(Note from Erica: hello everyone!!!  We have been having a lot of fun and not a lot of internet, so we are dreadfully behind on our website.  All the posts are written.  We just need enough bandwidth to upload pictures.  I hope you are looking forward to our travels after the BVI’s, including: US Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe/Les Saintes, and Dominica.  Be sure to catch up with us in “almost” real time on our facebook fanpage: conwaysailors.com. or our SPOT page)

The Very Last Post in a Very Long String of Posts About The British Virgin Islands…

December 13, 2012

There’s almost no point in writing about the Baths.  You can’t describe them.  You have to see them.  So I’ll do something different this post and include some photos (you’re supposed to laugh here).  We left the North Sound in the morning on Anything Goes.  Chris stayed back on Patronus to wait for our late, late, late Christmas gift package from the States.  It had arrived in customs days earlier and was either at the airport, on a ferry, or under some dude’s Christmas tree.  There are only a few mooring balls at the Baths and you can’t anchor.  You also need a full day to really experience all it has to offer.  Chris waved us off and didn’t mind a bit.  He was looking forward to taking Patronus by himself to meet us.  Sailing a boat by yourself is calling “singlehanding” and it is something Chris LOVES to do, so we knew he’d be just fine.

We enjoyed another great adventure aboard Anything Goes and moored safely outside the beach.  Now all we needed to do was get 9 people (and two fancy cameras) onto the beach in medium surf.  No biggie.  Craig did a great job driving the dinghy and we all managed to jump out without getting mauled by the outboard engine or tumbled under the waves.  The kids bolted off towards the rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Baths are a natural formation of rocks at the southern tip of Virgin Gorda.  It is quite a phenomenon.  There are large boulders, carved through the millennium by the power of the ocean and the wind.  What is left is a labyrinth maze of caves, tunnels, and secret hiding places that winds itself along the beach and halfway up the mountain.  We found the cave that the kids so enjoyed last year when we were here on s/v Xanadu and it was clear that the kids could have played in this one spot for the whole day.  You have to get flat on your stomach to climb under a large boulder.  Once inside, a cave opens up and you can stand and run and wade in the ankle-deep water.  At the far end, there is an opening to the sea where waves come crashing in every few seconds.  It is the perfect place for making echoes or imagining you are a mermaid.

We finally got the kids to move along down the path and they stayed up ahead, blazing the trail.  In some places, we walked along a sandy path, gazing up at the boulders that towered above us.  In other places, we had to scramble over the rocks, climb down steep ladders, or use a rope to help us scale a slippery rock.  The pictures tell the story better than I can…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the end of the Baths, we hiked up the rest of the hill on a traditional trail.  At the “Top of the Baths”, as it is called, we stood in awe at the gorgeous view of the island and the sea.  We enjoyed some refreshments as the kids swam in the pool.  They were kind enough to provide some great shopping up here, so Wendy, Craig, and I played fashion show and all came away with some swanky new duds.

Incredibly, as we stood at the balcony overlooking a boat sailing up the bay, we realized that it was Chris coming in on Patronus!  The boat was far away, but you could just tell that Chris was enjoying his singlehanding experience.  We waved, like a bunch of fools, as he furled up the sails and disappeared behind the tree tops.  A half hour later, he showed up at the restaurant after racing up through the Baths!

We could not believe how fast the day had gone.  We took the short way back down to the beach and were treated to the most beautiful blue twilight as we bundled back into the dinghies and raced off towards our boats.  The Baths, it seems, simply cannot disappoint…

 

December 13-15, 2012

Cooper Island, Road Harbour, and Soper’s Hole

The Baths.  Sunset.

Oh dear.  We were in such a rush to get back to the boats and weigh anchor that it didn’t occur to us until the last minute that we were saying goodbye to the Boyers until possibly after Christmas!  I yelled a hasty goodbye over the racket of the outboard engine and Wendy looked shocked as the realization dawned on her, too.  But we didn’t have time to waste.  The sun was setting and we had to get to Cooper Island and they had to get to Spanishtown.  There is a cruising adage that neither of us wants to challenge: “Never enter a new harbor after dark.”

