Sunday, December 31, 2017

The pros and cons of “going back” … Friday 29 – Saturday 30th December 2017

Friday 29 – Saturday 30th December 2017

“Going back” always seems like a mixed experience. It can be really fun and relaxing to return to places that you like, but it can be a let down if the return doesn’t live up to your memories. One of our concerns prior to making this trip was that we would constantly be looking back and making comparisons to our journey our year afloat in 2012-13 and when viewed through the rosy lens of only remembering the good parts, that this trip would not seem as fresh or exciting. We vowed that we would try and avoid comparing the two, but in fact the two experiences have been so totally different that this has not been an issue. The preparation and passage from Portsmouth to Tortola was a very different challenge than our journey down the Intra Coastal Waterway, and the British and US Virgin Islands are so different the Bahamas that it has seemed new and exciting.

From a pure geography point of view the Bahamas are flat and sandy and the water is always shallow on the banks. In contrast the Virgin Islands are mountainous and most of the cruising areas have deep water even close up to the shore. The sailing is a lot more relaxing, even if the winds are stronger. Obviously we are visiting the USVI and BVI under unusual circumstances after the hurricanes, but even so it’s obvious how much more developed they are and set up for the sailors. The charter sailing industry must be one of the biggest drivers of the economy in this area. In the majority of places we have visited here there are well-maintained mooring balls for the taking. This makes life easier for sailors, but more importantly protects the reefs and sea-bed. On the whole, provisioning is also easier than in the Bahamas.
We are by no means underwater experts but to our eyes the reefs mostly don’t look in great condition here – but this is a case where my memory of the Bahamas reefs may be better than reality. It’s not clear if this is a direct consequence of the hurricanes or too much human traffic or climate change … or most likely a combination of all three. Over the past couple of weeks we have had a terrific time snorkeling and exploring the sea and have seen a tremendous assortment of fish, but we do worry about the health of the coral. On land we have hiked a little and had fun doing some birding. Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our fish identification card and our East Coast USA bird book doesn’t cover all the species we are seeing here. We’ll certainly try and buy a new laminated fish ID card that we can take snorkeling with us.


I started this blog by talking about the downsides of returning to something you have done before, but it can also be great to return to somewhere that you are familiar with. On Friday we left the National Park on St. John with the intention of showing Tasha some of the places that Gloria and I are familiar with. We sailed over to Jost Van Dyke and were delighted to find the immigration people were very friendly and helpful, orders of magnitude better than their colleagues in Road Town. In the evening we went back to Foxy’s for another excellent dinner. On Saturday morning Tasha went for a run on shore and hen we motored to Maracheel Bay on the east side of the Island and explored Sandy Spit and the waters around it. We also went to shore near Foxy’s Taboo, a second restaurant owned by Foxy, now utterly destroyed by Irma, and hiked to the bubbling pool where Tahsa and Gloria swam. In the late afternoon we sailed back over to Soper’s Hole with the intention of returning to Omar’s Café in the morning for what we hope will be another fine breakfast. Going back can be good!




Orange Fruit


Inside the orange fruit


Backlit palm




Backlit palm leaf


Millipede



Boats in Great Harbor - Jost van Dyke looking south towards Tortola


Brown Booby with Ballyhoo (fish) - sequence of four shots


Cactus Flower - near the bubbling pool


Hermit Crab


Friday, December 29, 2017

Every silver lining has a cloud 28 Dec 2017


28th Dec 2017

Many things about today were quite silver-lining-ish. But now it’s time to write the blog .... We were moored in Francis Bay overnight and went to shore after a show-stopping breakfast of bacon, egg and sausage quesadillas. Narrowly avoiding the food coma, Tasha rowed us to shore with the snorkel gear, water bottles and emergency rations (granola bars).  Somewhat surprisingly, there was a kind of swamp behind the beach.  We saw a rail (tentatively determined to be a clapper rail) a ruddy duck (that is the actual name) and 8.5 million no-see-ums.  I’m convinced that the latter were involved in a conspiracy to remove all my blood, one microliter at a time. 

A leisurely stroll along the road led to views of Leinster bay.  A few more birds were identified (northern parula, morning dove, Key West Quail Dove and bananaquit) before we reached a sign for the Annaberg plantation. Here appeared the first cloud—a wooden staircase to be scaled to reach the ruins.  Pretty hot work for the tropics!  It was worth the effort for the views and some sense of how a sugar plantation worked.  The cane was grown on terraced areas of the adjacent hills using slave labor.  A sign described the wattle and daub structures in which the slaves lived however no sign could be detected.  The windmill was used to crush/grind the cane.  The juice that was produced flowed downhill through troughs to the boiling factory where vats were heated to drive off the water.  In this way sugar or molasses could be obtained.  The residue from crushing the cane was fermented and distilled into rum.  According to the signage none of this would have been commercially viable without the slave labor.  Can I see parallels in today’s economy? Let me think...

