Hi From Guana Island, BVI

Guana Island is one of the bigger islands just north of Tortola.  It is an L-shaped island with the bottom of the L to the north, and that shape is protecting Cat Tales from high waves, a North-East swell of significant proportions, but not from an outrageous and tiring wind.  The gusts here today are easily near 30 knots, and at times we have to turn off our windmill.

We last wrote from Spanish Town, where we investigated our boat storage yard and their services.  Things may be quite different, as we seem to be spending more money for fewer services, in comparison to Trinidad.  The promised laundry was discontinued last October, apparently, but we did find one that might serve in the little community of Spanish Town.  A laundry is rather necessary, since much of our clothing has been done in a minimalist fashion for the last six months, and much of our fabric on board has slowly picked up dirt and salt.  Such salt might attract moisture during storage, promoting mould.  We also note that things we take for granted: water and electricity during the effort of preparing the boat for storage; require special arrangements at this yard.  Still, we’re sure things will come together to our ultimate satisfaction.

We left Spanish Town on Monday, coming to Trellis Bay to join Silk Pajamas for a lovely supper in The Loose Mongoose, a favourite haunt of ours from back when John Fallon used to keep his boat StoppKnot here.  We found that the cook, Rosie, a short local woman of “traditional build” and fond of hugging regulars has since retired; but the newest owners have installed a cook called Neill, who is equally as gregarious, and with the rest of the staff, puts out fantastic meals.  

Thanks to my “old man’s prostate” we were also able to get up to see the “blood moon” at some point during its display.  Interestingly, the only other time I recall seeing such an eclipse was when we were counting on a full moon to move Cat Tales from Bequia to St. Lucia a few years ago, and we were quite confused by this rather strange moon for a bit.

The official full moon was later Tuesday morning; and the Trellis Bay Full moon party was that night.  Kristin and Terry joined us as we ate at the stalls, drank at the various venues, and listened to the three different musical stages.  As fun as it was, we were still aboard our boats near “cruisers’ midnight” (9 pm).

We left Trellis Bay early the next day, having an appointment in Road Town’s Doyle Sails to repair the tear at our mainsails second reef.  We had already removed the sail at Spanish Town, rolled it up, and replaced it in the boom bag for simple storage.  The repair and replacement came on with splendid ease; all completed by noon while Cat Tales sat against the Tortola Marine Management marina bulkhead.  We found both Doyle and TMM well managed and friendly.

However, after walking downtown to a bank machine during the repair, I (Laurie) found I had misplaced my credit card.  A phone call back to The Loose Mongoose located it, and also determined where we were to have another dinner; and that is why we are still at this end of the island chain.

So, now we sit, considering a trip by dinghy to relatively flatter water near the rock cliffs of the island, reading books, and carrying out minor chores.  Dawn is reading Philippa Gregory’s “The Red Queen, and I have just finished one more of Patrick O’Brien’s series that starts with “Master and Commander”.  This morning, Dawn attempted to do some window washing before her pail was blown way behind the boat and causing an early bath, and I topped up the batteries in preparation to equalizing the cells for storage.  Silk Pajamas is with us, but likely doing similar things alone, a hundred metres away.

The high winds are slated to last until Sunday night, when we intend to continue around to Brewer’s Bay, Cane Garden Bay, Jost Van Dyke, Norman’s Bight, and then back to Spanish Town; there to begin the hard work of closing down this season’s wandering.

We cannot send much in the way of pictures from this location, but just wanted to stay up to date.