We had said goodbyes to many new friends over the past few months, and we had learned that “See you soon!” is not a phrase you can bank on.  Plans change, weather happens, and many times, you don’t cross paths again.  I had a pit in my stomach as we left.  We have had such a lovely time with Anything Goes and while we had plans to continue cruising with them, those plans were written in the sand at low tide.  They were now going one way and might end up in St. Maarten.  We were going the other way and might end up in St. Croix.  There was no knowing if we would rendezvous again.  I avoided the subject with the kids since they would have been very upset.

Bryson and Porter are all cleaned up after our long day and ready for a fun night out on the “town” on Cooper Island.

We got a mooring at Cooper Island during the last few minutes of daylight and dinghied into the Cooper Island Beach Club for a nice dinner with the kids.  We surprised them with the Chocolate Extravaganza dessert.  It was a giant martini glass (about 12 inches across) filled with brownies, rum cake, chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and other chocolate goodies.  It was insane, but the five of us made quick work of it.  We never do things like that, so it is something that the kids have continued to rave about.

The next morning, we set sail for Road Harbour.  Roadtown is a big city on Tortola that gives cruisers access to boat parts, galley provisioning, and other services.  We were heading there to get new side panels for our dodger and bimini (the canvas that covers our cockpit).  Our dodger and bimini have been great at protecting the cockpit from the sun, but when the rain is driving sideways, it gets into the cockpit from the sides and soaks our seat cushions.  We found a canvas maker through a friend from our racing days and were very happy with their work.

 

While the panels were being made, Reese and I took a walk to town to do some Christmas shopping and check out of the BVIs at Customs and Immigration.  Our allotted 30 days were up and we had to leave this beloved group of islands.  We purchased handmade Salty Dawg mugs for Chris, my dad, and the Boyers.  We also purchased some special gifts for each other and shared an orange soda while walking through town.  It was really nice to spend time just with my little girl.  While our family is happy to be together all the time, I get something special out of alone time with each of them.  We had a great time talking to each other and I reveled in the ability to give her my undivided attention.

Back at the boat, Chris and I decided to give the kids an opportunity for some independence by leaving them on the boat while we went to the supermarket.  They sat down to do schoolwork and make themselves lunch, and we locked them into the boat.  We took the handheld VHF so that they could call us on the radio if they had a problem.  We would only be about 10 minutes away by dinghy if they needed us.  It was a big step for us to let them stay by themselves, but it was a calm day and we wouldn’t be far.  Back at home, we were only just starting to let Bryson walk to Krauser’s with his older friends John and Ryan, which is only one block away.  And I have only left the three of them home alone for a minute or two while walking next door or running to Krauser’s myself.  But they have gained so much independence and responsibility on this trip, and we have learned to loosen our grip on them.  They did a great job and stayed on the lookout for pirates the whole time.  Just kidding.

We got our sidepanels installed and had just enough time to sail to Soper’s Hole by nightfall.  We would stay there until morning and would then leave the country, headed for St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  While in Soper’s Hole, we had a chance to catch up with Bill and Linda, the couple who organized the Salty Dawg Rally.  It was great to see them again and it was a nice way to end our time in the British Virgin Islands.  But don’t sigh with relief yet!  We will be back here in April to cruise with Lana and Dave when they charter a boat for a week!  Then I’ll make you listen to all this nonsense about paradise all over again.  Just kidding (no, I’m not.)

 

Part 4 of our BVI Tour (we’re almost done with the BVI’s. hang in there.  this is a good one.)

December 9-11

When we last wrote, we were leaving Virgin Gorda for a potentially rough ride to:

It was a bad day on Patronus.

