Atlantic Passage

Today was very busy, which figures given that it was my last day and all.

Had a nice breakfast at a little bakery/cafe up from the ship and then went aboard for the grand, traditional, “Crew Photo”.

The crew of the Picton Castle May 25, 2009

Then we went aloft and loosed all sails so they could dry after yesterdays rain.

Once that was done we started unloading the ship’s “cargo” of tropical wood that will be used for two new schooners that will be built at the Dory Shop here.

Once the smaller pieces were unloaded we spent about two hours rigging up heavy lines, tackles and blocks so that we could swing the big pieces over the side.

After lunch we started to haul and heave and slowly maneuvered these massive chunks of wood. First we had to pull each block forward from it’s position in the port breezeway until it was alongside the hatch. Then we connected three different tackles and lines to it. There were two yard tackles one on the Fore Yard and one on the Main and a heavy synthetic line run from the main topgallant mast down through a block and then forward to the capstan on the foredeck.

There was complete silence enforced on deck so that commands could be clearly heard as we inched each timber up to the level of the rail and then using the yard tackles and lots of pushing we swung each block over the side and then down slowly into the water.

Once in the water the blocks were towed over to the Dory Shop using the rescue boat.

While we were doing this a scallop dragger on the other side of our dock was using a noisy diesel powered crane to hoist bits and pieces of chain and stuff on and off their deck. The contrast was amazing

We then cleaned up the decks and furled the sails.

We mustered midships and the Captain thanked us for our hard work and discussed the “Sea Time” documents that each of us received. These documents are legal documents that confirm the sea time and duties we had on board the ship during it’s voyage. Each day and portion of a day at sea is counted and recorded. In order to qualify for an official seamans designation you must have a minimum of 6 months of sea time. For higher qualifications the requirements are longer so recording each day is important.

Then came the tough part for me… Saying Good Bye!

The last six months have been a fantastic adventure. At times exhilarating, frightening, awe inspiring, boring, hot, cold, wet, head knocking, toe stubbing, arms aching, back breaking, calming, moving, hilarious, sad and any other adjective you could think of frankly.

To have to say good bye to such great shipmates, friends, mentors and companions in adventure was really tough.

This picture, taken by David on my camera as my daughter and I were climbing into the cab to head to the airport, is of the ship reflected in the rear window of the cab… Sigh.

Looking back...

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Photos of my last day are here.

I was woken up for my anchor watch at 7:00am this morning.

It was a beautiful sunny Nova Scotia spring morning. Bright Sun and calm crisp air.

We up anchored from the last time and motored out of the bay at La Have. Once outside we set all sails and then motorsailed to the North towards Lunenberg.

As I write this we are approaching Battery Point and have had one cannon salute already

This will be my last post underway with the Atlantic passing under our keel and all sails set above.

Sigh.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.S. We have arrived to a tumultuous welcome which included cannons and cheers and ships horns etc. All of which we had to ignore while we took in sail, launched our boats and ran dock lines to tie up this fine ship to the dock.

My daughter was waving from the pier head and I’m now safely ensconced in the Grand Banker restaurant having dinner with her and David.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

P.P.S
The article I was interviewed for has come out. It’s actually pretty good Check it out here.

P.P.P.S (?)
Photos from the last leg and our arrival are here.

This is a continuous post so read down for the latest.

Saturday May 16,09

Woke up this morning to a bright, sunny but cool day.

The winds are out of the North so the Captain says we will need to motor for the next few days. Blah! I hope by the time we get closer we will be able to set sail.

We left the dock about 11:00am with a pilot aboard and motored out of the channel and into the open Atlantic. Once the pilot was off we had a fire drill and then broke into our sea watches.

So we are off on the final leg of this journey back to Lunenberg, the ship’s home port. I still can’t really get my head around the fact that my 6 months at sea are coming to an end.

On the plus side my youngest daughter is going to be waiting on the dock when we arrive, which will be really cool! I hope the weather is nice so she doesn’t get wet and or frozen while waiting for us.

More later…

Just finished our afternoon watch. The wind is a strong force 4 from the NE with a heavy 6-8′ swell coming in from the East. Definitely a lot of rockin and rolling.

My trick at helm was tough. We are motoring with the fore and aft sails set to get some advantage from the wind and steady out the roll a bit. As the ship rolls her heading changes which changes the wind pressure on the sails and causes her to round up or fall off from the course. To make matters worse the wheel has recently been varnished and does not have th turks head lashing that marks the top most spoke. Tricky.

