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Updated February 27, 2012 | |||
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A great plus of this visit to Bermuda was the chance to renew our friendship with Adam Kirk, the "Chief Intoxicoligist" of Bone Fish Bar and Grill, whomm we had met during our first stay in Dockyard, but who had been away traveling during our later visits. We spent a very pleasant evening with him and his lady-friend, Vanessa, a noted local artist, and with Eddie, the Australian mechanic from West end Yachts.
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Lone Ranger's Steering Compartment | ||
| We had been in Bermuda for about 2 weeks when we began to see the possibility of an opening in the weather after the next front. The day before the frontal passage was forecast to be light, so we said goodbyes in Dockyard and left early that morning for St. George's. This time we had two passengers, our friends John and Beatrix, who planned to walk back to Dockyard from St. George's as part of a training plan leading to some serious mountain climbing. John is a transplanted Englishman who is a serious potter; his salt-glazed pottery is reallly lovely. |
Visitors Aboard Lone Ranger | ||
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We arrived back at our old berth in St. George's after a very pleasant two-hour run, and while we began to get the boat ready for the trip to the BVI, John and Beatrix went off to wait for the third member of their party to arrive by bus. She had intended to travel with us as well, but she did not take our 7:00 departure time seriously enough.
The next day was quite windy, with heavy rain squalls, and we hunkered down on the boat. Barbara did a little last-minute provisioning between the showers, and I did maintenance chores, oil changes and so on. We checked our plans with Herb Hilgenberg one more time, and then went to the Tavern by the Sea for dinner and a soccer game on the box. |
Corsairs, On the Main Street (Beach) of Great Harbour | ||
| Early in the morning on Friday the 20th we had a a very pleasant experience. While shopping, Barbara had met the Purser of the research vessel berthed outside us, Lone Ranger, converted from an ocean-going tug, and she invited us aboard for a tour. We saw the yacht accomodations, which we were glad to see were very comfortable but not full of the exceesses that present-day designers seem unable to get away from. |
Great Harbour Crowded With Charter Boats | ||
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We also saw the very purposeful galley and the vast machinery spaces, with her two huge Deutz engines and several generators, each of them bigger than our main engine.
We did not rush to leave, wanting to give the northerly swell following the front a little time to die down, but after clearing out we started the engine at 9:00 and moved away from the wharf out into St. George's almost land-locked harbor. Here we stowed the lines and fenders, not expecting to need them again until we went alongside for Customs in St. John. By 9:35 we were clear of Town Cut and on our way south. We ran happily south with the northeast wind on the quarter. All seemed fine, but as evening came we found two electrical problems. First, the starboard navigation light did not come on. This was not really a problem, as we had spare bulbs, but the first replacement burned out immediately. Bummer! I replaced it, and the second replacement lasted perhaps two minutes before blowing. I now think we ran into a series of mis-labeled 12-volt bulbs, something I'll take up with Hamilton Marine when we return to Maine. The second problem was more worrisome; the AIS was sending us error mesages. A little research in the manual showed that it was telling us the supplied voltage was too high, and indeed, the 12-volt alternator was putting out 15.5 volts! That voltage regulator has given trouble before, and this time I simply disconnected the field wire so the alternator stopped charging. We watched and hooked it back up when the voltage dropped to a certain point. After a couple of iterations the regulator started working properly again, but it is clearly time to replace it.
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Stalk of Bananas and Flower | ||
| The weather was generally good, but we did hit a few squalls that gave us a confused choppy sea. We had a lot of ship traffic, first ships headed for the Gulf via the Northeast Providence Channel through the Bahamas and then ships to or from the Caribbean via the Mona Passage, ships headed for Houston, Gibraltar, New Orleans, St. Petersburg. Our second morning at sea brought a special event. It developed slowly; I saw a pair of dolphins heading for the boat, but as I called Barbara to come and see (she is very fond of dolphins), more and more of them converged from all over. |
The Jost van Dyke Golf Course (BNP Photo) | ||
| There must have been thirty or so, large and small, and they played in the bow wave in groups. I blew the emergency whistle for them and Barbara sang to them; they seemed to like this and stayed ten or fifteen minutes, much longer than usual, dashing in at right angles to our course and turning at the last minute, leaping ahead of us like a team of horses. |
Cruz Bay Street Scene | ||
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Soon it was warm enough that we opened the deck hatch over our cabin and packed our warm clothes away.
Early on Wednesday morning, just after midnight, we saw the loom of the lights of Tortola and St. Thomas on the horizon to the south, and just before daylight we came into the lee of the islands and rounded up for Great Harbour on Jost van Dyke. |
Cruz Bay is All Hills and Valleys | ||
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By 7:15 we were anchored in the mouth of the cove and shut off the engine after five days of continuous running. Once offices were open ashore we launched the dinghy and went ashore to clear in, and to see how our friends had fared since we left last year.
We arrived early on Wednesday morning in weather that was gray and squally, but warm! On Sunday Barbara rowed ashore to church and found that through an odd chain of circumstances there was nobody to play piano for the service, so she volunteered and sight-read the hymns! |
The Public Library, Cruz Bay | ||
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Since we wanted to spend more time in the BVI this year, we arranged a mail stop on St. John, so on Monday we cleared out of the BVI again and ran the short distance to Cruz Bay. It is much as though Chebeague and Harpswell were in one country and Portland in another. One advantage of this situation is that there is so much traffic the formalities are minimal. Day-trippers are back and forth in both directions all the time.