Anegada

And rough it was.  We hit some surprise squalls less than twenty minutes into the trip.  The kids and I instantly felt yucky.  As more and more green water came over the topsides, we shut all the hatches.  One didn’t get latched and as we lurched over a particularly huge wave, gallons of water flooded the deck, lifted the hatch up, and soaked EVERYTHING on the port side of the saloon.  The walls, floors, couch cushions, the cabinets of food, the chargers for our VHFs and walkie talkies, and our keyboard all got soaked. Yelling and screaming ensued, and while I was using our precious clean towels and our even more precious fresh water to mop up the mess, I got thrown all over the place and ended up smashing my foot underneath the bulkhead (wall), nearly ripping my toenail off.  So now I was bleeding all over the place and crying on top of it all.  So for those who might be harboring just a little bit of jealousy regarding our voyage, here is your opportunity to chuckle to yourself and say, “See!  I knew it couldn’t be all that great,” (though I hope you aren’t, because when something wonderful happens for you, I am nothing but thrilled and happy for you. Really really.).

It was a seriously bad day on Patronus, and Anegada had even more in store for us, including the most frightening experience of our whole trip.  But first, we pulled into the harbor, holding our breath through the infamously shallow and reefy channel.  We still need to cut our teeth with our first grounding, but thankfully, it didn’t happen here.  We found Anything Goes, who had arrived from Trellis Bay only moments before us.  We anchored, finished our disaster clean-up, and attempted to regroup.  Craig and I took a quick trip to the village to arrange a car rental for the next day.  I’m not sure we could get away with renting a mid-sized SUV for 10 people in the US! The woman just looked at us and shook her head, but we saved a bundle.  That night, we cheered up after seeing Craig and Wendy and the kids again.  We made a plan for our two days in Anegada and we were all excited that we had managed to make it to this out-of-the-way destination that promised to pay off in spades (or “shovels”, as we call them in our nightly games of Euchre).

The next morning, we did Speed School and dinghied in with 6 children, 5 sets of snorkel gear, 4 adults, 3 beach chairs, 3 boogieboards, 2 beach bags, two dinghies, and a partridge in a pear tree.  We then proceeded to put all of that (minus the dinghies) into a Mitsubishi Montero.  We laughed and squeezed and said to hell with seatbelts because it’s a 7 mile wide island anyway.  We found the rearview mirror in the glove compartment and a wrench in the console.  Craig started driving and we all helped to remind him to drive on the left side of the road while hoping that Cow Wreck Beach would not involve any turns.  As we rumbled past the car rental place, we tried to keep the shouting and laughter to a minimum, but we are pretty sure they noticed our clown car as we passed.  Ten seconds later, we were faced with a traffic circle.  That was too much to deal with.  Thankfully, there were no other cars on the road as Craig just turned left without entering the circle.  Looking back, we’re pretty sure he actually did that correctly.  But we didn’t really care that much.  We were having too much fun.

We somehow found the beach with our cartoon map and spilled out of the car with a thump.  We were famished from all the hard work of getting to the beach, so we had lunch with our feet in the sand and the trade winds blowing through the restaurant.  We walked the length of the beach, watched the kids play, and got “pedicures” from Kate and Reese.  It was a lovely day.

On the way back to the boat, we took the “scenic route” and saw cows, goats, flamingoes, and lots of bumpy dirt roads.  We drove through The Settlement, which is where most of the inhabitants live.  It was sobering to see the difficult living situations there.

 

 

 

That night, Anything Goes and the folks from s/v Troubadour came over for drinks and playing.  We had a great night and waved everyone off before turning in.  We were headed for Loblolly Beach in the morning and were tired from a long and exciting day.  But when we got to bed, the wind started kicking up.  It was a warm night, so we had to keep the hatches open for some air, but rain kept coming through in short storms, so we had to keep getting up to close them.  Then, when it stopped raining and got hot again, we would get up and open them up again.  By 0430, we were tired from the interrupted sleep and annoyed that it had started to rain yet again.  We closed the hatches (again!)and as I drifted back to sleep, I heard the creaking and moaning of the anchor chain and the lines of our snubber.  The winds were really starting to howl, which put more pressure on our anchor.  I asked Chris if he had checked our ground tackle since we went to bed and he assured me that we were solidly set and were fine.

