Whew! Our 16 year old daughter made it safely to Bali after 54 hours of traveling by herself from Puerto Rico-JFK-Dubai-Bali! She did not travel with a group or a buddy. There is an active volcano in Bali which disrupted air travel causing a 17 hr layover for Savannah in Dubai. Not a big deal. Except when they are giving hotel vouchers and our underaged beautiful daughter almost left security half way across the world at 3am Dubai time to stay in a hotel alone.. We had discussion and I even reached out to facebook land. Savannah stayed in the airport near the gate and handled the situation like an adult and seasoned world traveler. She only had carry on which made it easy to take on plan B if the Bali airport did not reopen. Through fb I received an invaluable contact if anything arises on her return. You have to love social media! Plan B was a refundable ticket to Paris where family would receive her on the chance that she could not fly into Bali after an already long delay. The unknown was the hard part.
Savannah has embarked on a 3 week journey volunteering with Global Leadership on there Global Health initiative program. Here is the link so you can read more about the program: https://www.experiencegla.com/destinations/teen-programs-asia/bali/bali-global-health-initiative/
We feel its important for Savannah to gain independence through quality experiences while helping the community and seeing the world. We would have loved to accompany her on this journey but my husband is still not allowed to fly after his acute pulmonary embolism that almost took his life last Oct 2017. Instead we are going sailing… Alone!
We are so fortunate to be able to send Savannah on this program and you can see it is not cheap. However she has endured one hell of a year and shined. She deserves this and more! She’s had to change schools twice including a temporary move post hurricanes Irma and Maria. She suffers from Hashimoto thyroid disease with other underlying auto immune disorders that has kept her from sailing competitively that she is feverishly passionate about, not to mention good! She has overcome and did VERY well in school receiving many academic awards at the prestigious St. John college preparatory school she attends here in PR, and also shined while attending the IB program in Pensacola Florida for 3 short months. She will be a Junior this fall and has taken on a heavy academic load. She has handled the diversity well and now she’s off to the other side of the world! I will post when I can of her adventures through her texts and she will be keeping a journal and adding to this blog on her return.
It was an emotional departure with laughter and tears. I will also share the note she left us.. she gave me the ok to do so as it’s just TOO FUNNY not too. I absolutely love the attitude and crazy sense of humor this child has!!
Now that she is settled in Bali and already entranced with the magic and already making friends we are comfortable to pack up and head to the boat for our very first trip sailing together alone! We’ve always had our baby girl, friends, family or fun sailing crew along for the ride, so this will be interesting! haha We sailed once alone about 19 years ago on my Hunter 340 on Lake Norman, NC at night completely inebriated after Jim came to see me for the first time after meeting 1.5 years prior in Sitka, Alaska. (I’ll save that story for another entry). Needless to say.. it was a good reunion and that is the last time we sailed alone so we are most excited to do so again! I also will get to ease back into paddling which will has been a huge part of my life for the last decade minus the last 3 months! woohoo!

Quick thoughts and new information!!

-Jim loves when I write in the blog over coffee. I think it’s because it keeps me quiet for an hour while the caffeine kicks in…..so I will continue to do so, time allowing.

-I think Jim watched flight tracker along with Benito Pinto more than soccer… double priceless!!!

-Below I will attach photos that Savannah sent including a cool video landing in Dubai. Along with a funny screen shot from a photo and txt she sent which broke all of the rules we had about our prior “stranger danger” chats! However, I trust her judgment… although Sarah and I almost had a panic attack. !!

-More news! We are over the moon excited to announce that in June of 2019 the BAUS HAUS will re open on a part time reservation schedule for all for all of the wonderful guests we had in the earlier part of this year and their friends! As well as an awesome place for all of our dear friends to have a home away from home retreat! We miss you all dearly!!! I’m so humbled and touched by the guests that have stayed in touch with us. This is for you!!! We will make the official announcement in the coming months.. You can follow the link here if you like! For now reservations will be limited and made directly through us. Apparel is still available and all of the other goodies in the boutique! https://www.facebook.com/BausHausPuertoRico/
Lastly.. our dear friend Jerome Rand has completed his sailing solo, non stop circumnavigation around the world on the Mighty Sparrow. More humans have been to the moon that what he has accomplished. We were privileged enough witness his fly by through Virgin Gorda Sound. Here is the link to that blog post. Expect to see Jerome on the Today program. He is truly an inspiration!!!! https://bauslife.com/2018/06/14/day-5-jerome-is-here-north-sound-summer-sailing-trip/

Weather this time of the year in the tropics is usually pretty mild and we welcome the tropical rain and cooler breezes as they pass through. Nothing compared to the crazy afternoon summer storms on the mainland, but they can get sporty.

We are on a timeframe to get back, however, since our daughter is leaving for Bali in only a few days, and Jim has some fires to put out at work…  weather can slow you down just a bit depending on the squalls, seas and wind directions. So we decided after looking at the imminent tropical wave working her way up that we would take advantage of the good window and sail home. We had not expected to make our way home until Saturday and arrive Sunday.. great call as i’m sitting in the boat at our slip in PR and it’s stormy.

We had a fabulous sail home! SE winds and “flat” seas made for a fast and fun broad reach home. We made Cinnamon Bay to Puerto Del Rey on literally 2 tacks and 7.5hours. There was much cloud cover and since we were not dead down wind there was some air whirling around the cockpit. Not the typical HOT ride home.

We had some great conversation on the 7 hour plus ride home. Some deep thoughts and some funny moments.. the one that kicked me in the gut was within the first 30 minutes of sailing I looked at Savannah and knew something was wrong and asked if she was ok and immediately realized she was crying and I was like OMG what is wrong baby girl!!!???? She responded in a very adorable and secretly funny..  “I miss my remora friend and i’m really sad to leave Mom.”  Priceless. She knows she wont’ get back to the islands realistically until Christmas break..(heavy school load this coming year and summer is already filled with exciting adventures!) I just hugged her tight and told how happy I was that she had such a terrific time with her goofball parents for 2 weeks and all of the fun things still pending this summer. She perked up pretty quickly. I have to agree there is always a sadness that is hard to explain when leaving the islands, especially after such a magical trip together as a family. We literally spent 2 solid weeks cooking, sailing, hiking, snorkeling, laughing, and just being together in a beautiful place.

We docked and tied up just as the sun went down and Jim gave customs a call per instructions and I started dinner.

