bvi captains log blog

Turnaround on charter and back to marina Cay!

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:41:07 -0700

I think I am running on empty this evening. What a busy day it has been. It included dropping one guest at the airport at 8 AM, getting to Roadtown to drop one at the ferry at 915. Getting the laundry off the boat and last weeks back, getting the rest of the guests off bar one, going to...wait for it!...Supa Valu, Cash and Carry, Riteway, One Mart, and the French Deli to provision for the charter next few days, going to a British Virgin Islands SCUBA Organization Meeting, getting the new guys back on and being up at Marina Cay by 415 to go to Michael Beans! I do have to admit I fudged today and bought a dessert tonight instead of making one, but riteway Bakery has these wonderful whole frozen Black and White Espresso Cakes that cost $55.30, but I have quite developed a liking for lately!!
Last night the guys Sang us a song which they had made, and applauded, which gave us all a warm fuzzy feeling!

Far away where the nights are gay
and the sun shines brightly on the mountain tp
We took a trip on a sailing ship and when we reached tortola we made a stop...

Well I'm glad to say we are down this way, away from winter for many a day
The worry of work begins to fade as we live large on the Promenade...

Kerry she feeds us, everyone
Joe Cap and John B take up all the sun..
Keenan drinks out the bar at Willy T's
and Larry drinks absinthe with pain if not ease..

Well I'm glad to say we are down this way, away from winter for many a day
The worry of work begins to fade as we live large on the Promenade...

Chad and Simeon work to further world peace,
Landing this sorry lot after catch and release
Doug and Joe did ok in the sack,
And Ken has succumbed to Kenny Walker Black..

Well I'm glad to say we are down this way, away from winter for many a day
The worry of work begins to fade as we live large on the Promenade...

Lou left the bar cuz he was spent
while Chris keeps hammering 4 %
If you join a game you better think twice cuz Bazzas playing with loaded dice!!

Well I'm glad to say we are down this way, away from winter for many a day
The worry of work begins to fade as we live large on the Promenade...

All this and great voices as well!

Then it was time for a game of "Mafia" after dinner, but I think some took the opportunity to nap!!

Our new group was looking perky and smiley as they pulled up to the boat...

Some of the many time repeats did not even take off their shoes before they found their way to the beer locker (and did not have to be told where it was either!)

Marina Cay was calling our name, as Beans only plays Monday through Thursday and off they went. Bazza and I followed in a bit just for half and hour to watch the show... Note for my mother...being on charter has helped me get back in shape (everything is relative) as for the first time since we hired Richard and Lisa I managed to make it up the hill at Marina Cay without stopping for a breath half way up!!

Some of our guests (and crew) seemed to bond and have a good time...

and others of our guests really enjoyed the entertainment and sang along with every word! It was cute to watch!

I made an early escape to get dinner ready, and they all made it back safe and sound...

Dinner was downed quickly...

ALong with dessert, coffee and liqueurs as there is some kind of game on tonight so it is off to shore for them to watch!

The Adventures of Charter Yacht Sophisticated Lady in Haiti...the saga continues...

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:56:03 -0700

Updated from Sophisticated Lady on Traveltalkonline today...the saga continues...

We're still here just prepping 'Sophisticated Lady' for sea... found out yesterday the parts were scanned in to DHL Haiti at about 4pm yesterday... Yahoo!! 6 minutes later they were re-scanned as clearance delayed... Guess now we've entered the realm of the Haitian waiting game. They arrived in the name of the head of the Haitian Rotary club, Dr Leger, so hopefully he'll be able to get in touch with customs and help the parts get through as quickly as possible.

Meantime, we've been busy cleaning and organizing and getting ready for our departure which will hopefully be before the weekend. They came with fuel this morning, had to come over in a little boat with 12 gallon drums and hand pump them in to the main tank... took a while, but we managed to get 72 gallons which topped up the main tank and filled all our jerry cans to the top... means that if we can sail at least 150 miles towards destination, we should have enough fuel to motor the rest of the way even after factoring going upwind against the current. If we have to motor the first half of the trip, then we'll probably stop in Santo Domingo first to top up again, just to be safe.

Some of the local guys have become good friends and are doing all they can to help. Yesterday they asked to borrow snorkel gear from us... two guys went down and scraped our hull and another one came back later with several lobsters and some fish. Then the guys started coming in dug out canoes with containers of water... anything they could find... buckets, empty bleach bottles, cooler bottles, etc... they started making trips and filling our tanks with water from a local cistern that recently filled up with fresh rain water from all the rain we had the other night... that's another story in itself... we weren't expecting rain as it hasn't rained since we've been here, but it came down in buckets, and we were off the boat and had left several hatches open... needless to say, we've been drying things out ever since!

After that they came back with a full basket of fresh fruits from the local village... including a kind of passion fruit we've never seen before... they are small and orange and are so light and feel like plastic, you'd swear they were ornamental... but you cut them open and pour the contents into a pitcher of water and stir and you an excellent juice! Apparently the locals say it makes an excellent drink when mixed with rum and a bit of sugar... have to try that one when we get back to Tortola! They also brought us lemons and limes, oranges, and the biggest papayas I've ever seen... as big as footballs!

We're trying to think of ways to look after these guys for helping us so much, they've been going to unbelievable lengths. Our cash supply is pretty much depleted, but we're thinking maybe we can leave them some of our snorkel gear and replace it when back in Tortola. They really enjoy using it, and seems to really help them with catching food.

We may leave some of our spare life jackets for the ferries as well... they pile so many people into these little boats powered by small outboards, and then head out across 5-6 miles of open ocean to the mainland... thinking we should bring them some safety gear for the boats next time! They know we don't have any cash, but I think we'll try and leave them whatever we can that we don't need, and try and replace it when we get back. One thing would be great to send them is a box of silicone caulking tubes so they can patch up their canoes and small boats... every boat leaks and they constantly have to bail while paddling around in them... I think a little silicone would go a long way here!

Anyway, managed to get a few more pictures uploaded, so here's a few recent ones...

One of the local sloops sending us off on our original departure

Life at sea before we got hit

'Sophisticated Lady' at anchor in Caye Cook Bay, Ile La Vache

Happily and safely back on land Christmas morning

A local missionary escorting us by dinghy across the channel to Les Cayes

One of the local ferries to the mainland

Downtown Les Cayes

the local market in Les Cayes

Locals at the market

More of the market

Filling up the water tanks onboard

SCUBA Diving the RMS Rhone

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:47:50 -0700

We need to make longer days on charter sometimes! When you try and fit everything you do in a week into 3 days, the hours run out pretty quick! Most of my pictures today are diving pictures. The guys did Willy T's last night, and we were up and at the Caves for breakfast and snorkeling followed by a trip up to Salt Island to dive the RMS Rhone. I was not going in the water today, as I had a lot of work to do, but the current was running stronger then I had seen it for many years there and I quickly took the opportunity to split the group and take some of the divers in!

I am not sure whether we "saw" the wreck as opposed to "swept past the Rhone" in the current...

Could not even get on the wreck in spots, so we headed to the deep end down current (knowing that my husband had promised to pick us up in the dinghy)

We swept by the outside, turned around and came up the bow...(yes, the visibility was this clear, with all that current what do you suppose?)

We then thought that maybe we would find less current inside the wreck so in we went...

We spied a large turtle sitting in the back there with the bait fish... Was I ever glad I had brought my camera as I was not going to, as it was such a last minute dive, but Bazza got it together for me in 2 minutes I think!

Sharp crisp picture of a shell! Shame about the head!!!

Tried again, still no head! By this time he was past me!

BUT I turned around and kept shooting and I really like this shot!

Then he stayed inside and let us watch him, in fact we could have picked him up, he was so unscared!

We attempted to swim out of the boat where you normally do and turn around and take pictures again, but nope, the current was too strong!

We had to turn around and go back the way we came in and it was like an amusement ride, you just tried to steer as it whipped us right through and out!

The divers loved it, I loved the turtle, and the dinghy picked us up so it was perfect!

We had lunch underway to the Baths, did a tour of the Baths and were at Marina Cay and anchored by 430 for MIchael Beans HAPPPYYY AAAARRRRR show! I stayed on the boat where I could hear all the songs (and my mens voices) perfectly.
An early drop tomorrow and then an early pick up tomorrow afternoon, and off we go again.