The temperature is dropping as the Sun sets so I suspect it will be time for the boots and fowlie pants on watch tonight. The skies are clear and the water is a very cold looking dark dark blue.

So day one of this 7 day passage is done, 6 to go

Thanks for reading
KJ

Sunday May 17,09

Had a good night watch.

When we came on watch the spanker had been taken in so when I was on helm the steering was much more consistent than yesterday. The wind has backed around to NNW and dropped to force 3. The swells are still running but they are smoother and the ship only does the big rolls every 4th or 5th wave now

We saw a pod of whales heading East off our stern and shortly thereafter Lynsey came charging back to the wheel from the chart house and grabbing the wheel ordered hard right! There was a whale sleeping directly in our path. It woke up and sounded just as we passed it within 20′ or so. You’ld think with all the racket we make under power that it would have heard us coming before then.

Last night was brutal trying to sleep. I kept rolling across my bunk and there was something banging around that sounded like it was right by my head. About every 15 minutes I would get up and try to find it only to fall asleep again when the noise stopped. Eventually I determined that it was John’s rig, ie his knife and marlin spike, that was hanging on the divider between our bunks. I carefully reached in and unhooked it without waking him up and I was good for a few hours

I think the first item of business, once I’m finished this of course, is a nap.

More later…

Just got off of our afternoon watch which was very busy. We had a information session by the Captain showing us some of the potentially ugly weather looming out there. Most of the day we motored through a dead calm with a steady swell from the NE. It looks like we will be crossed by a cold front later tomorrow which will bring strong winds from the SW that will then shift to the NE which will be rotten if we are in the Gulf Stream by then. The Gulf Stream flows NE so the wind will be against the current which sets up a very nasty wave pattern. There is also a gale moving NE up the approaching cold front that we may get a chunk of tomorrow as well.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Monday May 18,09

I was on lookout this morning as the Sun rose into an almost clear blue sky.

There is now a big swell coming from the West that is combining with the swell from the NE to make for a very lumpy sea. The ship is much steadier but all of a sudden she will take about 3 big rolls as the waves combine just right. Being on Lookout and looking back aft as she does that is pretty awe inspiring… So is going aloft to loose the lower topsail which we had to do just at the break of the watch. The yards are braced sharp on a port tack but even so the motion is quite something up above the deck. The worst part is coming back down as leaning out to pass the futock shrouds when the ship rolls towards you means you are literally horizontal above the sea! Cool and scary at the same time

There is nothing, other than the westerly swell to indicate anything is going to change but we’ll see.

More later…

Spent the day putting th finishing touches on my sea bag, I put an ey splice on on end of the lanyard and a Mathew Walker stopper knot on the other.

I also read Fahrenheit 451 from cover to cover.

Our afternoon watch had a wire splicing workshop give by the Captain. This only confirmed for me that wire splicing is not a skill I ever want to master

During the course of our watch the water temperature dropped from 24C to 17C! Along with this temperature drop the seas changed from blue to a chilly looking gray green. According to the Captain we are in a “cold eddy” alongside the Gulf Stream. He expects the front to cross our position sometime tonight or early tomorrow.

I have galley duty tomorrow so get to sleep in tonight which will be lovely!

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Tuesday May 19,09

Was woken up to very different kind of day. The cold front moved in about 5:00 this morning and when I came on deck to start my galley day the sky was leaden and so was the sea. the swell is now covered with wind blown waves and white caps. the steady force 4 is blowing from the NW so we are still motoring along.

It looks cold and miserable but the air is still warm and the water isn’t that cold yet so it is actually quite pleasant on deck.

They took the galley stove apart to clean it this morning, which will hopefully help it actually heat stuff again. This meant that breakfast was cold cereal, cheese, nuts and the last of our oranges. The stove is back on currently so Donald is hoping to have a soup made for lunch. On the plus side there were no pots or pans to wash from breakfast

David tells me that we are 280 miles from Lunenberg.

More later…

Just finished the last of the dinner dishes and am now off till my night watch at 4:00am.
The skies are still cloudy and the seas still lumpy and steely grey. The air is rapidly cooling so I think it will be long underwear and full fowlies on watch tonight.

We just dumped our food slops overboard, which needs to be recorded in the “slops log”
so I got a position. We are at 40 degrees 34 minutes North and 64 degrees 18 minutes west at 7:00pm in case you were interested

I might even have to put my blanket on top of my sleeping bag tonight. What a difference a day makes when you are motoring straight North.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Wednesday May 20,09

Just finished breakfast after coming off our very cold night watch.