Can I just say it’s astonishing that ANYTHING in our Government gets accomplished given how our customs experience went. I won’t go in to details but they stayed on our boat for an hour because we were a penny short of the fees we owed. So we kept trying to give them the “change” of 4 cents we owed in a nickel form since we did not have 4 pennies on hand and keep the change! They absolutely would not do this. BUT.. after an hour later they just said keep the nickel he would get the 4 cents from their truck. okkkkkkk.. sigh. Then they wanted proof of importation fees and for us to write them a check for $8500.. we’re like.. nooooo. We bought the bought in PR and this has all been handled (and it has but they didn’t seem care) so we are not supposed to leave the boat until they have this proof. We were coming from a US territory after checking back in to St. John, then to here (yes you have to check in twice) with our US passports.. and this is our slip. Great for tourism…. sigh. Curious that just as soon as Jim started speaking Spanish in a local accent they decided to be nice.

The trip was completed half way home when a family of dolphins were frolicking on our bow. It’s amazing how quickly you can jump to attention and run to the bow with your camera!

This morning we will take our time cleaning the boat and unloading. We actually have quite a bit of food left over so I won’t have to go home and grocery shop. Laundry will not be bad either as I have a small load of clothes personally and the same for Savannah and Jim, one load of towels and then our bedding which will be 4 loads (2 comforters- 2 sets of sheets). So maybe 8 total. Less than 1 night of the air bnb with a full house and less than previous years’ trips. I’ll knock that out by tomorrow afternoon! Boat is already tidy and will just wipe all down all of the wood and fridge/freezer. Clean toilets, vacuum, rinse the boat, rinse snorkel gear and fresh water flush of outboard dinghy motor and done! Next week i’ll come down and polish the stainless and start thinking about the “honey moon” trip Jim and I will take soon while Savannah is in Bali for 3 weeks on a medical internship with Global Leadership.

I do plan to continue with the blog and include excerpts from Jim and Savannah as well going forward. She’s going to keep a journal in Bali and share on her return. Jim will keep you filled in on the state of Puerto Rico and some of the work projects and industrial and political dealings some of you may find of interest.

Thank you for following along on our trip. I thoroughly enjoyed writing and sharing and know I will look forward to reading this for years to come.

Stay tuned for future random posts of, garden, food, life, fur babies, adventures, sailing, getting back in shape, and life stuff :))

Last but not least.. a HUGE thank you to our house tenants Kezi and Alex for taking care of our garden and treating our “tribe” like their own… Ella the yellow lab, Wes the chocolate, Billie Girl the border collie mix, Banjo Man the Min Pin, FINN the border collie (tenants fur baby), Marty the black and white kitty, Sitka the old lady kitty, RUBY the chicken :)) and the 2 koi, 2 sharks, 3 bottom feeders and 5 guppies. :))) We were so relaxed about everything back home knowing they were in your care. Thank you.. We have the best tenants ever btw…!!!!

Food note: Lunch was chicken salad on romaine “boats” on the North side of St. Thomas. Side of orange slices.  Jim had the bag of crackers hidden!;)

Savannah’s Dolphin video!

Can i start by saying how much we are loving the quality of coffee out of the electric presto perculator!?! Super fast and tasty, I will use this at home and retire the expresso machine. In past we used the stove top perculator but it burns a lot of propane and takes too long. We are perfecting the lazy mornings on this calm and peaceful mooring in Cinnamon Bay. Yep, still here! Most mornings are so relaxed and no rush. Jim usually works from his “remote office” and we both downing WAY too much of this French Roast brew!  The hatches are all open and the soft velvety breeze is floating through the boat. I can hear the birds on the hill and the sun is just peaking over the hilltop. I’ve seen 2 turtles surface and the same 3 deer on the beach take their morning stroll. Savannah is sleeping, Jim is working and I so enjoy recapping the prior day events in our blog even if no one is actually taking the time to read!

Yesterday after a late start and downing more pancakes… breakfast of choice this trip… with bacon of course, we motored the sailboat around the bend to Leinster Bay and Watermelon Cay. I actually think this is the worst of the damage and vegetation devastation we’ve seen since the storms. I know i’m mentioning the hurricanes a lot here but it’s remarkable how heavy they sit on everyone’s minds even after 9 months to the day. You speak with a local and it’s usually the first thing that comes up and it’s just natural to talk about it and it’s still very raw and fresh in all of us.  I know there have been ugly storms in the past such as Hugo, Ivan, Katrina and the likes that did massive devastation. No comparison, and not trying to do so. However the islands are difficult even on a good day and two back to back category 5 storms don’t help along with the inefficiency of the governments and inner bureaucrats that can’t seem to get their crap together  while the islands, people and tourism continue to suffer. Not to mention the wildlife.  It’s a vicious cycle that could be fixed or at least some bigger efforts made.  Folks are tired you can see it in their eyes, and they all say the same thing: they don’t feel the response is very organized or productive.

St. John is controlled mostly by the US Dept of the Interior National Park Service. Beaches are not closed, but not exactly a happy place either, so it’s killing tourism which is really putting a hurt on the folks who make their living that way . Cab drivers, store owners, food/drink concessions that are not allowed to start back up… Then there is the conservation side.. the parks here work with local, stateside and Caribbean-wide conservation to preserve the area’s natural and cultural resources, being a part of the international network of biosphere reserves.  Also including the home for two endangered species of turtles, the hawksbill and the green, which dig their nests and lay their eggs on these beaches. Pre-Irma, Cinnamon Bay was a campground with a camp store and facilities including paddle board and snorkel rentals along with day sailing and scuba excursions that are no longer operating.  Truly paradise in it’s day. Old school hippy camping! Hope it comes back in it’s original form, finding the balance of conservation and still a source for enjoyment and economic sustenance.

One gentlemen at the Annaberg ruins cleaned the entire site himself. A tall and kind west indian with a big head of covered dreads in a knitted and worn beanie, volunteering to keep the ruins accessible. Many of the huge old turpentine and flamboyant trees were gone along with much of the vegetation. He gave me a tour of the garden he kept and it was remarkable, with offerings of sugarcane and gooseberries! There were also thousands of wild papaya growing that the birds and deer are feasting on.