Anchored at Willy T's in the Bight on Norman

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:07:09 -0700

As always, it seemed to be a very busy day on Promenade. We slogged it after breakfast, no sailing, all the way from Jost over to Little Harbour on Peter Island. Windy was nonexistent really to do any sailing today... Once at Peter Island I took in the certified divers for a swim...

We saw a great lobster, although there is a lot of this soft blue growth over much of the reef. I am not sure what it is at all...

A nice little fish...

A couple rays hanging around, we were in for 64 minutes so it was just a nice relaxing dive.

While we were in Simeon had 3 smiley brand new resort divers....

New way of doing resort dives maybe??? From the ladder?? Who knows!

They were looking like pros though when I came upon them at the end of our dive, mask clearing and all sorts going on!

Now Tom just looks like he is scared to death here and begging for his life...(maybe he was!)

I am not sure whether I am getting a peace, victory or OK Sign here!

This is the dive instructors version of "COME HERE" The hoses on the BC's come in very handy sometimes!

Some chose to just stand on deck and supervise...

We had caught a little Tuna trolling up here, so he was slated to become sushimi at Cocktail hour. They call this a "false tuna" for some reason!

It is always dangerous when you see these trays come out...

Things barely fit on the table between all the glasses, food, men and what have you. We did dishes for a long time afterwards!

After the cocktail hour was cleared away somehow an entirely different set of liquor bottles hit the table before dinner and a different game was going on....

I think this is the pre dinner "is there anything going on at Willy T's (as that is where we are anchored tonight)

A new menu item tonight. One I have not thought of before. Apparently Spaghetti and Meatballs goes very well with lobster, shrimp and scallop scampi!! I did not realize that, but there was a definite split in the group as far as meal choice tonight so we combined it all!

One of us had a birthday a couple days ago, and I am not sure what they were trying to give him here, but most people found it very funny and Joe was definitely not accepting it.

So ends another day on the boat...

UPDATE:Virgin Islands Christmas Present to Haiti with Michael Beans, Yachts Sophisticated Lady and Fairwinds and the Tortola Rotary Club.

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:18:19 -0700

This appeal for help was sent around by Harry Birch off of Fairwinds this weekend.

"Would it be possible to get a members notice about our situation here in Haiti.
As you know we left Tortolla with a cargo of outboard engines to diliver to the Island of Isle a Vache Haiti for Micheal Beans good Samaritain foundation
My engine broke down in St Thomas and we failed to get a mechanic to solve the problem. I decided that it was very important to get the engines here together with food cloths and medicines ect. However we sailed down under wind power,and found here that the engine is siezed. We also expeiranced a severe gale one day before arrival that damaged my mainsail,that also lost my dingy .
My funds are extreemly low and Carron who came on the voyage with Ricks yacht Sophiscated Lady has lent me the cost of two air tickets back from Jamica to Tortola . I plan to sail Fairwind on down wind to Jamica thenI must lift Fairwind in Port Antonio as I also have a shaft coupling problem that needs replacing.
My situation is somewhat fraught with anxiety as to where I will raise the money for the repairs and boat yard.
I volanteered for this charity project and I appeal to all cruising charter yacht owners to help me with funds in my time of distress.
Regards to all Harry"

You can read my original posting on the story here a couple blog posts below this entry.

When you think of a salty old sea dog, you think of Harry! Harry thought he was going to get into the crewed charter business a couple of years ago and spiffed up himself and his boat for all the brokers to see. Unfortunately, Harry, or those advising him, were not honest enough with him to tell him that he and Fairwinds did not really measure up to crewed charter yacht standards, even for the budget end. When we came on the boat, he had his rum bottle firmly in hand, and his cigarette ashtray was overflowing. He said his favorite type of guests would be honeymoon couples as they would be busy and he could sit upstairs in the cockpit and drink rum! Needless to say, his crewed chartering career did not go any further then that.

I have seen various schemes from him over the last couple years, attempting to survive in the Caribbean and live the dream. None of what I said above takes away from the act of kindness that he and Sophisticated Lady did in taking their boats with donations to Haiti, and now need help themselves.

Harry is another one of those Caribbean Characters you see in every Marina throughout the Caribbean, and I hope that he and his boat are safe and sound.

Great Thatch and Jost Van Dyke on the first day of charter

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:27:01 -0700

We are back on charter! Picked up all our men for this charter, and the weather is lovely...

Everyone sat around for a bit and got acquainted, as we had a few first timers on this charter...

Then we put my son Chad to work right away, with him complaining the entire time how we was sweating so much as it had gone from -40 to what felt like him to plus 40 in 24 hours! We had a lovely spinnaker run down to Great Thatch Island...

And had lunch underway. Thatch was lovely and we tucked into the corner for some snorkeling...

Chad and I went off to explore some garbage on the beach, it looked like big items that were not there a week ago. Still a ton of plastic bottles though...

Must have been remains of a boat washed up there, we found a kayak...

Beach balls, fire extinguishers, pumps, a couple gas cans....

This is looking from the beach up to Little Thatch and the West End of tortola...

Walked over to take a picture of the Salt Pond, and it sure smelt like a salt pond too!

A rare picture, Chad taking a picture of me on the beach! I think I have lost a pound or two believe it or not since coming back to work this fall...Only a billion more to go....

We made our way over to White Bay on Jost, which was nice and flat today. Lots of people there a well!

Of course we were packed in like sardines in there, all sense of seamanship goes out the window there with everyone getting close to the beach...

We sent everyone off in the dinghy to the Soggy Dollar Bar...

This little dinghy which is obviously the Soggy Dollars I thought was very cute...

Then it was on to Great Harbor, where the guys had meetings and did some work...

We had dinner (look at those smiles, some of those guys have posed for this picture before and just know to smile broadly so I will quickly go away and let them eat!)

It takes 4 people to make a football pool square thingy for the game tonight! We have many chiefs and one Indian....Everyone has gone into Corsairs to watch the ball game now and I am about off to bed!

Virgin Islands Christmas Present to Haiti with Michael Beans, Yachts Sophisticated Lady and Fairwinds and the Tortola Rotary Club.

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 20:58:55 -0700

Caribbean Christmas elves need rescuing themselves...

This is one of those heartwarming stories where people have pulled together to help some very poor people in Haiti and then it turns out that the very people who gave generously of their time and possesions need to be helped. Read through to the end, it is an interesting story, and this is my way of helping them out. Do what I am good with! Blog Entries!!

This story started for me, when I noticed this bulletin pinned up outside Bobby's supermarket a week or two before Xmas. It could have been this one, or one similar... (My words are in bold throughout, and Ricks not)

It caught my eye as we knew about Michaels Charity in Haiti, and we had recently had them aboard Promenade.

***

If any of you that are local have heard of the Virgin Island Christmas Present to Haiti through the media, 'Sophisticated Lady' is one of the two boats that has volunteered to deliver the present to the Haitians that are in need of these supplies. We are trying to round up as much support as we can to assist with this delivery as the expenses are escalating quickly as we try and get the boats ready for the trip. It has been a very last minute effort as the Rotary Club just announced they had 12 outboard engines to donate, and just needed a way to get them there. They couldn't be shipped because anyone who knows Haiti knows they would never reach their intended recipients.

We have been getting great support from the local community... Riteway is giving us discounted provisions, Moorings is helping us by covering part of our diesel requirements, Parts & Power is providing service and maintenance parts for our onboard diesels, and we are just on our way right now to Road Town to fill up with donated food, clothing, school supplies, etc, to take with us to Haiti.

We need as much help as we can get, and if there is one thing that could really help make a difference, would be if someone local knows someone who might consider loaning us a satellite phone just for the duration of our trip so that we may stay in touch and send back email updates while we're underway. We have accomplished some of our goal, but due to how fast this has all come up, we've literally only had a few short days to try and put this all together, and we're scheduled to leave tomorrow! It doesn't matter if donations come in before we leave, as we are planning on heading out tomorrow sometime. We just hope enough help comes in while we're away so it doesn't cost us much in the end... none of us has much expendable cash right now... but we do have the time.

Here is a letter I sent out a couple days ago that better describes our effort:

My name is Rick Moore, and I am captain of the charter sailboat ‘Sophisticated Lady’ here in the British Virgin Islands. I am contacting you regarding a charitable event that we are trying to assist with, but we ourselves require assistance in order to make it happen.

