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.

Virgin Gorda (SabaRock)

We left The lagoon in St Maarten through the bridge opening. This happens 3 times per day. We waited for the 2.30 opening which means you motor there and hang around (moving forward and backward because the deeper channel is very narrow dayly boats run aground). Then we anchored outside in the bay till the next morning 4 am to do the 80 miles passage to the Brtish Virgin Island. We arrived at Vigin Gorda around 3 pm and took a mooring ball. You pay 30 dollars us and get 250 gallons of water and a bag of ice.
Saba Rock on Virgin Gorda is a small rocky island with nothing on it but ra lovely pub/restaurant. Happy hour is from 4 to 6 where we had painkillers 2 for 1 so they were 3 dollars each. I can not remember what is in them but they are lethal. We took a ferry from Bitter End resort to the little town to clear in. That was fun cause the ferry went fast.
After 2 days there we moved to another island calledMarina Island which had another beautiful bay. Everywhere mooring balls and always 30 dollars. The Virgins are a real charter boat haven. You see cats and yachts everywhere because there are so many island quite close together. It is all very beautiful and a great holiday playground.
The next morning we left early to get back to Virgin Gorda but the other side where you have the famous Baths. Here you can only moor during the day and it is very busy with tourists. There are huge rocks which form caves that you go through to get to all kinds of pools (baths) in the rocks.

Customs at US Virgin Islands

Today we got to St Thomas USVI. We cleared out of the BVI earlier today. Both Rocky and I have a visa for 10 years that we applied for while still in Australia. We had to get this because we only had a one way ticket because we would leave on our boat. Australians do not have to get s visa but can get an online visa waiver. Gail and Grant, our friends travelling with us have such a thing which states 'valid till 2014 sometime. So we thought we were all good. After Rocky had filled out numerous forms for the boat and I filled out personal forms for us we were told that we had to wait and someone would interview us all together.
In the mean time Gail and Grant did not have to do anything yet theirs was different Ok so finally we were ushered in. Rocky had to go to a counter and Gail Grant and I had to stay on this red carpet exactly on this line. Gail had to go to another counter where she was told that her visa waiver was only valid for 90 days and as they had come into the country in January their time was up. The visa waiver is valid for 2 years and within that 2 years only 90 days from entering the country
Rocky and I had finished our clearing in by then and taken somewhere else. The official explained to Rocky that as the captain of the vessel he was responsible for his crew. Fair enough we thought. We had to leave and take them back to the BVI The only other option would be for Gail and Grant to pay $585 each to get another waiver only for Puerto Rico. That being ridiculous Rocky said ok we will sail back but can we please stay on our boat on anchor till the morning.
No said the official you need to leave now.
Rocky got angry because by then it was late and we would have had to sail in the dark which he did not want to do in the dark. So he said to the guy 'the US government is putting our lives at risk'.
Well he did not take kindly to that and said rocky was offending the government. He asked if anything was wrong with our boat. Then a lady official came and told the other official to step back. He and Rocky were standing quite close. IThe man started talking again and Rocky said 'I must stop you there' where the guy said that Rocky was not allowed to stop him rocky did not listen to him and told him that he as the captain was responsible for his crew. I dont think the guy heard this so I sort of stepped in front of Rocky because I was afraid that they would put him in jail that is how angry that guy got. Anyway I said I was sorry he got offended and that it was not meant that way. He started pointing at me with his blue plastic gloved hands but did calm down.
At this point we asked to discuss the options with our friends so they went and got them. Although we told them we would go back with them Gail and Grant opted for paying. Then they let us wait some more and started the paperwork.finger printing and taking photos. We had to pay cash and since we did not have that much the official escorted Grant and Rocky to an ATM. Grant could only get $ 300 from the machine and when Rocky tried it had run out of money.
We scraped the money together with a few dollars short that they took from their kitty.
They had been told that if they wanted another waiver they would have to go back to Australia to do it. This is where they did something nice because Gail said that she was so disappointed that she could not go to America. They gave them a different kind of visa till October that they can use to go to US mainland as long as they stay in US. So now they can actually fly from Puerto Rico to US mainland and tour there till October. So now it looks like they will leave us in Puerto Rico when we head from there to Curaçao.
What a day this was

