See Ya Virgin Islands – Heading South to St.Martin/St.Maarten

After spending the last couple of years working in the Virgin Islands, surviving two Category 5 hurricanes (known as Irmaria in the Virgin Islands), and having added many upgrades to Smitty, we said see ya and headed south from St.Thomas in order to explore the rest of the Eastern Caribbean!

We sailed to St.Croix, hoping this would give us a better angle to sail to St.Martin. But alas, it was not in the cards. As usual for us, there was no sailing to be had, just choppy, confused seas. Unfortunately, due to the boat bouncing around, we had issues with our fuel filters getting plugged-up with the gunk that had gotten stirred up from the bottom of the diesel tank. The good news is, Jesse has become a pro at quickly changing the filters and we have many spares because we have run into this particular challenge in the past.  He changed out to a new filter, we bleed the fuel, started the engine, and away we go. This issue happened a couple times on what should have been a 24-hour passage. About ten miles outside St.Martin (French side), when we went to restart the engine there was a pop noise and then she wouldn’t restart! After several hours and still no resolution, we made the decision to sail into the port (note: we were sailing, well trying, while Jesse was down below trying to figure out the problem).  The wind was not in our favor (very slow sailing with long tacks back and forth to make any progress forward) and it was dark by the time we entered the port, which we had never been into before and there are unlit buoys and boats to keep an eye out for. Thankfully, this bay is very large with a nice sandy bottom, we dropped the anchor and hooked right away.

It took a couple of days of tracing wires, checking batteries, testing all engine components, to finally find a loose ground wire!  Yes, after all that, the issue really was that simple and didn’t cost anything to fix!  As you can imagine, we went out and celebrated after that! Time for good French wine, cheese, and baguettes!

We spent about a week or so checking out this half French (St.Martin) and half Dutch Island (St.Maarten). You can take a dinghy or car (we did both) from one country to the other without having to check in or out of either country.

Marigot, St.Martin

entry to Fort Louis

cannon – Fort Louis

Jesse on the receiving end of a cannon!

Fort Louis

Random Scenes from Marigot Bay:  Local Art and a Horse “parked” outside the grocery store.

local art made from repurposed materials

horse parked outside a grocery store

And no trip to St.Martin is complete without a stop at Maho Beach to watch the planes fly very low overhead to land at the Princess Juliana International Airport in St.Maarten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dominican Republic

As the sun was rising, we began to see the breathtaking views of the Dominican Republic (DR or DomRep).  Our first stop was Luperon.  The bay here is stunning – picture the mountains of New England with a line of mangroves at the foothills that roll right into the water.  Everything here is so lush and green.  The bay is an ideal hurricane hole for boats of all sizes and the food and beverages are shockingly cheap.  I can see why so many people end up moving here permanently.  If it wasn’t for the poor water-quality (definitely no swimming!), we would have spent much longer here.

Luperon – Puerto Plata

I cannot say that it is easy to check in at this port of call.  First of all, my Spanish es no bueno, or shall I say my Spanglish, so dealing with several different officials (whom speak/understand very little or no english) was a bit of a challenge. 

Step one:  The Marina Guerra (Coast Guard) will board your boat as soon as you are anchored or moored. No $ is required to give to them but be ready with copies of passports, vessel documentation, departure form from last port of call, and ice cold beers (yes, they absolutely will ask for beer!)

Step two:  The Captain goes to shore with all of the same documents and tries to figure out which of the three rooms in a very hot, not air-conditioned trailer to go to first and what fees are actually due.  The fees that are required to be paid are not clearly documented, so when you go to check-in by boat be sure to bring lots of pesos or USD.  The cost for our 31-foot vessel with two adults and one dog was as follows (amounts in USD):    Cruising Permit/Other Fee $60,  Tourist Card- $10 per person,  Harbor Charge $25 (for a 10-day stay)

Step Three: When you are ready to leave, you play a similar game in order to get your despacho (exit permit).  However, no fees are required to leave.

We decided to make a day-trip to Damajaqua Cascades (27 waterfalls) with the crews of sv Sea Frog and sv Party of Five.  So, trying to figure out how to get nine people there was a bit of a challenge.  Travel choices in the DR are as follows:  car rental, guagua*, donkey/horse, or motoconchos**.