I’ve been working closely with a good friend of mine, Michael Beans, for over a year now on some projects we’ve been filming in the islands that were going to be produced to support an organization he formed in the island of Haiti. If you are not familiar with Michael, he is the local entertainer that performs every night at the Rob White bar on Marina Cay. Many years ago Michael formed “The Good Samaritan Foundation” to help the kids of Haiti that without some sort of outside help did not have much chance of surviving due to lack of good food and water supplies, let alone getting any kind of formal education.

Last May, Michael’s efforts attracted the notice of the Tortola Rotary Club, and he was asked to do a formal presentation to them regarding his charity and what it was all about. Rotary Club has since decided to adopt his cause and put their local resources to work. The biggest issues in Haiti were the lack of proper schools and teachers to care for the students, and the problem that our changing climate has driven their local fish supply into deeper water that is further offshore, and without any modern technologies available, they lack the ability to catch the fish and return them to shore before the fish are spoiled.

Tortola Rotary has already raised over $60,000US to build the needed school, and also the additional funds to pay the teachers salary for this next year. In addition, they have gathered local support for the cause and are in possession of 12 outboard motors to be used by the fisherman in Haiti, that will help them with their efforts to feed their communities. Other supporters of Michael’s cause have also raised a full load of foods and supplies to assist those in Haiti. The entire project is being heralded by the Rotary Club as “The Virgin Islands Christmas Gift to Haiti”. Now all we need to do is get it there.

We have been requested to take ‘Sophisticated Lady’ in tandem with another similar sailboat, and personally escort and deliver the present. We have been documenting everything since the project started, including Michael’s initial presentation to the Tortola Rotary Club last May. We have been asked to continue documenting everything, right up to delivery of the present, and return with footage showing the current conditions in Haiti. This whole thing has come on us very suddenly... Rotary just advised last week that they had everything ready to deliver, now just needed to find a way to get it there. It was decided that the present really needed to be delivered personally to avoid being intercepted by corruption in the area, hence the request for our two sailboats to take them there personally.

We personally have no idea what to expect sailing into Haitian waters with all this cargo onboard, but understand there are certain risks we may encounter along the way. Apparently, we will be entering the territory under a diplomatic umbrella, and it is my understanding we will be greeted and escorted through the waters by an armed Haitian policing boat. Michael retains a diplomatic status of the highest regard in Haiti, and he will be onboard ‘Sophisticated Lady’ with us through the entire trip... Hopefully that will all be enough to keep us all out of harms way.

We are more than happy to provide our time and our boat in support of this effort. What we don’t have is the finances to pull this off without outside support. This is only a 1200 mile trip there and back, but the return trip will be very hard on the boats as we pound our way upwind to make it back in time for our Christmas charter. The boat needs some projects attended to asap, and expenses like fuel, water, and provisions covered to make it possible for us to take on this challenge at this time.

I have estimated that approximately $5,000US is needed to accomplish this task. We are not looking to make anything for ourselves in this venture, only to have it not cost us anything. If we find more support in this than we need, any monies over and above our necessary expenses will go directly to the Good Samaritan Foundation in further support of the children of Haiti.

If you are able to assist with any or all of what is needed, it would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to contact me directly with any questions you may have regarding this request. If you would like a bit more background, we had just written an introduction to this whole event in our last log update that was sent out, that actually resulted in our being requested to be the support boat. You can find that page on our website at www.WindInMySails.com/michaelbeans

I’m sure you will hear more about this Christmas Gift via the local media if you haven’t already. We would really like to help see this project through to completion and would appreciate any help in accomplishing that goal.

Thank you in advance for any consideration, and we’ll look forward to hearing back from you.

This above letter and information was posted on several bulletin boards, including one which is very popular with travelers to the islands, TTOL, Traveltalkonline, and one of the places that Rick advertises his charter business, Sophisticated Lady on. As you know, we enjoy Michael Beans Music very much, and take our charter guests up there weekly. We also have him come out to the yacht to play on occasion as well, and Michael did a show on Promenade in November, and We had Rick on board as well, as he was video taping the party for a DVD of Michael playing through the islands.

Rick left a successful career in Canada to sail the islands, as so many of us do! He has been around for a few years, and I would think of his boat and himself as a blend of free soul, cruiser, day sailer, crewed charter boat. As we all find out, it is very expensive to maintain a boat and a lifetyle in the Caribbean, and you pretty much do what you have to do. With his parrot, Lucky on board, I would certainly not call his business and boat the typical "5 star crewed charter business", but more casual along an upgraded cruising lifestyle boat. A niche of the market for some. He seems to dabble in lots of things from Videography to Wind Generators! A former relationship with a female crew member did not work out, as so many of them do not, and Keira had recently joined him from Chezhoslovakia.

Many people donated on the bulletin board, and throughout Tortola. We were one of them that donated some cash for expenses, although saying at the time that I was glad it was not us who was making the trip there and back just before Xmas, remembering quite clearly our recent trip back from Puerto Rico hand steering all the way in big seas! Rick continued to update everyone through the bulletin board, and it became a very heart warming story. The writing below is from a lot of Ricks posts on the subject.

Hi Guys!

Thanks so much for the great pledges of support! Sorry I haven't replied until now, we've been unbelievably busy with getting the boats outfitted and ready to go. We arrived in Village Cay Marina this afternoon just after posting this topic, and then the carloads of supplies started showing up... we literally filled an entire cabin full of food, clothing, school supplies, and even brand new uniforms for the kids when they attend their brand new school!

I talked to Michael, but his PayPal goes directly to Haiti so doesn't help recoup our costs. He is putting up all the funds for everything, and that's what we're trying to replace. I know nothing of Paypal myself, but If anyone knows how to do an email transfer through Paypal or something similar, we can try that, or just send a check to my attention at:

Rick Moore

Wind In My Sails Inc.

attn: Haiti Fund

360 Coxmill Rd

Barrie, Ontario, Canada

L4N 7S8

That should be there by the time we get back which would be great.

We're trying to get everything wrapped up tonight, then heading over to Soper's Hole for final touches tomorrow, and hoping to leave by sunset.

By the way, thought you might like to know that not only is The Moorings helping with some fuel costs, they've also fully provisioned our boats for 8 people for 16 days, that was very nice of them, and we can't tell you how much we appreciate it!

Still no word on a SatPhone yet, that is the one thing could really help out right now, in case anyone knows of someplace local we might be able to rent or borrow one for the trip.

Thanks again for your support, every little bit helps! We'll check back in again later

Still trying to get my boatcam working again... had it working today for a bit, and it works on my PC based laptop, but the web software is on my Mac, and the Mac won't recognize it anymore for some reason. Can understand if it was completely dead from being soaked, but why would it work on one computer and not the other? Hopefully I can get something rigged by tomorrow... thought it would be cool to have it running when we sail down to Soper's Hole, and when we set sail for Haiti.

I just can't believe the energy surrounding this whole project, it just feels like the whole town is involved and everyone is working quickly at getting us everything we need before departure time. We are still in Village Cay waiting on another load of supplies, and our provisions that should be arriving momentarily.

***

Hi Everyone!

Happy to report that we arrived safely in Haiti yesterday at around 1pm... had a great welcoming by some of the local sloops around Ile la Vache, picked up Jean-Felix Joseph, the local missionary man that works directly with Michael and the Foundation. It has been such an extraordinary experience, I can't even begin to describe... internet is next to non-existent here, and the charger for my laptop went down, but we'll try and get an update of the trip out later tonight as we are scheduled for departure tomorrow morning after receiving our fuel drop. Hopefully can get it together for you and send some pics... unbelievable experience, can't imagine the appreciation from the locals here, they are putting on a surprise ceremony for us later this afternoon. Hope all are well, will send update as soon as possible!

Hopefully there are no big cooking pots... I sent my crew on horseback as ambassadors as I had to stay back and catch up on some work!

So anyway, we had a great trip here, mostly downwind, and sometimes a little more challenging than the crew would have preferred! Onboard for the trip we had Michael, Kira, myself, Karen, and Ian who is a friend of mine who produces films for one of the local TV stations on Tortola, and has been working with me to document this entire project on video.

