Prickly Pear Island where there was a small white sandy beach surrounded by very steep rock face and we it had all to ourselves. Kudos to Cap’n Doug for spotting it! We all swam into the beach, which wasn’t far, and Mike M. got a fire ready for later on that evening. What a more perfect idea than a fire on the beach at nite! Though, after everyone helped make a delish dinner we are all too tired to head to the beach and enjoy the fire we had planned :(. All of the partying and sailing had caught up with us. Oh well! A good nites sleep would have us all feeling rested and we could party hard again the next day!
The next morning we got a mooring ball in front of the pretty and isolated Saba Rock. As everyone was feeling up to snuff after their good nites sleep, I brilliantly thot we should go for a wee hike and show them some of the posh and laid back Bitter End Yacht Club, as well as some of Biras Creek resort . It was a hot hike with the sun beating down on us and so, we felt we deserved a hearty lunch at the Bitter End Pub with some refreshments. Ahhhh! Perhaps a nap is in order now…..

That nite the gang got a bit dressed up and we dinghied into Saba Rock for their fabulous buffet of 3 different roasts to dine on (lamb, prime rib, and ham! Yum! )plus a great salad bar and all the side dishes to boot. We always receive great service from the David, the general manager, and his staff at Saba Rock and we were not disappointed again. After our bellies were full with food and wine, we enjoyed a nightcap and happily hit the hay.

Cap’n Doug and I wanted to take the gang and show them some world class snorkeling so we headed out the next morning with our waypoint set for Monkey Point on Guana Island. We made Bloody Caesars, cranked the tunes and had a fabulous downwind sail where this time it was safe for everyone to be up on the sun pads on the trampolines and the bow seats, without getting wet. Everyone kept their eyes peeled for dolphins but we didn’t see any :(. The snorkeling was pretty good tho at Monkey Point altho not as good as we have seen it before but we still enjoyed the swim, the sun and the chance to chill before we shared another delicious meal together. We managed to crank it up a notch that nite and just the 6 of us partied together without any unexpected visitors.

Another downwind sail the next morning after brekkie, this time headed for Cane Garden Bay on the north side of Tortola. After a wee bit of provisioning at Bobby’s Market, (more beer and wine) we planned on lying on the beach whilst drinking Margaritas. Mustang Sally doesn’t often moor in Cane Garden Bay due to the amount of crime. The young locals think it’s fun to untie painter lines on dinghy’s at the dinghy dock and watch them float out to the Atlantic Ocean past Jost Van Dyke. Or worse, the older local youth actually steal the dinghies with their expensive outboards. We had heard many stories to this effect on the Caribbean Safety and Security Net on our single side band radio as well as read many stories in the Caribbean Compass newspaper, so we were well aware of the dangers. We felt safe enough as we always lock our dinghy with heavy chain and a stout lock and we have an alarm system onboard Mustang Sally, but that doesn’t mean we want to visit these types of places regularly. We reasoned, however, that it might be fun for the gang to see this popular hangout and as it was Friday to see Quito and The Edge play at the popular Quito’s Bar and restaurant that nite. Sure enough while we were laying on the beach lounge chairs we heard some people who had been swimming in the water yelling at local kids who were sitting inside dinghies untying painter lines tied to the dock. The swimmers were lucky they noticed what was going on as their dinghy just happened to float past them while they swam in the bay. Mike C. ran down to the dinghy dock to deal with these kids but they seemed to be oblivious of the damage they were causing and smugly replied that the dinghies had all come free on their own because they must not have been tied properly. The local officials did little but to come and speak briefly to the boys and then back their stories up. We decided shortly after that that we didn’t need to spend our good money in a place that does nothing to protect its visitors and we made tracks for Diamond Key on Jost Van Dyke, where we would anchor over nite, which was just fine with all of us. We enjoyed a big pasta dinner and red wine and “sort of” behaved that nite.