We moored our boat and dinghied to the rocky beach to begin our hike. The trail along the water’s edge was literally gone. There used to be a mile of tree tunnel lined beautiful path along the waters edge with huge trees, mangroves and little hills. It is now raw bluffs and mud, no vegetation and rock. Shocking to think how powerful these winds must have been to do such damage. This will never be the same again, however if you didn’t know any better the rocky shore along the water is also nice.

We made a quick hike to the Annaberg ruins which we’ve done many times in past to see haw it faired, and as I said above it took a good hit but the ruins themselves held strong. Stone, brick, mortar and shell.. can’t beat it!

We back tracked to our starting point stopping briefly to admire the efforts being made to recover the “The New Horizon” sailboat that washed up on shore. We’ve seen her sailing many times in the islands.  Incredible damage repair that the owners are taking on. They have the top of the mast tied down to port and starboard with rope and chain and forward with the same to keep her on keel. Otherwise with the condition of the forestay and pulpit the mast would probably come down. There is a gaping hole in the port ferro-cement hull. I’ve never really used the reference “gaping” as well as it applies here. The entire scene was so sad other than the remarkable  efforts being made to get her floating again. We saw some guys head over to work on her as we were leaving the bay later in the day.

Once back to where the dinghy was beached we made our way through the toppled, crunched and bulldozed looking mangroves and trees to get to the head of the trail. It’s amazing these trails have been cleared, yet the beaches are not ready for tourists. We even asked the folks that were on the beach where our dinghy was if they had enjoyed some of the hiking that St. John offers… they said they don’t do that type of thing, that they like the beaches but had not found yet they likes and that most amenities were closed. To me the beaches are still gorgeous and the water just as much or more.. I personally love the quiet, but I also understand how tourisms works and how important it is to our islands.

Ok enough about that. The hike was superb! We did a 7 mile out and back and the views and trail were just perfect. There was no shortage in the enormous Soldier crabs who live in abandoned shells, mostly the West Indian top shell, locally called whelk. Also saw a huge one in a tulip shell!

We made a few detours to see 2 other “ruins”, remains of old sugar mills and housing back in the day. Jim posed for his infamous standing on the wall with no shirt photo with views to Tortola and Jost!

The skies were overcast and the temperature very mild for this time of the year, which made it perfect for hiking the Brown Bay Trail that branches off the Johnny Horn and descends through a dry thorn scrub and open hot valley. It eventually ascends over the ridge overlooking the beautiful Hurricane Hole bay.

The hills and trees are barren but there are many signs of the vegetation coming back strong. Especially with the rains we received the past 2 days. The smells were sweet and birds sang loudly. We also saw deer along the trail.

On our way back we were delighted with 4 wild donkey. Donkeys and deer are a common site here on St. John. Cardinal rule is to never feed the wild animals. We broke that one. These Asses were too sweet to pass up and not in the best condition. They most likely came from Caneel bay resort where they lived like kings and were hand fed daily both by staff and tourist. The resort is literally gone. So the donkey move on .. One was pregnant, one had a broken leg, one had an infection in his neck and the other had terrible teeth. But they were docile and more than eager to share our watermelon. One rolled on his back in the sand and the other tried getting into the dinghy. Once they had a tummy full of watermelon they all quietly sat on the beach and remained there the rest of the afternoon and until we cast off the mooring. I’m sure they were hurt during the storms and I hope they continue to be ok.

We headed back to our little spot off Cinnamon and enjoyed our sundowners while dinner simmered. Split pea soup (both yellow and green pea) ham, onion, carrot, celery and spice over rice! Meanwhile we made some facetime calls with our Mums and watched the sun go down.

We also had a feeding frenzy off the stern while Savannah rinsed the bowls. She started squealing and said bring the bread and the spot light! She had made a little friend with Mr. Remora.. took him a little while to get used to the light but he got the hang of it in no time. There were several tarpon a few feet below watching and some big jacks. The remora stole the show with his affections (they usually hold on tight to sharks and turtle with the suctions on the top of their head.)  Sometimes we can hear them sucking on to the bottom of the boat at anchor.  Note: not the best idea to feed the fish as they need a natural diet to survive but we were considerably away from shore and in deep water rinsing dishes…can’t help they like my cooking! 😉

Great day.

Note: First sightings of nesting pelicans while hiking the trail along side the salt flats in the valley and also a few large termite nest that did not get destroyed (although we can do without those!!).  We usually see many more pelicans fishing and roosting.  No shortage of seagulls.. nor the thrush.  We did have an emerald colored hummingbird grace our stern while in Virgin Gorda and I have seen several Bananaquit birds.

Morning coffee was followed by pancakes and a snorkel that was cut short by thunder and lightening. However we did see huge schools of bait fish, tarpon, stingrays and many,  many sea turtles. On the way back to the boat all I could see was little bird feet in the water at one point so I headed for them thinking they would scurry off quickly but they didn’t! I literally could have touched the seagull that didn’t give a care in the world if I was looking at him through my mask half covered in hair and talking sweetly through my snorkel. Bird must have been like, “humans be so weird”…

After drying off I told Jim that with the imminent weather headed our way for the day he should work on fixing the gen set and get it right. So he did! lol Wiring was backwards on the pump so he rewired and voila! Funny because even though it rained most of the day we never did use it while closed up. It was comfortable. Besides  with all of the lightning in our vicinity we turned of all of the electronics to play it safe and not fry it on the first trip. Had that happen in an airplane once. Clear air lightening struck us on the nose and fried all instruments while heading to inclement weather. Good o’l days..

After looking at radar we saw a little break in the tropical wave that was passing through and tossed the line off the mooring in Cinnamon bay and headed to Red Hook, St. Thomas to provision diesel and water so we wouldn’t have to worry about it for the next 6 days. We were in and out other than having to wait for about 15 circling in the channel for our turn. Busy little harbor with the ferries and charter boats, with little maneuvering room due to moored boats and shallow water. Great for dusting off the boat handling skills (if I don’t say so myself ;))… lol funny, because as we nosed into the dock and I kicked the bow over, there was a gorgeous 60 ft spoon bow custom sport fisher tied up adjacent and the Capt said to Jim.. “you better hang on to her, she’s a keeper”.  I mean, would I SAY THAT TOO A MAN if he smoothly docked the boat??? growl.  “YO girl, He’s a keeper, better hang on to him”. hahahah barf! Our rolls respectively on the boat are: I’m the driver, chef, maid and day planner, Jim is the pay for it, fix it and keep us safe, Savannah is the watchful eye over the two of us! Good team. :))

We were hoping to head to Leinster Bay on St. John after fuel and water stop but we were racing Mother Nature and she was winning, so we pulled in and grabbed the same mooring we left earlier at high speed, ducking for the lightening. Very electrical storm, but the rain was MUCH needed islands wide.