We ended up with a big front coming down on us and blowing huge winds out of the NE for almost 24 hours, which wouldn't have been a problem except the autopilot packed it in so Michael and I had to give everyone a crash course in hand-steering downwind in heavy seas... there's a fun night!

After many hours of troubleshooting the autopilot and attempting repairs, I finally figured out that the main drive belt on the electric ram had stripped out due to a problem with the main cylinder binding... not much chance of fixing that out here! We were getting slapped pretty hard by some quartering waves that kept flooding us in the cockpit... made for a very wet night! We made it through the night with everyone's spirits still intact... a little wet and tired, but still in high gear about completing our mission. Ian was doing some filming the next day, and even though the waves had dissipated and we hadn't seen a big one for quite some time, one hit us out of nowhere and sent spray everywhere, even where he was hiding with the camera to avoid any such potential incident... not fun... now we're down one high-def camcorder so the other one was immediately put into watertight storage for the duration of the trip. All things considered we did fairly well, but unfortunately we've suffered Ian's damaged video camera, a ripped mainsail, and a broken autopilot... all things that we can't permanently remedy until we reach the BVI's again.

We finished the trip motorsailing in fairly calm conditions, and I must say, our approach to Haiti was unlike any other I've made in the past... it was a mixture of fear, joy, apprehension, amazement... and many other emotions. Our last night at sea was spent watching every light on the horizon, and there was a couple that turned towards us that put us on high alert. Everything turned out fine in the end, and we were rewarded with a very heart-warming welcome on arrival.

Now with our mission completed, the challenge will be to get everyone home safe given that we have a 4-5 day upwind sail ahead of us and we have to hand-steer the entire way! We've patched the main as best we can, so hopefully it will see us through... no such thing as a repair shop here in Ile La Vache!

This is a very condensed version of what we've experienced on this adventure so far, but we should be able to post a full log with more pics when we get back to the BVI's. This film should make for a very interesting watch, and is planned to be part of the next fundraiser with Tortola Rotary to support the cause.

Thanks for all your support in this cause, and anyone else wishing to help can email directly through our email address charter@windinmysails.com on www.paypal.com

Thanks again for your help everyone, we really couldn't have done this without your support, and you can only imagine how great it felt to be on the front lines of this wonderful event... the locals all thanked us for helping them.. something that had never been done for them before... ever. We all made a difference. Now let's just pray for 5 days of North wind!

It's very hard to pick just a few pics from the hundreds of photos we've taken already, but here's some for you.

Some of our welcoming committee showing up in dugout canoes

Looking over the side of Sophisticated Lady at a Haitian sloop full of our precious cargo

Sophisticated Lady in the background as we head to shore in a Haitian sloop to offload cargo

The locals of the fishing village at La Hatte, with Kira and Karen in the foreground, Michael in the back with red shirt

The Haitian fishing village of La Hatte on Ile La Vache

Sophisticated Lady sitting at anchor with the La Hatte fishing boats

We just spent the morning doing engine maintenance and discovered our alternator bracket has broken in half. We managed to 'scotch-tape' it back together in the hopes it will work for most of the trip, but looks like we'll probably be without power at some point, and no possibility of fixing it here. We'll be heading off in less than an hour and hope to make it back in 5-6 days max. Weather looks pretty strong coming into Virgins around Thursday, so we'll see how we make out. Have everything battened down, and just preparing forward hatches for submarine mode.

So, a few challenges on the way there, but we were all hoping that they had a safe trip back to the Virgin Islands, and I was checking for updates. Then, finally, an update came, and it was NOT "we are safe and sound back in the BVI" but, "we are NOT safe and sound, but back in Haiti" Over Xmas Holidays with many problems to contend with.

***

First of all, Merry Christmas to you all.

Secondly, I wish I had better news, but we've encountered major trauma. We are back in Haiti after having spent the past day and a half adrift with no motor or sails. We are safe in harbor as of late last night, but we arrived under a jury rigged motor with a boat full of exhaust fumes as the water lift muffler is literally melted after something happened to the sea water cooling system. We limped in at idle speed, as that is all we could get out of the motor. The water cooling sytem still ceases to function, but I managed to use one of the shower sump pumps to replace the non-functioning impeller system, and that managed to run enough water through the engine to keep it running. Unfortunately, even though we had done our best to patch with muffler, it still leaked exhaust and water badly and we were depending on the bilge pumps to keep pumping the cooling water out of the boat which was so full of exhaust fumes it was unbelievable, but we had no choice but to try and make the cut at Ile La Vache or we would have continued to drift along and our next stop would be Jamaica.

It was quite an amazing experience actually, I can't begin to tell you how impressed I was with the girls... they held up amazingly and stood watches while hand-steering the entire trip. Ian and I took to trying to repair the onboard systems and getting us back under control and underway. I have actually been through much worse conditions before, but what we experienced was like a chain reaction that just kept going. We had a 3am rescue of the dinghy in storm conditions after the boat got hit so hard on the beam it literally jarred the dinghy and broke one of its mounts clean off. Then something hit the wind generator and broke one of the blades which threw it out of balance. Before we could even get it tied out of the wind a strong gust spun around the side of the boat and spun up the remaining blades which caused it to self-destruct. Then we realized that the engine would run, but there was no cooling water and the boat quickly filled up with exhaust fumes so we had to shut down. After that we got spun downwing in a gust I can only estimate at around 70knots since our wind indicator was already malfunctioning, and that pushed our double reefed main so hard it snapped the reef line and broke the battens against the stays, and completely stressed the sail to the point it is pulling apart into strands everywhere. The jib simultaneously split open in the same gust, even though we only had a very small section of it still out to maintain steerage.

We ended up putting out a distress call on our SSB radio, and after 3-4 hours finally raised someone in the US who patched us through to Southbound 2 in my hometown in Toronto, Canada. Herb immediately put us on a check-in schedule and notified the coast guard that while we were in clear and present danger, it was currently non life threatening. We were taking on water, but had limited the inflow and the bilge pumps were keeping up with it.

I could go on and on, but the net result is we are back in Haiti, and although we are now safely in harbor, we are literally stranded here with no support facilities for parts or repair. Amazingly enough, when we entered the channel into Ile La Vache, we heard a call from our other delivery boat, 'Fair Winds'. He reported the same conditions and had lost his mainsail, his engine was still out, and his dinghy washed overboard in the storm. Somehow he made it all the way here with no power, and then arrived within 3 miles of us on the same night after all we'd been through! He is now safely anchored in the same bay we are behind Ile La Vache.

We are currently weighing our options, but we will definitely require outside assistance before we can get back underway. Somehow we have to find a mainsail, and a water-lift muffler, those are our main issues right now, the rest we are trying to deal with ourselves.

Anyway, sorry for the bad news, but wanted to post an update to notify everyone we were still ok, but very disabled. Everyone's spirits were still amazingly upbeat, and within one hour of arriving at anchor we actually sat down to a delicious Christmas Eve dinner that Kira had prepared so quickly, none of us knew how she'd even done it!

Today will be spent just notifying everyone that we are still ok, but are way off course and schedule right now. Hope everyone is well out there, and we'll check back in later once we have a chance to try and figure out our next step.

***

Today was a different day altogether... it's becoming very apparent we are not going to get out of here based on any schedule. Today we spent going to the mainland to get food, source water, fuel, etc... It is unbelievable here, we actually felt like we were in a war zone, the buildings are virtually completely destroyed... people live in the streets and buy and sell whatever they can... I'm not even going to go in to the conditions we experienced today, but I am quickly figuring out that we have not managed to sail out as fast as we wanted to for a reason. There is much more here than meets the eye. The locals have done a complete turnaround upon discovering that we are not tourists, and the amount of compassion they have offered us in the wake of knowing we are trapped here just as they are has become almost overwhelming. I wish I could describe better, but we are about to lose internet again tonight due to prime tourist season at the hotel. Will try and post more tomorrow.

