Jost Van Dyke and Tortolla

We heard from our friends on Me Gusta and Nenufar that they would be at Jost Van Dyke to clear in so that is where we went to meet up with them. Miriam's mum was with them and at the age of 85 she climbed over big rocks and hills with us to the bubbly pools on Jost Van Dyke. This is where the waves come crashing through rocks into a pool. Again you can not stay there overnight so we sailed together to a bay on Tortolla.
We had planned to sail with our friend till the mum would leave in another 5 days. However I got a message from my family that my dad is pretty bad so we decided to sail as quick as possible to PuertoRico where I can catch a flight home.
That evening we said goodbye to our Canadian friends with a bit of crying because after having sailed together and having spend the hurricane season together in Grenada this looked like the end of the line. Very sad.
We cleared out of Tortolla Britsh Virgin Island and sailed straight to St Thomas US Virgin Islands. I have written about that in an earlier entry.
When you try to hurry all sorts of things go wrong. First our toilet got blocked and did not want to unblock. Calcium build up in the pipes. Rocky bought stuff to fix it in St Thomas but will do this in Puerto Rico in the Marina. So we are using the bucket.
Then after a day of sailing on rough seas the motor stopped because the fuel lines got blocked by the dirt in the diesel. We sailed to Culibra (Spanish virgin island).
We had to sail into the channel while Rocky blew out the fuel lines. The motor started but we could only go on very slow which was hard in the wind and waves. We took adoring behind the reefs. Because we could not get to the shops as we planned I made bagels while Rocky sucked dirty diesel out of the bottom of the tank. We have to get a diesel pump to polish as they say the diesel (filter).
The next morning we put the sails up got away from the mooring ball and idled the motor. We sailed through the reefs and then through the channel and had a pretty good sail till we got close to Puert Rico coast where there was hardly any wind.
I forgot to tell about all the fish. On the way from St Thomas to Culibra we caught first a big Barracuda which we threw back. Then a huge amber jack which got away at the last minute. Then today sailing here 2 barracudas we let go and another one we are not sure of that spit out the hook. All very big and very exciting but not productive.
We managed to run the motor but did not use it to sail into the marina. Now weare on a slip. Had a swim in the pool. Tomorrow I will do the washing and get ready to go to Holland the day after. I will be back in 2 weeks and then Gail and Grant will fly to mainland US to start another adventure there and we will sail 450 miles to Curaçao.