First vandalism

We were told to expect it, but it's still a surprise. The dinghy was
chained to the dinghy dock in Grand Case while we had a delightful
lunch. Fay's back has been in a lot of pain so we went for a large
lunch and planned to skip dinner. We had a great meal with a
wonderful bottle of Pouilly Fume, then bought some groceries and
returned to the dinghy.

There we found that someone had pounded our little 2hp engine with
rocks, particularly the fuel cap. It's not clear if they stood on the
dock and threw the rocks, or got into the dinghy and pounded on it. A
few rocks were found in the bottom of the dinghy.

The case is now thoroughly scarred and the fuel cap is pretty beat
up. It still ran ok so it seems like they didn't dump anything in the
tank. I guess that's why it's called senseless violence, it makes no
sense.

Gourmet cruising

Since Monday we've been anchored off Grand Case, just a couple miles
northeast of where we were in the marina at Marigot for the first
night of carnival. Grand Case modestly claims to be the gourmet
capital of St. Martin. And in case you didn't get the memo, they have
a web site to confirm that at www.grandcase.com. And on top of that,
they close the main (only?) street every Tuesday night and flood it
with bands and peddlers. Last Tuesday was very nice, packed with
people (mostly local), music, lots of artists and general merriment.
We've eaten two meals in the restaurants here and they were both
excellent. The airport is right behind the town so a few commercial
flights and private planes make a pretty low approach over the
anchorage; the first plane was the largest and a real surprise! We
roll a bit in the anchorage, but it's a nice spot overall. We'll
probably be here a few more days.

Carnival in St. Martin

Carnival started today in St. Martin. A big parade weaved through Marigot with dancers, floats and big trucks with bands in the back, each with the volume set to 11.

Surprisingly, it's only 8:30 and things have quieted down, all we hear now is the roar of a few motorcycles being revved up.

Fay got some nice pictures, like this dancer.

A good baguette!

The ride to St. Martin was fast and a little bumpy. We let go of the
mooring at the Bitter End about 9:30pm and very slowly and carefully
found our way out of the north sound into 20 knots of true wind. We
took it slow and easy around Necker Island (owned by Richard Branson),
then double reefed and took off for St. Martin at 8+. We had 20-25 knots of 
apparent wind on the beam most of the trip, then it moved to about 60
degrees apparent for the last two hours and we punched into very
confused seas as the north wind blew into the prevailing easterly
seas. We arrived in Marigot Bay about 7:30am for an average of a
little over 8 knots.

The med mooring was in Fay's words "like pushing a fat lady into a size 6".  In any case, Fay saved our lifelines with the timely application of a fender to the anchor of the adjacent 60' motor yacht.  Then she promptly found a very nice baguette!

As a cold front moves through it's overcast with 20-30 knots in the slip here at the Marina Ft. Louis so we're catching up on email and chores. Tonight we find a nice bistro or restaurant for dinner.

Sooner not later

To avoid the bigger seas and take full advantage of the winds, we're
departing tonight and should be in St. Martin Wednesday afternoon.

Move down island?

A cold front is coming through today, with a big low up north around
Bermuda. The wind has gotten very light and is predicted to even come
from the west which is unusual where the trades usually blow 20kn from
the east. We may use this opportunity to depart the BVIs and make the
trip to St. Martin tomorrow night. Our current hesitation is that the
big low up north is supposed to build up some very large seas from the
north and Marigot Bay at St. Martin is not well protected from the
north.

Snow Day

Well not exactly, but it was poor weather and cool.

Michelle visited last week and we showed her a whirlwind tour of the
BVIs. Then it was back to Nanny Cay to pick up some parts. Leaving
Nanny Cay we got thoroughly doused with rain (just like the last time
we departed there), but it was only a taste of what was coming.

The forecast was for lots of wind and it held true. We no sooner got
over to our anchorage on Norman Island and got the anchor down than
the sky grew dark, the wind whipped up, and it stayed that way the
rest of the day and night. We're used to squalls coming through, but
it's unusual to see a gray rainy sky for an entire afternoon. It's
still windy this morning, but the sun is around. Time to put the
parts to work with a few repairs and a few improvements.

Friends are visiting next week, bringing us mail and some supplies
from California. Beyond that we're beginning to plan our move south,
looking at where we would go in St. Martin, St. Barts and Antigua/
Barbuda.

The Big Stupid

We have a little 2hp outboard which we use for small trips. It's
light, easy to mount, sips the fuel and is a good alternative to our
15hp which does the long distance trips. One reason that it's so
light is that it has no shifter, it's always in forward gear. As soon
as you start up, it goes forward! This means you want to have it
pointed in the right direction before you pull the cord. So if you
start it up when you're still tied to the dock or boat, you drive
right back into the boat or dock.

Two days ago, on a mooring at the Bitter End I jumped in the dinghy,
cast off the painter, gave the cord a pull... and nothing. I looked
down and the "key", the kill switch key, wasn't there. And since it
was a short, quick trip I also had no oars, or anything else. As I
quickly drifted away from boat I yelled for Fay, who came up from
below and quickly figured out the problem.

I realized that I was drifting fast and would soon be outside the
mooring field and headed for "South Marine", the shore where all the
stuff that comes loose at the Bitter End soon drifts to a new home.
While Fay was getting her suit, fins, mask, and the key, time was
passing. I decided to swim for it. I jumped out of the dinghy and
managed to tow it to a mooring and tied off the painter.

Fay then swam from the boat to the dinghy, with the kill switch key,
and saved me. We motored back to the boat, Fay got off, and I
proceeded to the dinghy dock.

Next time I'll make sure I have the kill switch key before I cast off!

Fixing the boat in paradise

That's the cruiser saying, it's fixing your boat in exotic locations.
That was a lot of our last week. We were 3 days in Nanny Cay while a
refrigeration technician tried to improve the performance of our
freezer. He tried everything, but it doesn't chill any better than
before.

So we got out of Nanny Cay and spent a couple of days anchored off
Norman Island which was much more pleasant. We really enjoy the
anchorage over there with a snorkeling reef right off the back of the
boat. On that small reef we've seen turtles, lots of snapper,
sergeant majors, an assortment of wrasses and reef fish, and for
toppers, Fay saw a 10' nurse shark (friendly kind).

But we moved to the Bitter End yesterday to pick up parts for the
autopilot, and misc other pieces that Lyman Morse sent us. Today I
fixed the autopilot, at least I hope I did. The rudder reference unit
failure was a intermittent, but mostly not working and now it seems to
be working. We'll give it a good test on Tuesday. I also got out the
vice for the first time and twisted and pounded a chain hook back into
shape (I bent it during a midnight anchoring exercise - another story).

I did find out that the old New Morning is on the cover of the
February issue of Sailing magazine. And a picture of us may be on the
Cruising World web site in the next 5-10 days, possibly followed by a
full article in the May issue.

One of these days I need to post some new pictures and update the
systems information, particularly the electrical story now that we're
getting some experience off the grid with the wind generator and solar
panels.

Tomorrow Michelle arrives and we'll circumnavigate the BVIs with her
next week. We'll see the Baths, Norman Island, Jost Van Dyke (and
probably Foxy's), Green Cay and Marina Cay.

It's Superbowl time soon, and Fay is from Pittsburg so it's a big day.