I've just been checking the latest weather forecasts... I need someone to verify and confirm what is expected for our area between here and Dominican Republic. According to what I see, it looks like we have a clear forecast for light winds below 10-12 knots which tells me that if I can get this mainsail back up with strong enough patches in effect, and the motor running on any kind of reliable basis, we can get our butts out of here and make our way to Santo Domingo in about 48-60 hours of motorsailing upwind. It's a big gamble, but I have about 4 of these PAR pumps onboard that could potentially cool the engine for 12 hours or so each before burning out, and that could at least put us in a place we could receive parts and service much more easily than where we are. Anyone with good access to weather forecasting, or Chris Parkers forum, or Herb on Southbound II, that could do a little research for us in the meantime and report back before we regain internet access tomorrow could be a huge help. If I knew we had a good weather window, we could potentially rig the engine and exhaust to maintain a certain speed, and don't laugh, but we have just enough duct tape onboard that we could patch the mainsail together above the 2nd reef that may just allow us to gain that 250-300 miles to windward. Any help with the weather forecasting would be greatly appreciated... both Herb and Chris Parker are aware of our situation, but our access is limited here... thanks in advance for any help. Will check for replies tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

***

Hi Everyone, sorry for slow response, as you can imagine, everything happens very slowly here. We have internet access at the local hotel, but their only connection source is satellite and they are limited to a specific number of kilobytes per day and once that has been surpassed they shut down... makes it hard right now as the hotel is full so there are many tourists using the bandwith simultaneously.

Just receive all your emails and messages, thanks so much for so many offers of help... all are appreciated and will become of great assistance I'm sure. GlennA, that muffler could be worth gold to us right now... we have a Vetus but will weigh all options and see what can work best. Have taken many pictures of damage, but will also take a picture of current muffler so we can see if it is a close match. Kerry and Jo, both of you could become invaluable right now as our hands are tied behind Haitian lines. It is such an unbelievable contrast in our lives right now, we are in one of the most beautiful tropical paradises that I have seen in the Caribbean, it is completely unspoiled and full of some of the friendliest people you will find anywhere. Two days ago we were struggling just to not get lost at sea. I can't even describe the mixture of feelings we have all experienced through the course of this whole adventure... I do know this much, everyone onboard has said this will be one Christmas that they will never forget.

Contacting Parts & Power and Moorings are top on our list, they were both sponsors for us in getting here, and hopefully we will find help from them so we can get home. We have well established that shipping is going to be a problem, anything sent here can be tied up indefinitely in customs and could either disappear or be taxed to death... that is the reason we were asked to deliver these gifts in the first place, corruption abounds here and that means things get 'intercepted' routinely.

Ian's girlfriend Karen is onboard as crew with us, and she is a lawyer from Tortola. Karen has come up with the possibility that if we can find all our parts in Tortola, she may be able to have them packaged as a diplomatic delivery through the help of some contacts in Tortola... that would mean they could come right through customs and arrive within days, instead of the weeks that customs could potentially tie them up for. We will hopefully find out much more of what we need to know by later today and tomorrow.

We just finished with the offloading of all the outboard engines that 'Fairwinds' was carrying for the local fisherman. Felix is with us now and is trying to help us find a way to get things to the island with as little trouble as possible. Somehow we will get through this, but our next major obstacle is definitely the mainsail, we surveyed it this afternoon and there is no way it will survive another gail if we encounter one... hopefully we can find something of use through the Moorings as 'Sophisticated Lady' is an ex-Moorings boat, and they have many boats the same size that they would carry spare parts for. They could definitely be our biggest saving grace.

Thanks so much everyone, all your efforts are greatly appreciated... can't tell you how much. I'm sure you wouldn't be sympathetic if you saw where we're sitting, but the fact still remains that we are trapped here. Our next charter is scheduled for Jan 8th and if we miss that one it's game over for us.

I've received everyone's emails, and apologize for not being able to respond to every one individually... problem is that the internet here is measured by the kilobyte on a daily basis, and when their limit is reached the satellite shuts off access and doesn't reset until the next day. I managed to upload a few small pictures today that I will post here and will hopefully work.

***

We have been in touch with Parts & Power and they have been great in working with us to try and match up the parts we need. It feels like support is building in Tortola and everyone is rallying to help us find a way to get home. Our biggest obstacle by far is the sails... I'll be sorry to see 'Sophisticated Lady's' sails go, she had a nice set of heavy duty mylar offshore sails that were over $7000 each, but now we'll be happy to get whatever we can that gets us home. Apparently the Moorings doesn't have any sails for a 50 footer in their inventory, but they are trying to help in contacting some of the other companies and see who has what. No idea what they will want for the sails, but hopefully we can find enough funds before then as I'm sure most of you are aware how challenging the charter business has been this year with economic conditions, and new sails were not part of 'Sophisticated Lady's' budget for this year.

Parts & Power thinks they may have the exact muffler we need, but still waiting to hear back... also trying to find a replacement for our dripless stuffing box as it would be better called a streaming stuffing box now... managed to get it under control by putting a large hose clamp around it, but I'm sure that will only aggravate the problem in the near future and a small leak will quickly become a big leak. Most other things we can deal with via things I keep onboard, but those are our major issues right now.

Anyway, here's a few pictures hopefully, and we'll update as often as possible. Thanks again for all support and ideas, and Bill, the idea of Visar's plane could be an outstanding option. Another great idea is if anyone knows of a sea-plane that could land right here in Ile la Vache... not sure of the logistics there, but would certainly get things here the fastest if we gave them a waypoint of the bay we're anchored in.

The Haitian sloops offloading the outboard engines from 'Fair Wind'

Helping offload the engines

'Sophisticated Lady's' battered mainsail and stackpack... notice the remains of the wind generator in the background

The view of our aft cabin when the engine is running to keep systems up

The shower sump pump I used to jury rig the engine cooling system that helped us limp in at idle speed

Our towel wrapped and duct-taped muffler... notice Ian added a band-aid on top for good luck!

An example of the damage to our sails

Our poor melted muffler

***

Hi everyone, thanks for all the suggestions... trying to find out as much as possible today, but of course everyone is on holidays so making it difficult.

We just got back from inspecting the sails, had some local guys working on them that were just trying to help, and certainly respect and appreciate their efforts, but if we head out with these sails we'll end up right back here before you know it. They don't have any equipment here, and the patches they used are more canvas than sail material... I literally pulled gently on one of the new patches and it ripped like butter in my hand... not good for the kind of sailing we'll be doing.

Appreciate the sail offers, that's what we're looking for but the priority is to find something in good enough shape and strong enough for a 600 mile battle to windward. Sounds like most engine parts have been sourced by Tom at Parts & Power, he has been great and thinks he may even have the exact replacement sea-water pump that we need to replace the one that won't work. We've already replaced the impellor with new spares from onboard, but it just won't draw water for some reason and nobody has been able to help us figure out why. I can only guess that there must be a leak in the housing that is preventing it from creating vacuum.

Once we get things operational again, we have adjusted our tactics for our next attempt to sail out of here. This time we'll be sailing as close to a SE course as possible to head as far out to sea as possible to stay clear of the southern cape of Haiti, that is what trapped us last time and took almost 48 hours to cover 80 miles due to the local currents and eddies in the area. We'll head SE about 15 miles under motor sail to stay as high on the wind as possible, then tack in towards Dominican Republic with the idea that we can re-fuel in Santo Domingo if necessary as we'll have used half our supply already if we've had to motor sail the entire way. From there we'll repeat the same manoeuvre with the hopes of ending up at the SE corner of Puerto Rico, then motor the remaining 80 miles through the Virgin Islands to Tortola. The first two tacks should take 2-2.5 days each, and with a day for the final stretch we should be able to make the trip in 5-6 days... works on paper anyway, now just have to check with weather probabilities to see if a departure on Thursday works if we can get everything here in time by Wednesday. Really pushing it, but that's the only way we can possibly make our next charter.

Internet about to cut out again, limit has been reached for the day, will have to check in tomorrow.

***

Hi Everyone, sorry for lack of communication today, internet has been down all day and just turned on an hour ago.

Thanks for support everyone, and appreciate all the ideas too, have tried everything recommended... handy having everyone pointing out some things I may have missed... almost feeling to close to it now and not thinking as clearly about it. Didn't get to pull out on this weather window yet, talked to Parts & Power and if I rigged the engine the way I wanted to would have melted my exhaust tube, so still working on other ideas.

Here's a few pictures, and will send more later.

Pulling down the mainsail and rigging

The local guys trying to repair our mainsail with cloth patches

Karen helping a local boy with a bad burn

Everyone has been asking about Lucky... don't worry, she's doing very well, and really entertaining the locals with her antics!