Next morning we hiked to the Bubbly Pool. We were hoping for a good north swell as this is what really makes the Bubbly Pool so famous. The waves which travel from the north Atlantic are forced thru a small crevice which forces incredible suction and huge wave action in a relatively small pool of water. It’s a hoot and never fails to produce lots of laughter. The waves weren’t as big as we hoped but everyone got the idea and still enjoyed the medium sized waves that did come crashing thru.

After our hike back to the dinghy we were ready for a swim again. A short motor had us at the breathtaking Sandy Spit with its white sand and palm trees. Almost everyone swam ashore while the dinghy brought the cooler bag with coldies and pretzels (Hey, ya gotta have coldies, its hot here in the tropics!). We walked around the island, which doesn’t take long, and then plunked our butts in the white sand to enjoy the sun and the view and thank our lucky stars that we get to visit paradise.

After we managed to get the sand out of our shorts and everyone had their fill of the deserted island we enjoyed a short sail with jib only to Great Harbour, also on Jost Van Dyke. We then dinghied into shore and enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the “The Settlement” while fulfilling a little retail therapy request at Foxy’s store (you can’t go home empty handed!). Our gang of 6 was on a mission to find good fresh lobster for dinner that nite so, we scouted out the restaurants in Great Harbor based on price and weight and settled on Ali Baba’s for dinner where we had a delicious Caribbean dinner with lots of local colour and flavour. We had been invited over to our friend Ed’s beautiful catamaran, Shearwater, for after dinner cocktails which we were more than happy to oblige. Our gang had not yet met our friend Ed whom we had only met a few weeks prior. It’s like that here in the cruiser world, you become fast friends quite easily with people as you already have a lot in common and it’s a small world, and there was no exception with Ed. We made plans to party with Ed the next day at White Bay, which was just around the corner, to help us celebrate our “birthdays” at Soggy Dollar.

Mike and Christie and Mike and Christine were only with us for another 2 full days so we thot it would be a nice idea to hang out at the relaxing and beautiful White Bay beach for their last days. They happily agreed when they saw how beautiful it really is. We had plans to hang out and kayak and swim in the morning and then hit the Soggy Dollar for the afternoon before heading back to the cat for steak dinner and Pineapple Rum birthday cake. What a more perfect birthday I could not imagine! Ed was true to his word and joined us at the Soggy for numerous Painkillers and Carib’s. After awhile, a swim was in order so we headed back to Mustang Sally and cooled off in the water before making a big batch of margaritas. Uh- oh! That spells trouble with a capital T! And it proved to be true; as we partied well into the nite with the tunes cranked and we all thoroughly enjoyed our steak dinner and birthday cake while wearing “Happy Birthday” tiaras for the ladies. Cap’n Doug and Mike M. made sure Ed got home safely in the dinghy much, much later that nite.

The next day was the last full day and everyone wisely chose to take it easy this day as no one wanted to spend a very long travel day the next day with hangovers. We hung out at Ivan’s Stress Free Bar and had burgers for lunch and spent the after chillin’ on the beach trying hard to absorb as much of the sun and sand as possible as to take with them in their heads to remember on the cold days still to come at home.

The girls were in the galley for the last time preparing our last delicious meal together and I was feeling quite melancholy as that was what I loved and missed so much about home was just hanging with the femmes in the kitchen and gossiping and laughing while preparing appetizers or dinner and sipping wine. Over dinner everyone spent a lot of time reminiscing about the last 10 days and how much fun it was, bursting out in laughter when we remembered something especially funny.

The next morning we motored over to Sopers Hole where we would see them off on the ferry that first brought them to us. Hardly anyone was talking and it was obvious that it no one was really looking forward to the long day of travel ahead of them and getting back to the grind at home. Christine’s luggage was waiting, intact, for her at the ferry dock where it had spent the last 9 days. Sheesh! We said good bye at the ferry terminal with big hugs all around and me bawling as usual (never good at goodbyes!). When Doug and I saw that the ferry was ready to leave the dock we slipped Mustang Sally off her mooring so we could be beside the ferry as she transited out of the anchorage and we waved goodbye like idiots, again.