We were socked in most of the day. Savannah napped, I made jewelry (which by the way if you all love this blog feel free to purchase or make donations so we can keep writing about our adventures!!!! :)))  I’ll add the link below ;).  Jim tinkered around the boat and shook his head at the 4inch manual vs. the actual systems, some of them didn’t quite add up. Regardless, the Grand Soleil 46LC is a phenomenal boat. We love her more everyday!  He’s pretty mechanically inclined so glad he had a chance to look it over on this rainy day. FYI..

Weather eased up around sunset and let me tell you it was one for the books. We’ve seen some pretty sunsets in our life, but nothing compared to this.  Sunsets on one side, deer roaming the beach on the other side, our two drink allotment and dinner on the stove. Left over gnocchi and cheese sauce over multi grain rice, added mushrooms and broccoli.. it was ok.. but a perfect dinner snack after a big lunch of huge sandwiches on pretzel bread. yum!

We slept with a still night but very cool and comfy air temps. Sure the generator works but you’d have to give me some pretty gnarly, night weather to actually turn on the AC while out on a mooring or at anchor. I do keep a 12 volt fan blowing 2 inches away from my face while sleeping lol

If you are interested in jewlery and more creations you can follow the Baus Haus page (formerly a guest house and now a long term rental..) Baus Haus FB page

If you are enjoying this blog and are interested in donating or purchasing jewlery you can sent payment to the pay pal link and leave a note. First come first serve! Thank you! https://paypal.me/baushaus

Wire wrapped beach tile, glass bead and ribbon & chord adjustable chain closure. Elegance meets rustic. #ImperfectlyPerfectPurpleAndBlue~30~ includes shipping. Available 6-25 hand made in Cinnamon Bay, USVI aboard “Huntress”.

Tribal: Genuine sea glass wrapped with leather and wire. Open ends to tie that perfect knot at desired length. This one hand made in Cinnamon Bay, USVI off of S/V “Huntress”! (Our part time floating home) #ImperfectlyPerfect ~25~ includes shipping #Unisex Available for shipping 6-25

We regrouped on not sailing to St. Croix after clearing customs for a number of reasons. The biggest one being the time spent sailing there and back on the time frame left and the other major factor is the tropical wave currently forming in our area. I’m sure it won’t materialize but figured we might stay near to protected moorings in the gorgeous bays of the North side of St. John. The waters and landscape are truly magical, so we are all pleased with this call.

Customs on St. Johns were fantastic clearing back into the US! Friendly, efficient and even updated our local boater information. The town was bustling, Park Headquarters was open and things seemed better than ever even in the midst of the total devastation. The Park has been very slow in opening the Cinnamon Bay campground (we are moored here now, think the famous Kenney Chesney song.. ) and the beach has not been cleaned post storm.  this along with no food or drinks available at Trunk Bay has the locals concerned with a negative effect on tourism… something they need desperately to recover.  Word is the NPS bureaucracy is getting in the way…

After customs and getting drinking water we dinghied back to Huntress, offloaded and had a delicious lunch of butter pan seared tortillas with left over dinner from the night before with some added cheese… yum! We then packed up for an afternoon of hiking the Reef bay trail (water and snacks.) We had hiked this several years ago and the trails have been cleared so we didn’t waste anytime getting there. Which is great because we hiked for over 4 hours, covering almost 7 miles!

We hiked 3 trails: Reef Bay and two other trails off the main trail (Petroglyph and the Reef Bay Great house trails) “The Reef Bay Trail is an out and back 2.2 miles long and descends through a shady moist forest and a dry forest, both of which incorporate a wide variety of plant life. The visible remains of four sugar estates and more recently the abandoned farming communities are along the way.”

The Reef Bay trail is also one of my favorite running trails… next trip! The vegetation that was destroyed was intense, but the trees that made it including the very old and wonderful Silk Cotton (also known as the Ceiba) tree, where we took selfies, hugged and admired the knots that look like a face if you look carefully. The trails were in superb condition and some major efforts were made restoring post storms. Bravo and thank you NPS! (no bureaucracy in this case!)

The ruins and old rock walls were very visible and fascinating as ever! Savannah really enjoyed seeing as she was very young last time we hiked this, so her appreciation of the history was great.  We all were finding ourselves getting lost in time, wondering how life used to be.  First the Taino Indians as far back as 900 A.D., then sugar plantations and farming from the 1700s through the 1940’s.

We took the hard right off the Reef Bay trail to link up to the short Petroglyph  trail to see this sacred area. Always fascinating. We also hiked to top of the bluff and admired the views including the “great house” across the valley that we eventually walked up too.  The bluff above continued so Savannah and I decided to “off road” it and hike to the top while Jim waited for us. It was farther up than we thought and no trail with a lot of hand over foot, but we made it! Getting back down was the trick… the views were amazing and it kept going UP. After seeing the bluffs from the “great house” later on, we realized we had only ascended mid mountain! We would have been going a while to get to the top! We would make Indian calls at the top of our voice and we were far enough up that we could no longer hear Jim make calls back!

Finally making it to the end of the Reef Trail with the amazing old Sugar Mill ruins was so fantastic! What a house this would make, I was secretly restoring this old rock and coral structure in my mind with “rustic meets beach” open living. Seriously this old mill would make the best house.  Just to the South is the “Reef Bay” with breaking knee slappers on either side and gorgeous water.  The mangroves and manchineel trees were not near as thick but still survived.  There were deer on the beach  that quickly scurried off  when we got through the thicket.

On the return trek we took a little detour to see the great house. This too would have been a fantastic home with the panoramic views of the valley, the Petroglyph site across the valley and Reef Bay. Back in the day this also would have been one heck of a walk back up to the house from mill!

After reaching the road we hailed our very nice cab driver Kenneth (retired law enforcement officer from Dominica) who arrived within 20 minutes, then took us for a beautiful tour on the N side of the island passing by Maho, Cinnamon, and Trunk bays. Super fun riding in the back of an opened aired, modified pickup with bench seating. These have been around a while but it’s always a thrill to ride in one because these guys drive em’ like they are Porsches on the winding roads!

