03/19/2010, Boqueron, PR
We are sitting in the bay at Boqueron, Puerto Rico tonight (3-15) after arriving from
Ponce around 2pm. Tonight was one of the most impressive green flashes I have ever
seen. Three other cruisers came in this afternoon but they are all headed East instead of
North. It's looking like we will make that passage solo. Looking back at our first year, I
realize we would never have considered going from the BVI to the Bahamas by ourselves
back then. It has been a huge learning experience and a great confidence builder for both
of us. Once again I will say, "If we can do it, anyone can". I wrote that last sentence
yesterday evening. All the boats we heard on the VHF radio were heading East. Today
we met a Canadian boat headed North so now we have a boat to travel with on the long
passage. The boat name is "Sea Star eh". Canadian boats are not allowed to have the
same name so if there is already a Sea Star you can be Sea Star II or III or however
many IIIIVs are required to be an original name. He didn't want to be Sea Star VIII so he
decided on a slightly modified name. No one doubts he is Canadian and he is the only
one. Chris Parker (our weather guru) says we will have good wind, decent seas and no
squalls Saturday night thru Tuesday. Quite a few boats have come into the bay today but
we didn't notice which way they came from. We may get another boat or two for the trip.
Sea Star eh is a 36' C&C Landfall so she should be cruising about our speed. Boqueron is
a nice little town. It is a vacation town with a nice beach and every weekend and holiday
it parties hard. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. What, you didn't know Puerto Ricans had
Irish heritage? Just like we all become Hispanic on "Cinco de Mayo". Any excuse for a
party. It's Wednesday evening and we just got back aboard from dinner at a local
restaurant. Everyone was wearing green and there was a tall gentleman in a kilt playing
the bagpipe. Sadly, I didn't have the camera with me because it would have been a great
blog photo. What I am going to describe next will be common knowledge to many of you
but for those who do not have experience cruising, this is part of the job. Navigation.
Cruising isn't simply going from one beautiful anchorage to another. You have to be sure
there aren't other islands or at a minimum, shallow places between where you are and
where you want to go. As I plan for this long passage to Big Sandy Cay from Puerto Rico
I take the charts and decide where if at all I want to stop and anchor along the way. The
rhum (straight) line between P.R. and B.S.C. isn't near any land so I decide on a long,
direct trip. I plan my route out of Boqueron Bay through some shallow water to a
waypoint on the chart where I will start the straight line to BSC. I draw a line from that
waypoint to one near BSC and make sure it doesn't cross shallows. Next I mark several
waypoints along that line so I can easily check my progress as we move along. I will
mark the time we pass those points to keep a record of where we were at what time. I will
estimate our speed (not easy) based on our known speed with the engine only in decent
seas plus wind speed and direction if we have it. The weather forecast says good wind
direction and speed. I estimate on the low end, six knots, but expect to do better, maybe
six and a half. Better than that is gravy. I plan the total time required for the passage and
decide what time I should leave so that I will arrive at my destination in daylight. Coming
up to an island in the dark is no fun especially if you are not familiar with it. If I'm lucky
my departure point is straight out into open sea and I can leave in the dark if I need to. In
this case there is shallow water along the west coast of P.R. so I need daylight here as
well. We will leave about noon on Saturday and 48-50 hours later we will arrive off BSC
about noon Monday. This gives me a daylight arrival if I am six hours early of six hours
late. Every passage gets the same treatment though many are simpler that this one. The
picture is self explanatory, my marked up chart for this passage.
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03/14/2010, Ponce,P.R.