GREAT WHITE NORTH CRUISE - Jan 6th-13th, 2008 Provencher/Hodgins Cruise

GREAT WHITE NORTH CRUISE – January 6th-13th, 2008 - Provencher/Hodgins Cruise

Today is February 4th and I am busy getting caught up on logs, as there is much to tell you. I am still writing about the first weeks of January! Then I can tell you all of the stuff we have planned for February in the next log out.

After Jon, Adam, Simon and Manica left us on the 4th of January we headed into Village Cay Marina for an unusual nite stay (for us anyway) at a marina. We prefer to anchor out and feel the trade winds blow thru the cat at nite rather than be uncomfortably hot in a marina. Some boats stay constantly at marinas…. weird. However, Village Cay Marina has the distinction of being one of the smelliest places I have ever been, due to the fact that Road Town pumps all of the sewage into the water at the marina. The islands don’t have much in the way of infrastructure but still….. I have to cover my nose and mouth or I will gag, especially if there isn’t much of a breeze to blow the stench somewhere else. Our guests, Rob, Tina, Danielle, James and Jocelyn were due on the morning of the 6th so, it’s a necessary stinky stay at the dock to get all of the laundry done in 24hours, the provisioning for our next guests purchased and stored away, the cat cleaned, fueled and watered up. We still managed to enjoy a few coldies in between chores by pinching our noses closed while chugging. Needless to say, we were busy but excited to pick up our guests who were coming from Sudbury, Ontario, which is 4 hours north of our home town. We knew that they were kewl coming from Northern Ontario and couldn’t wait to show them the beautiful British Virgin Islands for the next 7 days.
On the 6th we were in Soper’s Hole, on the West End of Tortola, bright eyed and bushy tailed with pots of coffee, Baileys and Caesar’s (it’s a Canadian thing!) waiting. The ferry was to deliver them from St. Thomas and drop them at 9 a.m. so that we could head off on our adventure right away. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating and we were getting a lot of rain. Numerous down pours throughout the morning causing me to wipe the cat down over and over so that she looked pretty for our guests. I gave up after awhile as it was futile. Nevertheless, right on schedule, I could see the gang waiting on the dock waving. Doug was already on shore waiting for them and after bringing them and their luggage to the cat in the dinghy we got everyone settled in to their cabins and they were drinking coffee (I guess it was a little early for Caesar’s!) as another down pour hit. So it was a perfect opportunity to listen to Cap’n Doug give instructions on how to pump a marine head but more importantly how to make the contents in the said head disappear! Sometimes this can be an awkward conversation but other times it can be the greatest ice breaker! It turned out to be just that, a very hilarious conversation that would last for days, especially in the mornings.
We freed ourselves from the mooring ball and motored to The Indians. We would have sailed but there were many squalls passing thru and as it was their first day on the cat we thought we would take it easy and not totally freak our guests out. The Indian’s provide excellent snorkeling and diving. The gang was eager to get into the water and snorkel despite the rain. You see, these people had just left minus 20* Celsius (for you American’s…. that’s *$%^#$ cold!!) back home and they were lovin’ the 80*F temperature, rain or no rain! The rain let off enough that we enjoyed lunch in the cockpit and then did another short motor after their snorkel to Privateer Bay on Norman Island were, luckily for us, the weather started to clear and the sun was poking its head thru. Yay!! It wasn’t long after that when the ladies were up on the sun pads on the trampolines soaking up the rays and the guys were back in the water with their underwater cameras snorkeling and taking lots of pictures. I should mention that these weren’t just any pictures. These two, Rob and James, are professional photographers and, from what we have seen, at the top of their profession. Just check out their respective websites at www.westmountphotography.com/blog/ and http://www.hodgeblog.hodginsphotography.com/ and see what we mean. After a few coldies in Privateer Bay we lifted anchor and made way for Little Harbour, Peter Island, where we would stay the nite.
Little Harbour is a well protected overnight stop with good holding and we snugged the cat up close to the shore and the craggy rocks (but not too close!!). Once we got ourselves anchored, we had appetizers and sundowners. Cap’n Doug made a big batch of Painkiller’s, which everyone enjoyed, of course (we have yet to meet one person who doesn’t like painkiller’s!). On the aforementioned craggy rocks located in fairly close proximity to the stern of the cat we just so happened to see a white goat (a ghost goat?). He/she (must be politically correct) was perched precariously atop a jagged rock. Pretty kewl, but then I guess it’s normal for goats as he\she seemed unimpressed with us and our impressive elbow to mouth exercises. This was all followed a short while later with dinner in the cockpit and lot of laughter, all under the starry Caribbean sky. What a great first day, and lots more to come!
