Slippery When Wet

I wrote this on Friday, but didn't get a chance to post it then. Let's pretend I posted it late Friday afternoon.

First, some things I left out from Wednesday. While we waited for our laundry, Yoni, CG, and Ben headed over to the rum distillery in Cane Garden Bay. It is the same distillery that makes the rum we bought our first night.

While we filled up on water before leaving the Bay, we got a new stick for mooring! The water parted before us and on the way to Jost Van Dyke we saw many, many rainbows.

After mooring at Jost Van Dyke we had a discussion about capitalism, patents, and free trade preceding our dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. Over dinner our conversation turned to incompetence and disorganization at certain collegiate institutions.

Oh, and earlier in the day Ben took a Joy shower. That is when you shower off the back of the boat with a bucket of sea water and dish soap.

Thursday morning we breakfasted on blueberry muffins and then Sammy, Ben, and Amichai left on the dinghy to go to passport control. Since we were just leaving the BVI, only Sammy really needed to go with our passports and customs forms. Yoni, CG, and I swabbed the deck while we waited.

They returned after about an hour. Why did it take so long? First, the customs lady was watching a Queen Latifah movie the entire time. She had Sammy fill out a lot of paperwork, much of which turned out to be unnecessary because she was able to suddenly print a lot of it out when he was done doing it by hand.

While onshore, they went to check for groceries. They found a grocery store that sold frozen peas and BBQ sauce, but no milk and eggs. There was also a fridge with open beer bottles. It was a real bachelor pad. Only it was a grocery store.

At a cafe Amichai asked for an iced coffee. They said they didn’t sell any. He then asked them if they sold regular coffee. Yes. Could they put it in a cup of ice? Okay.

They gave him a cup of coffee and a cup of ice.


Then we sailed! We sailed for a bit and then we saw a big storm coming.

This is what it looked from one side of the boat:

This is what it looked like from the other:

We weren’t sure how strong the storm was going to be and Sammy’s first thought was that we might be able to stay ahead of it and use the storm winds to push us. He told us all to be ready to let out the sail, but also to bring it in if necessary.

I stood ready by the main. Let out the sail! I started letting it out with the winch.

Then we keeled, more than we ever did before.

PULL IN!!!!!!

We took down the sails.

There were very strong winds and very strong rain, pelting us all on deck. We continued to motor toward our destination, Cruze Bay on the island of St. John.

After the storm died down we raised the sails again, but as the mainsail went up, the halyard line (which raises and lowers it) got caught high up on the mast. We spent several minutes trying to figure out how to get it loose, until I took took the wheel and Sammy saved the day by climbing up the mast and swinging the line loose.

At this point we were entering US waters. We all thought it was now appropriate to pull down the BVI flag. And who better to pull the flag down than our British citizen, Yoni?

It was less successful than expected.

Then we had a rousing chorus of the Star Spangled Banner:

Look at this British citizen happy to be in the US: 

Then a second storm came, but we were better prepared. We motored into Cruze Bay to discover that it’s actually quite a small bay, considering that’s where a customs office for the US is located. There were only a few moorings left and...they were private.

So we had to anchor. No problem, we’ve done that before. Only never have we done that in slightly less than 6 feet of water. And our draft is 5.5 feet. Luckily, a neighboring catamaran’s captain saw we were having some trouble and took his dinghy over to help us out, anchoring us securely. Thank you to David Bello of Fair Winds Sailing!

Then we went ashore for Customs. I was asked if I was bringing any cigars in from the BVI. Nope. I was waved through.

The office of the National Park Service for the National Park that is much of St. John is located here: 

Virgin Islands National Park

After some brief time spent inside the building getting brochures and asking about directions to good locations, we went back to the boat for a quick lunch. We saw some deer on the side of the island.

Then we motored over to Maho Bay. According to the NPS brochure sea turtles come in to the Bay to munch on the sea grass in the morning and late afternoon.

We arrived in Maho Bay a little after 3:00 - still time left before any expected sea turtles. So while Amichai took a nap, the rest of us took the dinghy over to neighboring Cinnamon Bay to go on a hike.

Fancy home(?) on the hillside:

There is a small NPS center at Cinnamon Bay which has a hike centered around an “ancient” rum distillery (decades and decades old).

The hike was pretty cool. The trees were like none other we had seen so far, and it was thickly wooded. We were glad that it was raining intermittently because it felt like a rainforest, there was no one else on the hike, plus some animals were out that we weren’t sure would have been out if it as hot and sunny. It felt like we were walking in Jurassic Park.

