Travalog Seventeen

Trinidad to the Virgin Islands!

Greetings to all,

Well, VIVA is still afloat and doing well. We've covered a lot of miles since our last travelogue back in January and much of this will be "old news" to those of you whom we have been in closer contact, so if you have heard it all, just hit Delete now.

Here are some highlights of the past 8 months, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Mid January VIVA departed Trinidad to start heading up Island. Our first stop was Grenada which had two important events taking place. First, the Grenada La Source Race Week, and after that our friends Dorothy and Kurt Jacobi were joining us for a two week cruise.

We left Scotland Bay, Trinidad at 4:00 A.M. so as to arrive in Prickly Bay, Grenada by dusk, a distance of 80 miles. It was a typical day, 20 knots of wind, 6 - 8 foot seas. The wind angle was such that we actually got to sail. Around noon we started smelling diesel and Pam went down below to check and found the galley sole awash in 3 - 4" of diesel, not a pretty picture! To add to it, the bilge pump was clogged with an oil absorber towel. We discovered that the port fuel tank had sprung a leak but if we didn't heel too far over the flow of diesel stopped. We had to hand scoop the diesel from the cabin sole and bilge into a bucket, which would not be a fun job under the best of conditions, but in 6 - 8 seas it was really ugly. Getting the tank out and ashore in the rubber dinghy was also interesting, fortunately the small machine shop in Prickly Bay, Grenada was able to reweld and reinforce the tank better than new. (We hope!)

Crew of Hugo with token Senior Citizen

Steve raced the Grenada "La Source Race" on a Beneteau 43, named Hugo. This was a local boat from Antigua with an all black West Indian crew, needing a few extra hands. Steve, of course being so white really stood out. We call him the "Q-tip"! This race is great fun, not only the big boat racing but also the local "work boats" regatta. These boats start from the beach, all lined up with the crews holding them in the surf. One crew member remains on the beach; his job when the starting gun goes off is to drink a glass of rum, than run down the beach to his waiting boat. The problem is the boats don't wait; they start sailing so the crewman must swim really fast to catch his boat. Of course there's much yelling and cheering as the other boats try and stop the guys in the water and since the boats are quite tippy quite a few turn over. The hardest working crewmen are the bailers, they never stop. The race ends on the beach with the skipper running t

Next we motored up to St. George harbor to pickup Dorothy and Kurt. Their flight was due in around midnight, and since we were anchored out, Steve took the dinghy to the Yacht Club to get them. Finally at 3:00 A.M. he called the airport, and after many rings the janitor answered and told him the flight was canceled and to call back in the morning. Apparently a wheel fell off their plane and they were put-up in a hotel in San Juan, PR for the night. They arrived later in the afternoon; I don't know who was more tired, them or us. Oh, the joys of air travel. I guess all's well that ends well. We had a fun two weeks showing them some of our favorite spots in the Windward Islands. We made stops at Carriacou, Petit St. Vincent, Union Island, Mayreau, Tobago Cays, Bequia, St. Vincent and of course the beautiful anchorages in St. Lucia. We had our final dinner in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, joined also by Bob & Connie on CHARIS.

After a couple of quiet days, we again headed north to Martinique. There were no troubles with the Marin Customs/Immigration this year as we came armed with our new boat Documentation papers. Of course they were never inspected! Marin is one of the better provisioning and maintenance stops on the way up island as we were once again back in the land of good French wine and deli's.

After a leisurely trip up the coast of Martinique to St. Pierre, we waited a day for a little weather front to blow through. Obviously, we didn't wait long enough and the weather only deteriorated as we entered the channel crossing to Dominica. 25-35 knots of wind with gusts to 38 knots and ugly seas from every direction made for a very wet ride. The seas calmed down a bit in the lee of Dominica and of course the autopilot chose this moment to start a "wandering" mode. The smart move would have been to layover on the North end of Dominica and wait a day for the final 17 miles to Isles des Saintes; but no, the intrepid skippers of CHARIS and VIVA decided to push on and "get it over with" in one day. Of course that final leg is one that is better forgotten or at least discussed over a glass of rum (or is it a bottle).