After a sound, restful sleep we enjoyed brekkie and weighed the anchor to leave this lovely serene anchorage and hit the road, so to speak, on to the next beautiful locale, The Baths on the Fat Virgin a.k.a. Virgin Gorda, one of the most beautiful islands in the BVI. On our way to our destination we enjoyed a lovely sail in almost perfect conditions whilst tacking up the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The prevailing winds are out of the east and guess which way we were going? East! It is the way of the sailor, whatever way you need to go the wind is on your nose! Never mind, we enjoyed the sail with some kewl tunes blasting out of the speakers and lunch underway. After a while we thought it best to get our hineys to The Baths as all of this tacking would have us there in time for dinner and we wanted to see The Baths in the daylight, as is highly recommended.
We raced another boat to the only remaining mooring ball that, seconds earlier, had been abandoned and we won!! Ha ha! Funny, the cat we were racing to the mooring ball didn’t seem happy with us after that. Oh well! Everyone hit the turquoise waters to swim in to the beach to check out The Baths, which are huge monolithic granite boulders that sit atop one another. You get the feeling that if you so much as sneeze they will come tumbling down but they have been resting like this for thousands of years, spit out of a volcano and this is where they landed and now rest.
Off we go again after The Baths headed for Gorda Sound to show off the luxurious Bitter End Yacht Club and famous Saba Rock. We passed all of the charter boats on mooring balls and headed past Saba Rock straight out into Eustatia Sound, where only the brave dare to go. Cap’n Doug was careful of the reefs strewn around the sound and he safely navigated to a lovely spot in 7’ of white sand. We were the only boat there and if you looked to the bow of the cat it seemed like the middle of the ocean and it was glorious. Before nite descended, the gangs decided to head into the Bitter End for cocktails and then take the free ferry to Saba Rock for more cocktails! Not too many tho’ as dinner was ready waiting back on the cat. BBQ Ribs! Woo Hoo!
After dinner, we all hung out on the trampolines on the front of the cat to see thousands of stars that lit up just for us. There was absolutely no light pollution out where we were behind the reef and it was a new moon too, so we all enjoyed the light show, watching for shooting stars. You won’t see a fraction of these stars when you look out your window at home, that’s for sure. Sure makes you feel small and insignificant but groovy just the same.
Next morning the gang did some kayaking and snorkeling on the reef and found a cannon and a very large ships propeller. How kewl is that? Once everyone was back on board (we generally try not to leave people behind in the water, it’s a good practice), we weighed anchor again, this time headed for the tiny island of Marina Cay which conveniently is home to the Happy ARRRRR Bar (Happy Hour Bar for those of who are not fluent in pirate speak). Everyone headed in to check out Michael Beans performance which is out of this world energetic and hilarious and gets everyone’s foot tapping, not to mention the copious amounts of Pusser’s Rum that is consumed. Daniellle entered the conch horn blowing contest as Mustang Sally’s representative and although the youngest competitor out blew ‘em all. Needless to say, everyone was in fine spirits and off to the Last Resort for dinner. Just another day in paradise.
The guys got up early the next morning to dive the world famous wreck, The Rhone. While the guys were busy getting briefed by the dive master on board the dive boat the ladies were enjoying Mimosa’s with their brekkie with Cap’n Doug. Then it was time to for the ladies to go walk about in Trellis Bay and see if there might be any neat goodies to buy plus a little retail therapy at Pusser’s Marina Cay store. The guys came back in time for lunch and they filled us in on all they saw of the wreck. They told us how the captain had locked all of the guests in their cabins for fear that they would be washed overboard in the storm when instead they all drowned in their cabins while the ship sank…. tragic. Rob and James also told us the story of cabin #26 which was the only passenger who escaped and survived so as a result of this; the divers all touch the porthole of this cabin for good luck. Kewl but sad story.
After lunch we motored a quick jaunt over to Monkey Point for world class snorkeling. We got the best spot at the point where again we were the only yacht. It was a little disappointing for Jocelyn to learn that there weren’t actually any monkeys here despite the name. We had a little fun with her when we played one of our cd’s that has monkey s in the background.