When we came on deck the sky was clear and sprinkled with brilliant stars. It looked very chilly which didn’t help. I had first helm and 4th lookout. My trick at the helm was easy as the ship held her course NxE beautifully. However since I just had to stand there in the wind I got quite chilled even dressed in almost everything I have. That doesn’t bode well if it gets colder. Yeah, I can here you all saying “Poor guy getting a taste of what we had for months”

About 6:00am we braced the yards around and then set the fore and aft sails and lower topsails. By the time that was done I was really warm! The Sun came up about then and the day dawned crisp and clear.

While I was on lookout a pod of dolphins came charging through the seas and took up station on our bow. They look like they just love to play in the bow wave. It was fabulous to watch.

So I only have 5 more watches till the end of the trip. Rumour has it that we will anchor somewhere in Nova Scotia on Friday and then sail into Lunenberg on Saturday.

As we were finishing breakfast the engine was shutdown and the on watch set more sail so we are sailing for the first time in a few days.

More later…

Had a very busy afternoon watch.
We had another wire splicing workshop, this time with a “parcel and served” eye and thimble.
Parceling is wrapping cloth strips around the line then tarring it. Serving is to wrap marline tightly around the parceling to protect it from chafe and this is also tarred to keep water out. All the standing rigging on the ship is wire that has been parceled and served over it’s entire length. The Captain says that when they were doing it the emptied every thrift store of sheets for miles around

After dinner we started taking in sail and were motoring again by the time we got off watch.

Rumour has it we may anchor tomorrow morning somewhere on the coast of Nova Scotia.

Thanks for reading.

KJ

Thursday May 21,09

Our night watch was cold but busy.

We arrived off the coast of Nova Scotia about 5:00am and then proceeded to weave our way through the barricade of lobster pots into a bay South of Lunenberg, Port Mouton. We anchored snug up against the Western shore. According to the Captain there is a high wind warning, near gale force from the West, for tonight so we motored in and holed up to let it pass.

Our watch has been stood down till noon when all hands will turn to to do ships work. This will consist of getting her all “beautified” for her triumphal return to Lunenberg on Saturday. Not sure what we will end up doing tomorrow I think it depends on the winds.

More later…

The Sun was warm this afternoon. Warm enough in fact to work in T shirt and sandals! I thought that was done for good

I spent the afternoon painting the seizings on the main shrouds white, the shrouds are black.

After the deck was cleaned up we had a great roast beef dinner. Then once the dishes were done we gathered on the welldeck for an impromptu “just us” party. After tomorrow we will be under the control of the shore and we’ll have families and our shore lives tugging at us. Last night however it was just us, dancing to Reggae, Celtic Rock, Classic Rock and lots of good vibes.

The gale blew as expected but it was a clear air gale, no clouds at all. Snug in this bay we hardly felt it.

Tomorrow we may set sail for a bay closer to Lunenberg. It will depend on the winds and weather as always

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Thursday May 22,09

This morning dawned bright and clear and cold!

After breakfast we hoisted the anchor and siled off the hook i9n a stiff westerly wind.

We had a fabulous sail NE up the coast of Nova Scotia, bright Sun and clear cold air.
About 4:00 we sailed into a deep bay just South of Lunenberg and anchored. We never even started the engine “just in case”

The weather is bright and very warm, surprisingly warm actually. For a while this afternoon David, Robert and I were working in the galley, digging into the nooks and crannies to clean and we were happy to be there as it was warm. Now it is warmer outside than in!

We are planning to pass battery Point just outside Lunenberg at 2:00pm tomorrow. Lunenberg is 14 sea miles (4 land miles) away.

I got a text message from my daughter saying she is almost in Lunenberg so I know she will be at the dock.

So tomorrow this grand adventure will be over. We will be tied up to the land for the last time and suddenly the “real world” will get it’s hooks into me again. And even though it will be great to be back with my family again it is going to take some time to decompress from this amazing experience.

More later…

Had a great dinner of BBQ chicken, BBQ ribs and roast beef, stuffed potatoes and roasted pumpkin, very yummy indeed.

The mood on board is very different from last night. We are a subdued lot tonight. I think the looming end to the voyage is weighing on everyone this evening. Even though there are many people who will be joining the ship for her summer voyage doing the East Coast Tall Ships festivals this crew will be split up. The watches will be dissolved and only the memories and photos (and my blog too) will remain.

Tomorrow we will up anchor for the last time, set sail and head out into the Atlantic to head towards Lunenberg Nova Scotia.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

This is a fascinating, but expensive, place.