Fishing boats at Iles des Saintes

Our women were not happy! After hand-steering the final 17-mile passage, we arrived at the normally calm anchorages of Isles des Saintes, vainly trying to find a spot without


Soufriere volcano on Montserrat

Being a little gun shy, we opted for a slow trip up the coast of Guadaloupe, laying over in Deshaises on the north end of the Island. Since it was a good 115 mile trip to St. Barts, we didn't want to make the same mistake as our Martinique debacle. This time our caution was rewarded with an incredibly calm overnight motor sail, full moon, smooth seas and light cooling trade winds, just like a Jimmy Buffet song. This leg took us along the north shore of Montserrat, home of the active Soufriere volcano. We arrived just at sunset and were treated to a spectacular show of erupting gases, fire, lava and boulders. It is not everyday that one can travel a mile and a half offshore an active volcano in such calm conditions.


Happy Hour on St. Barts for the rich and famous

Arriving at the anchorage in St. Barts at 0800, gave us the full day to rest up, clear in and just wander around this very chic French island. Lots of big yachts, trendy shops and very expensive restaurants. Of course we had to have a beer and burger at "Le Select" - "Cheeseburgers in Paradise".

The next stop was St. Martin, 12 miles to the north. We arrived just in time for the St. Martin Heineken's Regatta, one of the largest in the Caribbean. Once again, Steve ended up racing on "Hugo" in Racing Class for the 5-day event. This time around, Steve was the only non-white on the all Antiguan crew. He was introduced as their token Californian (or was it senior citizen?) Heavy winds of 30-35 knots dominated the regatta and they ended up 2nd out of 58 boats in their class. Nothing broken, nobody hurt and Steve has a ride on Hugo anytime he's available.

St. Martin is an interesting Island, being Dutch on one side and French on the other. Philipsburg on the Dutch side is a duty free port and a major cruise ship stop with the prerequisite jewelry stores and tourist "stuff". The Simpson Bay lagoon has a wide variety of marine stores and services. Marigot on the French side is great for "girl" shopping, chic little boutiques, good restaurants and also provisioning (cheap wine). We parted company with CHARIS since they had company arriving in Philipsburg and we had company arriving in St.Thomas, USVI.

The 95-miles trip from St.Martin to St. John, USVI across the "dreaded" Anegada Passage included a lot of wind and big seas, but since we were going with it for a change, our trip was not too bad. We were very happy we weren't going the other way.

Viva moored at the northshore of St. Johns

We arrived in Hurricane Hole, St. John and met up with our friends, Rich and Sam from Ripple II. Since we hadn't seen them in months, we had a lot of catching up to do. Rich had recently acquired his Yachtmaster papers and they were delivering a Taswell 56 to Annapolis, MD for the Australian owner. Next we motored down the coast to Cruz Bay to check into the USA. VIVA hasn't been in US waters for 2.5 years, so it seemed like a big event. We arrived at the customs/immigration office in our best clearing-in attire, only to be told to wait outside until they finished checking in a group from a BVI ferry boat. When we tried to slip back in a side door to get out of the sun a loud, angry official told us to get out immediately and

From there, it was a short hop across to St. Thomas, USVI where we picked-up guests Pat and Dave Davis. We had absolutely the most perfect weather for the 10 days they were aboard and we all fell in love with the north shore of St. John, where we elected to stay for their entire visit. Most of our time with them was spent there exploring all the bays, each more beautiful than the next. The crystal clear water, coral formations and white sand beaches made for some great snorkeling. The next day CHARIS caught up with us and then 2nd KISS. The "B Dock Bozos" together again, yeah!

We were also able to visit with other CBYC "Members Afar", Lee and Bill Morris. The Morris retired to St. Johns about 10 years ago and have really become part of the social community there. They invited John and Diana and us for a great dinner in their lovely home overlooking Cruz Bay and the surrounding islands. A few days later we were again invited to a St. John Yacht Club party, held in a different home each month. Those people know how to live!

Well, we will close for now and continue with more Virgin Islands and our return trip south to Trinidad.

Best wishes to all.

Steve & Pam

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