A Little Test from our SSB Radio

18.19N 64.52W Berthed at Oasis Cove Marina, St Thomas: Monday, May 5, 2014

Before a passage we test out a lot of stuff to ensure it is working at least when we start: after that, it may stop working - the ocean is not friendly to electronics on a yacht. (As long as the crew keeps working, then the skipper should be thankful!) So Hayden just reminded me to test our track for posting to this blog from our long-range SSB radio. Good idea, Hayden!

Unlike the mega motor yachts heading over to Europe at this time of year, our rhumb line to Falmouth 3,413 nautical miles away will not be the route we will take: instead we will sail 840nm due North to Bermuda; this sail is typically in a pretty straight line as we will have beam trade winds from the East to start, and then probably little wind as we get into the Bermuda High area also called 'The Doldrums'. From Bermuda, it will depend on the weather, but we will almost certainly not sail the straight line to the Azores, but will first head NNE for a few hundred miles, until we get about level with the Delaware, before turning starboard and due East: this leg will be about 1900nm. Our final leg to Falmouth will be about 1250nm, again not in a straight line. So we expect to log about 4,000nm in total.

Our little ship is up to her ears in food! We have provisioned all the way to the Azores, as food supplies can be spotty in Bermuda. To give you an idea: we have 24 frozen dinners in the reefer; and lots of starch, breakfast cereal and snacks. We have 24 litre boxes of long life milk, and will load up more potatoes and apples this week before we leave.

We carry 250 gallons of fresh water; it is, regrettably, all in just one tank. So in case we were to spring a leak in that tank and lose it, we carry 25 gallons of water in one gallon jugs, stashed in the hold.

We expect to leave here on Thursday am, as it looks like we will then have at least a couple of days of trade winds.

John and Nancy, with Dave; waiting for Bob's arrival this Monday eve.

Getting Ready for Transatlantic

We are back at St Thomas after spending three weeks in Lancaster visiting family and friends and saying our goodbyes before we depart on our voyage to England.  It was great fun being home to watch the trees bud and spend a special Easter at my sister and brother-in-law’s home. 

Adventuress was happy in her slip at Oasis Cove Marina here in St Thomas, a beautiful new marina owned by Jonathan and Paul Sabers.  Here’s a picture of Adventuress secure in her slip:

 And a picture of Jonathan, a great guy, who has become a friend of ours.  Thanks Jon, for accommodating us and providing such a beautiful and safe environment to keep our boat.

 

While we were home we shipped many items to our good friend, Donna Liska.  Here she is after delivering 7 boxes to our marina.  And thank you dear Donna for being such a great friend and helping us while we were in St Thomas!

 

Dave Hornbach came early to help us with a few projects.  Here’s John and Dave working on installing a new replacement ram drive for the autopilot.

 We replaced the brushes on the old one in December, and the autopilot worked perfectly all winter. But right before we returned to Lancaster, we had a “blip” so we decided to purchase a new hydraulic ram.  Thanks Dave for your capable help.  If he wasn’t here I would be in the hole!

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Nelson, our second crew man, arrives in two days, on Monday!  Then the real excitement begins!  We will prepare the boat for sailing offshore on our next adventure……the voyage to England via Bermuda and the Azores! 

Our very best,

Nancy, John and Dave

May 3, 2014, Oasis Cove Marina

A Slice of Paradise in St. Barth's

When folks discover we have been sailing the Caribbean quite a bit, they often ask “Where is your favorite anchorage?”  Included in our top spots is Anse Du Colombier.  The bay is unspoiled and charmingly beautiful; and the turtle watching is the best! 

Here is John’s friend from London, Roger,  standing on the cliff overlooking part of the bay.  Adventuress is on the right side:

 

 

And a picture of Roger’s buddy  Mr Wodgy Le Rogue-Turtle swimming under water:

 

One morning we hiked the two miles along the cliffs to Baie Flamande.  This is a tradition with us, but this year the goat path along, around, and up and down the cliffs seemed narrower, steeper and trickier. Here are Nancy and John picking their way along a flat bit of the path:

 

The spectacular Baie Flamande, lovely white sand and very few people:

 

We relaxed with some eau gazeuze prior to a five star lunch at the small private hotel at the end of the bay called Ile de France: 

 

Until last year Ile de France was owned by Charles De Vere  and his wife. Charles being the local Church of England vicar, that made Ile de France a vicarage!  The hotel is now owned by LVGH.

The manager Cedric and some of his lovely waitresses:

Our very best to you!

Nancy, John and Roger

26 January 2014

Goodbye Marina, Hello Caribbean Cruising!