Bermuda is celebrating their 400 year anniversary this year. Amazing to think that this island has been continuously under British control since 1609. There are lots of buildings that date from that time as well. The architecture here is quite different than the other islands we have been to. The buildings are massive with smaller windows and heavy concrete(?) roofs. The roofs are whitewashed and have a unique washboard pattern and gutters to collect rain water. The buildings are brightly painted or whitewashed although the colours are a different tone than the colours down south.

Yesterday (the 14th) Nicko and I were on galley duty. It went pretty well we only had to cook lunch, grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. YUM!. We went on a shopping trip to get supplies for dinner which was a great beef and Guiness stew that Lynsey cooked up.

I guess my blog has attracted some attention as I was interviewed by Lisa Monforton of the Calgary Herald for an article in the Travel section of the paper.

Hi Lisa…

Today David, John and I are going to head across the island to the Maritime Museum which is at the old Royal Dockyard. Should be interesting.

More later…
Just returned from our expedition to the Royal Dockyard and the Maritime Museum. We took a high speed ferry from St George’s direct to the Dockyard and spent the day wandering around and looking at the exhibits. The museum is built into the primary fort known a the Keep. There are a surprisingly large number of forts and gun emplacements here, very reminiscent of Gibraltar actually.

After lunch we took a bus back to St Georges which took about 2 hours and went through the main city of Hamilton. Bermuda is a very prosperous place! Hamilton is very busy and looks like it is booming.

Pictures to follow anon

Some of them are here.

So tomorrow morning we will leave Bermuda for our passage to Lunenberg. We will arrive there on Saturday May 23rd sometime. Strange to think that in one week I will be back in Canada having crossed the Atlantic and the Equator under sail “before the mast”. Hmmm…

Thanks for reading.
KJ

There are pictures from our stay in the British Virgin Islands and the passage to Bermuda here.

Enjoy
KJ

We arrived in Bermuda this morning about 9:30am.
This is a continuous post so read down for the latest.

Thursday May 7,09

Have galley today so actually got to sleep in a couple of hours extra.

We are sailing North under courses, topsails and t’gallants. The wind last night was a stiff Force 5 with gusts to Force 6. This morning the wind has settled down to a steady Force 5. There is a 5-6′ swell coming in from the North East which makes for a lot of rocking and rolling. The Sun is out and the ses are a bright blue again.

We have the man ropes rigged along the main deck which makes going fore and aft a lot easier. Carrying stuff from the galley is still a challenge though

It’s nice to be back in the Atlantic again. Sailing in the Caribbean is fun with all the sail handling required but there is nothing like the steady running of the ship in the wide ocean to get the blood stirring.

When we up anchored yesterday it was odd to think that it was the second last time that we would have to do that. Potentially it could be the last time as rumour has it we will try to go alongside in Bermuda.

Hmmm… These last two passages will be filled with “last time for this or that” stuff. It is still odd to be looking at the end of this trip in less than three weeks.

We will be having a ships concert on Sunday, everyone is supposed to do something. I have one really bad idea as an emergency fall back in case nothing better comes along but otherwise I’m stumped. I hate “talent show” like stuff.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Friday May 8,09

Had a good night watch.

I had first helm and last lookout. Steering was good as the wind has slackened and steadied to a good Force 4. Near the end of the watch we set the royals and flying jib.

I’m still amazed at how the colours of the ocean change at dawn and dusk. The range of colours from black through grey and polished steel to brilliant blue over the course of an hour is very cool to see. That is one of the reasons I like lookout on 4-8 as it is almost always during dusk or dawn.

We are now due East of Florida and there is lots of Sargasso weed streaming by on the surface of the sea. There is still a big swell running but the ships motion is not so pronounced as it was. Still lots of flesh toned patches in evidence on many of the crew

As we came on for afternoon watch we had a workshop on making a sea bag. Unlike the ditty bag project I think I will actually work on this one. Our watch was otherwise uneventful. We have all sails set except the gaff topsail and are steering North by East.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Saturday May 9,09

Had a good night watch under clear skies and a brilliant full moon.

We have set the gaff topsail so we are now sailing with all sails set! We are making a good 5 knots. The skies are mostly clear with some high puffy clouds. We crossed the Tropic of Cancer going North so we are officially out of the tropics. The temperatures are dropping and it is now quite chilly on deck at night without a jacket.