Off everyone got into the water with snorkel gear on and swam around the point to see what there was to see. All reported back excitedly about all of the schools of blue tang, a turtle that was O.K. with the gang following him around for awhile (James got some great pics of him), and a few tarpon. Tarpon can always be a little freaky as they can get real big. We hung out in the cockpit and shared a few laughs and stories while Danielle practiced blowing the conch horn which she seemed to have mastered in no time, and we encouraged her to do her best to annoy the people who had decided to camp out on “our” private little beach for the nite. Obviously, she did not annoy them enough as they did not leave, but no matter, Mother Nature fixed their wagon when it started to pour! Ha!
Next morning the boys and Danielle, the mermaid, went snorkeling again while the ladies soaked up some rays and relaxed. When they came back we heard stories of a school of tarpon that had to be 50 or more! (James got this all on film, unfortunately Rob’s camera brokeL)Some great pics!
Sadly it was time to say good bye to the turtle and tarpon head to the next spot, happily tho’, the next spot was Green Cay and Sandy Spit. When the gang saw this idyllic spot they forgot all about Monkey Point. James hopped into the water before the anchor was even set, I think, on the hunt for rays which Cap’n Doug told him would be here and sure enough he wasn’t in the water 5 minutes and he was capturing them on film. After that we dinghied into the beach to shoot a movie. You see Danielle is a budding actor/director/editor, hence, Coconut Castaways was filmed and everyone played a part in the film. Soon to be viewed on youtube.com Great fun!
Once the film was “in the can” we headed for Diamond Cay, again a very short motor, where we got settled in for the nite. In the morning we hiked to the Bubbly Pool which used to be a secret but now everyone and his brother knows all about it. Still, a lot of fun and we had timed it perfectly, as the tide was coming in and the water was crashing thru the narrow rock crevasse creating huge wave action, which is a blast. Once we all had our fill of that we hiked back out to the dinghy and then made tracks to Great Harbour to check out Foxy’s and Corsairs and all of the little shops there. The photog’s where having a field day with the quaint little village and got some great shots again. Back on board we went around the point to White Harbour where we would over nite and spend the entire next day. The next day was the gangs last day on Mustang Sally Land we wanted to make sure they had a full day on a beautiful white sandy beach and got to really chill before flying back to the Great North. We enjoyed a big steak dinner the second last nite and enjoyed the play of light on the white sandy beach and recapped all of the exciting things that happened in their week with us.
The next day was leisurely spent snorkeling the reef, tossing the Frisbee on the beach and resting our tushes on Soggy Dollars beach chairs whilst imbibing many of Mic’s cocktail infusions and watching the other yacthies get smashed. I remember that James and Jocelyn were very fond of Mic’s Banana drinks. I can’t remember the names of them…something like Bananarama or Banana Hammocks! LOL! We decided lunch on the beach was in order and we packed up a big cooler bag full of egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches and wraps with lots of coldies and chips and pretzels. Ahhhhh! Could it get any better than this?
The photogs, James and Rob, had requested that everyone dress in white for a photo shoot on the beach at sunset. The pics turned out beautifully and the lighting was perfect at that time of the day. These guys really know what they are doing. After the photo shoot we had dinner on the beach at Soggy Dollars romantic beach BBQ complete with torches stuck in the sand and everyone enjoyed huge shish-ka-bobs. Cap’n Doug’s birthday was two days after the gang was leaving us so, they thoughtfully sang Happy Birthday to him and presented him with a gift. These guys are the best!
Next morning came way too soon. We rose bright and early to sail over to Soper’s Hole for the 9.30 a.m. ferry that would whisk them away to the airport in St Thomas and their northerly flight home. After we had loaded the luggage in the dinghy and exchanged address and email address we also exchanged big hugs all around and a teary eye on my part (I’m not good at goodbyes). I know that I can speak for Doug as well as myself when I say that we were saying good bye to lifelong friends. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? We both waved like fools (or maybe that was just me?) from the cockpit as the ferry left the dock. Can’t wait to see them again.
Check out the blog sites of these amazing photographers AND view more pics of their trip with us on their blogs.
http://www.hodgeblog.hodginsphotography.com/
www.westmountphotography.com/blog

