Sailing Encore

The following are the continuation of postings from my journal from our original family cruising experience. At this point we are sailing around in the US and British Virgin Islands and my sister Laura flies in to visit for two weeks.

1-8-1986

Laura’s here! It’s fun having someone from home. She’s white now but she’ll be brown in a couple weeks! Steve was glad to see her too cause she brought gifts from grandparents of course! We went into town and she did some shopping already. I got the groceries yesterday and had the wash done so we are ready to go!

1-10-1986

The weather was wet and cold yesterday and some of today. You’d have thought Laura brought it with her.

We went to Ditliff Bay yesterday afternoon after a wet attempt to leave St. Thomas earlier in the day. We arrived late and had dinner and went to bed early. Today we snorkeled Ditliff then sailed to Cinnamon and snorkeled the Cay. It was really nice with big fish and lots of things to see. We motored over to Maho Bay to anchor for the night. We had a fun evening of talking about things we did as kids and a kid’s perspective. Speaking of kids- Steve has been a good boy today. I think he likes the extra attention from Laura.

1-11-1986

Nice morning sail to Jost Van Dyke and cleared in at Great Harbor. Motored round to Green Cay and swam ashore to beach.

Earlier this morning we hitched a ride to Cruz and shopped around then had brunch at Mongoose Junction. Steve didn’t sit still a minute. Took him to park to get a few swings in. This afternoon after snorkeling we went into Little Harbor and anchored in the rock and roll. We had planned on going into the beach to dance to band playing calypso but one by one we fell asleep – Vernon at 7:30pm and last is me- but I’m barely able to write this and it is all of 9:30pm- Yoo hoo.

1-13-1986

Yesterday we left early from Little Harbor and had a heavy winded sail across to Cane Garden Bay.

We swam ashore and Steve had a great time playing with another boy and his dog on the beach. Laura and I got some sun while Vernon rented a wind surfer and fell about 1000 times before paddling back to boat! It is amazing how easy some people can make that sport look. I fixed turkey dinner with cherry cream cheese pie. Neither Stanley’s or Rhymer’s had a band so we played cards and hung around on the boat. I got up this morning and snorkeled and saw a nice reef area- lots of fish and turtles. Two other boats came by asking my nursing advice on a child with a fever and a twisted ankle. Maybe I could make a living on this advice stuff! We flew the spinnaker for a while as we sailed, then headed up Tortola to Roadtown. Laura’s learning sailing whether she intended to or not 🙂

We are at the Village Cay marina now and the hot shower felt great. I did the wash and we filled the water tanks. The leaky water system sure eats up the water fast. Elena came in from charter and John, Peter and Suzanne came by for a few cold beers. We made arrangements with the marina to leave the boat here while we are gone home for two weeks. Steve still hasn’t gotten down the peddling on his bike but he is saying more and more words and phrases every day.

1-16-1986

I will catch up on the last few days- We left the marina and sailed to Norman Island to the Bight. It got crowded very quickly. Laura and Vernon snorkeled while Steve slept and I read. Then yesterday we took off early toward St. Croix only to be intercepted with high seas and rain. So we retraced our way into the Sound and sailed on up to Virgin Gorda to the Bitter End. We had deflated the dinghy for the sail, so after that was fixed up we went into the restaurant for drinks.

Today we sailed down to the Baths but had some problems. We flew the spinnaker but really messed up on the take down and the port sheet got caught in the turning block. We went into the marina at Spanish town and took a taxi to the Baths. Laura seems to be enjoying herself. She enjoyed the sailing, the Baths and believed the monkey story. She is quite a woman now. I think back on when she was my “little” sister. She was pretty young when I first met Vernon. I think 12 years old.

1-17-1986

Another stormy morning threatened us leaving the marina but it cleared up and we took off about 10am. Vernon and Laura went to listen to a Reggie band last night. They said that hardly anyone was there but they enjoyed it. Our downwind sail took us to Peter Island where we anchored in the pretty bay of Little Harbor. We even put up the awning and settled in. We snorkeled around then Laura watched Steve while Vernon and I went scuba diving. It was so nice to dive. It has been a long time for me and we really thought we would be doing a lot more of it than we have. We also thought we’d be eating a few lobster dinners but none yet. Vernon caught one today but it was too small so we let it go. Some day I’ll melt that butter!! But tonight the garlic will just have to go on the bread with our spaghetti.

1-19-1986

Yesterday morning Vernon briefed Laura on scuba diving then took her out on a short dive. He said she did really well. I remember back when I first dove this area- it was like being in a large aquarium. We decided to stay another night at Little Harbor so we spent the rest of the day snorkeling and watching other boats come and go. Steve seemed to be especially loud in that little bay and I’m sure the boats were glad to see us take off this morning. We set up to fly the spinnaker but instead sailed to Nanny Cay to get ice and some beers, etc. We had a close call as we got stuck in the sandy bottom inside the marina. After a few weight shifts and motor reves we got off and tied up at a vacant end dock. And strange enough Jeri Paige from Sunsign (the original charter boat Vernon and I first visited the USVI on three years ago) was there. She looked a slight bit different- nine months pregnant to be exact. She says things have changed since we last saw her as mate and galley girl on Sunsign. She and Dave split up after stopping the chartering. And now she is with Keith and obviously awaiting a little one! She’s been sailing on different boats and manages the restaurant at Maho campground. Dave is on Sunsign living in St. Thomas and working for a charter group. She looked happy enough. She was surprised to see us and Steve. Anyway – from there we sailed to Leinster Bay and snorkeled. Lots of starfish and a lot of boats. Parking lot style.

1-20-1986

We spent our last evening at anchor at Round Bay in Hurricane Hole on St. John. We sat around and played cards and talked. We set out this morning with Cooper Island as our goal but the sea was choppy and Laura felt sick so we turned in at St. John. After snorkeling and sun shower we had Vernon put on the generator so Steve could enjoy some Sesame Street while we played cards. We are down to nothing in the cupboards so we made oatmeal cookies for dessert.

1-22-1986

Laura left very early this morning via ferry to St Thomas. She has a long day of traveling going on right now. Last night she and I went up to a bar that had a band and we danced to Fungi music by the band Trouble. It was fun. Once old local guy named Nature Boy kept asking Laura to dance.

I walked with her to the ferry this morning at 6am and she said she had a great vacation. We’ve had a fun two weeks with her on board. Steve was sad when she was gone.

Today we cleaned and packed and stowed gear away. Since I’ve seen a few cockroaches on board, we are going to set off a bomb. I am excited for this trip home but Vernon is afraid he won’t get me back here after another taste of civilization and babysitters! We’ll see. It depends on how good that Margarita tastes!