Two weeks today we arrive in Lunenberg. Hmmm…

More later…

Spent the day working on my sea bag. It was a beautiful day bright sunshine, brilliant blue water and steady Force 4 breeze. To top it off I was invited to eat with the Captain along with Nickola, Job, WT and Meg. We had a very nice dinner and talked about classic rock music.

While I was on lookout today I spotted a couple of Man ‘O War jelly fish. They actually seem to be sailing, they are moving across the wind which was quite surprising to me.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be having our Ship’s Concert in the afternoon. My watch is planning a skit of some sort so I may not have to use my fall back plan

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Sunday May 10,09

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Mothers out there

Our night watch was pretty relaxed the winds are now a steady Easterly Force 3 and we are still sailing north under all sails at about 2 1/2 knots.

Ben has written a short skit for us to perform at the concert. I have two lines each of one sentence so shouldn’t be a problem

It is Sunday so Donald has the day off, as a change the galley crew decided to do a Breakfast Cafe called “Chibblies”. They posted a short menu outside the galley and cooked breakfast to order for everyone! It was awesome, the best breakfast I’ve had on the trip.

I had 4 eggs over hard, bacon, hashbrowns, two big pancakes and coffee. Yummmmy!
They were also cooking omelettes with cheese, mushrooms, tomato and ham.

It’s now 9:30 and they are still cooking more breakfast for anyone who wants seconds.

I think I’m going to have nap actually.

More later…

Had a brief snooze then took my proto sea bag up on to the hatch and worked on it in the Sun. It’s coming along pretty well.

The concert was great there were six “acts” including our poor attempt at a skit It was very entertaining all in all.

We are still three days from Bermuda and the winds have been dropping so that we are now ghosting along at about 2 knots. Apparently there is a big Gale blowing North of Bermuda which will hopefully have moved off by the time we get there.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Monday May 11,09

We are now motoring North. We took in all sail at the end of our watch this morning as we were only sailing at just over 1 knot.

During our night watch there was just enough wind to keep the sails full, they were really beautiful in the moonlight and the changing light of the dawn. Knowing that we are nearing the end of the trip gives every dawn and dusk a new poignancy.

I never get tired of watching the sails. You’d think that after 6 months and thousands of miles of sailing that they would loose their appeal but that is not the case.

Now we are motoring and will keep doing so for the next two days until we reach Bermuda. Word below decks is that we will stay for 3 days then head out for Lunenberg on the last leg of the trip.

More later…

Just after noon we stopped and had a swim call!

It was flat calm, no wind at all and the water was an intense blue. I jumped in from the rail and felt like I was falling up into the sky. The water was cooler than the Caribbean but not cold by any stretch. As we were swimming a bit of a swell came up and it looked like big blue crystal mountains looming up and passing under us. Fabulous.

Got the last grommet done on my sea bag and we had a workshop on attaching the bottom so I’m ready to keep rolling over the next couple of days.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Tuesday May 12,09

Night watch was pretty busy. I had first lookout which meant tht I got to watch the sky change from black with a bright 3/4 moon aft to full liht with the Sun climbing up from the edge of the world.

We are still motoring NNE but we have set our lower topsails and fore topmast staysail a the wind has picked up from the West as we crossed through the high pressure area. We should arrive in Bermuda tomorrow sometime.

More later…

We set all sails this afternoon and sailed until nearly 8:00pm when we took in and stowed them again. This was an interesting exercise in the dark to be sure. In some ways working aloft in the dark is easier because you can’t see how far up you are. On the otherhand you cant see what you are trying to hang onto either.

We are back motoring and the Captain expects us to arrive in Bermuda in the morning.

I completed my sea bag this afternoon after a a marathon 3 hour stitching session. It came out pretty good actually and will be a useful carry all for all the stuff for my little dinghy.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Wed May 13,09

We motored into St Georges Bermuda this morning about 9:30am.
I’ve gone ashore as we the day off.
More later…

Yesterday I spent another very lazy day.

The highlight for me was spending 2 hours in a hammock outside Corsairs. Lovely.

The Internet we had been using during the morning died about mid afternoon so we walked over the hill back to White Bay and the Soggy Dollar Bar which had WiFi.

We headed back to Corsairs for dinner after sunset. As we were walking along the beach in the moonlight I noticed a bright ring around the moon. It was very striking.

“Hmmmm, that means a change in the weather and not a good one either.” I thought and sure enough this morning we came on deck to grey lowering skies and heavy rain. It’s been raining all morning and is still coming down as I write this during the lunch hour. Lots of line slacking to do as the manila ropes shrink when they get wet. The longer the line the more it shrinks so lines like the Royal bunt lines, buntleaches and the braces need to be checked frequently. The lines can shrink enough to actually part or break bits of the gear so slacking lines is a regular rainy day chore.

