US Virgin Islands, St. Thomas

St. Thomas is part of the US Virgin Islands and is geared up for cruise ships so the shopping is great, duty free. We anchored off the Yacht Haven Grande Marina. When there are no cruise ships in port, the stores in the Havensight Mall at the marina are all closed.

While at St. Thomas we helped Blake celebrate his 40th birthday aboard Spectra. Slow Mocean stayed a couple of days before heading back to Culebra where she will stay for a couple of weeks while Sunny and Blake return to the States. We hope they will catch up with us further "down island".  We are sailing south east from the USVIs to St. Martin where we will pick up our friend Barry before visiting the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean.

Some of the bar and souvenir kiosks on a cruiseship-free day. Closed.

Abandoned sugar mill.

Daisie enjoys a walk and a photo op in St. Thomas.

Strelitzia Reginae, Bird of Paradise

Spectacular Bioluminescence

Everyone says it's a waste of time taking a camera. There's no way you can get a picture of this natural wonder, especially on a moonless night and certainly not with a flash. Even so, I set out with camera in waterproof bag for the dinghy ride around the couple of headlands to the "special bay".


Where? The secluded bay of Puerto Mosquito in Vieques. When? Some dark night. Why? As Pavlidis says in his guide to Puerto Rico: "If there is something you must do in your lifetime it is to dive on a moonless night into the dark serene waters..... you will see the water splash up in a burst of millions of lights as if fireworks were sent up from the depths".


It is indeed true, "as you glide through the water you develop an eerie glow and when you resurface, thousands of sparkling lights remain on you for a brief moment". Sunny, Blake and Robert seem dazzled by the experience.

We feel as if we are part of a Disney movie! Tinkerbell must have been here.

I'm so glad I took the camera! The spectacle would have been impossible to describe.

Trade Winds

The jump off the East Coast U.S. across the Gulf Stream and through The Bahamas chain of islands is a good training ground for the trade winds. The Bahamas gets you 3 days of calm and then 4 days of 20 to 25 knt winds with the wind clocking like, well... clockwork. A voice in my head says, "Head south young man"! The Caribbean is calling. 

We'll enjoy 20 to 25 knots every day and then as we do our "easting" through the northern part of the Caribbean, we'll really know we're sailing. We're soon to find out about sailing the Trades. We have read the book "The Gentleman's Guide to Passages South" and have been duly warned.

If we get bored with monotonous easterlies, we can spice up our lives with some "cape effect" sailing, which is sure to provide an opportunity to drop into the washing machine. Waves bob and skip as the wind tries to counter all our tacking efforts, trying to make forward progress towards the next island. The wind will persist in all directions to come at us straight on our nose. Then to top it all off, why not throw in a little treat; an early morning squall with a 30 knot gust or two. We are learning fast about the Trades. What we wouldn't do for a wind-less day.

Easting in the Trades can be a challenge. So what is there to like about the Trades? "Like" being a relative term.

• Mosquitoes get blown all the way to Mexico.
• After a day in the sun the gentle gale blowing across the deck helps soothe the sunburn.
• The wind chop gently rocks you into an afternoon siesta and suddenly builds to wake you for dinner.
• The bbq grill stays clean due to the fact the wind blows out the flame before you get a chance to land the chops.
• The wind generator keeps those batteries topped up.
• You can hone your sailing techniques by tacking endlessly to windward.
• Wind and waves create humorours moments getting in and out of the dinghy.
• Guaranteed dinghy butt (as in wet duds) with every outing - the signature of a real cruiser.

Any Port in a Storm

This week one of Bristol Rose's engine mount brackets broke. Crossing from the big island of Puerto Rico to Vieques, I discovered the damage and quickly shut down the engine to prevent any stress on the remaining supports. We were able to sail the remainder of the passage.

Our friends on Slow Mocean were already on the island of Vieques. I hailed Blake on the VHF radio to ask if there looked to be any facilities in Vieques that could get the support bracket fixed. Good news there is a local machine shop and a couple of local welders that can help. Blake helped me remove the broken engine mount. The damage was worse then we had originally thought. A weld job may not be enough. We really need a replacement part. Finding the part proved to be more difficult as this is an aftermarket part, used to mount our Seafrost refrigerator compressor. It's not made by the engine manufacturer, Yanmar. I called Bill at Shannon Boat Company, the builder of Bristol Rose. Bill offered some ideas to get us operational. After a number of calls I made contact with the RV Power, the Puerto Rico Yanmar Distributor. Their customer service is disappointing; after numerous phone calls and emails, I am still waiting for RV Power to get back to me with price and delivery. Time for plan B. That means a repair of the broken bracket so that we can get to a port that can assist us with getting a new part. As the sailors of old say “any port in a storm”. 

Blake and I go to town to find a welder. We get a name. A young lady working a tourist stand in the main street knows of the welder we're looking for.  She suggests that the guys in the bar across the street could help. We ask around the bar, and sure enough one of the patrons is a friend of the welder. He is getting ready to go to Utah today. On close inspection of the damaged part the patrons of the bar tell us that the guy we are looking for does not have the equipment to make the repair. They suggest either walking 3 miles to AA Machine Shop or sit in the bar and hail down a guy in a white truck who carries welding equipment that could make the repair. 

We ordered a beer and watched the passing traffic, looking for a white truck. There he is but we're too slow to wave him down. Not to worry he will be back. After waving down the wrong truck and finishing our beer, making the 3 mile trip to AA machine shop looks the better option. The AA Machine Shop is surprisingly well equipped. Three men are busy working, one of the men approaches us. Without a word from him I hand him the broken bracket. He walks away, grinds and tacks the bracket back together.  It is offered to us for inspection, still without a word. We indicate that it looks good, thumbs up, and he then proceeds to complete the repair. It should see us through to when a new part is shipped. On completion we ask the man “do you speak English?” "Of course!" The damage is $10 for the repair, $6 for a taxi and $4 for beer.  One of the successes to be celebrated and talked about later!

Bristol Rose Crosses the Mona Passage