Thursday January 16

Adventuress threw off her lines this afternoon and romped out of Oyster Pond with a big smile on her face, and with her mainsail gleaming in the sunshine. Soon the motor was off and we in turn were grinning as we bore away North Westwards under full Jib and reefed Main: great to be sailing again! Just forty minutes later we entered Orient Bay and anchored behind the reef:

 

and we jumped in: great to be swimming again! After our dip we had to celebrate the repaired swim ladder, good as new:

 

Our celebration included marinating lime in ice, gin and tonic:

 

And of course we toasted the early sunset behind the western hills:

 

Now it’s Saturday and we are anchored in Grand Case, another old favourite of ours:

 

And JFK is unhappily obeying all the local laws!

 

Best to all,

John and Nancy

Missing Ladder?

 To the deeply frozen tundra of Pennsylvania, we sang a cheery good-bye! 82 more degrees later (Yes, 85 less 3 brrrr is 82 net!) here we are in St. Martin.  Adventuress was waiting for us in Oyster Pond at Captain Oliver’s Marina and we were very happy to see her. Then we noticed that her aft swim-ladder was missing.  And there were a couple of small gouges on her swim platform! What happened?  

Aha! The 62 foot Sunseeker Predator stink pot, tied behind us stern-to- stern, had large gouges on its swim platform.  Apparently the owner took out his boat - named “Raw”- and when he returned he parked it too close to Adventuress. Why? Who knows…he had 15 feet of empty space ahead of him, but clearly left just a foot astern between Raw and Adventuress! Then came a windy, choppy day and his boat was banging into ours, damaging both boats and sheering off our ladder, which of course sank to the bottom.  After several anxious hours, John was able to speak to the owner of “Raw”, who, it turned out, is on business in Martinique. But he immediately called his “man” Sebastian (Basty), a very competent Frenchman, who lives right here on his big fishing boat at the marina, to deal with repairing our boat. 

Here’s a couple of pics of the diver retrieving our ladder and handing it to Basty on the stern of Raw, which had been belatedly moved away from our stern:

 

 

 

And a pic of our poor bent ladder!

 

“Basty” the Frenchman, took the ladder to FKG, a good rigging and stainless shop here in the Lagoon.  We should have it back as good as new, “no later than next Wednesday”.  Tomorrow a fiberglass specialist is supposed to come and repair the minor damage to our swim platform.  And then we should be back to ship-shape and ready to visit Anse Colombier in St Barth’s.

Best,

Nancy and John

Friday, January 10, 2014

 

 

 

 

Snowing in Lancaster PA

We are back in Lancaster to spend the holidays with family and friends.   It's a beautiful snowy morning here on Boxing day! 

 

We will return to the Caribbean on January 8th.

Happy Boxing Day and a very happy New Year!
Our best wishes,
Nancy and John

Entertaining trip to St. Martin

With the Trades dropping to 5 to 10 knots we left Eustatia Sound at 2.50 am and arrived here at 5.20 pm just in time to catch the 5.30 bridge-opening on the Dutch side. After waiting around for ten minutes a local came by in his dinghy to tell us “they” had changed the bridge opening times and we had missed it – the opening was now at 5pm! Oh well, I guess “they” are the same the world over. But at least we had enjoyed a less than boring motor-sail.

Leaving in the dark is not so tricky as arriving blind: you know where you are, have seen it in daylight, and can calmly plot your exit: and by leaving early morning we were fairly assured of arriving 75nm later in daylight. Even so we did have two chart plotters going to help us out of the reef strewn waters between Eustatia and Necker Islands.

This normally boring passage under motor turned out to be quite entertaining.  We had a beautiful sunrise

Then the engine revs dropped, signaling a dirty fuel filter.  We pulled out some jib and hove-to

 

 and John changed both the primary and secondary filters.  We are hoping this is the last of dirty fuel problems.  We are down to a quarter tank and will fill with fresh diesel here in St Martin.

By mid-morning large convection clouds were all around and yet we dodged all of them: but they were quite impressive

and produced Rainbows

On the trip we had passengers fly in: two Martins resident in Eustatia had decided it was time to see the island named after them. Early on we saw them flying astern, and later one decided to hitch a ride. He perched in various places topsides before flying down below for warmth and a rest.

We wondered what happened to the buddy, and then a couple of hours later, there he was, clinging to the helm seat sheltering behind Nancy. He cuddled up close to her and fell asleep: John decided that he was a very discerning bird. Nancy was able to gently pick him up and put him down below.

Hours later we arrived at Simpson Bay on the Dutch side.  We opened the hatches and our two feathered passengers flew off to start their new life!

Our very best to all of you!

John and Nancy December 4, 2013