Expectations vs Reality

Yes, I know that a cruisers plans are written in sand during low tide. I understand the need to be flexible, but I still have expectations and I still do make plans and oh, so often lately, those plans have to change. 

BVI revisited

Where were you during the hurricanes?

Holy Cow!

I wanted to wait a bit before returning to our happy posts, partially just feeling sad for places I love and the people in them, partially feeling some survivors guilt (that could so easily have been us) and partially feeling bad about posting happy experiences when others are struggling so much. I was ready to share some more of our wonderful experiences when Hurricane Maria appeared.

Maria

So sad

First of all, we are safe and Rhapsody is safe, we are well south of the dangers of Hurricanes Irma and Jose. But we are sad. Watching the devastation in the islands north of us. Islands that we know well. Islands that we have friends in, or islands that our friends have boats in. We have heard from or about most of them, they are safe,and their boats are safe, but we have a few friends that are still waiting on the news of their boats, their homes. And now Irma is headed north, towards more family and friends. Sadness and worry. 

Night Passage

This is a blog post I wrote but never posted. It is about about our first overnight passage, from BVI to St. Maarten back in January. 

5 PM We release the mooring lines to begin our trip to St. Maarten, the Dutch portion of St. Martin /St. Maarten.

6:00 The sun is setting off of our starboard stern. We are rewarded with a bit of a green flash to celebrate our journey.

Preparation for a passage

Our first night passage, our first passage over three hours, our first passage out of sight of land and we need to get ready for it. We are fortunate enough to have veteran cruisers Mike and Robin on Mermaid helping us and crossing with us. They have 15 years of cruising under their belts, have made many passages and are a wealth of knowledge for us.

Here is an annotated list of what we were preparing :

More BVI activities

There were a few more activities that I left out of the last post. Last minute things to do before we move on to other islands.

Although not BVI specific, one of the things I did was to learn how to use my new heavy - duty Sailrite sewing machine. This machine was bought specifically to repair our sails. They had ripped once before (you can read about that here). We got the sails repaired professionally then but there were some seams that were starting to go. The plan had been to purchase the sewing machine to save money on repairs.

Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. 

Shortly after becoming full time cruisers we purchased new sails. Now we don't need the sewing machine for sail repair (we hope, for quite a while) but there are other projects that it can be used for. Our friends Robin and Mike on Mermaid had some dinghy chaps (covers) that needed to be fixed. Robin had the sewing knowledge I needed, I had the machine she needed, so she brought the chaps over and we worked together, setting up my machine and repairing her chaps. A win - win situation!

Hurry up and Wait

We have made the decision to make the leap over to St. Martin / Sint Maarten. Now we have to wait for a weather window. Waiting for the Christmas Winds to abate.

It turned out it was  a two week wait. So what do we do while we are waiting? Check things off our BVI/Virgin Gorda bucket list.

We have had Rhapsody for two years now, and the vast majority of that time she has been in the BVI. We have been able to see and do many things here, but there have been some things that we either still had on our list, or wanted to experience again. There were several dive sites that we wanted to return to, but the high winds and waves prevented that, so those will have to remain on the list for another visit here.

We were fortunate to have friends here to wait with, sharing the need to get off the boat and explore. Robin and Mike on Mermaid are also in North Sound,

North Sound, Virgin Gorda , BVI

 waiting to make the passage to St. Martin.

Official North Sound Welcoming Committee with Mermaid to the right

Oh Rolly Night

The Christmas winds and the North Swell- these are the forces that whip up problems in the BVI this time of year.  The Christmas winds are self explanatory,  winds that build up and are greater in strength around Christmas time, and after. Greater in strength means 25-30 knots (28 -35 mph) and they can last for several days at a time. North swells are not any different from other swells, or rolling waves, they just come from the north and it affects those harbors that are exposed to the north. These tend to be the largest waves of the year and can make some spectacular crashing over the rocks, but some very uncomfortable nights if you are in an exposed anchorage or mooring field.

