September 21, 2011

Some of you may have been wondering if I made it back to the States since I haven't updated this page for so long. Well, yes, we made it back OK. It's just that I have gotten very lazy in my old age and haven't gotten around to doing the updates. A friend from Lexmark, John Byrne, flew down to St Thomas and sailed back with me. There were almost no winds when he got here so we motored over to Culebra to wait for some wind. We spent a day in Culabritta, one of my favorites, just swimming, walking around and some geo-caching. Culabritta is an uninhabited island with a beautiful anchorage, some nice trails and the ruins of an old Spanish lighthouse on top of the hill. John has started geocaching and there was a cache at the lighthouse so we walked up the hill to find it, and clear customs on the way.

The next day there still wasn't much of a wind so we went to the Island of Culebra to Ensanada Honda and the little town of Dewey. Out on the SW side of Dewey there was a cache so we walked out to the beach and found it, although it was tough and guarded by an Iguana. We walked around the town and then decided to go to Flamingo Beach where there were a couple of caches hidden.

It's just a short taxi ride from Dewey and is a beautiful beach. It is a park with camping areas, a food court and two caches. It didn't take long to find them and after a quick lunch we decided to walk back to Dewey and stop at another beach where another cache was hidden. We found the cache and decided to walk the rest of the way to Dewey along the beach which turned out to be a bit further than we realized. Ater a good dinner at Mama Citas we went back to the boat to get some sleep before starting north in the morning. The morning came with still very light winds so we decided to wait one more day in Dewey. There's not much to do in Dewey so we rented bikes and rode out to Bravo Beach on the north side of Clebra to look for another Cache. This is another beautiful beach that is generally deserted. After the bike ride, not too far but with some steep hills, there is still about a half mile trail to walk to the beach. We saw nobody at the beach although there were some tracks in the sand where someone had been there. We searched the indicated hillside for the cache and never did find it. The directions to it were not too good so it may have been there or someone may have taken it. After the ride back to Dewey, I was tired so we rested till dinner time and went in to the local pizza place for dinner. The pizza was pretty good and with full stomachs we went back to get some sleep before starting the trip north in the morning. Well, morning came with very light winds but we were tired of waiting and left anyway. So on May 14th we motored out around the east end of Culebra and headed for the Turks and Caicos, about 500 Nm WNW of us.

The winds were light for a few days as we made our way to the west-north-west. We weren't planning on stopping anywhere before Norfolk but were planning on going pretty close to the Bahamas, about 100 miles off the coast, in case the weather turned bad or we needed a break from each others company. With the slow going, less than 75 miles a day even with enough motorsailing to keep the batteries charged, it looked to be a long trip. Even though the winds were light, there seemed to be lots of squalls around. This is how it looks on radar when there are squalls around us. You can see them in the sunset picture below the low clouds straight ahead and a little to the left. We actually got hit by very few squalls but when they are so close and it's getting dark, it's prudient to shorten sails since you may not see them as they get closer to you. Of course this slows you down so there are fewer of the 100 Nm days. The last picture is what we would normally see at sunset. After several days of light winds and occasional squalls the winds picked up some, still pretty light but we were up over 100 Nm a day. When we got close to the Turks and Caicos, about a hundred Nm north of them, we decided to turn a little further north and not go so close to the Bahamas. We were about 300 Nm east of Abaco by the time we got there. This route saved us a day or two on the overall trip. One advantage of the light winds is that it meant that we were going slow enough to troll and caught one yellow fin tuna. We were eating it about 30 minutes after we caught it and it was so good. We pulled into Norfolk 14 days after leaving Culebra. I called customs to make an appointment to clear customs and they went ahead and cleared us in over the phone. That was a nice change. Normally you have to make an appointment and they come to your boat to do the paper work. John flew out of Norfolk back to Florida and I headed up the Chesapeake and was back in the boatyard at Gibson Island after three more days.

Since then I made a trip back to Lexington, KY, to see the family and take care of the annual medical stuff. If I took care of being overweight and having a high blood pressure problem, the doctor said I should make another year. Since I got back here I've lost about 20 pounds and my blood pressure is down about 40 points so the outlook is good. I managed to ride the new trail from the northside of Lexington out to the Horse Park a couple of times. It's a nice trail that's about 8 miles long. It starts at the Northside YMCA and is off road all the way except where you have o cross Newtown Pike at a light. The only problem with it is that you have to drive to the begining of it. There are just no safe ways to bike to the trailhead from most anywhere in town.

I pulled Bella Vita out and did the bottom as usual and touched up the deck while she was out. My old folding dinghy was falling apart so I got a new dinghy and a 4 hp Yamaha outboard. That will be a nice change. The dinghy is an inflatable and folds up so I can stow it inside somewhere and not have it on deck. I wanted to get a rigid bottom inflatable but even when deflated they take much too much room on deck and I really don't have room on deck for one.

Other than working on the boat about the only fun thing I did was take a week trip with my friend Natalie on her boat, Alegria, a Lord Nelson Voctory Tug. We went to Church Creek, off the Little Choptank on the Eastern Shore, to see some friends and spent a couple of days there. They also have a Lord Nelson Victory Tug and a beautiful house on the water. Then it was south to Tangiers Island. Tangiers is a small island across the bay from the Potomac River. About 400 people live there and are pretty much all watermen, either crabbing, oystering(?) or fishing. They are very self sufficient and have there own school and a recently opened clinic. The dog and cats are at Mr Parkes house and give a pretty good outlook on the pace of life on Tangiers. He is the 80 year old gentleman who runs the marina. The highest point on the island is about 6 feet above the high water mark so it floods frequently. We happened to be there while the Cheasapeake Buy Boat rendevous was there. Buyboats were used to go out to the oyster boats and would buy the oysters and then deliver them to the markets. This way the watermen would not have to stop and haul their goods to market. Some of the boats were used for other things such and hauling frieght or fishing. One of the boats, Dudley, was built by the current owner's father in the 1920s and has been in the family since then. The owner still uses it to take people out fishing.

After Tangiers we went across the bay to Reedville. Reedville used to be a major fishing enterprise but has fallen on slow times lately because of reduced catches. The major industry there seems to be Menhaden which are a small fish not good for much except bait for crabbing and cat food. There is a processing plant there that I believe makes cat food and is a place you do not want to be down wind of. We spent a night there and then took off for St Inigoes Creek which is off the St Marys River which is off the north side of the Potomac River near its mouth. We stopped at another friend's house who also has a Lord Nelson Victory Tug. We spent a night there enjoying his hospitality and then headed back north in the morning. We hadn't decided where to stop but we made good time and ended up going all the way back to Gibson Island. This is the Bay Bridge from a different point of view from what most people see. It was a nice trip and nice to get away from the boat work for a week or so and have the pleasure of Natalie's company. Natalie went back to DC and I went back to work.

I expect to head south about the third week of Oct again. Until then I have lot's of work to do yet and a few fun things. Trawler Fest, a power boat show in Baltimore, is coming up in about a week and I will probably volunteer to work there for a day or two. Natalie and I did last year and it was fun so we probably will again this year. They had over 50 boats in the water that you could tour. The week after that is the Lord Nelson Victory Tug Rendevous at Church Creek and we will probably go to that also. He has dock space there for 6 boats and that should be a good weekend too. After that is the Annapolis Boat Show for the next two weekends, one for power boats and one for sailboats. I've been to both and while they were fun I probably won't go again this year. Then it's the final scurry to get the last minute things done and head off for Norfolk to wait for good weather and then to St John.