Ben almost uses the sense of taste - not a sense recommended by the earlier sign.

We saw this sign much later. Safety is our #1 concern!

The coral which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 

 Timed photography strikes again!

 We saw a couple of these huge spiders and were freaking out. Why did they put this sign towards the end of the trail?

All the other hanging vines were green-yellow. This one was red.

We also saw some animals that were either bats or really large, dark butterflies.

On the way back to the dinghy we saw some crabs:

The dinghy was FULL of water. Time to bail it out!

The dinghy had done interesting things to the sand by the shoreline:

When we got back to the boat, Sammy and Amichai went to go look for the local store at Maho Bay to pick up some groceries. Yoni, Ben, CG, and I got on our snorkeling equipment to look for sea turtles - it was now after 5! We agreed that if anyone saw one, that person would shout to everyone else.

First, a musical performance by Ben:

Ben was the last to get in the water and was about 30 feet behind us, but was the first to shout. But by the time we got there, it was too late. He said it looked like a large fish, like a barracuda, was chasing the turtle.

But it was no matter. Soon enough after being joined by two young snorkelers from a neighboring catamaran, we saw more turtles! The first was large and had two fish hitching rides on it, the way some fish do to sharks. One was greenish and attached to the bottom, the other was gray and on its top. The turtle fed on the sea grass below while we literally surrounded it and followed it for awhile. Later on, we saw another turtle, although it was smaller and had no attached fish.

Besides the turtles, we also saw starfish and many sea urchins (besides schools of little fish). CG and Ben saw a ray. I had left my underwater camera on the boat.

There was a better sunset here than at Cane Garden Bay:

Back on the boat, Amichai and Sammy had gotten groceries - after climbing about 100 slippery steps up a hill to get to the store. For dinner that night, masterminded by Ben, we cooked up a Caribbean feast, featuring: ackee and saltfish (with an ackee substitute), dumplings, fried plaintains, and pina coladas. The meal was quite salty, but good. We went around saying highs and lows, although all of us had trouble saying just one for each. Finally, we discovered that here many of us have our US cell phone service again!

Today (Friday) I was woken up by Sammy at 7:37. Did I want to go snorkeling with him and Ben for sea turtles? I was sleepy, but I eventually got in the water around 8.

And we saw some! Sammy and Ben got in the water about ten minutes before me and saw a bunch; I saw one or two. This time I had my underwater camera! I hope the pictures came out well.

Afterwards we breakfasted on bagels and scrambled eggs. When I was finally dry enough and it stopped drizzling (more rainbows) I davened and we made some calls to where we are docking for Shabbos and to Chabad, to finalize plans.

Then we motored over to Trunk Bay, for an underwater trail. Who would steer?

We ended up not going on the underwater trail. Instead we took the dinghy ashore to the large beach and relaxed on it. On the way over a motor yacht was bearing down on us, so Yoni pulled up one of the oars and mimed rowing, to the delight of the passing yacht.

At the beach we played frisbee and buried Yoni in sand.

Now, after sailing over to Red Hook Bay, we are docked in the harbor for Shabbos. We'll be davening and eating at Chabad. It will be nice to be with fellow Jews for the first time on this trip.

Shabbat Shalom!

Not The Last Resort: From The Bitter End to (Sugar) Cane Garden Bay

Monday morning, after the last post, we continued to relax at The Bitter End for awhile. While Amichai and CG took a nap on the hammock, Yoni, Ben, and I relaxed on chairs by the beach, and Sammy took care of some emails. We had a late lunch back on the boat. Then it was time for sailing.

Since The Bitter End is towards the east-most area of the British Virgin Islands, we had to begin sailing west. The trade winds here come from the east, so we had to sail downwind. There are two options for sailing downwind: going northwest, then southwest, then northwest, then southwest, etc. That is the easier way. The second is sailing directly downwind, with the jib and and the mainsail pointing in opposite directions. Guess which way we did? The much cooler, faster, and harder way:

Sailing with the wind behind us was a lot less rocky than the time before. We could be traveling very fast, but almost not feel it at all. The boat did not keel so much either. That is not to say we didn’t have any incidents - at one point Ben accidentally unwound a very tight jib sheet and Yoni just managed to survive.

The real problem that could occur with this method of sailing is if the wind dies on you. This happened and in order to get to our next destination in time, we had to motor-sail. Finally, we reached Trellis Bay, where we got our mooring for the night.