A very satisfying snorkle

Just out for a swim to get some exercise, but it turned out to be one of the nicest snorkels I have had in a while.

It began with a swim with a small Green Sea Turtle.  It was lying still on the bottom, started eating some sea grass and slowly made its way across the ocean floor as I swam above it.

Turtle Encounter

Arriving in the bay after a long day of motor sailing  I am hot and sticky prompting me to go for a snorkel. I dive off the back of the boat, grab my mask and snorkel and head for shore. Some days the water seems to be teeming with fish and other sea life, other days not so much. This was one of those "not-so-much" days.

After swimming along the shore and seeing almost no fish- a stray ballyhoo, a single bar jack-

Ballyhoo

Consistency at Customs

Ahh, Customs, checking in and out of countries, gotta love it. It is so nice to be able to count on the consistency of governments. Rules are rules, right?

Oh, wait - that must have been in some other reality.

Another day in Paradise?

In thinking about writing this blog, I had some concerns that I would have too many days talking about the beauty, the sailing, the diving, the snorkeling,  how wonderful it all is. At this point I wish I had more to say along those lines.

The morning started out beautifully.

Belongers

In the BVI they classify people as "belongers" and " non-belongers". We fall into the category of " non-belongers" which means that we can only stay in the BVI for 30 days without further action on our part. We hit the 30 day mark a few days ago. Our choices at that point

Anegada in pictures and words

      Anegada is sometimes referred to as "the drowned island " with a high point of 28 feet. It is surrounded by reefs which makes it dangerous to get to yet because of this it is less touristy.

There are long stretches of beaches that have no buildings.  As you walk down the empty beach

Anegada, Anchoring 102

Anegada has been on our list of places to go, because it is there, and because we can. Anegada is the northernmost island of the BVI. Elevation 23 feet.

One town (the settlement), and lots of beaches. Long flat white beaches to walk on.

Our latest favorite spot

As we are traveling we often find a spot that we want to return to repeatedly. Spots that have some special quality that appeals to us. We are currently at Waterlemon Cay (pronounced key), which like all of our favorite spots have numerous charms and secrets.
Waterlemon Cay is located in the USVI, just a stone's throw away from the BVI. It is a small bay on the northern shore of St. John's and part of St. John's National Park.

Ay-yi-yi

4 days, and 2 Hurricanes later,  and we are still not home.

The day after we rushed to  get the last ferry,  and rushed to the airport, ahead of the storm, we awoke to a beautiful clear sky, and a message that our hard earned flight had been cancelled due to Hurricane Erika.

The airport was closed. All flights were cancelled- or so we were told.

We spent the day checking hourly updates of Erika.  Tracking her every move.  Where is she now? How strong are her winds? Where is she headed? In anticipation of the winds and the rains we decided to head downtown to the grocery store to get food supplies so that we did not have to face the myriad of non - vegetarian choices at the hotel restaurant.  The weather was so nice that we walked the two miles back to the hotel. Approaching the hotel, we noticed a jet taking off. Soon another jet landed and took off a bit later.

"But we thought the airport was closed" we said to a taxi driver

But wait, there's more

After 2 days of calling boatyards and asking people where to go and what to do, and 4 days getting the boat ready and sitting and sweltering on the hard, Danny did not show up for the party. Hurricane Danny was supposed to be headed directly at  the BVI.  All of the predictions were in agreement. All of the old salts at the bar said "wait and see". The appointed time came and went. Danny went south of us and the disappeared.

"See-" said the old salts, "we were right"

Then there was Erika.

Life on the hard

When a boat is "on the hard" it is on land, out of the water. Rhapsody lives on the hard when we are not sailing on her, and she is on the hard now, both in anticipation of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression Danny and of our departure back home to cooler climes.

While we are waiting, we are living on Rhapsody, in an altered capacity.