Norman Island – Sunday March 15th

 

Sorry for the long delay in updating.  We have not had the benefit of internet connections which will be evident as you read on.  Yes we are still alive and well and enjoying our time in the Caribbean although the weather is proving problematic in some ways.  They still refer to the high winds that we have periodically as “the Christmas Winds” which isn’t bad as it is almost Easter.    

 

Helen Mary Gee is now back in the water.  Repairs were finished within 8 days and we were launched on 23^rd February.  It was good to get out of the dock. 

 

We spent a couple of days in Little Harbour Peter Island to get her back together again.  Lord Chubb (the lock man)  owned land on the point of the harbour where he had what was undoubtedly a beautiful house overlooking the bays.  Now unfortunately it is no more than a crumbling mess being eaten by the ravages of time and the termites.  We last saw it in May 2001 when its grandeur was still evident in the sanitary fittings and tiled walls, but 8 years and a certain amount of vandalism has seen all of that disappear.   

 

On the afternoon of 25^th February we sailed from Road Town Tortolla to St John in the US Virgin Islands.    We decided it was time to try to find our old mates Captain Bill and Patty, who we met in Trinidad last November.  Two thirds of St John has been given over to a National Park and that is why it is one of the most photographed islands, used in advertising literature for the area.  Anchoring is prohibited in many places but mooring buoys are $15 per night instead of the $25 charged in the BVI.  Our first stop was Cruz Bay for checking into customs and immigration.  Unfortunately the water depth in Cruz Bay is about 3 meters and therefore having had our keel work done we erred on the side of caution and picked up a mooring buoy for the night and then took the dinghy in to the bay first thing the next morning.   

 

To cruise the USVI it is essential to have a valid US Visa.   Checking in was quite easy  but we were each spoken to by Customs and Border Protection Agents and given a lecture about  not dumping any of our garbage in their dumpsters, as other islands carried diseases which they did not have on their island, although it is only   seven miles away from Tortolla and they have constant ferries going between the two.  Garbage from any foodstuff already on board could infect the US garbage.    Maybe a little paranoid?

 

Next morning we headed out for Coral Bay where we had received reports on sightings of Captain Bill.  Funnily enough when we were in Nanny Cay having the work done on the boat we met a couple of guys in the bar from Coral Bay, St John who new Bill and Patty very well.  We had a wonderful sail in fact it was so good that we went straight passed Coral Bay (not intentionally) and it was only when I went down to check the navigation that I realised that we were heading back to Nanny Cay Tortolla, a circumnavigation of St John.  I have not lived that one down yet.    We got into Coral Bay an hour later.

 

Bill and Patty were pleased to see us and over the next 2 weeks we had a good time.  They were heading out for St Croix on Monday 2^nd March and they invited us to go with them.  Another couple of their friends were also going on their Beneteau 51.    They had left Coral Bay on the Saturday to do some fishing and so they  were leaving from Norman Island on Monday morning to meet us in Christiansted.  We left probably half an hour after Bill and Patty  and as every sailor who has raced will know that wonderful feeling when you  go past everyone.   A wonderful sail was topped only by the dolphins as they swam around the boat and then the most magnificent sight I have ever seen  just to our starboard quarter an enormous whale came oput of the water on a full breach slamming it’s  tail into the water.  This happened three times.  Unfortunately I was so surprised that I did not grab the camera quickly enough and all I got of the amazing creature was the tail just  disappearing into the water.  We radioed Bill as the whale was heading towards his boat and he was glad to make his first sighting.   These wild life cameramen must have lightning reactions.  

 

Bill and Patty have a house on St Croix and they have their own mooring in the harbour.  However for some reason they ran aground on a rock on the reef as they were taking up their mooring afther getting fuel.   For 8 hours they were high and dry.  There is only one high tide per day and that would be somewhere around 4 o’clock in the morning.   The marine police would not allow them to stay there waiting for the water and insisted that the marina pull them off.   The problem is that if you damage any of the reef especially if they can show that you have damaged an endangered species you can receive an enormous fine.   The marine police dive on the grounded boat to take photographs and then decided what (if any) damage has been sustained and they calculate the fine accordingly.   Bill is still waiting for the answer and it may be up to 2 to 3 months before he hears.  On top of that he had to pay for the marina launch to pull him off.    It will be a long time before he lives that one down in his home port!!

 

Unfortunately the weather let us down again whilst in St Croix.  35 knots of wind in the anchorage and there was very little shelter apart from the vast reef which kept the sea down, but did nothing to protect us from the wind.    The water was so rough in the anchorage on the Saturday that we could not even get off the boat.  It was not much better on the Sunday but we ventured over to Seven Sisters.  It was find on their boat but  getting from the dinghy onto it was awful.   The wash even took the twist grip of the outboard engine and that must have disappeared into the sea.

 

On Monday the wind had abated somewhat and Bill and Patty decided that they would leave for St John.  Patty should have been back to work on Saturday but she had managed to get someone to cover for her but she had to be back for the Tuesday.  We decided to stay for another day and then head out on the Tuesday and if the forecast was good we would head down the islands to St Kitts.  

 

We left on the Tuesday but the wind angle to St Kitts was so fine to the wind that it would have been an unpleasant night sail down the islands, which I did not fancy.  Me I’m a fair weather gal.     We set out course for St John as this would give us a better angle for the trip.    We arrived back in Coral Bay for the night.   It was after dark by the time we arrived as we did not leave St Croix until 2 in the afternoon in preparation for the night sail.  We like doing things the hard way, but the bright full moon made things  easier.

 

Paul was unhappy that once we went down the islands it would seem that the end of our cruising had come.   We decided that we would  go back to the BVI for a couple of weeks and take the next weather window down to Antigua.    This is what we have done and at the moment we are sitting in the Bight at Norman Island.  

 

It will probably be from there that I next update our adventures and so until then please continue to take care and we send our love to all of you.

 

Helen and Paul

Helen Mary Gee