Amidst the motor yachts, catamarans, and other sailing boats was this vessel. I wished I could have gone on it:

Before going ashore, I looked for my water bottle. I checked the fridge and lo and behold - the fridge didn’t seem cold. The freezer area was not frosted. Our refrigerator was not running.

Then a dinghy pulled up, offering to sell us ice. We declined, thinking we’d buy some ashore. Although it was a bit mysterious how they showed up to sell us ice so quickly...

We docked our dinghy by the Artists’ Colony, which had an internet cafe next door. Farther down the shore was another cafe and a supermarket. But the supermarket was closed.

We explored the area near the artists colony:

We had just missed the Full Moon party, where they light up the huge fireballs. Oh well.

In the internet cafe the guy at the counter was...interesting. When Sammy walked in he asked what Sammy had on his head. Before Sammy could respond, he asked if it was a spaceship. Then he told Sammy Jews were the first aliens and they all have circular landing pads for spaceships on their heads. Noticing Sammy's discomfort, he changed the subject and asked if Sammy had been to Jerusalem. Then he asked if Sammy had seen the icons in Jerusalem and informed him they were connected to London. Sammy asked how he knew this, had he ever been to Jerusalem? No. Had he ever been to London? No.  He told Sammy the politics there were too crazy and he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Sammy bought an ice cream bar.

When I went in he asked if we were hasidic. I said no, but you could say we’re Orthodox. Then he turned on a microphone and said “Trellis Bay welcomes the Orthodox Jews and their satellites.” I signed the guestbook.

There were even sculptures in the water:

This was one of the most relaxing spots we had been to. The Artists’ Colony store was very cool and filled with gorgeous (if expensive) objects, and we went back to it the next day.

Near dark, we dinghied over to the very small island in the middle of the bay, home to The Last Resort, a restaurant. When we walked in we seemed to have crashed a small family reunion. Undeterred by the many people around us that knew each other but not who we were, we began to play foosball on a table that was actually somewhat broken (have you ever played foosball on a table where it slopes towards the middle?). Here Sammy bought us a bag of ice to keep in our fridge. 
Normally they wouldn’t sell a bag of ice, but once Sammy told the sob story of our broken fridge, the guy broke down and sold it.

Trellis Bay is by Beef Island, which is connected to Tortola by a bridge. Even so, we had chicken for dinner. It was already defrosted for us. Yoni and I just popped it into the microwave (CG had cooked it back in NY). We also made some french fries (chips) and stir fry. There were no more plastic knives, so we ended up eating with our hands. It was quite delicious. That night some of us watched a movie, then went to sleep.

Tuesday morning TMM sent a fridge repairman over and our fridge became fixed! We also had a defrosted-then-heated pumpkin pie for breakfast while this happened. Then we relaxed and read a bit before heading back to shore. We continued to relax onshore, went shopping, and got groceries. Then it was time to head out again.

Our first stop was the beautiful snorkeling at Monkey Point. It was really, really nice. I used on of the underwater cameras I brought to take photos this time. No photos yet for here though - it’s a film camera, so I’ll get them eventually. There was lots of coral of different types. There were some very pretty fish (in rainbow colors, yellow and black stripes, bright blue, bright blue and black, some that looked like a mosaic of colors, white, and one that I took a photo of that was camouflaging on the seafloor). As I snorkeled from the boat over to where most of the coral was, I passed a much larger fish that could have either been a barracuda or a small shark. I think I got a picture of it, but I was also sort of freaking out, so I’m not sure I caught it.

The land jutted out here in a narrow point, which meant that there were two beaches on either side. Two thirds of the way through snorkeling, Ben and I got out and walked a bit on the double beach. That’s when I discovered the rock formations. By rock formations I mean lots of stones set out on the beach in the shape of hearts, BVI, LOVE, anchors, whales, etc. It was cool and I took a photo or two...on my underwater camera. Then I snorkeled a bit more and headed back to the boat.

While I was snorkeling, Amichai and Sammy brought the dinghy closer to the snorkeling area and actually did some rock climbing! (Possible movie upload later.)

Then we sailed to Cane Bay. I even steered us into the bay!

As we tried to pick up the mooring though, the stick used to lift it out of the water broke. Ben valiantly dove in to try to get it, to no avail. We had to take the dinghy out to pick up the mooring rope and then hand it up to tie it.

A broken staff.

According to our guidebook, "To experience a sunset at Cane Garden Bay is nothing less than a special magic that creates an unforgettable memory."  Here is the sunset.