Of course, once I asked him the question, he laid there and realized that he would feel pretty awful if we did end up dragging our anchor.  So he got up and moved some things around in the cockpit to keep them from getting soaked in the now torrential rain.  As he poked his head out of the cockpit to look towards the front of the boat, he saw the large, imposing side of a 47’ catamaran careening towards us out of the black, rainy night!  Somehow, in a burst of adrenaline, know-how and quick thinking, Chris ran to the wheel, started the engine, and drove us forward and to port, allowing the catamaran to miss us by less than six inches off our starboard stern railing.  The sound of the engine starting had gotten me out of bed in a panic and I came on deck just as the catamaran was spinning by our stern.  We realized that they had come detached from their mooring, which explained the high speed at which they were flying through the harbor.  If they were dragging their anchor, they would have been moving much more slowly.  Chris started yelling over the howling wind and crashing rain to wake up the crew of the catamaran, while I blew the fog horn and shined our spotlight on them.  Finally, someone came up on deck, but he was so confused that he started yelling at us!  He must have thought it was our boat that was about to crash into him.  He quickly realized his situation and got his engines on just in the nick of time.  In thirty more seconds, he would have crashed right into a boat anchored just to leeward of us.  Beyond the that boat lay the incredibly dangerous reef, which would have torn his boat to shreds in minutes.  After a few minutes, he motored back past us and into the mooring field.

We took a deep breath and the gravity of the situation started to sink in as the adrenaline wore off.  We were almost in a very serious boat crash.  Their boat would have done immense damage to ours, in the middle of the night, in a storm, on an island with no emergency assistance available.  We couldn’t calm down enough to go back to sleep, so we just tossed around the rest of the night, thinking about all the “what ifs”.  I believe that my intuition caused me to land on that moment in the long night to question Chris about our anchor.  Normally, I would just go up myself to check on things if I was worried.  But I wouldn’t have had my wits about me like Chris did when he saw the boat coming at us.  I would have stood there and screamed.  I still can’t believe how he was able to get us out of that situation in only seconds.  The Universe (and Chris) is certainly something amazing.

By the morning, we had calmed down enough to remember that anything awful that happens on a boat is an automatic cool story to tell fellow boaters.  So we got our bathing suits on, headed to shore, and met Anything Goes at the rental car.  We told our saga all the way to Loblolly Beach, and ended up having a magical day.  It helped that they had hammocks hanging everywhere you went.  We all spent some time snoozing and swinging while the kids played in the sand, dragged giant pieces of driftwood around to build some mysterious structure, and even had ice cream.

By the end of the day, we were lulled back into an easy, cruiser, liveaboard calm, but as night drew in, I remembered the horrific events of the night before and became a bit unglued.  I couldn’t think about going to sleep, so I sat up on deck, staring into the blackness of night and counting the mastlights that were upwind of us.  I was thoroughly exhausted from the sleepless night and the day at the beach, but I just didn’t feel safe.  I was up most of the night.  Everytime I heard a creak in the anchor rode or felt a heavy puff of wind, I climbed out of bed, walked through the boat, up through the companionway, and out onto the foredeck.  I would stand there for a few minutes, convinced that one of the lights seemed closer this time, and then would head back to bed.  By the morning, my security was restored somehow, and I was convinced that what happened to us was a rare situation.

It was time to leave Anegada.  We had enjoyed two lovely days on two unique, windswept, white-sand beaches.  As far as the eyes could see, there was nothing but the beautiful, awesome, powerful sea.  We enjoyed our car trips through this strange, unique, coral-formed island and imagined what it would be like to live in such an isolated place.  We also had a fair share of drama and adventure.  Either way, we won’t soon forget our trip to Anegada…