Have a good New Year everyone, will talk again real soon!

***

Hi Guys, sorry for no contact again, entire satellite system here got blocked for almost 2 solid days around the holiday due to high usage. Very frustrating when everything we need to do is online to coordinate our parts and delivery. Luckily we were able to receive phone calls through the main office, so we've all been hovering around waiting for the phone to ring.

Parts & Power sent out our parts today so they should hopefully arrive next tuesday/wednesday. Tortola Rotary has been absolutely pivotal in getting everything arranged and managing communications between us and everyone else in lieu of poor email access. They have also established connection with Haiti Rotary who is now our delivery address for the parts so they can make sure the package arrives and makes it safely through customs. Doyle Sails has found a mainsail off a Beneteau 50 that they can loan us while they work on a proper replacement for us that we can pick up once we've arrived back in BVI.

Everyone here is doing fine, but feeling rather helpless, especially when we can't even just get in touch to help get things happening. Satellite uplink went down completely yesterday, but the owners of the Port Morgan hotel gave me access to the system in case I could help because they knew nothing about it and there was nobody to call during the holidays here. Luckily I was able to troubleshoot it and get it re-established earlier, but bandwidth was still almost non-existant. Seems to be coming back up now, but they are getting ready to close the office during the dinner hours, so have to shut down again.

The second boat, 'Fairwind' is with us also in the anchorage here, and they are safe and sound. They came in with blown mainsail and broken down motor too after being blown down-wind in the same gale we hit going upwind. Looks like his motor is toast, but his mainsail only needed one big rip stitched up, and his is dacron which made it easier to repair than our mylar. 'Fairwind' is planning on setting sail for Jamaica this weekend, he didn't want to challenge the upwind return trip with his motor not functioning, and felt Jamaica was a better place to have the boat hauled and install a new motor as his is quite old and he doesn't want to fix it again.

Just received a note from the office that Michael Beans is going to be calling for us this evening, so we'll find out a little more about what's been happening then. Thanks again everyone, we're still hanging in here, just trying to get things ready in anticipation of our parts arriving, but so far it looks like we'll be stranded here for another week before we can make another attempt at the return trip home.

***

Food is holding out but starting to dwindle, that's why we went to Les Cays earlier this week... but wow, what an experience! Now the locals have been coming by with fresh fruits and vegetables for very reasonable prices to help out. I remember when we were getting provisioned in the BVI's prior to departure, someone delivered about 100 of those little noodle packs, and about 6 cases of canned soup... I thought, what are we going to do with all that?... Now it makes perfect sense, that is what we're going to live on for the trip home!

Water was a big concern, we were almost out and there is no place to refill, even the hotel had to put guests on rations because their watermaker was down and it has only rained once since we've been here. Again the locals came through for us and actually delivered about 120 gallons in individual bottles and poured them individually into our tanks to hold us over. It's been an amazing experience actually... if we weren't actually stranded here it would be a lot more enjoyable! Now at least we know there are some parts on their way, so hopefully they get here on time and we can get back to work. Looks like we're going to miss our charter though, that's going to be the only real detrimental effect of the whole thing. One way or another we'll find a way to solve that problem, just don't know what it will be yet. Trying to delay start date, but don't know if it's possible yet.

***

Just got off phone with Michael, and between he and Rotary they offered to fly us back for the charter, round up a boat for us to use for the charter, and fly us back... unbelievable offer and hard to imagine someone even thinking of helping to that extent, but unfortunately, leaving 'Sophisticated Lady' unattended here for 2-3 weeks could prove very detrimental to her health... especially since she's still leaking water and the bilge pump runs way too frequently to think about leaving her alone.

Will try and post another update tomorrow, if the internet gods allow!

***

Yesterday was spent working on the engine again, trying to revive it after it spattered to a halt several days ago. We figured out that the intake was plugged solid from inhaling all the exhaust fumes that were leaking from the melted muffler. We managed to clean the filter screen well enough with a screwdriver, toothbrush, and some gasoline as cleaner, then we moved on the ongoing muffler problem. Knowing that the muffler was going to have to come out entirely anyway, we disconnected and removed it from the boat. After scouring the local area for anything we could substitute for 2 feet of exhaust tubing, we came up empty handed so went back to the boat to try something else. We broke out some more soup cans that were very close to the diameter of the hose... had soup for lunch, then duct-taped 4 cans together in a chain with the tops and bottoms cut off... put it in place and clamped it in, and voila... we have engine with no water leaking into bilge, and no cabin full of smoke! The only thing we have to be very careful of is that prior to shutting down the engine, it is imperative to uncouple one end of the bypass so the cooling water in the tube drains into the bilge, and cannot run back down the tube and into our exhaust manifold which would effectively water-lock our engine. It is working at least, and now we have electrics and our fridge back! It was so nice to be able to offer a cold beer to some of our local friends who've been helping us last night!

Anyway, things always feel better when something gets fixed, especially the engine, even if it is only temporary. Kira has been feeling a little down the past few days... it's starting to get to her that we are stuck here so long and not able to get back to work for some time yet. We're definitely going to lose this next charter now, so that's going to hurt a lot. Now that we at least have electrics back, we treated her to a double-feature movie last night in the salon and she was very happy!

Ian and Karen have developed some kind of stomach bug... karen is laid out in bed and hoping to feel better today... Ian isn't as bad and took Kira on a filming expedition today with Phelix to meet some of the local children as they attend church this morning.

I've been working on some of our pictures in the hopes we'll be able to upload some again soon, and it sounds like Harry is planning on sailing 'Fairwind' out of here this afternoon after his ships papers are returned from Les Cayes. His engine is still seized, so I'm going to pull him out to open water with the dinghy so he can pick up the wind, and from there he'll set sail for Jamaica where he's arranged haulout and service in Port Antonio.

Rotary is trying to raise funds to help us pay for all the parts and sails we broke on our way home. I can't tell you how humbling this is, not even being in a position to fix your own boat when something like this happens, but it is just too major for us at a time when business is down like with so many others.

It sounds like the engine parts were going to be approximately $2000, and TTOL has already helped us raise almost that much, so thank you so much everyone, it's really making a difference. The mainsail will be the next major issue, Doyle has quoted about $4000 to make us a suitable replacement in a new sail for our return, and is loaning us a Beneteau 50 sail to sail home with. We should have some money of our own to put towards the new sail, depending on what happens with this charter we have to miss. The rest hopefully we'll find before that time. The jib will have to wait until we return, we probably won't need much from it as we are going to attempt to motor-sail upwind with the mainsail alone in order to get back as fast as possible and not miss any more work. The jib should be good enough to act as backup should we experience any engine troubles again, and Doyle has also included some big patches of sail repair material in our parts shipment that we can re-inforce the damaged area with.

This brings us to todays date, January 4th, 2009. Sophisticated Lady hass definitely missed their charter that was due to start in a few days. Who knows what the future will hold for them. For more reading on this story, here are a couple of their websites. Fairwinds has kind of been lost in this story, probably because Rick is a good racconteur and photographer, I hope we see a whole Book, DVD or story on it on the other side, with all the details. Any donations are gratefully accepted for this cause through Paypal, or writing a check.

I hope by writing this web page and blogging about it, that not only will you enjoy the sharing of the story, but you just never know who will read it who has the means and a way to help in Haiti. I will update as I know more...

Michael Beans Website page on Haiti

Ricks Sophisticated Lady Website

January 4th sunset in the Virgin Islands

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 18:51:03 -0700

This is probably one of the loveliest sunsets i have ever seen here in the islands, never mind getting it with my camera! Absolutely spectacular, so I had to rush and put them up.

How is Yacht Charter Turnaround almost come and gone again already?

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 17:16:28 -0700

A few random thoughts for a Sunday afternoon...I am working on a long story for the blog, and it is not coming as quickly as I would like to be transcribing it... We put our New Years guests safe and sound on the ferry yesterday morning back to St Thomas. It looked like their was a few charter boats doing the same thing.

We had an enjoyable week with them all and my bread making skills have been tested to no end!