Rate and booking update Feb 2008

Mustang Sally has reduced their rates, see the Rates page on www.sailmustangsally.com

Current bookings are:

February 2008

Feb 24 - Mar 5 - booked Virgin Islands

March 2008

Mar 15-23 - booked St.Martin

April 2008

Apr 15-24 - booked Antigua

Also the boat will be at Antigua Race Week acting as a floating hotel. Book 1, 2 or all 3 queen rooms with ensuite heads for $150 per night, continental breakfast and dinghy service provided.

New Years Cruise

First off Birthday wishes to a few people at home and here too! Happy Birthday wishes go out to Cap’n Doug on the 15th, Doug’s Mom, Kathie, on the 18th, my girlfriend Christine who is celebrating a milestone BD on the 20th, my brother Jeff on the 23rd and big Happy Anniversary to my Mom and Dad on the 14th.

Today is another beautiful day in Christmas Cove where we are hanging out for the last week getting caught up on projects like scrubbing the hull getting barnacles off, to grooming 2 dogs whose fur seems to grow like crazy, and last but certainly not least the log.

When I left off on the last log Kathie, Doug’s Mom, was leaving us to fly back home to chilly, blizzardy Canada. The next gang of brothers, Jon, Adam, and Simon and Adam’s girlfriend, Manica were set to join us over the next two days, 27th and 28th of December. They flew all into St Thomas and took cabs over to the east end of the island to Red Hook where we had been waiting for them. Simon was the last to arrive so we hit Duffy’s Love Shack for dinner to wait for his cab to drop him there. Duffy’s had lobster on the menu but it wasn’t Caribbean lobster, it was Maine lobster just flown in! What a treat to have Maine lobster in the Caribbean! The boys love lobster of course and were more than happy to eat lobster of any sort.

After Simon had arrived, Adam, and Manica were still waiting for their luggage. Not sure what it is down here, but seems like almost everyone that comes to visit loses their luggage. But luckily it always turns up the next day.

Once we had the luggage safe and secure on Mustang Sally we weighted anchor to get the fun started. We headed straight to White Bay, Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. As soon as the anchor was set the boys and Manica jumped in for their first swim in the warm turquoise waters. All four have been stuck in bitterly, cold weather for awhile back at home so they seemed anxious to get into the water and feel the warm sun on their backs. Can’t imagine why! Everyone then swam to the Soggy Dollar for their famous Pain Killers, and to soak up some rays with lots of sun screen on. We BBQ’d kabobs for dinner the gang played Scrabble late into the nite.

