Seffner, FL

Well, it is not the Virgin Islands, but it is home. At least for a day or two. I am here at Lazydays for service to complete the few things we found wrong during the first thirty days of ownership. 

I have an appointment in the morning, so they provide a nice overnight camping space the night before. It is walking distance to a Cracker Barrel restaurant, so I hoofed on over for pot roast. Is life good, or what. 

Now a little TV by the fire, then off to bed. 

St Thomas, USVI

We were fortunate to get wonderful weather to sail back to Roadtown this morning to turn the Martha R back over to the charter company. 

Once back in port we cleaned the boat and went over the problems we had with the charter company. While we had a lot of fun this week, we also had a lot of mechanical problems that detracted from our enjoyment. None of it was life threatening, of course, but it was consistent enough to undermine our confidence in this charter company for future bookings. The people were all great, but you normally only see them on the first and last day. The boat on the other hand is with you every day and needs to work properly. 

We caught the Fast Ferry back to St Thomas where we will spend the night prior to heading home via Miami. 

Norman's Island, BVI

It was another windless day, so we motored directly to Norman's Island from Cane Garden Bay. Lunch at Willy T's was very good. It always surprises me that such excellent fare comes from a rusted derelict boat like the Willy T. Anyone coming to the BVI should make the attempt to visit. You can only get to it by boat. 

Soper's Hole, BVI

No wind to speak of, so we motored from Cane Garden Bay. The boat electrical system continues to charge poorly causing us to run an engine at the mooring for hours even after motoring. 

We had a nice lunch at Pusser's before returning to the boat for sundowners and a fabulous dinner. 

Cane Garden Bay, BVI

Leaving Trellis Bay we stopped at nearby Maina Cay to take on water and top off fuel. We are not really using much fuel, but man are we going through the water. 

A fun distraction at the fuel dock is a webcam that takes a picture every 15 seconds. It is aimed at the red phone booth, and all you do stand there and smile. You go to www.pussers.com and download your picture. For some reason that website does not play nice with the iPhone I am using to update the blog. The phone is also the source of the photos, so please excuse the quality. 

We ate ashore at Cane Garden Bay at Elm Beach Bar. Terrific BBQ and an above average band playing blues and reggae. The anchorage started picking up a bit of swell while we were ashore, and all the dinghies were tossing around like crazy at the dock. We managed to lose Alan in the drink before we finally got everyone back to the boat. 

Trellis Bay, BVI

We left Anagada for Trellis Bay mid-morning Friday. There was not much wind, so we pretty much just ghosted along most of the way. That was probably how we managed to have what will likely be one of the most exciting encounters of the trip. 

Seeing something floating in the near distance we move closed to investigate. What we came across was a lone hump back whale. This is early in the migratory season here, and according to folks at Trellis Bay this is the first sighting this year. The whale appeared to be resting from the trip. When we approached he hung vertically in the water and kept his eye on us. When we were close he swam around us twice and returned to his verticle posture as we sailed away. If I get pictures of the whale from others onboard I will add them when we get home. 

We had a nice dinner onboard, but not before going ashore for drinks. We were quickly driven back to the boat by the No See Ums. 

Anegada, BVI

We rose to a beautiful morning and dinghied in for breakfast at the Bitter End Yacht Club. We enjoyed their elaborate buffet, then returned to try to determine the cause of our inoperative fresh water pump. 

We tried everything we could think of with the limited tools available, but were unsuccessful. The charter company finally sent someone to trouble shoot and repair the pump. It turned out to be a circuit breaker that required the removal of the central electrical panel to access. Seems an awkward place for a circuit breaker.

Once we had things working we headed to the island of Anegada. Our attraction to Anegada was the promise of dining waterside on fresh caught lobster, and we had a very good time. 

Virgin Gorda, BVI

Great sail to The Baths for lunch and a jaunt on shore. With full stomachs and happy hearts we were off to The Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. Great wind and less swells today, so the trip to BEYC was terrific. Arrival celebration at the Pub Crawl was mandatory. 

The Baths, BVI

Left Roadtown in a light rain to overnight at Marina Cay. Nice glass of wine and a fabulous Paella onboard last night. 

Now on to the Baths!

Roadtown, BVI

Spent the afternoon getting provisioning together for our week charter on the catamaran Martha R out of Roadtown, BVI. Then it was off to Pusser's for a late lunch. 

All that food showed up at the dock at six, and the bucket brigade began. An hour later we had it all stowed and moved on to happy hour. God knows where anything is, but we will figure that out tomorrow.