Today is Sunday (3-7) and we brought the kids to Cooper Island Beach Club yesterday. Shortly after we arrived the wind came up and blew from the North. That caused the wind chop to build all the way across the Francis Drake channel from Tortola. All night the wind howled and the boat pitched up and down. The bow to stern up and down motion isn't bad compared to the port to starboard rolling so it wasn't a bad night. It is, however, still blowing and raining this morning. It looks like a day to spend ashore with the kids in their cottage rather than spend it snorkeling. No sun makes for poor visibility under water. It rained off and on for four days. Unusual for the BVI this time of year but the kids said they enjoyed just relaxing and Sue and I had down time on the boat also. Wednesday we they checked out and we headed over to Trellis Bay for their departure at 3:30 pm on Thursday. Today, Thursday, we slept late partly because it was still raining and it makes for good sleeping. We had lunch at the Loose Mongoose and left them at the airport at one o'clock. We dropped the mooring and headed around Beef Island and on down the Drake passage to Soper's Hole to clear out of the BVI, get some more groceries and top up our fuel. We now have eighty five gallons of diesel aboard and should be able to make it to Georgetown, Exuma without any problem. We motored about twenty five minutes across to Waterlemon Bay on St. John for the night. Now that we have left the BVI we really feel like we are headed home. Once again we have the good/bad feelings about that. We are ready to get home but will definitely miss the lifestyle we have been living for the last few years. Sue is already planning what she needs to do to her garden and I have several projects in mind. Looking at the good/bad thing I realize we were sad to leave the eastern Caribbean but now that we are on the way, we want to be home soonest. We sailed West today to Culebra in the Spanish Virgins. The wind was up a little and the north and east swells made for an exciting ride. The weather forecast is for wind and seas to diminish after today and there should be little or no rain till at least mid week. We should be in Boqueron, P.R. by Monday night and we will stay there till we get a good weather window for the 300 mile passage to the Turks and Caicos. I hope I get a chance to upload this blog before we make that jump. I hope these jumps from day to day don't confuse people but it's the best way to keep the continuity. We left Culebra and sailed to Puerto Patillas (48 mi) on the south coast of Puerto Rico on Saturday and then on to Ponce (46 mi) on Sunday. Ponce is the site of my infamous four and a half days in the hospital back in 2008. Anyway the weather looks good for the forty six mile run to Boqueron tomorrow and hopefully we will rest a few days there before the three hundred mile, forty to forty eight hour passage to the Turks and Caicos islands. These roughly fifty mile runs work well for us. we up anchor about 0630 and that lets us stop about 2pm so we get to relax before the next days run. I am sending this update from the WiFi connection at the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club. I didn't know I could connect here but it works. The picture is of one of our favorite anchorages in the BVI. No I won't tell you where.
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03/06/2010, British Virgin Islands
Jenny and Todd arrived on time and after spending their first night on the boat we left Thursday for a sail around the top of Tortola to Sandy Cay for a snorkel and then on to Jost van Dyke for the second night. On our way to Sandy Cay we pulled a couple of lines behind us. One was our regular trolling rod & reel with a plastic squid and a rubber ballyhoo on it and the other was a cheap hand line with an equally cheap and old design lure called a cedar plug. It is literally a cigar shaped wood plug with a lead head. It is natural cedar color, no paint. That is the line we got a hit on and it was a two foot Bonita. We did a catch/release and continued on. Since the last time we were in Great Harbor (winter 2008) they have filled the bay with mooring balls so our favorite anchoring spot was gone. We all got our fill of snorkeling at Sandy Cay so we just went ashore and had Painkillers at the now world famous "Foxy's" but we were back on the boat before dark and the bar began to rock. It had been very smooth in Trellis Bay because it is so protected but we rolled a lot at Great Harbor. Friday we sailed over to Soper's Hole on West End, Tortola and visited the shops and gourmet grocery store ($). Those of you who have been there know it is a lot like Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We ended our short stay and sailed through the Thatch Island cut and across the Francis Drake channel to a small bay on Norman Island. Benures Bay is where we spent several days before we picked them up. It is quiet and calm. We snorkeled a wall that afternoon and then all along the shore at the back of the bay. Todd tried fishing but nobody was home. We grilled chicken that night and went to bed early. Saturday Sue and the kids went ashore to look for shells and of course Todd found the best ones. We hauled anchor about 1000 and motored around to the Bight on Norman Island. On the way we were nearly run over by a charter boat. (CAUTION; Soap Box moment) As we headed in a 47 foot Moorings charter catamaran was coming out. Obviously the driver didn't know the rules of the road and he kept heading straight for us at full speed. I broke swung left and went behind him. He waved as he passed. I waved too!! I don't under stand why charter companies don't include a two minute talk on "Rules of the Road" in their charter briefing. Yes I do...$$$. As many unqualified boat drivers as there are I n the BVI I am very surprised there aren't more collisions. (EOS=end of soap box). We took a mooring ball for an hour or so while we snorkeled around the Caves. Lots of reef fish were on display. It was a cloudy day and we had showers most of the day. After lunch we sailed from there up the Francis Drake channel to Manchioneel Bay on Cooper Island where Jenny and Todd have cottage for four days. We will keep the boat here those days and do short day sails to the Baths and other places of interest. Tonight Happy Hour is from five to six and Painkillers are 2 for 1 which works out to $3 each. The picture is the visiting sailors at Foxy's and feeling No Pain.
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