Arriving back to the boat in our dinghy we cast off the mooring and back tracked up to Cinnamon bay where we were delighted with a double rainbow, turtles and butter flat water with a breeze. The night sounds were off the charts. We have not heard birds in a YEAR!!! What a little slice of heaven. Not sure what tomorrow has in store, but i’m pretty sure I could stay right here forever.

Dinner was chicken and red sauce over gnocchi, fresh greens (picked up when we bought water :)) and  garlic/cheese/butter English muffins. YUM.

The photos are low res.. and I took SO MANY. I’ll try and recap with the best ones..

As I’m writing this morning over coffee I’ve seen 3 turtles come up with in 10 ft of the boat and the views are wonderfully distracting. I love this place!

This will be a brief post as we are preparing this AM to sail to St. Croix with a pit stop to clear customs at the West End of Tortola and then clear back in to “USVI” in St. John then make the 35nm crossing to St. Croix!

Hiking was very much the same however we trekked a little longer. Views were stunning, vegetation in a sad state and stench from the enormous amounts of Sargasso on the East Side. It has been very hot exploring!

The snorkel at the Indians was one of the best snorkels of our life! “The Indians archipelago is easy to spot, the four pinnacles that rise menacing from the water, next to Norman Island and on one of the best snorkeling and diving spots in the BVI, full of colorful fish and corals”. We’ve been snorkeling the Indians for YEARS but never have we seen the variety of fish that we have this day. Very special and entertaining. We swam through our usual swim through and even found another one hidden near the rock formations. So much fun! I was free diving deeper than I have in years so my breath holding is definitely getting better! Savannah made a video for both days of snorkeling and I will attach the link below.

After cleaning up and ready to finish Savannah’s hair I noted my scissors dull and my black comb missing.. two crucial tools to make a good cut. I will try and find these in St. Croix this week.

After ocean baths and getting dinner ready.. one pot meal of ground beef with pesto over veggie noodles and cheese easy to keep warm (or rather cool off!) while sipping our sundowners!  (One pot.. ground beef first, then pour into foil and put to side.. boil water and cook noodles, strain and re add your beef, and sauces/spice and cheese.) Easy and I love one pot cooking. Fyi we have eaten for 3 square daily and snacks for 9 days with out provisioning from a store or eating out. (We did fill our fuel and water tanks on board) We are getting low on drinking water however.  There have been restaurants open but I love the challenge of eating well for as long as we can with out provisioning and the science of keeping food fresh as long as you can!

During the evening there were several boats hamming it up playing some, CHEESY music very loudly. So Savannah gets the bright idea to CRANK  Neil Diamond’s “Sweeeeeet Caroline”…  and we all three sang the verse at the top of our lungs. I guess you had to have been here, but it was pretty darn funny. Needless to say the mooring music wars were done and things quieted down a bit.. haha (folks don’t realize sound travels on water!)

Snorkeling the Indians.. by Savannah!

hiking and snorkeling the caves by Savannah!

The devastation to the islands really hit on our 4 mile trek on Norman Island. It was first of all brutally hot at the top of the day with out any canopy and shade from the trees. No songs from the birds or happy sounds from the Willy T.  We beached the dinghy on the beach near to where the Willy T made her final resting place after being washed on shore during hurricane Irma. Such a sad site. The Bite is EMPTY. Never have we been the only boat in here. It did fill up with a handful of boats later in the afternoon, but even still it’s pretty quiet in here. NO complaints. However as Savannah very well put and noted she missed seeing everyone having a good time at the Willy T. This is a festive mooring to say the least back in the day. There is a section in one of my hiking books referring to the trail we walked on “If it weren’t for the aforementioned Willy T, peace and tranquility would reign supreme as you tramp along the path that nudges the ridge over much of its length. Certain sections are steeper, but it remains a pleasant meander, especially where it breaks cover and offers splendid views in many directions”. Hiking was still beautiful and the views were breathtaking as usual but even more so with the vegetation gone (trying to find the positive..). There were sections that completely obstructed any views to the water and are now wide open. It seems that the frangipani prevailed with their incredible scented blooms. Many of the trees were also budding. It was very, very dry and as we made our final 360ft summit of the West Hill we were at the highest point on Norman, and lo and behold an old and large cactus tree made it! Incredible.

The South side  of Norman island was severely overcome with Sargasso. (seaweed that chokes the reef) The smell was overwhelming and made your eyes burn.  Your nostrils eventually went numb. We meandered our way down the dry grassy trail to Bluff Bay, a fascinating rock beach with a lot of treasure washed up, including an adorable dory dinghy find! I would really like to locate the owners to tell of her whereabouts, as she’s in fine shape and very well taken care of with her spliced lines, pretty paint and artistic doodles in side. We are contemplating giving her a home with us until we can reach the owners, but will be hairy to retrieve! The beach is lined with multi colored fishing lines, long hawsers, heavy nets, buoys, drift wood, parts of boats, shoes and the list goes on.

Post hiking we headed back to a boat filled with bees!!! Many, MANY bees!!!! Seriously.. I’ve been praying like heck for the bees.. but errrr NOT IN MY BOAT. This took a little while to shoo them out. We even tried a little something sweet in a bottle to take them to shore..nope they liked the boat. So we cast off the mooring ball and high speeded it to the Caves just around the point. This seemed to have made them go away.

Earlier in the day a friend posted on my face page that her daughter was also in the islands as a dive instructor for Action Quest, a teen camp where a fleet of boats sail together with a LOT of kids on them learning to sail, dive and enjoy the islands. Great program.  Well, as we rounded the point, lo and behold Team Action had taken over! We hot shotted into the last mooring and received a standing ovation of clapping and hoot’n and hollering from the kids aboard next to us. Savannah was completely cracking up and I was doing some major eye rolling.. gawwww.  So to their mortification (and Savannah’s) I actually spoke to them and inquired if Jordan D was on their boat, and they told us she was on another boat about 200 yards away! So I hailed the boat on the radio and found her. Needless to say we took a photo and face timed with her Mom. We met Jordan and their family 10 years ago while sailing in the islands. They were homeschooling and living aboard and our kids met at the kids camp that the Bitter End Yacht Club offered back in the day. They even made the BEYC cover watersports page in one issue years ago.