We were trying to decide what to do for New Years Eve which was only 2 days away. Everyone had heard of the famous Old Year party at Foxy’s and wanted to go there but it was not going to be that easy. The gang would have to forgo a couple of days exploring other places and hang out in Great Bay on Jost, which was just around the corner from White Bay, where we currently were, for the next 2 days to get a good spot to anchor for the party or forget it and move on to other places. There were other choices for New Years although they were not near as famous as Old Year’s Night. Foxy’s New Year’s party is so famous that it is considered one of the top 10 places to be for New Years Eve, so it was a tough decision to make, whether to stay there or continue on. In addition to losing a couple of days exploring other places, anchoring at Great Harbor can be a nightmare as the holding is not good thanks to a clay bottom and boats drag there all of the time. Imagine what it would be like with thousands of people (we have heard reports of 10,000 people, hard to believe), descending on Foxy’s with their boats and getting so liquored up they don’t even realize that their boat is dragging as they are passed out or too drunk to do anything about it. That many people crammed in one place, drunk out of their minds, some throwing up, sounded very entertaining but the gang decided to forgo Foxy’s in favour of seeing more places while they were here.

Once that decision had been made we lifted anchor and set off the next morning to explore. We started by motoring over to Sandy Spit and Green Cay. Some of the most beautiful islands (if you can call them that, as Sandy Spit is really just a deserted sandy spit of an island that has palm trees on it) in the B.V.I. and reportedly some of the most photographed islands in the world, think screen saver. The gang snorkeled in search of rays and starfish then we swam to the island and walked the white sand beach and lazed about.

We weighed anchor again and had a brief upwind sail ending in a motor to Monkey Point on Guana Island. We anchored in a lovely, red, craggy, rock section with azure blue waters underneath us, and enjoyed BBQ Baby Back Ribs and a competitive game of Scrabble. At points I heard words I have never heard of before, although quite ingenious and hilarious, they were not real words!

Monkey Point has some of the finest snorkeling in the Virgin Islands and so the next morning after brekkie everyone was anxious to get into the water and see just what was under the surface. So many fish!! Especially Blue Tang, in enormously large schools that moved together as if they all shared the same brain like the “Borg” on Star Trek. And tarpon, lots of really big tarpon, averaging 4-5 feet long!! All of this in less than 15 feet of water which made for a very exciting time and a few squeals of excitement were heard from Manica’s direction.

The next day was New Years Eve so we thought we would check out Trellis’ Bay’s New Year’s festivities, just a short trip away, on the east end of Tortola. When we arrived, we saw all of the already drunk sailors trying to anchor their boats in an already cramped anchorage (just what we had tried to avoid at Foxy’s). Guess it doesn’t matter where you go on New Year’s Eve you’re going to find drunk, haphazard crowds everywhere! That’s what it all about, after all!
We decided to hit Michael Beans” Happy Arrr!!! Show” for happy hour, of course. After an interminably long wait for the ferry (island time?), to take us on a very short ride to the little island of Marina Cay we were at the bar. Doug and I always get a kick out of this show and we thought the gang might too. We think they enjoyed it but thought it was a wee bit hokey. Oh well, everyone enjoyed painkillers and rum drinks anyway! After the Happy Arrrr cocktails show we hit the Pusser’s Rum restaurant for our New Years Eve dinner on the beach, complete with a starlit sky, sound of the surf hitting the beach, good food and drink.

After dinner we caught the ferry, (no longer on island time!) and headed for the huge beach party at Trellis Bay, There were thousands of people on the beach listening to reggae tunes, drinking rum and dancing near the carved metal spheres which are rooted in 3 feet of water along the beach, which were lit and the “kokopelli” type men carved into the spheres appeared as surreal large dancing figures on the beach and the water. The centerpiece of all this was a 20’ high effigy made out of branches, which was also anchored in the water about 50’ off shore. Everyone was waiting for midnite, of course, for this is when the huge effigy would be lit aflame. His figure would become a towering inferno, so to speak (sorry), when lit. Everyone was jostling to get into a good viewing position as the seconds counted down. It’s a funny thing, but no matter how many New Years go by you can feel the anticipation of the people around you waiting for the clock to strike twelve. Sure enough, when the clock struck twelve the effigy was lit by a brave soul who waded out into the water for this purpose, and when aflame he quickly moved away. It caught and the flames grew, grew so large in fact that I was getting a little nervous. Even tho this effigy was in the water and 50 feet away, the prevailing wind was whipping up quite a bit, blowing a lot of BIG sparks into the crowd on the beach. Suddenly the scene was reminiscent of a World Cup soccer game gone awry. I could see a huge panicked crowd crushing in the making. One good spark catches on someone’s linen shirt or polyester wind jacket and whoosh! Not something I wanted to hang around for. The islands don’t exactly have the same safety standards or crowd control as in Canada. We were all ready to head back to the cat anyway, and enjoy a coldie back on board where it was quiet and comfortable and watch the action from the safety of the cockpit. It was a great New Years Eve and even tho we couldn’t decide where the best place was to spend it, it didn’t matter, as Doug had his 3 sons together and that was the best part.