Our first visit to the post office was the 30th, when we found a Netflix DVD but no forwarded mail, but the next day a box was waiting for us. We later noticed the date "1/27" written on it and we think it had been there all the time, but no one wanted to bother with it until we turned up and asked. Oh well, at least it reached us. We had a nice lunch at the unpretentious "Beach Bar" and ran back to Jost, arriving late in the afternoon. We cleared in again the next morning and settled down to a regular routine. |
St. Ursula's in Cruz Bay (BNP Photo) |
We went by dinghy "next door" to White Bay to hear Reuben Chinnery sing at Ivan's Campground on Thursday evenings, and sometimes on Friday or Saturday afternoons as well.
We had dinner at Corsairs one night and watched the Superbowl there. The game was not very exciting, and of course we were disappointed at the outcome, but fortunately we had friendly people to talk to. One Saturday our friend Kathleen Stroh came across from the USVI for the weekend, bringing elegant cheeses and a paté. We had, in truth, wondered about entertaining her, but she was very content to sit and talk in the shade of the bimini on the after deck. It is easy to forget that our way of life, even un-adorned, is quite pleasant. |
On the Way Down and Up the Hills to Starfish Market (BNP Photo) |
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One aspect of our lives is somewhat vexing, however, and that is the matter of internet access. We have on the boat a very good signal from a commercial provider, so we signed up for lots of hours, but our access has been really spotty.
The problem is not with the local source, Ali Baba's restaurant, but with the server a couple of levels higher. I would be very slow to sign up with "World Wide Wi-fi" (or "1 & 1 Internet, Inc") again -- they have serious delusions of adequacy. Or perhaps they don't; when there is a problem Ali Baba has to call a number in California, and nothing ever happens as a result of these calls, so maybe the situation is that they simply don't care. After all, they have our money. |
House and Garden in Cruz Bay | ||
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Several moorings have been added to Great Harbour since we were here last year. This is good for the charter boats, since few of them really have proper anchoring gear and even fewer have the appropriate skills. It does mean, however, that we are anchored farther out than in the past, which is a blessing unless it is very windy, as it is cooler. |
The Elegant Expedition Yacht Intuition II Anchored Outside Us | ||
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It also means that we are keeping company with the other large boats, most of them much larger than we are, and we see a procession of yachts, some very interesting indeed.
A few of the new moorings are on the edge of the reef fringing the harbor, however, and when we have a strong ground swell running, as we can in the winter, boats on those moorings are in a very uncomfortable and possibly dangerous situation. |
Styrr, a Charter Boat with Character | ||
| Shortly after we arrived it was "Agriculture Week" in the BVI. The main events were on Tortola, of course, but one day was decreed to be "Farm day" on Jost, and there was much bustle and setting up of pavilions. Our friend Carmen (the district Officer, or the face of government on Jost) was very busy with all the arrangements. After "the Agriculture" she could certainly come to dinner, but no way could she come before. |
Goats for Judging on Farm Day | ||
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Preparations started early in the morning. There were epic traffic jams on the main road just behind the beach, as the local farmers brought out stalks of bananas, piles of cassavas, mangoes, enormous basil stalks, and baskets of spices. It was not just a sale, but the items on didsplay were also to be judged.
Besides strictly agricultural produce, the displays included baked goods (bread, cakes, pies) and crafts of all sorts, for this was a celebration not only of agriculture but of the traditional culture of which agriculture is an important part. There were also booths manned by Social Security, the Jost van Dyke Preservation Society, and a couple of sponsors (a bank and a cell phone company), and places to buy food. Of course there were speeches, long and wearying but the school children sat through them very patiently, and a skit performed by some of the older children intended to illustrate the theme: "Culture through Agriculture." It was charming. |
The Crew Considering a Veritable Cornucopia of Local Produce | ||
| After we had been in Great Harbour for a couple of weeks we decided it was time to go to ""Town" (Road Town, on Tortola) to do a little shopping and then to go on to an anchorage off Peter Island that we are very fond of. We duly went across and anchored just off the town, and in a very short time, perhaps three hours, went to Clarence Thomas (hardware store), Tico (liquor store), Golden Hind (marine chandlery), The French Deli (cheeses and baguettes), and Bobby's (supermarket). |
School Children Being Good During the Long Speeches | ||
| In some past years we have enjoyed hanging out in Road Town for some days, watching the "big city" bustle, and perhaps watching a cricket match or a soccer game. This time, however, we did not seem to feel any need to linger, and we were out of the harbor by 3:30 and anchored off Peter Island just after 4:00. |
Supplies for the Entire BVI - the Commercial Waterfront in Road Town | ||
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On Peter Island there is a spot where even a big boat like ours can anchor in shoal water where her stern will swing just clear of a coral reef and Barbara can simply swim from the boat to snorkel on the reef wiithout having to go somewhere in the dinghy. Pelicans roost in the trees and dive for lunch in the shallows, and it is all very peaceful.
Around the point is a fancy marina and a restaurant with a serious dress code, but these do not apply in our anchorage! After two nights we returned to Jost van Dyke and civilization. |
Just Off Our Stern at Peter Island - Find the Pelican | ||
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Our lives suddenly became quite social, with friends for dinner in quick succession. First camd Dorian and Linda. Linda is a teacher we met last year; her husband Dorian is originally from Domenica and is, among other things, a cricketer in the BVI national team.
We also entertained our old friend Reuben Chinnery, the professional musician who first made an impression on me some time in the 90s in a club in Road Town, and Carmen and David. |
Dorian and Linda Visit | ||
| Like many people living on Jost, Carmen came originally from the Dominican Republic, but she is now, as I mentioned, the representative of government on Jost van Dyke, and also the postmistress. She is also a special friend of Barbara's. Her husband, David, repairs boats, so we had much to talk about. |
Reuben's Little House on "South Side" | ||