Photos of the BVI

We are sitting in Crocus Bay in Anguilla and have discovered a beach bar with a terrific wifi signal, so voila, photos for you today!  We are over here while we wait for an electrical company to take a look and hopefully fix our failed windmill.  With Silk Pajamas, we're investigating the snorkeling, hikes and beach bars!  Some of the places are just vaguely familiar to us as we were here in the 90's with Jeanne Beltrandi and Ken Ward on a rental boat.

A view of Great Harbour where the famous "Foxy's" is located.

Also from Jost van Dyke here is Little Bay.

Up, up, and up we climb.  At least some was in the shade before we ran out of road!

The goats having a look at Cane Garden Bay over on Tortolla from Jost van Dyke.

Stad Amsterdam sailing by us in the Sir Francis Drake channel.  We see this one often sailing the islands.

The Lady B came sneaking up behind us doing 16 knots while we did our usual 5!

At around 6:00 am the sun came up while we did our 14 hour crossing between the BVI and St. Martin.  There was never any more wind than you see in the photo, so it was a day of motoring!

This is one of our 3 mahi mahi caught on the crossing.  (Actually caught 4, but one got away!)  Small, but very tasty!  We still have some left in the freezer.

Laurie is becoming quite skilled at filleting our catch!

The colour of the mahi mahi is quite extraordinary when they're first caught.  They go from brilliant blue, through bright yellow and then dull down as they die.  They swim in partners, thus catching 2 at a time is quite common.

Better a sand drift, than a snow drift.

St. Martin

We apologise for sketchy news from Cat Tales.  Advances in technology are not always good news for everybody.  We've gone through layers of technology since starting to write in 2004:  Ham radio through Pactor, internet cafes, weblogs with and without pictures, numerous special antennas, and now smart phones.  The last has caused people to be rather uncaring about the internet cafes, and if the equipment does not work you just get a shrug of the shoulders.  Most signals to the boat besides by telephone are blocked by passwords.  So, we, like our waiters and waitresses are left here shrugging our shoulders.  We''ll write this up today, and try to find a spot to send it.  Sorry also, no pictures.  We have some nice ones, but they will wait until we can send them.

We are anchored today in Grande Case, St. Martin (French territory), having crossed from the BVI just 3 days ago, the 19th of January.

We left our friends in the USVI on the 8th to try to get moving along on our trip south.  Our first stop was back in Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, to clear customs and to enjoy a nice meal.  After enjoying our first roti of the season in a neat little bar called Ali Babba's, Dawn and I went looking for trails for a hike for the next day.  By the time we found a trail, we had done a hike just about to the tallest peak on the island.  It was steep, but a great afternoon.  We had been adopted by a nice dog who accompanied us for all of the hike - although he did disappear from time to time to give the local goats some exercise (he would not be discouraged!).  The  views of the both the British and US Virgins were fantastic; as they were the next day, when, after moving the boat to Little Bay, we hiked again to the top of the hills to walk the Mountain Trail road almost back to the previous day's hike.  We finished that day with a run into Sydney's Love and Peace Bar, where you mix your own fancy drinks from special mixtures and the booze of your choice.  A very dangerous bar; and although we found a fantastically interesting couple to chat with, we had to cancel supper and get back to the boat and get to bed.  We are not mature enough to mix our own drinks without a jigger/measusre!

We left for Norman Island the next day, and the sail helped us straighten out a lot.  Norman's Bight was chosen as our anchorage to wait out a period of high wind.  During the 5 days we were waiting, we enjoyed meeting a couple with a Fountaine Pajot Mahe 36: same make as Cat Tales, only a foot longer and 10 years younger.  They are Henry and Catherine of s/v Mowzer.  At the same time, we got reacquainted with two Canadians, Dawn and Gerry, of s/v Chinook Arch; who we had not seen since Trinidad in 2005.

The wind calmed down, but not before it messed up something in our windmill, causing it to quit altogether.  With lower winds and a call from s/v Aspen for us to join them, we sailed up to North Sound, Virgin Gorda on the 16th.  While waiting in the Sound for a proper weather window, we got fuel, some laundry done, and a nice meal ashore.  We also went snorkeling, and saw our first and second Queen Helmet Conch.  Stunning creatures.  Hopefully you will see the pictures shortly.

We finally had to give up waiting for a north or northeast wind, and with s/v Silk Pajamas and Aspen, we motored over to St. Martin just this Monday.  It was a long day of motoring, starting at 5 a.m. and ending at dusk at 6:30 p.m.  Still it was fun, with constant chatter on the radio amoung our  3 boats, and real excitement as Cat Tales caught 3 Mahi Mahi.   These, and the one that got away, ravaged our equipment; including the sea rod that Doug Chown gave us a decade ago.  Again, pictures are coming, hopefully.

We are waiting for word on our windmill, which we removed and ran into a repair shop here in St. Marrtin.  With only apologies so far for inactivity, we hope for a better effort from them next week.  So with our weekend free, we will check out for a few days, and head for Anguilla tomorrow.

Brewer's Bay, St. Thomas, USVI

We're being subjected to gusts of wind over 25 knots, as we sit here in Brewer's Bay.  We came over to this secluded bay, beside the St. Thomas airport to escape the dirty water and swells of Long Bay, off Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.  It is a bit of a treck down wind, but the winds are expected to be up for over 5 days, so we might as well be comfortable.  We're here with Silk Pajamas and Aspen, and expect Tarentela later today.  Another couple, aboard s/v Aviva, are holed up closer to town with company.

Since returning from St. Croix, we've done a lot, and done little:  With others and alone, we've hiked many trails of St. John and Hassell Island; we've gone to a few restaurants, a few bars, and have enjoyed the season with numerous friends.  We also got one great sail upwind in, from Francis Bay to Coral Bay.  Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

This is the 79 metre yacht, Venus.  She was commissioned by Steve Jobs but completed a year after his death, at a cost of ~ 100 million Euros.

This is a bench that is part of the sign that welcomes cars to Coral Bay.  Can't say the reason for the shoes, but it does seem right for the eclectic bunch who live in Coral Bay ashore and afloat.

This is the group who hiked the Ram Head Trail on Salt Pond Bay with us:  Fred and Dorothy of s/v Aviva and Al and Michelle of s/v Tarentela.  This is Al's second hike, and he is not sure he likes hiking yet.  Dawn is the photographer.

 

  

These two pictures show the coral people that tourists assemble on the rocks at Drunk Bay.  I suppose if we found this stuff in a cave, attributed it to ancient peoples, we'd make up some spiritual meaning and motivation for it.

Dawn is standing between what may be two silk cotton trees or one silk cotton tree, as the buttressed roots sure seem to make it one plant.  This is half way up the Reef Bay trail, one of the more challenging hikes recently.

This little critter was on the other side of a tree Dawn used to steady herself as we started up a steep portion of the Reef Bay Trail.  It is a common species of millipede often seen down here.  It hunts other insects, and has some venom that immobilizes their prey.  It would need it, as I doubt it moves too fast.  A little icky to some, but not particularly dangerous.

 

We are at a restaurant in the Grand Haven resort on New Year's Eve, after being hosted for cocktails on s/v Tarentela.  This is Maria, Steve, Fred, and Dorothy.  Terry, Michelle and Kristin join us on the other side.

We can also report that we have renovated an article on our website called "Tobago 35 - our perspective", updated with pictures to answer many of the questions we receive by email.   You can go directly there from here: Cat Tales' Tobago 35 Perspective