Atlantic Passage

Spent a very lazy day yesterday.

Went ashore on the 10:00 skiff and then wandered along the beach and up over the ridge and down to another bay.

This was White Bay where the world famous “Soggy Dollar Bar” is. They also had the only available WiFi signal. The bar gets it’s name from the lack of dock in the bay. Early cruisers would just swim ashore and pay with whatever they had in their pockets.

The place was crawling with pale day trippers, charter yachts and bikini clad beauties… very pleasant scenery indeed.:-)

After hanging around the beach in the shade of some coconut palms I wandered back over the hill to have dinner at a restaurant called Corsairs, which today has WiFi go figure.

Looks like today is going to be another lazy one.

Tomorrow we will head over to a deserted island, Sandy Cay, nearby for a last bash in the Caribbean then it’s “all hands to the windlass” to head North into the Atlantic Tuesday morning.

The passage to Bermuda will take 8-10 days and is the second last passage of the trip.

Much of the conversations on board now revolve around that nasty word “after”. Not sure I’m ready for “after” just yet myself.

More later maybe…

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

We have arrived in BVI.
This is a continuous post so read down for the latest.

Sunday April 26,09

Our watch was on duty today, which was just as well as I suspect that everything ashore was closed if yesterday is any indication.

First thing after breakfast we shifted the ship into the middle of the bay to give us a bit more swing room as the winds have been variable making the ship swing almost 360 degrees!
Last night the on watch had taken in about 10ft of chain because our stern was only 20′ or so from the rocks!

Surprisingly we had a normal Sunday, ie there was no official ships work, which made for a fairly relaxing day.

I was safety lookout for several of the crew who went snorkeling along the cliffs that surround this little bay we are in. The Sun was bright and there was a really strong wind blowing out in the channel between the islands which brought some swell into the bay. The water is incredibly clear and you can see the bottom from the taffrail.

This evening we had another fancy dress dinner which was fun.

My anchor watch is 1:00am to 2:00am tonight and the plan is to hoist anchor as soon as we can tomorrow morning so we can get cleared out and underwa to the British Virgin Isands which is 250 some miles to the North.

The trip should take 2-3 days.

Odd to think that Jost van Dyke in the BVI is the second last port of call before we get back to Lunenberg and the end of my passage. Lots of sailing to come but the end is less than a month way.

Hmmmm….

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Monday April 27,09

Lynsey and Nicki went ashore this morning and caught a ferry over to Terre de Haut to clear out.

I am on galley today so spent the morning doing the dishes and cleaning out the veggie lockers on the Aloha deck.

Since we will soon be heading North where it is cold(er) we also were told to clean the ship inside thoroughly. This is because as we get into colder climes moisture will condense inside the ship and if the surfaces aren’t pretty clean they can begin to mildew and smell. Lovely…

We got our anchor up and began sailing North around 2:00pm. We have a strong force 5 breeze on our Starboard quarter to move us along North. We are currently sailing briskly towards Guadeloupe wit all sails but the Royals and Flying Jib set. I suspect that once in the lee of Guadeloupe we may need to motor but the consensus on the lower deck is that we will only motor if we really have to. This would be just fine with me I prefer to sail

I went up to loose sail today and helped to loose the Mizzen Staysail as well. My hand is doing much better and it felt good to go aloft again.

My tattoo is doing pretty well, it hasn’t been itchy and the colour hasn’t faded much even though I’ve been in the bright Sun pretty much continuously since I got it. Some of the other people’s tattoos haven’t fared so well. The finer lines have disappeared on some of them and others have faded a bit.

Current guess is that we will reach Jost van Dyke in about 2 days or so.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Tuesday April 28,09

Our night watch was gusty and damp with a couple of big squalls as we passed the islands of Montserrat, Nevis and St Kitts. The wind was gusting up to Force 6-7.