*Guagua is a small car or van that is overstuffed with people (you will literally see people overflowing from the vehicle), far exceeding their recommended (safe) capacity.

**Motoconcho is a motorbike that is used for public transportation.  You will see as many as four adults + children on one bike.  You will also see furniture and other large items being moved on these bikes.

As we had a former local resident in our mix (thank you Darren!), he hooked us up with a rental….which turned out to be someone’s personal SUV (not the van that we were expecting)…thank god we were traveling with three skinny kids!

We spent another day touring Puerto Plata.  We took in the sites,  made & smoked cigars at the Cigar Factory, drank rum on the Brugal Rum Factory tour, ate chocolate on the tour at the Del Oro Chocolate Factory, and of course had beers on the beach.

After leaving Luperon, we stayed a couple nights in Samana in order to wait out weather before making our way across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico.

Turks & Caicos

 

Turtle Rock

Water color changes:  darker blue (close) is the deep water; the beautiful turquoise is the more shallow water

After a 36-hour passage from Long Island, Bahamas, we arrived in Providenciales (Provo) in the country Turks & Caicos.  Our plan was to have a 7-day or less stopover here in order to provision, take on water and fuel and wait for a weather window to head to the Dominican Republic.  Staying any later then 7-days in this country would mean that we would have to pay an additional hefty fee – No Thanks! 

This island was full of resorts and a fee is required by each resort in order to enter and go to their beaches and restaurants.  All of the nice beaches are privately owned (residences or resorts) and nothing is within walking distance.  The marina owner was nice enough to drive the cruisers to the grocery store each day; other than that, we did not spend any time outside of the marina.

Several boats that are headed to the Caribbean had come into this marina in Provo within a day or so of each other.  We quickly made friends with Kendra (Owner/Captain) & Darren (Crew) on sv Sea Frog; you can follow her travels on Where is Kendra – My Adventures on Sea Frog. And, thanks to Barbara Hart on sv La Luna (published author and blogger – check out Harts at Sea)  for the introductions, we met up with Rhonda & Travis and their three kids (Quincy, Jonah, Daphnie) on sv Party of Five. This family is on a plan to sail the world! You can follow them at Party of Five.

sv Sea Frog                                                                        sv Party of Five

Left to Right adults:  Darren, Kendra, Rhonda, Travis, Fabio (sv Odoya), Stacey                                                                                                                                      Kids of sv Party of Five:  Jonah, Quincy, and Daphnie

In order to stage to jump to Luperon, Dominican Republic, we headed to South Caicos.  We anchored in Cockburn Harbor.  We were surprised that this sleepy little town was having a huge party – their Annual Regatta.  This regatta included sail and power boat races, junkanoo, face painting, games, bands, food & beverages.  A few of the more daring guys in our group ate turtle and did not feel so well later that night!

Great name for a boat:  RUM DRINKER 1

Junkanoo performers

Finally, we paid an extra fee to the government official in order to check-out over the weekend, and we were off to Luperon the next day.

Chapter 7: Lee Stocking Island

Lee Stocking Island may be our favorite stop that we made in the Bahamas.  There is enough to do that we could stay for weeks, which we did! But, we had to pile Smitty up with 30 gallons of extra water in a bladder and as much extra gas as we could, because there are no stores or other means of getting water or fuel on this island.

The island marker and the cut (entry/exit) for Lee Stocking

The Abandoned Institute

In order to pursue his interest in marine research and renewable energy, the 600-acre Lee Stocking Island was purchased for $70,000 by John Perry in 1957. He developed the island as a scientific field station and tried to make it self-supporting by incorporating working models of new technologies.

Wind Turbine – the cables were used to pull the blades to the top of the post (which looks like a mast of a boat on land)

The Perry Institute for Marine Science included laboratories, housing, an airstrip, a dock, boats, and dive support facilities.  Up until SCUBA technology became more advanced, the field station featured shallow-depth submersibles.