It was pretty okay.

We then made dinner (hot dogs, stir fry, fried peppers, corn). Then Yoni, Ben, CG, and I took the dinghy ashore to check it out. We walked along the beach for awhile and then a downpour started. Really quickly. We scattered in different directions for shelter. I ended up crouched under a juice stand. Literally crouched. It was the only way I fit in. When the rain let up a bit, I joined Ben under a large umbrella area.

After the rain, we stopped at Quito’s, a bar where everyone else got some drinks (I am still on an antibiotic for my mysterious bug bite). They had a performer there. There was also a middle aged couple that danced! They were pretty good.

We then dinghy-ed back. Sammy and Amichai were going to sleep. I showered and read while the rest watched Death at a Funeral.

As we davened on the boat this morning we got some stares from the neighboring catamaran. Maybe we looked a bit different than normal with our tefillin. They didn’t ask us any questions though. They just stared. A lot.

Ben wanted to be onshore by 10 because of an expected important phone call that he was told would take about a half hour. So we tried to eat breakfast quickly before taking the dinghy ashore. His call came at 9:50. We turned off the engine (we were charging the battery) and got very quiet. His call was over after about 2 minutes. Why? The caller knew he was on a boat and said they’d discuss the rest at a later time. We all felt that it was a bit anticlimactic.

We actually did go ashore though, after breakfast. We sat and read awhile in a restaurant overlooking the beach before finding out there was a laundromat nearby. Since it’s been a week and a half since we got here, we figured this was a great opportunity. So Yoni, CG, Sammy, and I took the dinghy back to gather laundry. As we got to the boat we realized Ben had the key to unlock the area with our quarters. No problem! Our top hatch wasn’t locked from the inside, so we just turned the handles from the outside and I let myself in through the hatch and unlocked the doors from the inside. I guess you can say we broke into our own boat.

Back ashore, after finding a place to get quarters and with detergent bought, we put our laundry in. Based on how the place looked, we weren't entirely confident.  This place would make our clothing clean??

I asked around and was told it should take about 20 minutes to wash. And we waited. And waited. Eventually we found out the machines were broken. By the time we left to go back to the boat with our (possibly clean? I still had some stains) laundry, we were 2.5 hrs behind schedule.


There was something wrong with the rinse and spin cycle:

A little bit of rust never hurt anyone:

And it's a super-hot muggy day. In any event, after making it back and having lunch, we refilled on water, and then headed to our next spot at Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke.

To the Bitter End

Sunday morning we showered onshore again. It's become a bit funny to us how something we generally take for granted during the rest of the year becomes something we look forward to and anticipate here. Besides showering, some more groceries were bought. That is when Ben and CG discovered saltfish.

In an effort to find out what this was, they asked a local guy about it. He said, "If you saw this fish you wouldn't want to eat it. It is like the woman (now looking directly at CG) once a month (motioned his hands downward) , it is moody, like the woman."

Ben and CG bought it.

Once everyone was back on the boat, we all ambushed Sammy with water guns! Happy Birthday to Sammy! He quickly retaliated by opening up a bottle of water and splashing all of us. And a good time was had by all.

Then we left the dock. Here are a couple of photos I took at the last second before leaving; one has the supermarket in the background, the other has the Swiss ship that was anchored there. We're still puzzling over how a landlocked country has a registered ship.

As we were leaving the dock area another boat kept cutting us off from our escape, motoring backwards and forwards in front of us. From their movement it wasn't clear if they were going in or out, then Sammy asked if they were going in or out and they said in, giving us a dirty look. Then they proceeded to motor backwards, almost into our boat, and Sammy shouted "WATCH OUT!" But there was no collision. Sammy called out "Have a nice vacation!" I'm sure that smoothed things over.

Our sail for the day was VERY choppy and windy. We went pretty fast, but the boat was often keeled over very much to the side and it could get quite rocky. We often sat at the edge of the boat opposite where the boat leaned, to counteract with our weight.

But I steered part of the time!

I'm looking up in the photo because that is what I was doing quite often. It was to check the angle of the sail in reference to the wind. It was important to keep it at a certain angle so we could travel. Steering was both my high and my low of the day. High because it was amazing (and harder than steering a car), low because I was afraid I was going to kill everyone. The winds were very strong.