Snorkeling the Norman Island caves is always exciting due to the abundance of fish that are drawn to the caves. It was very busy this day with all of the kids, but we still had a great time and Savannah and I had fun taking video. Water was very clear but the rocks had a lot of silt and sargasso had made its way into the caves. I’m sure we have baby fry living in our ears at this point!  Savannah made a funny while snorkeling. Have you ever cracked up while trying to breath in a snorkel?? We saw a school of squid which quickly swam away from us, so she taps me on the arm and pops up and says with wide eyes, “MOM.. the squid are a bit SQUIDish don’t you think?!”….. snort!

We returned to the boat all smiles until we realized the bees found us again. But they brought the entire hive I think!!! Took us an hour to shoo them out. No stings thank goodness.

We motored back around to our ball and I started a delicious dinner (keeping this recipe.. yes I wing it for most of my meals so you never know what you’re going to get… lol) This was left over pork tenderloin browned in a saucepan with onion and garlic. I then added organic carrot and ginger soup base, then 5 cut up sweet potatoes, curry spice and pepper. Served over rice. Tasted like a spicy sweet “pork” roti over rice instead of tortilla.. Something about curry while in the islands.

Just as I had dinner on and I could go on the aft deck and enjoy my 2 cold ones and watch the sun go down, Savannah stomped up and said. “Mom.. my dreads need to go” She’s been really upset over them this trip and between us.. me too. They are super cool but man what a nightmare to maintain. Not to mention I already know how pretty her hair is so this was a tough one for me to let her do. She’s been asking for dreads for over 5 years so it was not an impulsive decision and the photos that we scoured on the internet were very nice. I guess dreads are like fake boobs.. it’s good in theory, but….not very practical! (some of you may not get that.. but trust me that is a story in itself!! just not for this section.. !)

So off with the dreads.  My parents were in the hair business for over 40 years. I sat many, many hours watching them my entire childhood and learned a few things over the years. I’m pretty handy with the scissors if I don’t say so my self! My mom is VERY picky and she always asked me to cut her hair on her visits.

After studying the dreads, and Jim and I trying to loosen one first to no avail, I told S I was going to have to cut them. I said don’t hate me if your hair is shorter than you would like and she said it was ok, that she was tired of long hair anyway. So I cut. We laughed and Jim cheered us on as he’s a short hair guy!

I cut as far away as I could to try and salvage the length. After we made dreadlock mustaches and piled all 27 of them it was time to undo them even after cutting. We sat in the cockpit for well over an hour untying (yes.. untying and untangling and brushing out.) She had basically a full head minus the top and sides.  The hair is pretty healthy, beautiful layers in the back and not too short. I will finish shaping and trimming on another day but she should have an adorable and practical head of locks!

Soup was amazing.

Wow just wow what a glorious sail out the cut of the Eustasia sound with breaking reef on either side. I believe Savannah took photo and video of this..  Flat as butter then BOOM 3-6 on the nose. Awesome! We were head to wind coming out of the cut and as soon as we had some good depth margins we raised the main, unfurled the jib headed down about 90 degrees and enjoyed some of the Caribbean’s finest sailing conditions! We broad reached over to Necker Island and skirted all of the beautiful reefs. Visibility and air quality are incredible after being socked in with Sahara dust for a week. We counted 10 boats sailing over to and from Anegada.

We rounded monkey point within a boat length and played with the puffs coming off of Virgin Gorda peak. Some of them would blast down at over 25kts apparent. We had a nice reach to Spanish town where we would make our first fuel and water stop after 7 days with plenty left in the tanks but it’s always good to top off if you have the opportunity.

On our quick stop I had my docking and departure skills tested. Winds were quartering to the dock with obstructions both ahead and behind so angles were my friend today as well has my new good friend Mrs. I LOVE YOU Fender on my quarter stern.. earning a place on Huntress! Once tied up, we left Savannah with fueling and watering chores while Jim and I headed over to Poet Warrior to get some items her owners Sarah and Paul asked us kindly to retrieve. Their beloved boat was in pretty bad shape so I gave her my blessing and all of the other boats in this yard who didn’t have a chance in hell of riding out Irma.  It was heartbreaking recognizing many boats we have sailed or raced with in past years.

After a little bit of a stressful departure… like when you’re trying to back out and the dock dude doesn’t let go of your bow line and it swings you back in. Mama got a little excited.. so I asked him to please LET GO OF THE F”ING LINE.. well not like that but that is what was going through my mind haha So he did and we slid out just fine.. and why did my boat not come with a bow thruster?? Oh because i’m such a stellar driver! :))

We picked up a mooring just outside of Spanish town to have a nice lunch (grill cheese on sweet Hawaiian bread with chicken,green beans and avocado… yum!) before Jim and Savannah would dinghy back in to Spanish town and walk to a marine parts store to buy the fitting to fix the generator primer pump. Meanwhile I tidied and snuck in a nap in the cockpit.

The day was gorgeous so we put full sails up and did a fly-by through the famous and beautiful Baths. Even in peak season I don’t think I had ever seen so many boats and dinghies! So we decided to bypass the baths and enjoy a sail to Peter Island. With our tack over to Fallen Jerusalem island (it’s very much like the Baths geographically speaking) we made a good decision to make a pit stop and explore a little.

Gorgeous island!.. and the boulders and rock formations were GRAND. There were some territorial seagulls that gave us a few squeals as they would swoop down inches from our heads. We snorkeled after dinghying around. Pretty, but water visibly was fair so we made it quickie, but not with out playing with some swim throughs! Amazing how quickly you can get your breath holding back when you don’t have much choice! We found one that is on the bucket list next trip over when the current is not ripping.

Our sail to Norman island was exquisite. Calm, breezy and clear. The sun casted a warm hue on the islands and lit them up in a glorious manner. Passing Ginger, Cooper, Salt and then after passing Dead Chest Island (where Blackbeard marooned a number of his crew back in the day as punishment) we ducked into Dead Man Bay off Peter thinking we might stay the night and hike the next morning, but to our disappointment there was an obnoxious sign advising that the resort was closed and passage was prohibited and no trespassing. Excellent hill running here!!! We were planning to do a family power walk of about 12 miles… so gybe Ho!

The next cove on Peter is Great Harbor. This protected cove is the home to the new Willy T (floating bar that for a zillion years lived in the bight of Norman Island). Also for you history buffs.. it is where HMS RHONE first set her anchor to ride out the hurricane that eventually sunk her when the captain decided to cut the anchors after the eye of the storm went by thinking it was over and headed to Salt Island where she sank. Had the captain stayed put he would have saved his ship and his crew! He apparently went down while holding a mug of rum. Great Scuba dive location! We all agreed to keep on sailing on and head to Norman Island. One of our favorites.