From the institute’s website: 

“The Perry Institute for Marine Science is dedicated to making a difference by protecting our oceans. We do this through ocean research and education that informs the public and encourages action. We operate a tropical marine laboratory on Lee Stocking Island in the Bahamas. Scientists, students and educational groups visit our facility from around the world to conduct ocean research in this remote, pristine stretch of the Caribbean. In the areas on and around our island, we study things like coral reefs, fisheries, ecosystems and the biodiversity of undersea life.”

After the death of Perry in 2006, research funding dried up and the institute was closed. However, the Institute was not cleaned up; tons of garbage (including hazardous materials), buildings and equipment remain on the island. 

A couple of the many abandoned buildings and a pick-up truck

Live-wells used for research

Airstrip

Hazardous chemicals and the remnants of a decompression chamber

The tanker trucks were used to hold fuel for the generators that supported the island

Hunting

Where the conch live

Conch:  Before                                      Conch:  After

Beautiful Beaches and clear water in every shade of blue

Hiking

Summer leads the way on the trail hike

Snorkeling

Anchorage with spectacular sunset

Farewell & Following Seas

One of the saddest days of of our trip so far was parting ways with Deborah & Keith and their pup, Kai on sv Wrightaway.  Thank you so much for the pleasure of your company, sharing the hunting and snorkeling spots with us, showing Jesse how to clean conch, and especially for sharing all of the super yummy fish & conch meals. 🙂

As I suspect that this island (or at least a portion) will be sold and developed into some sort of luxury resort over the next couple of years,  I am glad that we had the opportunity to explore this island now, especially in its current state (which, we found to be quite interesting and fun).

Chapter 6 – Cat Island

Cat Island is located on the outer reaches of the Eastern Bahamas (also known as the Far Bahamas); a well-worth sail from the Exumas.  We anchored in Old Bight, off of a 3-mile long, perfect sand beach, that we shared with two other buddy-boats:  sv Wrightway and sv The Lucky One.  This area has one small bar to the north and a large creek that is the home of lots of turtles to the south.

We traveled to North Bight in order to check out the local shops and the Hermitage.  Father Jerome (John Cecil Hawes), an architect and Catholic Priest, known throughout the Bahamas for his work, built the Hermitage (along with many other churches on various Bahamian islands). The Hermitage, located on Mt. Alvernia, the highest hill in the Bahamas, is amazing.  When you first see it from the water, you would think that you are about to embark on an epic journey to get to the top of the mountain where it is located.  In reality, nothing is very tall in the Bahamas. Having hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail; the tallest point in the Bahamas would be comparative to hiking to the base of any of New England’s mountains.  The trail begins as you walk through the archway at the Hermitage’s entrance at the base of the hill.  As you ascend the hill you will see the Stations of the Cross and the replica of Jesus’ tomb.  Once at the top of the hill, you arrive at the beautiful, yet humble Hermitage. The tallest part of the building, the bell tower, is only about 15 feet tall.  This is where Father Jerome prayed and lived in his retirement years.  On the back side of the hermitage, you can see the cave that Father Jerome lived in for several years while he was building the Hermitage.

View of the Hermitage from the town below

Debbie & Keith (sv Wrightaway) and Stacey (sv Smitty) hiking up the hill to the Hermitage

Left to right:  Crews of sv Wrightawy and sv Smitty

New Bight area – snack & beer shacks

Fire & weenie roast on Old Bight Beach.  The L Dock koozie is enjoying the Bahamas as well

Great sail  to Cat Island with our buddy-boat sv Wrightaway

Bahamas Chapter 4: Swimming Pigs and James Bond!?

For the past several years, we have obsessively read blogs by other cruisers and followed their travels as we planned our own itinerary.   At some point, we came across a video of people swimming with pigs on some island in the Bahamas…well, heck yeah I wanted to do that too!!

Pirate Beach…RRRRRR!

Staniel Cay is a pretty little resort island with a small yacht club, swimming pigs, and a famous grotto.  Yes, you read correctly SWIMMING PIGS! The small island next to Staniel has pigs cruising around on the beach and SWIMMING!  These suckers are huge!  There were also little piglets.  The tourists feed the pigs, as soon as the pigs see people they come running right over looking for food.  We had heard stories of people getting their butts bit as they ran away from the pigs due to lack of food and still hungry pigs. We also saw these very large creature’s getting into at least one inflatable boat to try and get food.  Overall, the pigs are relatively harmless and are somewhat trained.  We witnessed one pig that sat on-command (yes, like a dog!) for water.  There are lots of theories as to where these pigs originated from, but no one is really quite sure.

