2009-2010 Caribbean / Bahamas Trip
November Pictures
Early AM departure from Annapolis
Sun, 15 knots, wing and wing, all day to Solomon's on the Chesapeake.
Full moon at Jackson's Creek
A very pretty neighbor seen the next morning
We're off for the BVI. 25-30 knots and a beam reach heading for the Gulf Stream. Just leaving Norfolk
Virginia Beach for the Pilkington's
Day 1 sunset
Lot of dolphins this trip
Our hitchhiker. Seemed like a nice guy. A bit on the messy side.
Couldn't resist feeding him. He seemed so hungry.
Shango bimini free...Amy had to do some emergency repairs when our sail viewing port ripped out.
Sunrise over the Gulf Stream. Here's hoping it stays mild till we get across.
A couple days later things were not so calm. One of our reef lines broke. Thank goodness for our handy plumber's snake to feed a new line through the boom.
Our second day of 25-35 with gusts to 40. Pictures never do justice to the power of the seas and wind. Shango was in her element.
When thing's calmed down, Amy repaired some torn UV on the jib and a broken leech line fastener.
Just in time for another dose of squalls that afternoon and night.
Amy at the helm with Champ doing all the work...everyone seems to give their wind vane a name, and Amy's first inspiration is Champ.
Just me
This was our best stretch of the passage . We had bypassed Bermuda due to an impending storm and headed south on a roaring reach for 24-36 hours. Double reefed main and staysail gave us plenty of power and allowed us to be very comfortable.
More sail issues....we lost a batten. We had a spare fortunately. I ended up using a bolt and fender washers to keep the replacement in place. Seems to be working.
Another hitchhiker.
The weather was perfect but the wind started to die...
Southwest of Bermuda we encountered 6 days of wind and seas just like this. It was a very, very trying time.
An occasional squall would give us some wind. But it was always short lived.
Our only excitement were the cloud formations.
At long last it was over. At first light on the 18th day we arrived at Jost van Dyke in the BVIs.
Our first morning in the Caribbean. We had seen no land for 18 days so any sighting gave us a cheap thrill.
Heading into Great Harbor, Jost van Dyke to clear customs, have a well deserved drink, and sleep without worrying about your next watch.
The next day there was a non stop parade of charter catamarans arriving in Great Harbor to take part in Thanksgiving festivities at Foxy's, the local watering hole. We felt very conspicuous.
After Thanksgiving we headed to Soper's Hole Tortola to get fuel. On the way we saw these interesting cliff top houses
Sunset at our next stop, Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda.
We left the BVI and headed for St. John in the US Virgins for a couple days before heading to Grenada. Here we are passing Coral Harbor. We will stop here in February to visit friends
More St. John. A very pretty island.
And one more St. John shot on our way to Cruz Bay to check back into the US. Nice wind and very nice broad reach.