The next morning dawned another beauty day and we treated ourselves to a big decadent brekkie with Mimosas to celebrate the arrival of 2008. As soon as brekkie was inhaled we headed for the Baths. Gigantic, awe inspiring boulders, spit from the belly of a volcano that lean precariously against one another and some seem to be suspended in air. It is a very kewl feeling walking the trail that leads thru this wonder of nature and you might think to yourself ” If I just push a little too hard on this rock it will all come tumbling down”, but never fear these rocks have been there for thousands if not millions of years. A very kewl thing to see.

Pressing forward from there we decided it was chillin’ time. The gang all lead very busy stressful lives in the other world and everyone thot it would be nice for down time, a chance to read in the sun, catch some rays on the sun pads on the tramps up front, and swim and snorkel at leisure . Not that we hadn’t been relaxing but we decided that instead of moving to a new location every day we head to one sweet spot and hang out for the duration of the gangs trip which was only 3 more days. We had a lovely downwind sail to Cooper Island and enjoyed another gorgeous sunset, sundowners and then dinner. Once again, the Scrabble board was brought out and things were getting pretty fierce. I think Adam was winning that nite and there was a wee bit of gloating on his part, much to the dismay of the rest of the gang, who couldn’t wait for revenge!
Waking up to another carbon copy beauty day, Doug, Simon, and I snorkeled the rock formations there and found that the fish were more like our two dogs Willis and Rollie than fish as little schools followed us around begging for rice and whatever else snorkelers were handing out. It was cute.

We had a short downwind sail to beautiful Key Bay on Peter Island and put the hook down to hang for the next few days. We almost had the anchorage to ourselves here but for 2 other boats. Everyone quickly got into the rhythm of doing whatever you felt like. Manica and I spent a lot of time reading and enjoying the view while the boys took to the water. They saw lots of rays and swam with turtles especially a big old turtle for quite awhile. We also had a big barracuda hanging underneath the boat, (maybe because we were throwing scraps overboard! duh!) and the three guys decided that they were going to be brave by getting close, real close, thinking that the ‘cuda would leave seeing these 3 big “fish” approaching . Well, this ‘cuda wasn’t havin’ any of it, held his ground and wouldn’t budge. I guess he wasn’t inclined to give his reef up to just anybody. Not exactly sure just how close the guys all got (they say REAL close) but I have a feeling they saw the baleful, challenging eyes glaring at them and they turned tail rather than getting too close and duke it out. Probably a good idea.
Our last two days were a chance to take it easy and recharge the batteries, enjoy good company, eat too much, imbibe a wee bit and play LOTS of Scrabble. This was all accomplished with great flair and everyone was getting real good at it, especially at Scrabble. The past reigning champ is no longer the champ any longer, after much fuss and kerfuffle, Adam was dethroned, and wasn’t very pleased about it, LOL!!

Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and it was very sad when we had our last dinner before heading VERY early to the ferry dock in Road Town the next morning. Doug and I watched the ferry leave from the cockpit of the cat the next morning and we were both very quiet for a long while after they left us.

Stay tuned for our next log when Rob, Tina, Danielle, James and Jocelyn came and hung out with us for a week!