The Three Little Piggys

Just across the channel from the Staniel Cay Yacht Club is Thunderball Grotto – where scenes of the James Bond movie of the same name were filmed.  We waited until low-tide in order to snorkel into this cave-like spot and check out all of the reefs and colorful fish.

At the Staniel Cay Yacht Club, we witnessed a feeding frenzy of rays, sharks and turtles as the local fishermen cleaned their catch and threw the scraps into the water. 

Cost to Cruise the Bahamas – The First Two Months

After spending almost three months in the Bahamas, we have learned that we did not provision well enough for certain things.  For instance, we did not buy any sugar or flour before we left the States – big mistake! We have learned our lesson after having spent almost $7 for a small bag of hot dog rolls.  So, we have needed to spend more money than anticipated in order to properly provision for the cooking that we have been doing.  But the good news is I have actually learned how to bake bread, rolls, and pizza dough (anyone who knows me knows that I am not Ms. Suzy Homemaker – so this is a big deal for me!).

Also, we have had some success hunting.  We have gotten our fair share of conch and have made ceviche and cracked conch on several occasions.  We have also feasted on mutton snapper.  Unfortunately, we have had some epic fails as well: reeled in a large mahimahi and a bigeye tuna only to lose them trying to get them onto the boat, caught barracudas, and, lastly, we caught a puffer fish (which makes for great sushi if you know how to maneuver around their poisonous spines).  Needless to say, we have not saved as much $ by catching our dinner as we were hoping.

Lastly, included in our communication category is our Verizon plan that we continue to pay a monthly charge on (we anticipate we will be using our phones again in the USVI – if that is not the case then we will terminate our contracts and pay the early termination fees at that time).  In the Bahamas, we bought two SIM cards – one for our unlocked old-school phone (calls only) and the other for our MiFi devise (data).

February 2016  TOTAL $ 1,851.99

The first month we visited Bimini, Fraziers Hog Cay (Berry Islands), Nassau, Eleuthera (various ports), and the northern portion of the Exumas Islands.  Those costs break-down as follows:

$  356.07   MARINAS

$  314.82   COMMUNICATION

$  269.79   GROCERIES

$  241.85   ENTERTAINMENT (eating out and alcohol)

$  211.19   BOAT PARTS & OTHER

$  196.85   FUEL (Diesel & Gasoline)

$  150.00   BAHAMAS ENTRY FEE – I HIGHLY recommend immigrating through Bimini

$    40.05   WATER

$    24.95   TIPS, CHARITABLE DONATIONS, TRASH FEES

$    20.42   CREDIT CARD FEES (charged by some local stores)

$    14.00   PROPANE

$    12.00   LAUNDRY

March 2016  TOTAL $ 3,149.20* (I Know right – Holy Crap! – see Extraordinary items)

In month two we continued down the Exumas Islands.  Those costs break-down as follows:

$1,630.70*  BOAT PARTS & OTHER

$   532.95     GROCERIES

$   337.25     ENTERTAINMENT (eating out and alcohol)

$   261.00    COMMUNICATION

$   231.72     FUEL (Diesel & Gasoline)

$     56.08    WATER

$     52.50     LAUNDRY

$     25.00    TIPS, CHARITABLE DONATIONS, TRASH FEES

$     22.00   PROPANE

* Extraordinary Costs:

• $   350   Generator that we bought from our new cruising friends on sv Wrightaway
• $1,280  Various boat-related items including a Radio (music) & remote – our current one has decided to work when it feels like it, and a new Alternator, USCG documentation renewal, and US Decal (required in order to re-enter the USA), Fishing gear, etc.

