Sailing Encore

We are waiting out the weather created along the upper East Coast caused by Hurricane Jose. Snug and safe (and a bit bored) in Glen Cove, Long Island. I thought I would share some more of our past adventure from my journal. After 2 months of sailing, the propeller is on and we can motor and maneuver as needed. Here, we bring in the New Year in the Virgin Islands. 

12-30-1985

Pleasant sail on a pretty day to Tortola- Roadtown. But this time we MOTORED into our slip! Bravo Daddy! We rented The Big Chill and Robin Hood–both looked good on our new T.V. AND Vernon went to travel agent and got us tickets to fly home on the 23rd from Beef Island for two weeks. We will be able to attend a friend’s wedding and it will be fun to have a good Margarita and babysitter. But I really do have to say I have loved these last 4 weeks here in the Virgins. Everything is going well and I am happy to be here with my little family.

1-1-1986

Happy New Year! We left Tortola yesterday and had a nice sail to Virgin Gorda- The Bitter End. So did everyone else! The bay looked as crowded as Catalina on July 4th. We went ashore for drinks and enjoyed walking around the newly developed shoreline. The place looks great. Steve played with a balloon the waitress gave him and V & I had drinks to toast in the New Year. We waited for Steve to fall asleep in his stroller and then had a nice dinner. But the early drinks did us in and we couldn’t make it till midnight! Today we sailed on a pleasant beam reach to Anegada- still flat! What a strange looking island compared to the mountain peaks of the Virgins. And this anchorage is rolly-polly. We hope to scuba dive the coral reef here tomorrow but who’ll watch Steve? Well, ‘Elena’ is here with Suzanne, John, Peter and Amy Jane so I will ask them.

1-3-1986

Even though the wind was howling, we attempted a dinghy ride up the coast to find a snorkel spot. (Suzanne watched Steve). It was not enjoyable. We returned to Expedite and decided to sail on back to more protected isles. We sailed into Trellis Bay on Tortola and soon after us everyone and their brother did too! Fun watching the boatniks anchoring. One very embarrassed guy tripped another boats anchor rode. We went to windsurfing shop and discovered the high coast of boards here. We will check them out at home since it could be cheaper to ship here from home. Had a rough night rocking and rolling and Steve cried often. This morning we waited for a few people to disperse then had the guy ahead of us motor up off our anchor so we could raise it and leave. We motored to Spanish town and got a nice slip at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor and pulled right in (still makes me giddy when we get to easily maneuver the boat under motor power!!) When Steve wakes up we will get lunch and explore the area. It looks much nicer than when we were here 2 years ago.

1-4-1986

We met a nice family on the boat next to ours at the marina. They are on a charter boat  and have three boys who played with Steve all morning. Then we had a leisurely sail to Round Bay, St. John. We played on the beach and swam. Steve loved the rocks- he has quite the thing for them lately. He is really increasing his vocabulary and still charms anyone he meets. I got him crayons and he does a good job at coloring and looking at the pictures. He still has some cranky tantrums and they often occur right when we can’t attend to him because we are maneuvering the boat under sail.

1-5-1986

What a day! Put me back in Martinique in misery. We decided to go to Coral Harbor this am and explore. As we took off it started to pour and Steve started to scream. The raining stopped but Steve didn’t. The air was light and fluky and in trying to tack the jib got caught. Vernon almost fell overboard releasing it. The seas rolled in and we rocked all the way there. A nice anchorage but lots of boats. We dinghied to the dock but just as we were about to get there, Steve fell in and Vernon rescued him. Steve was actually doing well with his head up and kicking to the boat. Going to have make him wear his swimmy arm rings in the dinghy. We had brunch and played at the playground and Steve herded some sheep.

We left there and headed for Ditliff Bay but we had 2 terrible jibes in the rocky downwind seas and the dinghy we were towing flipped over! We headed into Lamshure bay to see to the outboard motor that took a plunge in sea water. Vernon did what he could for it but we will now need to take it in for repair. I made some oatmeal cookies (if it had been the first month the stove would also have exploded) The evening was nice with snorkeling and some Sesame Street for Steve. I was glad when the sun set.