More later…

Spent most of the day in the hold sorting old lines and lashing things down in preparation for our passage to Bermuda.

The rain finally stopped around 3:30 and a watery sun came out just before sunset. There was quite a lightening display off to the South where the thunderstorms along the weather front have shoved their tops up over the horizon.

My anchor watch is at 4:00am so hopefully it won’t be raining again.

Tomorrow we will be moving to the island of Sandy Cay which is just offshore of Jost van Dyke and will be our last Caribbean stop. the plan is to have a beach party ending to our time here before heading back out into the Atlantic for Bermuda.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Happy May Day, Beltaine to you all!

May your hoop be merry and your pole be stout!

Had a very busy day today.

I worked bending on a new inner jib out on the jib boom. The sails are held on by “robands” which are the unraveled strands of a manilla rope. All the sails on the ship are held to their respective yards and the metal hanks that hold the staysails to the stays by what is essentially twisted grass! It doesn’t look very strong but in aggregate they can pull the entire ship in rain and sun, gale or calm.

I also helped the Engineer, Chris, test a firehose from the engine room, hung it up in the rigging to dry then connected it back up in the engine room and flaked it back into it’s box.

We had a workshop on wire splicing and a swim call.

To top it off we had BBQ’ed ribs and chicken for dinner. Ahhhh lovely after a hard days work in the Sun.

Going to go ashore tomorrow to check out this famous bar called Foxy’s, owned by one of the premier citizens of Jost Van Dyke. John tells me there is WiFi ashore as well so it’s all good

Thanks for reading and Bright Mayday Blessings to everyone!
KJ

We arrived in Jost van Dyke this afternoon around 5:00pm.

This morning we started hoisting the anchor within minutes of getting back on board at 11:00am. We were under full sail heading for Jost Van Dyke within 10 minutes of getting the anchor up. We were all hands for the day doing some ship work with several people working on Mr Bones caulking and sealing the planks. The plan is to launch this boat sometime while we are here.

Sailing through the Virgin islands looks very much like the Gulf Islands with lots of narrow channels and lots of charter boats going every which way. The radio traffic from them is pretty entertaining. We heard one the other night that is a good example. Lynsey heard this call to the Coast Guard requesting assistance because, apparently, the boats engine failed and they couldn’t figure out how to turn around. They were “sailing” south with their jib set and couldn’t figure out how to go North! To add insult to injury they threw their EPIRB overboard to attract attention. Sigh.

Paul was telling me about another call he heard where a charter boat called in requesting “more anchors” since they were out for two days and needed some more…!?! Apparently they just dropped the line over board in the morning when they left the anchorage and since the boat only had two they need some more to keep going.

It should be interesting here as the ship is well known and gets a lot of attention from people.

I’m on watch Friday and off Saturday Sunday so will get a chance to check it out.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

We arrived in BVI and anchored off Spanishtown on the island of Virgin Gorda (fat virgin).

Our arrival was pretty exciting. As we were sailing uptowards the island the Canadian Barkentine Caledonia was approaching the anchorage from the other direction. For us to get in we had to tack and we did so just as Caledonia was motoring past. From where I was on the quarter deck it looked like we were really close to them. The people on Caledonia were all taking pictures as we swung through the wind directly abeam of them.

The island here is marked by very large granite boulders some 50′ or more in diameter all piled up along the waters edge. Apparently they were originally enclosed in a lava flow of some sort and once the softer lava eroded left them lying around on top of each other. We up anchored after clearing in and motored over to the National Park that covered the corner of the island and spent the afternoon climbing and scrambling around these giant balls of rock.

Then we up anchored again and motored back to anchor off Spanishtown again. Got a good workout today

After dinner I went ashore and spent th evening doing Internet stuff and chilling.

More later…

I’m in a little restaurant drinking coffee and waiting for my laundry to finish. We will be heading for Jost Van Dyke around 11:00am this morning and we will be there for 4 days then it’s on to Bermuda which should take 10 days or so.

I’m actually looking forward to another long passage, and this one will be the second last of the whole trip.

These 6 months are nearly over and I have crossed a great ocean and passed through Neptune’s Court and felt the power which is the Sea itself. So much beauty, hard work and fun. The next 20 days will be bitter sweet as we head North back to the cold but also back to the warmth of our loved ones.

Thanks for reading.
KJ