Some Thoughts From Our Travels Down the East Coast

As I write this Smitty is anchored in Miami as we wait for a front to pass and favorable weather for our crossing to the Bahamas. It has been 135 days since we left Hingham to head south.  At some point, and I can’t recall exactly when, it stopped feeling like vacation and began feeling like our life. Now things like driving in traffic, sitting at a desk and talking to clients seem foreign while studying the weather forecast, checking the anchor line and monitoring the batteries have become our normal routine. This lifestyle seems more suited to us but we are not sure how we can make it sustainable for the long term.  For the short term we will continue to follow this new path and see where it goes.

In the time we have been cruising we have traveled 1,852 nautical miles (2,131 statute miles) in 51 days of travel  Only 9 of those days were under sail. The rest of the time we have been motoring slowly south, sometimes even north to eventually go south. But that’s how it is doing the protected water route through the sounds, bays, rivers and canals. We’ve used 292.5 gallons of diesel on this trip. That’s more fuel than we had used in the previous 5 years of owning Smitty and the 4 years we owned Splash combined. But this $702.54 has been part of the cost to see the coast.  We could have gone offshore and sailed more but we would have seen less.  For us this was a one time trip. We may go north again but we definitely won’t do the entire ICW, the Chesapeake, or the Delaware.

We have spent 58 nights at anchor.  Of the other 77 nights spent at a dock most have been free, largely helped by Tom and Nancy hooking us up at Lady’s Island Marina. We have also been at many of the free docks that towns in the south make available to cruisers transiting the area. What we have found is that we are much happier at anchor.  The boat rides more comfortably, even in foul weather. You have more privacy. You can safely swim right off your back deck. The more time we spend in marinas the more they feel like trailer parks. Even today it is blowing 20 to 30 knots with gusts up to 50 knots and I find swinging and heeling more comfortable than the short, choppy action you would get on a dock in these conditions.

Cruising with Summer has been great but it’s not always easy. We love having Summer with us and watching her get excited to see dolphins swim near our boat makes up for any minor inconveniences. She gives us an excuse to get off the boat regularly and walk to explore the areas we are traveling through.  However, many of the great gunk holes that Chesapeake Bay sailors brag about don’t have any shore access.  People have been allowed to build walls right into the water.  The result is that there is no actual shore line in these areas, just private property or water.  We have seen this same approach in many of the areas along the ICW. That means that there are less and less anchorages where cruisers can get to shore.  When you are cruising with a dog, you might have to skip past these anchorages and sometimes anchor in a more exposed area to get shore access for your pouch.

This has really made me think about private property vs. public access.  Areas below the mean high water line is considered common land for all to use in most states and by the federal government. In fact I am willing to bet that extensive permitting was needed to construct those walls along the shore. There was even an exhibit about this at the Maritime Museum in St. Michaels that said the public access issue has only developed in the last 20-30 years.  Most locals were able to spend summers exploring the shore and now their kids and grandkids are not going to have those same life experiences.  Access to the water and the shore for the public has been recognized since the Roman Empire. But we seem to have forgotten that. Recently, Florida politicians have reintroduced anchoring regulations that will make anchoring in front of private property illegal because it ruins the view for the property owner. The commonwealth aspects this nation was founded on seem to be getting left in the history books while the wants of the wealthy prevail. But I digress into politics better left to the dirt dwellers.

As we have been cruising, we have been looking for where we would like to live. We haven’t really found the spot yet. The Carolinas was the first place that started to appeal to us. But the weather still gets colder then we would like there. We are looking for shorts year round type of weather. St. Augustine, Florida has some really attractive aspects.  However, there is just something missing. It could be that you still need a car to get around in that town.  I would like to remain carless if possible. From West Palm Beach south to Miami the area is just too built up.  But this area holds the possibility of finding work and being able to jump over to the Bahamas in a days sail. So while no place has hit all of the wants yet but we have absolutely found some places that would be preferable to the cold northeast. I’m still pulling for Saint Thomas, USVI to be our new home but we will see how much we like it there when we aren’t just visiting on vacation.

Saga Of A Wayward Sailor

I don’t normally reblog. In fact, this is my first. But as I sit in my box trying to get the motivation to work today this post just struck me. Particularly the quote at the bottom. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Only 17 more months before we quit our jobs.  I think it might be tougher than the last 24 months spent selling almost everything we owned.

Fair winds,

Jesse