Other notable moments of the trip (which were too hair raising to take photos of):

• The knot in the jib furler that Ben caught as we tried to furl the jib. Everyone needed to help because the tension was so strong.
• When the jib sheets were ripping around where Amichai was standing because they were loose and Sammy shouted to CG to "Pull for Amichai's life! Pull for your husband's life!"
• When the wind blew off the metal lid of the BBQ grill and it flipped around on its thin metal string, making a huge racket

But we finally arrived at our next destination, which was at the top of the island of Virgin Gorda. One of the first things we noticed was as we moored, which was lots of blue jellyfish in the water! It was both very cool and very creepy.

The wind blew a towel off our boat, but Sammy managed to fish it out before it sank. Then he and Yoni wrung it out.

Yoni: I feel like I’m killing a swan

After lunch, this lady showed up:

Yes, that is a lady that pulled up alongside us in her dinghy, selling jewelry. She was French-Canadian. Ben talked to her a little bit about Montreal, then CG bought some earrings.

It was time to go ashore. This is what awaited us:

The Bitter End Yacht Club. It was nicer than we expected, actually quite a nice place. Since we've recently become accustomed to judging places not only on their outside appearances, but by their bathrooms as well, I can testify that this place also had air conditioning in their bathroom, and the walls and floor were made of dark wood. So it's pretty nice.

The lady at the front desk when we arrived was Kasheema, of the Green Eyes. Green eyes that Ben complimented her on, only to find out from CG later that they were definitely lenses. In any event, Sammy got a $10 discount for our mooring because it was his birthday!

Then we went off to enjoy ourselves. Sammy and Yoni went kiting:

The rest of us went to the beach a short walk away. It was a really gorgeous beach, with palm trees, beach chairs, thatched roofs over the chairs to shade from the sun, and the softest sand ever. It was perfect for walking on - it sank in just enough to feel amazing, but it was firm enough that you could walk without slipping back and forth. I admit, I walked back and forth several times just to experience it. Then I went into the water, along with Ben and CG.

There were no jellyfish.

Sammy and Yoni came back and we sang Happy Birthday to Sammy again. Then we bestowed our gift upon him: a massage at the spa, on us. Since the spa was closing soon, he got the massage this morning instead. He said it was very relaxing and quite oily. But good. And then the people chased us around for the money, but Ben (who had the money) had gone off searching for iguanas. But we're not up to that yet.

Yoni and I began building a sand castle. Since the tide was coming in, it was important to build a defending wall around the castle, which would also form a moat. Yoni guided me, and CG as well, from his years of experience building sand castles as a child.

Yoni: This is a grown-up's beach; no one else is doing this.

The castle looks like a tower-lump, but Yoni assured us that there were actually castles that looked like this in the 11th century. We also added a staircase to the castle tower, which made it look somewhat like a ziggurat:

Sammy: Yoni, that’s quite phallic of you.

Nearby there was a hammock, which I went to relax on. The Birthday Boy joined me.

Amichai, Sammy, and I then went over to the restaurant/bar which had WiFi, where we checked email and relaxed. Ben relaxed on his own in his island paradise

while Yoni and CG made a golem.

So maybe it was sand, not earth and clay. But Yoni and CG made a large sand woman.

CPR:

Then CG destroyed the sand woman, which I took a movie of, but it may be too violent for our readership. Then Ben, Yoni, and CG joined us at our table. CG got a Bushwacker, which was basically an alcoholic milkshake, Ben got a Malibu Bay Breeze, and Sammy got a 7&7 with too much 7. We also got free popcorn!

We took the dinghy back as it began to get dark and realized that it seemed as if the same loud Puerto Ricans had come from Spanish Town and moored nearby. But our focus was on dinner, which we needed to use our BBQ for.

The wind was so intense sparks from the grill were flying all over and we were afraid some would land on the dinghy and the petroleum would catch fire. We frantically moved the dinghy to the other side of the boat.

Then we began cooking, to the music of the Beach Boys and The Shins. Dinner was Ahi tuna, corn on the cob, salad, and...brownies for Sammy's birthday!

Our experimentation with timed picture-taking, count down 10 seconds:

It was also the first meal we had on the boat that was downstairs.


There was a bit of disagreement between CG and Amichai on how to draw an anchor:

 In the next campaign, be sure to Support the Bottom.

After the meal we talked for awhile and then went to sleep.

This morning we had croissants for breakfast! Sara Lee frozen products, everyone. We then dinghy-ed in for Sammy's massage and other activities. I've been working on gathering photos and writing the blog, Amichai did some work he had to catch up on, and Yoni, CG, and Ben disappeared in a search for iguanas.

Until next time!