Thanks so much for an amazing week! Everything was just lovely and the food was fabulous. You are all such wonderful hosts, thanks so much for making our vacation so great. JOEY AND MELISSA, NYC

Thank you once again for exceeding our expectations! Kerry you are a wonderful cook and hostess. Bazza we enjoy your stories and feel confident in your "care" Simeon, you are a very effective yet quiet complement. Thank you for taking such good care of our daughters and son in laws. We had a great time! GLEN AND DEBBIE, NORTH CAROLINA

Thank you for an amazing vacation and keeping Nick busy and happy the whole time. NICK AND KATIE, CORNELIUS, NORTH CAROLINA

We were all over the moon with our unheard of 48 hours in between charters this weekend. We had visions of luxuriously lounging on the back deck drinking pina coladas or something on Sunday. You probably won't be surprised that that is not quite how it turned out after all...

We have a large charter starting this Monday. One we have done for many years. 30 different men, give or take a man or two over 9 days. Go on, imagine it...The preference sheets look different then most of our preference sheets do. Noone is asking for fruity drinks with umbrellas in them! They are looking for beer, whiskey and Bourbon. Ok, throw in some vodka (for vegetables) and energy drinks (self explanatory) and jagermeifter as well (don't ask)
I can forget buying any fresh fruit, except for the odd piece (like maybe limes for beer...) and go light on the vegetables (does creamed corn still count as a vegetable?) My provisioning list included ribs, steaks, meatballs, cheese, nuts, and many many potatoes and eggs! I did warn Simeon that we had a fair bit of liquor coming, as I have learnt over the years it is a hassle to run out and we need to keep that beer cold as well.
"A fair bit of liquor" may be an understatement. I am hoping the rest of the years guests will understand that THEY will no longer be getting fruity umbrella drinks now, but will be drinking Makers Mark, Johny Walked and Wild Turkey and every variation thereof, as I seem to have bought out the entire store. I believe it was about 7 loads down the dock that arrived.

Simeon, being no fool, quickly realized that since I had ordered virtually no fresh produce, that he could probably score a shelf or two in the galley fridge for extra beer and that is exactly what happened!

Between the cooking sherry and the beer i now keep in the galley I should be content in there anyways...
I skipped out to town to do the weekly round of Cash and Carry/Riteway/OneMart/Bobbys. I don't think it was my imagination but Riteway was more crowded then usual, and I still cannot figure out why they insist on stocking the shelves Saturday morning. in the busiest period. Blocking all the aisles. so you are forced to do a relay race leaving your cart in an obscure part of the store. with all the other "left in obscure parts of the store" shopping carts. and ferry everything back to your cart.
Maybe this is Riteways idea of helping us all stay healthy???? We get to walk ten miles to buy one cart full this way! I won't even start about the current batch of some of the cashiers they have in there working at this time. Lets just say that if I understood the local patois (or I think it is the local patois, but it could be from any island...) I would know everything about everyones boyfriend, work mates, bosses, etc in there. I only catch a few words now and I know enough.
My heart also sunk upon going to get a shopping cart outside, as they were all brand new. You may think that this would be a selling feature, as believe me, there is no smart little "wipe your cart" stands at the doors, in fact shopping in Tortola means you empty all the garbage out of your cart first. My heart had sank as the carts were LARGER then the previous ones, and these aisles are already very small. A few years ago some shopping engineer from England reconfigured the store and to expand it, they just put in double the amount of aisles!
OK, that is enough of that story. I am sure you are bored by now. Yes I shopped at all the stores and then I went back today to most of them once I had been back to the boat and seen what Supa Valu did not send me in my order.
On my way into town I passed Gram's catering in East End, which always has a white board outside with the daily specials. This is definitely a local restaurant, with the attendent interesting non canadian friendly dishes listed. I noticed their first special was "Goats Head Soup" (appropriate as the goats do wander outside there a lot!) and I thought to myself "bet they are not selling out of that like hot cakes" the next item on the list was chicken feet, another non canadian friendly food group in my books. Imagine my surprise on the way home when I was that the goats head soup was OUT! Shows where my taste buds are I imagine...

When I returned to the boat I had to find a spot for all these bottles of liquor. And about 5 cases of various energy drinks....I knew they were mine to find a place for as Simeon has a warm drink locker on the top deck (which is very large) and they were placed conspicuously in the middle of the salon along with the bottles of liquor. This, i did, although they are stuffed all over the boat, so I am not sure if anyone but me (who am I kidding I am the worst at remembering) will be able to find them again. I comforted myself with the fact that at the end of season we could give them away to the commercial divers!

Simeone went to Emiles for Mexican and picked us up Chinese and then I realized that I had 30 racks of ribs that I had to get ready, pressure cook and portion out for the next days. Sigh. We watched Dark Knight during this process on our new HDTV wide screen that I had downloaded from Itunes onto my new Apple TV! It worked flawlessly...

Funny story, no word of a lie here and he may kill me for putting this up on the blog, but I have to. Crew and guests often think that they are being more environmentally conscious by going down to the bathrooms on land to go to the washroom. Personally I don't get it, as I know what/where the sewage goes on land here in a lot of places and it is no different then being on the boat, but at least ours is maserated! We had one guest who we still affectionately call "Dump Boy" as he held everything daily until he could get to a toilet on land! Not sure how that worked on the days we did not get off the boat...
Anyways, the marina apparently has two stalls in the washroom. One has had a sign up on it that says "out of order" for weeks now. Simeon goes in, sits down, and realizes there is no toilet paper in his stall. Being a clever lad, he thinks he knows how to fix this and jumps up to look over into the other stall to see if there is any toilet paper in there. Only to be shocked by the site of one of the dock boys sitting with his pants around his ankles somewhere. I believe Simeon just about fell back into the toilet bowl on his side stammering, stuttering and apologizing, and then decided he had lost his urge to be there and made a hasty exit! I rolled on the floor laughing. Of course. But, it does make one ask the question "Is it really out of order or have they just found a clever way to have their own private stall?"

Bazza had spent the entire day in the engine room as port engine needed something done to fuel injectors or something that involved pumps, parts and vices... and diesel leaking into the oil...That is about I can tell you! Today was our day off. Simeon scraped the bottom of the boat and then (smart lads, doing this AFTER the boat cleaners had been here..) changed the oil on the dinghy engine and assorted other chores. I cleaned the galley and made our saloon into a bedroom for two... Also realized that I have 2000 coffee filters. That made me shake my head...If you use one a day every day of the year, I have 5 years worth at least. On a big day on charter I may use 3, so even at that expanded number, I am good for about 3 years at a minimum for coffee filters! I guess they can always be used for toilet paper if need be! Or, if any other charter boat (or all charter boats) run out, feel free to run over and borrow some....

I am a mechanical Klutz, and a Bull...No secret there. BUT this morning, I was on a roll. We have had a fan in the galley for about ten years. It is rusted like crazy (the cover) and coated in a decades worth of grease, but the damn thing never quits! In my cleaning spree I found a nice new cage for a fan in the pantry and thought I would replace the old one. How hard could it be, a few screws and I would be on my way. I barely touched the damn thing and the base broke off! Then I stripped the screws trying to get it out of the ceiling, or the screwdriver, one of the two. Then I left it dangling and just told Bazza I made more work for him...

Now we have gone down to the West End to pick up my oldest son Chad who is coming in this evening (son has been co-opted into working this large charter whether he wanted to or not, after all, like children everywhere, he is in debt to parents for like, forever)
My mom sent me this, with the caption "Redneck Seafood" I don't get it? Is it supposed to be a joke ? Looks perfectly fine to me with mac and cheese and the hot dogs artistically arranged to look like octopus! They could be a charter chef!!!!

One other observation and then I will go here and stop rambling (all this effort into this post and I could have finished the long story I was working on)

Some of you know that I have an Amazon Kindle, the E book reader that I have had since it came out. I really like my Kindle, as it downloads books and magazines and newspapers in under a minute, and i always have something to read. One of the selling features of Jeff Bezos and Amazon on this is that "no book would cost over $9.99" Makes sense, as it cannot be as expensive as printing and distributing written books can it? The kindle is pricy, listing around $400.00 or so before you buy anything to read on it...

Apparently nowadays, you cannot trust Wall Street, Banks or Amazon...recently the price of some books on Kindle have been MORE then what it costs to go to a Brick and Mortar Store and buy the hardback! And these are not always complete books, pictures, the ones that you do get, are black and white and grainy, some stuff is condensed, although you would not know what unless you had also read the book and then compared.