I had first helm and the ship steered beautifully only a few spokes to a full turn needed to keep her on course. We are heading North by West (and 1/4 west to be exact) with topsails, t’gallants, foresail set plus the outer and inner jibs, fore topmast staysail and main topmast staysail.

I hear a rumour that Jost Van Dyke may not have any Internet connectivity so not sure when you will get to read this as the next stop is Bermuda about halfway back to Lunenberg.

More later…

Just got off the afternoon watch which was relatively uneventful. The wind is steady and the skies basically clear and sunny with some high puffy white clouds.

Earlier this afternoon we changed course towards the high volcanic island of Saba and just as we were getting ready to go on watch we entered the lee of this cliff girdled high island. There followed the alarm and the call of “This is a drill man overboard port side”.

These drills are organized chaos but everybody knows pretty well where to be and what to do. Today’s drill was a bit different because we were; A) under sail and B) the wind and sea conditions were gusty and lumpy respectively. The drill went really well, the overboard object was in the rescue boat in 3 minutes! The rescue boat itself was launched in about 1 minute. The requirement is that the recovery be done in 9 minutes.

Once we got all the equipment stowed we headed back on our course to the north now under a reduced sail plan, no t’gallants, so we don’t arrive in the middle of the night.

We should arrive in the BVI tomorrow sometime, rumour has it we will be stopping for groceries at another island in the BVI before going to Jost Van Dyke.

Thanks for reading
KJ

We were supposed to leave for BVI today but when the Captain went ashore to clear out there was nobody around to do it. While we were waiting we worked on several small projects including the Grenada Boat, now known as “Mr Bones”, and getting stuff in the hold lashed down ready for sea.

Just after lunch the Captain came back and announced that we would be shifting over to the largest island in the Saints, Basse Terra, for the weekend then clear out on Monday.

Our watch was off today so David and I went ashore and had a quick look around. This is a very quiet island! The town is very small with only a couple of bar/restaurants and a couple of souvenir shops and a small grocery store. No ATM, or Wifi to be found

Unfortunately in my rush to catch the skiff I forgot my camera so I doon’t have any pictures of this quaint little place.

We arrived jut as a funeral was being conducted so everything was shutdown completely. Just to add to the atmosphere it poured rain, in those huge drops only a tropical rain squall can bring. I tried to shelter under a tree but got soaked anyways, I also forgot my rain coat, blah.

Bill found a small hotel for the night which also had a restaurant so we were able to have a nice dinner, which as an added bonus was pretty cheap.

The anchorage here is a bit dicey so we may have to move the ship in the morning.

Thanks for reading
KJ

Found the site of Tim Wright who was taking pictures at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.

From his site:
——–
Tim Wright

In 1993 Tim Wright was living on his 34 ft sailing boat in the Caribbean and started to photograph yachts as a means of survival. Today he still spends most of the year afloat in the Caribbean where he is now considered the leading practitioner of marine photography in the region. Over recent years he has become increasingly active at regattas in the UK and the Mediterranean.

Many sailors will instantly recognize his unique style. Where other photographers shoot from larger boats Tim works from a tiny 12 foot inflatable which serves double duty as his yacht tender. This gives him incredible maneuverability, allowing him to get frighteningly close to the action.
——–

There are some amazing pictures there including some of the Picton Castle
Check them out here: http://www.photoaction.com/clas09/clas09.htm

Went ashore on the first skiff run of the day.

After getting some Euros from the Atm David and I went to the hotel where Rick was staying. We then rented some scooters for the day and tore off down the narrow roads to explore the island of Terre De Haut.

Went up to Fort Napoleon which commands the heights above the town and harbour. The fort is pretty well preserved and a good example of French forts from the mid 1800s. The museum there had a good display on the Battle of the Saints between the British fleet under Rodney and the French fleet under Bouganville. They had couple of nice ship models of vessels in the battle.

After the fort we decided to do a beach tour so we picked up a baguette, cheese and a bottle of cheap wine and headed out to see the sands.