St Barth and St Martin/St Maarten

We had a great Sail from Barbuda to St Barth. We left at 4 am and arrived in less then 10 hours in St Barth. This is about 70 miles. St Barth is a very upmarket island. There are hardly any black people and it is mostly designer shops and cute boutiques with it being French. Gustavia is the capital and the bay is full of boats.
We spend a few days there enjoying the free showers and visiting shell beach and gourmet shops. There were huge waves so the sleeping was not altogether comfortable. We went around to the north of the island in a bay with free moorings. Here we were called by another boat to ask if we wanted fish. They gave us 2 big bags with Mahi Mahi or dolphin fish. All beautifully filleted into thick steaks. Wonderful. After 2 nights we sailed to St Maarten. We had to wait for the bridge to open for us to be able to go into the lagoon. There we finally met up with our friends from Me Gusta (Rick and Miriam ) and Nenufar (Claude and Céline).
Rick had his brother visiting who had hired a car. St Maarten is divided with a French side and a Dutch side St Martin and St Maarten. And the story goes......
The French and the Dutch were very amicable. So when it came to dividing the island a Frenchman started walking one way with a bottle of wine and the Dutchman walked the other way with a bottle of gin. Where they would meet would be the border. So the Frenchman drinking wine got further then the gin drinking Dutchman and the French part is bigger. There has never been a problem between them here. It is in the Dutch town Pilipsburg that the cruise ships come.
Our friends left to sail to the Virgin Islands and we were leaving about a week later for an overnight sail. We ran around still doing all kinds of things and rushing together the last opening when we realised we had not cleared customs. So now we are waiting till Easter Saturday night to go to get the good winds. The great thing about this is that our Dutch friends Marlene and Loud on Rafiki are here as well and we get to see more of them. We keep meeting them but always for a short time.
Yesterday 28 was our wedding anniversary so we got dressed up to go to the shore for dinner. Rocky spotted a boat that had run aground so we headed over to help. Three of us went aboard to hang on one side to tilt it over. They pulled a halyard with a dinghy and later followed my suggestion of all things to pull the boom to the side as well. We did get the boat moving and sailed into the marina. The owner got wine out and we shared their dinner. With 4 extra that was not enough so Rocky bought 3 pizzas. We had a lovely time with them and never got to eat in the restaurant.

Barbuda

Barbuda is considered a jewel in the Caribbean. It is 27 miles north of Antigua and still part of Antigua. People can not buy land there but they can build wherever they want because there is plenty and it belongs to every Barbudian. We arrived and anchored near this long beach after an eery motoring over a complete flat sea with the sky reflecting in the water so you wouldn't know what is sky and what is water. We arrived in low bay where we were rolling badly all night. There was nothing on the shore just very steep beach. We moved around the next day to a more sheltered place and went for a walk. A moon landscape (or what I think the moon looks like) with lots of donkeys. We had to walk 3 miles to clear out with customs and then walk the same back. Very Dusty and hot. I bought a fish in a shell which tasted like meat. The people were very friendly

Antigua

We arrived in Antigua on a Friday evening after the finish of the yacht race RORC 600. Friends had invited us to a party on this mega yacht owned by someone from Microsoft. That was fantastic sooo much food and drink and all free. After the food we went to the yacht club where a fantastic band played and everybody was dancing. We had a great time. Antigua is the place for the mega yachts though. It all seems a bit over the top. Mick jagger's yacht 'Cinderella' was in the harbour. Our friends had seen him but he told them not to take a photo.
We hiked up Shirley Heights and got hopelessly lost. We did get to the top though and had a fantastic view. I preferred to coconut crush drink to the view though. It is a mixture of coconut water, coconut cream, pineapple and ice.
Wonderful concoction a bit like piña colada without the rum I suppose.
We spend a bit of time with Graham and Gina from Curlew and also met up with our Dutch friends Loud and Marlene from Rafiki. We sailed around the island to Nonsuch bay where we anchored out behind a reef. Ah the tranquility (lol) but this one for real. We snorkelled and generally just relaxed.
After that we sailed around the island again to Jolly Harbour. Lovely place with a great supermarket. That is as long as you hang on to your docket because the security is there to look at your docket if you get something like a carton of beer. Grant actually left his docket on the counter and the checkout girl put it in the bin. Gail asked if she could look in the bin but the girl said it would not be there and she did not remember Grant. We had a great time looking at security camera finally spotting Grant and then they still had to go through the bin to find the offending docket. Anyway 'when in Rome' so now we keep our dockets.
We go to the pub with a big pool every afternoon happy hour 2 for one cocktails and Grant his bucket of beer.
Today we went to St John (capital) on the bus. I don't know how people would like to hear gospel songs through loudspeakers in the mall in Perth, but here it sounds divine. I have twisted my knee and had strapped it up to walk. While I sat somewhere this guy comes to me selling aloe vera plants for burns. Except he did not want to sell it to me he told me to take the bandage off because you can not do that in this hot climate. 'That is why your foot is swollen. I had actually thought that my strap was getting tight of my fit flops. Good advise and my foot went straight away back to normal.
On the way home home the bus driver said that with the lords help he would deliver us safely to Jolly Harbour. Well The Lord must be with him because we are now safely sitting on the yacht with a cup of tea.

Walk to the waterfall Deshaies

In Deshaies you can follow the river up the mountain to a waterfall. The book says about 3 hours climbing through the river over rocks and then you can get back in 15 minutes via the road. Well the 3 hours there was about right. It was a huge climb over big boulders where you often had to pull yourself up. You come across beautiful ponds. It was very arduous but also very beautiful. When we went back via the road after about 15 minutes I started having horrible cramps in my shimmer came past a convent and a quaint little graveyard. We could see the bay way in the distance down below. I did not think I could walk all that way with these cramps. Then this ute drove past and reversed. It was a priest who had noticed my limp. He took me in the car and the others in the back down. It was still 20 minutes by car so so much for 15 minutes walk.