Amazon is getting a lot of complaints and people are boycotting the high priced electronic books. Amazon is telling people to complain to the publisher, not them. Tsk Tsk, now we cannot trust Amazon either, no surprise he was lying about these $9.99 books when a lot of other companies have lied about everything (I know, it is actually called "creative marketing") May be a small rant and grievance, but since I was on a roll here, I figured I would not stop!

SCUBA diving the Chikuzen on the last day of charter

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 21:55:59 -0700

I cannot believe the last day of charter comes around so quickly. We were not up at the crack of dawn, but the guests watched the steady parade of boats leave the anchorage at Anegada today while we had a leisurely breakfast of Eggs Benedict, which were pronounced the best that some had ever had. Cannot ask for more then that!

We put up our spinnaker and joined the parade of boats sailing down the way. We were not in the lead!

Stenella, which is a true sailing boat, left us in their dust!

We stopped at the Chikuzen for a much anticipated dive. Unfortunately when we were down there, the visibility in a word "sucked"

There were a ton of fish, but hard to see. Our divers still saw a lot...

I quickly decided to hang in the water column and see if I could get any less backscatter for pictures. It was hard. We saw several fish that had bites and in one case, an entire side missing out of them....

This Green Turtle made its way up for a breath of air...

While the Permit delighted in following me around this entire dive...

Our divers near the bow, they did see a Eagle Ray...

The Amberjack were not only plentiful, they were very friendly as well!

More permit....

Not to be outdone, our fishermen caught Jacks and Barracuda...

We had lunch under way then and continued down to Cam Bay on Camanoe for a quick snorkel. The guests pronounced it too cold in the water and we were on our way to Marina Cay to try and fish for Tarpon tonight. Well, this little Herring was a start, but not quite tarpon material...

The Snapper was a bit larger but still not a tarpon!

Bazza did one of his trivia quizzes at Cocktail hour and Katie was our winner, it missed being a tie as someone forgot to put their name on their paper!!

Dinner was served followed by homemade brownies, homemade ice cream and I really outdid myself with homemade hot fudge sauce as well. This all went along with the homemade Ciabatta I made with dinner, yep, pretty much everyone is a beached whale tonight!

Dugdales and Coral Studio

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:18:02 -0700

Someone left me a message on one of my forms, however they gave me a bad email address, so I am answering it here and perhaps they can see how to get in touch with David and Fi Dugdale this way.
David Dugdale built Promenade, back in 1979 and successfully did charters until we bought her in 1998. They now have a business on Tortola doing coral figurines.
The business is called the Coral Studio, which you can see here at http://thecoralstudio.com/

SCUBA Diving out on Anegada Reef on New Years Day

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 17:16:02 -0700

Our end result of our Mackerel catch yesterday looked like this. It was very good too!

A perfect catch for New Years Eve...

Don't let this picture fool you. They look like they are all geared up and ready for New Years, but in reality, no one was awake by that time! Some made it close, some not so close. We all heard the mega yachts blowing their horns though...

Today was flat calm and no wind, so it was time to dive the Rocus out on Anegada Reef...

What are the odds that the exact time we showed up, a dive boat showed up with lots of divers with yellow tanks! We chose to go over the side and then see what we saw on the wreck at the end. Today this dive was remarkable for the amount of fish life we did not see. Fish were very scarce.

I did love the colors of the Wrasses...

Simeon going through the wreck...

Close up of the blue fish...

I did get a couple nice silhouettes of my snorkelers at the end, I think that is mostly what I took pictures of. Here is Nick coming down...

And Nick and Katie...

After I put my daily homemade loaf on bread on the table while motoring to Anegada, we found dolphins! We all jumped in, the guests caught a glimpse, and me nothing but there were lots of Starfish..

Bazza took us up to where they were again, but they disappeared as soon as i entered the water again. It was like chasing your tail. I opted for a couple arty shots since I was in the water anyways....

This is looking up at the boat from under the water. I think it is an interesting photo!

We finally made it to Anegada mid afternoon and sent the guests off to Loblolly Bay on the other side. I expect them back soon for cocktail hour though! Tomorrow should be a dive on the Chikuzen...Always my favorite! Swells, stay away until then!!!!

Fantastic SCUBA Diving in the BVI today...

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:35:51 -0700

today you mostly get a lot of nice fishy pictures, Our guests were up bright and early and had the baths accomplished by 915 in the morning. That was great as we could move on away from the crowds. I understand there were about 10,000 cruise ship passengers scattered around the territory today! That is a lot...
Here is last nights dinner picture...

We went out the South Drop to one of our favorite spots, the Fishbowl. Yes it was flat! Going down was a picture in clarity...the divers and boat look wonderful.

The fishermen have found our spot and there were a few fish traps there. This eel was dead, dies with a fish in its mouth, and it seemed to be stuck under a part of the cage. Either that or he was really stupid!

We always see nice Hog Fish out here...

A nice few Amberjacks...

and lobsters (more) lined up in a row...

I am doing these names off the top of my head, so I may get them wrong tonight!. These are beautiful Pompanos, although looking at them I think they should be called Angel Fish with there wispy fins...

Simeon coming over the reef...

Divers against a sunburst...

We had lunch served upstairs today, which is unusual for me, but I thought it would be better if they did not have to walk around with their soup while we were moving. I made fresh bread and Leek and Potato Soup...Yes, it was wonderful...

Trolling along and nick finally managed to catch us dinner. This nice little Mackerel!

Soon he was being fileted and seasoned for the barbecue tonight..

Some more diver shots...

Then it was jumping in the water right at the tip of Pajaros Point on Virgin Gorda. We saw many schools

including a school of Permits! There were dozens of them!!!!!!

I saw several fair size grouper...

and another Hog Fish that looked just like the hog fish this morning...

A school of Chubb followed us everywhere...

And we did see one Green Moray Eel. He did not want to come out so I could get a picture though...

It was into North Sound then, and we spied this cruise ship that was too big to go in the Sound anchored outside ferrying guests back and forth to Prickly Pear....

Stad Amsterdam pulled in and anchored beside us, takes 28 guests, with 25 crew for $100,000. a week. Pretty boat. We counted about 27 "white boats" around us tonight. There are probably less boats anchored in North Sound on New Years then I have ever seen though. It may have something to do with the weather because it is so calm, they can go elsewhere. Unusual at this time of year!

Happy New Years all, I will be sound asleep by the time it is rung in!

Diving on Carrot Rock

admin@saildivebvi.com ( BVI Captains Log Blog) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:41:46 -0700

As yesterday was rainy and cloudy, today was warm and sunny.
First order of the day was one of my favorite dives of all time here, Carrot Rock

Our fearless divers led by Simeon and myself were off/ We jumped in on the windward side and the boat picked us up on the lee side....

Lots of schools of Chubb Fish around...

and baby fish...

The barracuda did not like us being in their territory today, they kept a very close eye on us throughout the dive. Many of them...

Our divers going down...

Then the action started, we had a Nurse Shark and a lobster at the same time! There was also a coral banded lobster in between them, but no pic of that...

There were lobster everywhere....we must have seen a dozen...

Simeon was giving me the signal for shark off in the distance here, but I missed that one...

Another cute pic of a barracuda...

Lots of Yellow Fish....

3 beautiful Tarpon circled around us...

Another angle of a lobster...

and surprise, another close up of a lobster! He was pretty!

We saw about 4-5 Sharks, Nurse, Simeon says he saw a Bull Shark in the distance, and I saw a Reef Shark at the end of the dive. Altogether successful!
We spent lunch at Deadmans Bay on Peter Island before going to join the other 30 divers who were diving the wreck of the Rhone this afternoon....We almost need a schedule for who dives when between the dive shops on these busy weeks... Our wind had pretty much died down by now, so we took the opportunity to troll up the outside of the islands towards Virgin Gorda. Our count was about 3 Barracuda, a Horse eyed Jack and also a Mackerel that took himself off as we went to land him.

Here are my guests watching the fishing lines and the sunset, (for Joeys mom!)

And as most of you know, our son and daughter in law in Australia are having a baby at the end of January. They sent me this picture, and I thought, "Karen is really not that large"

and then I saw this picture and wondered if it was really Karen who was pregnant or maybe it was Wade!