During our evening cruise under full sail we fired up the Volvo 75 hp diesel and ran her at an increased RPM (meaning high idle so we stay under full sail power only) such to energize the inverter and AC outlets so Mama could start some rice in the rice maker, while we also charged the houes batteries so we would not have to do so on the mooring and have peace and quiet with out listening to the motor. There were patches between islands that would get a little rolly and Savannah worked on her human gimballing skills to keep the rice maker from sliding off the counter or spilling over! We like the rice maker on these trips and we don’t use all our propane to cook a brown rice which takes longer and it doesn’t stick like it can cooking over the fire, which makes for easy clean up while conserving water.  I also took out some left over coconut chicken from 2 nights ago and the pork tenderloin I cooked the day we caught the bugs (I had pulled out a pork tenderloin to grill, not knowing we’d be eating lobster!) So I tossed the rice in with the pork and chicken, broccoli, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, rosemary, nuts and seasoning and put on a low flame on the gimballed stove. Dinner done while underway.. my favorite!

Jim and I enjoyed our 2 allotment adult beverage ration on the tail end of the sail with the sun low and it was just wonderful.  Especially knowing dinner was done!

We picked up one of our favorite moorings as there were only a handful of boats in the “Bight” and enjoyed the rest of our evening. Wonderful day of sailing!

After a lazy morning of coffee while anchored on north east side of Prickly Pear, Jim caught up on work while Savannah caught up on sleep and me writing and making breakfast we finally got going. We picked up the anchor at the crack of 1100 and navigated up the Eustasia Sound with a foot under keel in some short portions. Not much pucker factor! We also had Savannah on the bow looking for sunken boats or post storm water intrusions that do not show up on the gps.  Such a fun little adventure up to the reef where we dropped anchor in about 18 ft of water with literally 200ft separating us from reef  and the Caribbean Sea.

The color of the water is mesmerizing and crystal clear including all of the shades of turquoise and emeralds. Very inviting so we didn’t waste anytime hopping in and snorkeling. The the massive Delta plow anchor was set well in a huge patch of sand including the 75ft of anchor rode we had out. We didn’t have a lot of swinging leeway, but with the strong winds and no storms in our imminent forecast we felt good about spending the night here. The only issue would be if the currents ripped out and the wind decided to quit.

Snorkeling was a hoot. The reef really took a hit from the swell last March (more on that in previous blog post) but the abundance and variety of fish are off the charts. Never have I seen so many different species hiding out in the corals and sea fans. I have not however seen the normal big schools of tangs or yellow tail. Lots of rays and turtles. Seems those and the parrot fish were most abundant. Not many lion fish up this way either which is a good thing! The list of fish we did see is so great it would be hard to recall most of them. Some of my favorites are the puffer, cow, clown, squirrel, and many, many beautiful and colorful aquarium like fish that were not to concerned about us peeking inside of their homes. Ok.. maybe mr. lobster wasn’t so thrilled!

After a good snorkel we re-hydrated and headed in the dinghy to explore the Oil Nut Bay  resort. We used to go up to the bay long before they started developing. I must say it’s first class and absolutely gorgeous resort and HIGH end homes if you’re in to that sort of thing. I believe villas go for 5k per night. Tennis courts, private beaches, workout rooms, quirky buildings..Savannah was about to bust. The staff were extremely friendly and welcomed us as if we were actual guest. They ARE open to the public for lunch as of now and said no problem exploring.

Making our way to the eastern most tip of the BVI, this would be our most strenuous activity for both Jim and myself after our year of random health wtfs. Jim in 8 months and me going on 3 but our cardio and muscles welcomed it with open arms. We even did a few little jogs and man did that feel good. (Ok.. so I don’t feel guilty for not running, but I do NEED to run soon.. same for Jim). Can’t wait because some of the best trail runs are right here in the islands. It was a nice inclined hike up on a double track, dirt, rocky road that was an absolute perfect 4 mile round trip excursion/hike/walk/run/explore.. whatever you want to call it is probably my favorite thing about being in the islands! The landscape is steep and the views are breathtaking. We were able to get to the eastern most part before it turned into a big rocky point with sheer sides.  Selfies in the photo section of course! We use to run a 8 and 9 miler out and back from the Bitter End through Biras to Oil Nut Bay but never have gone all the way to the end so it was a first for us! Such a treat to get to do this and I sure hope Oil Nut Bay stays open to the public as they are now.

We had one more snorkel that turned into a long one with Jim thinking he found a chest of treasure. I must say.. it definitely raised the hairs on your arms seeing this big steal chest buried into the sand. It didnt’ budge.. also tried to hand tickle another lobster out of his hiding to no avail.

Come night fall the stars were off the charts. We all sat on the bow of the boat admiring the night sky with out any light pollution and listening to the reef break just off our bow. The Sahara dust is still prevalent but is starting to blow out. The Milky Way was so vivid last night. The stars were so bright that you could barely differentiate the mast light for the stars. The Big Dipper was off to our port hanging low in the sky.  We saw a few more celestial works of art that have never been noted in our viewings and was cool that we all three noticed the same way. If you get a chance go see the stars, kind of puts life in perspective pretty damn quick. We also had the privilege to see several shooting stars and we all got to makes wishes before a sleep. We were rocked all night out here.

Dinner was garlic mashed potatoes and fresh caught lobster grilled to perfection with dipping butter. All while the sun disappeared. Pretty awesome evening and no leftovers to contend with!

Rocky anchorage but worth it.

I might add it’s really sublime to sit here recapping and writing about our day yesterday while sipping coffee and looking out the window and seeing the bottom through the clear water, with turtles surfacing and stingrays frolicking on one side and the reef breaking on the other.  Incredible.

Savannah’s video!

At 0515 Jim woke me with a start that Jerome was here!!!! We all literally scrambled out of our beds. We had JUST missed his grand entrance through the cut of Saba Rock and the Bitter End by literally only 30 minutes. We immediately hailed him on the radio and flashed our lights, he responded right away and promptly sailed the beautiful “Mighty Sparrow” back over our way to give a proper hello. Otherwise we would have bailed from the ball and gone to him. No way were we missing this!