We went back to the boat for lunch and a bit of relaxation.  Taking my after lunch-time cup of tea out to the cockpit, I saw a fish swim near to the side of the boat.  This fish was followed by three sharks.  I called out to Tasha and Mike who came topsides to have a look.  A debate broke out over what kind of sharks they might be and whether we were looking at the top or bottom side of the animal.  I must say the ‘top’ of their heads looked very odd having ridges (gills?) but the other side of the animal looked way too pale to anything but the underneath.  This domestic disturbance is still rumbling... without a source of information it could last for years.

Once we could mobilize ourselves, we motored Cotinga around the next headland to the east and moored in Leinster bay.   Overcoming a natural tendency toward sloth, I was persuaded to go snorkeling.  It was great: angel fish, sea slugs (or was that a sea cucumber?), lion fish, puffer fish, gorgeous sea fans.


Even more silver lining is coming my way in the shape of a pain-killer minus the rum...

Gloria

Leinster Bay                                     18 21.9 N, 64 43.7 W



Cotinga in Leinster Bay




Cotinga in Leinster Bay




Cotinga in Leinster Bay


Donkeys near Francis Bay


Donkeys near Francis Bay



Donkeys near Francis Bay



Wrecked Boat Mary Cove, Leinster Bay



Tasha napping on the Dumb Dog


Annaburg - plantation / rum distillery



Annaburg - plantation / rum distillery


Cruising with Tasha Mon 25th - Wed 27th Dec 2017



Monday 25th – Wednesday 27th

Tasha is amazing! Yes I know everyone says that about their children so I’ll spare you the parental gloating and focus on one specific thing. She is probably the most motion sensitive person that I know and yet here she is on our boat cruising with us. Although she spent a couple of weeks on Cotinga over Christmas in 2012, we were at a dock in Vero Beach, Florida and this is actually the first time she has sailed on this boat. We met her at the airport in Charlotte Amalie and returned to Cotinga via taxi and dinghy. Tasha was exhausted after a trip of almost 24 hours from Lander, Wyoming to Salt Lake City to Miami to St Thomas, and very little sleep. She had already been feeling sick in Miami and as we ate our Christmas dinner in the cockpit (Pork and mushroom stroganoff with rice and salad, followed by home made mince pies) she looked decidedly doubtful. Anyway we gave her a Scopolamine patch and then all retired for an early night. A good night’s sleep certainly helped and just as well. When we left Charlotte Amalie to motor sail up to Christmas cove we encountered 20-knot winds, more or less from where we were headed, and short period, steep 7 foot seas. It was a baptism of fire and she handled it like a trooper. The journey only took about 90 minutes and then we were tucked in at Christmas Cove, in beautiful surroundings. We had a good snorkel around the island and saw a school of cuttlefish as well as many other beautiful fish. In the afternoon we had a quick walk on the beach, which turned out to be private and then a cozy evening on board.

On Wednesday morning we dropped the mooring and motored across Pilsbury Sound to St John, another rough section of water, and Tasha again took it in her stride. We pulled in to Hawkshead Bay and picked up National Park mooring.  This is not a particularly well-protected bay and there was a significant swell and Cotinga was rocking quite a lot. However, we dropped the motor onto the “dumb dog” and took the dinghy to shore. We hiked up to Peace Hill and got some great views as a squall passed north of the island, then we snorkeled round the Elkhorn coral beds off the beach – which appear to be in pretty tough shape. Once back aboard Cotinga we decided it was too uncomfortable to spend the night and made plans to head east to Francis Bay. This of course meant taking the engine off the dinghy. We have a pulley system attached to the radar pole and if one person releases the motor from the dinghy the other can pull it up onto the rail of Cotinga. It sounds easy and isn’t too hard when the boats are steady, but with the rocking and rolling you need to work hard to stop the outboard (which weighs ~90 lb) banging into the hull of Cotinga. I was down in the dinghy and did a quick step up onto the deck, balanced myself with one leg either side of the rail, and then lost my balance as Cotinga and the outboard rolled to one side. This turned out to be rather painful, and if I were narrating this blog it would be an octave higher than normal. The lesson learned (for my male friends and relatives) … never let a stainless steel wire guard rail get between your testicles and your center of gravity! Once I had regained my composure, we headed over to Francis Bay for a lovely evening.

Christmas Cove                               18 18.5 N, 64 50.0 W
Francis Bay                                      18 21.9 N, 64 44.8 W


At anchor in the rain (squall) Charlotte Amalie


Sunset Christmas Cove


In the cockpit Christmas Cove - lights courtesy of the Andersons




Cotinga Hawkshead Bay

Cotinga Hawkshead Bay


Family from Newport RI landing dinghy at Hawkshead Beach


Tasha on the beach at Hawkshead Bay

Lunch at Peace Hill

Squall passing north of St John




View North from Peace Hill ... Francis Bay in the distance