The beaches here are really small, with the exception of one they are all only a couple of hundred feet long. But theyy are usually in nice coves so are fairly picturesque.

The weather was hot and sunny but there was a fairly strong Northerly wind blowing which made sitting the shade quite pleasant.

Our watch is on tomorrow but we get Friday off so I think I will do a bunch of Internet and chilling for the day

Thanks for reading…
KJ

Here are some photos from my day ashore.

Monday Apr 20,09

This morning was really busy.

First thing after breakfast we hoisted aboard the dory and skiff. Then we got all the sails ready to set, fired up the engine and hoisted the anchor. A little light exercise to start the day

While we were doing that there were lots of yachts sailing by heading for the start line of the race.

We set our fore lower topsail and outer jib and backed around. Then, once facing the right way, we set all sails and headed out just to leeward of the course. We could see many of the smaller boats racing along to windward of us. There was a collision between two of them and one yacht was completely dismasted! An expensive day for them.

As we approached the “mark” we hove to and watched the fun for 20 minutes or so.

As the big “J”s were coming up we tacked and headed back along the line so we got a really good look at these magnificent thoroughbreds racing with spinnakers set. In fact we set our flying jib just as they were setting their spinnakers The two big schooners were there as well with their spinnakers set a well. Very impressive.

The big French schooner was sailing with a replacement mainsail so they mut have had a spare.

After they passed we tacked again, set all sails and are now heading South(ish) towards Guadalupe and Ile des Saints which is part of Guadalupe.

More later…

Just got off of our afternoon watch.

We sailed close hauled on the port tack towards Guadalupe all afternoon.
As we were sailing Full N Bye my trick at the helm was fun

As we approached Guadalupe it became apparent that we could not weather it and had to tack just after dinner. We are no sailing North back towards Antigua and will tack in the morning some time and try to get around the Eastern side of Guadalupe again.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Tues Apr 21,09

Had a fairly calm night watch.

We wore ship sometime before I came on watch and have been sailing to leeward of Guadalupe. I had second lookout which was just at dawn as we approached the island. The sky slowly brightened and with a thi crescent moon low in the eastern sky it was beautiful to watch.

The Western side of Guadalupe is high, very much like Dominica and has a cap of clouds as well. As we sailed into the lee the wind dropped and we started to take in sail preparatory to motoring when the wind actually picked up again. We reset the foresail and mainsail and we are still ghosting along to the South.

If we end up motoring we should arrive at the Saints this afternoon.

More later…

We motored through the afternoon and got pasted with some really sstrong rain squalls as we passed Guadalupe.

We arrive at the Iles des Saints around 3;00pm anchored in the little harbour and got cleared in without too much fuss. Our watch is off this evening and tomorrow so we went ashore to check out the place. It is like a little chunk of France very neat and tidy and pretty laid back.

I’m going with David and our new doctor Rick to rent some scooters to see the island tomorrow. I’ll fill you all in on how it goes.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Today Nico and I had galley duty and being Donald’s official day off we had to cook.

The key to that is planning, as Bruce and I found out on the crossing

Once we had a plan for what to do for lunch and dinner it was just a matter of coordinating the timing around the vagaries of our old diesel stove. For the record lunch was onion and tomato soup with bread and jam and dinner was “bubble and squeak”, corn beef and cabbage, bacon and corn meal dumplings quite yummy actually.

One advantage of being on galley is that you can stop to watch what’s happening around the ship. Which today meant watching the fleet of beautiful classic yachts parade out of the harbour to get ready for today’s racing. Like watching a parade of very expensive peacocks that.

Just as we were getting dinner ready the big French schooner came in with her mainsail torn in half. What a mess! That one sail probably has almost as much area as all of ours together, or so it seems. Th noise it made when it ripped must have been tremendous and frightening.

Tomorrow we plan to join the fleet for the racing, heh :-), at least until they go upwind then we will head off to Ile de Saints which is an overnight sail apparently.

Thanks for reading.
KJ