I’m getting choked up as I write this. The emotions of seeing Jerome and the utter respect of what he is accomplishing and to hear his voice saying we are the first people he as seen since the Faulkland Islands, and at the same time seeing the devastation of the Bitter End was a big bundle of emotion to process. Tears of joy, admiration, sadness… very emotional morning. I know… but its hard to explain.

I was able to take a live video for Jerome’s “Sailing into Oblivion” group page of his journey that his Mom is managing. I’ll try and copy the links below. He has logged 28,000 miles as of yesterday, and is low on fuel and provisions.. he still has about 2 weeks left to make it back where he started last Oct. in Gloucester Mass. He is currently making repairs in the flat water of the sound and sailing in large slow circles. Many boats and friends are going by and giving their wishes, love and support. He’s doing this unassisted, solo and non stop.. old school to say the least. I’m not sure I can explain the feeling that we are all having seeing him and the sadness and desperation we feel to see him leave the sound. It’s like a home sickness I can’t explain that we all feel. So utterly pumped for his journey and wish big time safety and smooth sailing for the last legs. “Godspeed” Jerome.

Soon after our greetings and goodbyes, at approximately 0645 Sunchaser Scuba out of North Sound who has prevailed post storms, came over and personally picked up Savannah from our boat to take her on a dive charter. We’re the only boat moored in the Sound so everything is just sort of surreal right now. Including the epic personal pick up, just awesome!!

Most of the boats in the North Sound are moored in Leverick Bay at the west end of the sound, and rumor has it they are fully operational with bar/restaurant and water.. Last night in the dark we picked up a mooring outside of the channel near Saba Rock, not really knowing if it was the one we wanted (a special mooring out of the many in the Sound). We had planned to stay a night on our dear friends Sarah and Paul’s mooring but were not going to search for it in the dark in 20 knots of wind… just happens we picked it after all! This ball belongs the Poet Warrior, an Ocean 54?? sport fishing boat owned by Paul and Sarah, which took a bad hit in Maria. Paul’s crazy butt road the storm out in Leverick… not his first storm, but hopefully his last. Love you guys, we love being on your ball and hope this gets the mojo going!!~

Jim and I had a pleasant morning alone while Savannah was out on her diving adventure! Enjoying coffee, caught up the blog and of course tried installing the new part for the generator to no avail.  The alignment of the pump is different than the original pump and we don’t have enough tubing to make it work. But we are keeping house batteries charged by running engine twice a day.

Sunchaser Scuba dropped Savannah off in the same fashion as they picked her up. Smiles all around and S was pumped! Savannah had a phenomenal two tank dive that I will link video below. She was grinning ear to ear when returning and showed us some gorgeous video she took. So thrilled she got to go with Ben and Kay with Sunchaser Scuba.. they are the BEST dive company in the BVI hands down.

We had a quick bite for lunch and motored around Prickly Pear Island into Eustacia Sound and dropped the hook. Normally a flat anchorage.. but with the winds still howling from the East it was a bit choppy, but phenominal views.  We hopped in the dinghy for some snorkel and land exploring which ended up being a 4 hr excursion! We probably could have used a little more sun screen! lol Under water were mounds of harvested conch from years before and the reef looking a bit rough from the big swell we had back in March, one of the largest recorded swells in history. It was equivalent underwater to what the hurricanes did out of water.. We also found treasure. Near to the shore I spotted what looked like 4 or 5 inches of the stem of a small anchor barely visible as it was coated and covered in silt and growth. I grabbed to see if it moved and it only budged a little so I got Jim to take a look. After a few attempts of being an awesome underwater human windlass, he was finally able to unlodge a beautiful stainless Bruce 10kg anchor in perfect condition with about 5 feet of stainless steal chain! What a find!You should of seen us trying to get it in the dinghy!! Priceless. We then found what looked to be like a bar of gold. Still not sure what it is, but we will at least pretend it’s gold since the 3 of us went into instant PIRATE mode on a treasure hunt!! It’s summer afterall.. “pretending” is FUN!

After a while snorkeling we were all getting chilled a bit and decided to explore the north side of Prickly Pear. Normally habituated by pink flamingos and goats is now barren with the exception of a few trees trying to be green and beautiful, even the cactus was struggling. Literally parts of the hill that were just bare. Incredible. It was like walking on another planet with the tumble weed, uprooted trees that lined the beach along with the occasional roof top, tin and other odd finds. One thing for sure the sea shell hunting was off the charts. Never have we seen such a condensed area of beautiful shells. We only took what we could carry.. to re build our little island shrine back home.  We also picked up trash along the way and placed in areas others have done the same such to be picked up on clean up day by volunteers, including a torn and tattered LIFT foil bag of all things!  Also the goats made it! They were looking a little ragged and thin, but still spunky and curious.

Once back at the boat we admired our loot and took a quick rinse off the back deck and enjoyed a cold one. There were several other boats moored nearby, mostly very large cats with large groups of people on them.  The one to our port kept us entertained for the early evening along with a foiling kite boarder and the boat’s captain… we noticed the kiter would go by and high five the guests on the aft transom. Lots of giggles and woohoos.. (there might have been copious amounts of rum involved..) next thing I know the ladies were taking off their tops while being high fived- hilarious! THEN we are watching and Savannah said OMG .. a dude came out of “no wear” wearing a MONOKINI.. OMG is right. Yep.. he high fived the kiter who promptly crashed shortly there after from laughing so hard. This went on for an hour and we saw pretty much all of the guest naked. Meanwhile to our 12 oclock was a couple of stripper like bodies happily taking their showers, shaving and carrying on with not a care in the world. Jim decided he like having his drink on the bow! We told the kiter he should go to that boat but he said.. “yeah.. but they won’t high five me”!!! Anyway.. entertaining as hell. Savannah dinghied over to the boat next to us and got their email so I can send them photos.. some clothed some not.. they said send the non clothed ones but just don’t look!!! Great evening.

Dinner was curry chicken with frozen veggies over coconut/clove rice followed by chocolate brownies.

Oh.. weather is the same.. thick Sahara dust, air quality sucks. Air temps ranging high 86F. and lows 77F.  and water temp is 81F..

Click links below to see videos!

Savannah’s Dive adventure with Sunchaser Scuba

First siting of Jerome on the Mighty Sparrow

Jerome saying hello to Mum & Dad!

Sunchasher Scuba boat picking up Savannah for a dive!