Sailing between Maine and the Caribbean Sea
The best way to show off the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands is via this photo essay. This is our 9th visit to the BEYC and we love it here. Take a look at these photos and I am sure you will see why we enjoy this location which is only accessible by boat. Enjoy….
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| …Radeen and our BVI permit… |
With our mission completed of acquiring boat permits from the National Trust of the British Virgin Islands, over in Road Town, it was now time to move into the BVIs and snorkel. After a very very rolling night and very little sleep off Sandy Spit due to the North Swell wrapping around and rocking our boat from gunwale to gunwale, we headed east for Guana Island and Monkey Point. Our $150 permit allows us to use the many mooring balls placed through out the BVIs at all the key snorkeling and diving locations. You are allowed to take a RED mooring ball and secure your yacht to this for 90 minutes while you jump in the water and check out the beautiful fish and coral reefs. Our first mooring we used was at Monkey Point and our stern was only about one boat length off the rock with the waves breaking on the rocks. The swell was rolling us back and forth here as well and we were at first concerned about being so close to the rocks. But we lowered the dinghy, our diving platform and we jumped into the water. What a great feeling snorkeling right off your boat onto a beautiful coral reef in crystal clear water, and it is only 10 am in the morning. Sooooooo many reefs and so little time. Radeen and I love to snorkel. Check out these GoPro photos…
So, welcome to the Bitter End Yacht Club, we will try to do a photo essay on this location as you can see, it is very special to us and we really love it here. Here is our happy Champagne and OJ toast “selfie” with the BEYC over our sholders.
The BVIs are only 35 miles long from end to end, so you can cover this area in a day.
Our first visit here was in 1986!
We left St. Thomas on a calm day with 10 knots of southeast winds and continued to push east towards the British Virgin Islands. There are several places to check into the country, and we chose to sail to Jost Van Dyke, using Foxy’s dinghy dock and of course a Carib Beer at Foxy’s. The check in took about 45 minutes of paperwork and processing in a very relaxing manner and friendly manner. Our cost was based on the ship’s gross tonnage and for us at 17,500 pounds that was $21. The maximum fee is $55.
We are very excited to be here and to finally reach what is considered to be one of the dream locations for cruising. We have been here eight times before on charters and land based vacations, but this time is is far better being on our own boat and our own schedule. Take a look at these photos and you will see why boaters love to sail in the British Virgin Islands. The scenery, water color and beaches……
Our first challenge was to buy the one year permit for private vessels that will allow us to use the daytime dive moorings in 70 different locations. When we checked in at Jost Van Dyke, the officials there are only allowed to sell the weekly permits for $50, and not the annual permits. The only place you can buy them is at the BVI National Parks office in Road Town. That would be on the other side of Tortola and we were on the Jost side. No problem, Mon….we moved over to Cane Garden Bay and headed into town where we hired a cab ($24 over and $24 back) and bought the permit at the National Trust Park office. Bill on buddy boat mv/SEA STAR ran along with us to keep us company and to help out. We bought three one year park permits, one for each boat: Fezywig, Sea Star and Island Spirit. This all took about 1.5 hours and we were back to our boats soon after noon……
We then dropped the mooring balls and we headed out to Sandy Spit where we could play on the beach, swim, snorkel and enjoy the beautiful waters. The winds were calm, 5-10 knots, but the north swell is building and it is a bit rolly here off the cay where we are spending the night, after watching a spectacular sunset over Jost Van Dyke.
One of the most interesting things that happened was when we left St. Thomas and headed out to the BVIs, we were passed by an incoming cruise ship. We actually had to divert and then take his stern as he was going 12 knots and we were going 6 knots. We could not cross his bow, so we let him cross us. Good idea, right? The ship was also on starboard, so he had the right of way. We were soooooo close, it was very interesting. We had fun waving to all the poeple standing on their balconies and waving back at us. Here are the photos of the crossing….
Now, lucky for us, the large cruise ships do not cruise into the BVIs and anchor off the small islands like Sandy Spit and Sandy Cay. The only way to get here is to hire a small boat or charter a boat or bring your own boat or book a very small cruise ship. Life is good in the BVIs…
Two more days of calm winds and snorkeling and then we will move into North Sound and base off the Bitter End Yacht Club. We may just stay there a few days for some windy and rainy weather….For now, it was a Sandy Spit kind of day….
We officially arrived in the United States Virgin Islands when we dropped anchor off Water Island, near St. Thomas. We anchored next to Island Packet 38 ULLR, Cristine and James who alerted us to the fun Sunday afternoon on Honeymoon Beach. With this news our “Team Six Knots” pushed hard and we joined the party and enjoyed swimming, paddle boarding, beach walks and cold beers. What a blast, welcome to the USVI and we all needed this nice break after pushing 1,568nm from Florida to reach here. Now, we will spend 6 weeks exploring the USVI and the BVIs! What a treasure this will be. Here are some photos of pushing east from Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands as we powered on past Sail Rock and Saba….
We have spent a few days in the Salinas harbor as we waited out the East trade winds to calm down a bit from 20-25 knots to 8-12 knots. During our stop here, on anchor, we all were able to complete boat chores, oil and fuel filters and cleaning and laundry. Along with these common cruising tasks, we rent a car/van, and drive into Ponce to explore this historic town. Ponce is a 30 minute drive west of Salinas. Salinas is a fantastic harbor and there are several live-aboard sailors living on the hook in this harbor. It is well protected and very safe. Van Sant recommend this harbor to do a refit because you have access to supplies and good boat mechanics. As we have said before, Puerto Rico is really very interesting with a fun mix of third world scenes mixed in with American franchises and products. Add in a full spectrum of roads and highways to drive, ranging from dirt roads with massive pot holes and goats and chickens to four lane highways with automated toll booths, making Puerto Rico very interesting!
But first we had to sail or, should I say motor sail, EAST from our last anchorage of Isla Caja de Muertos. When pushing east into the trade winds you have to get up early and motor sail directly into the calm winds. By 1000 to 1100 hours the trades rebuild and you should pull into a harbor and stop. The other option is to move at night when the trade winds are much calmer due to the heated island and the winds that now flow down off the islands blocking the trades. We motor into this using our staysail and 2700 rpms on the engine doing 6.5 knots. This is the view looking into the sun heading east…the sun glare can be fierce. This is called “up-wind and up-sun.”
Once we arrived in Salinas, we worked our way into the harbor around many anchored and moored yachts and we found a very nice open area at the head of the harbor. The winds were forecast to blow East at 20-25 knots and here we never felt more than 12-15 knots. This is a recommended hurricane hole with mangroves around the east side. During storms, the yachts are moved into the mangroves and tied into the trees. Here is our boat on anchor with our west facing shade cloth tied into the rigging. The sun is soooooo hot and intense at 1400 to 1700, the shades helps block the sun.
On our trip to Ponce the team, which we now nicknamed “Team Six Knots” or “Team Six Knuts” decided to find the office for the massive wind farm that is between Salinas and Ponce. Sure enough, we did find it and the manager offered us a tour of the office and the wind turbine. This was so interesting. These wind turbines are massive and when you stand under one that is spinning and whipping the blades around you realize just how powerful these machines are. Each turbine is a 2.3 MW and they have 44 turbines installed. The site is rated at 101 MW capacity and it will pay for itself in 8-10 years! Each turbine, we were told, can power 1,000 homes. The 5,500 acre site is all farm land that is leased back to farmers by the Puerto Rico Land Authority. Here are some photos from our tour of the Santa Isabel Wind Farm.
Thank you to Rueben, Santa Isalbel Manager, on the right, for our fascinating tour!
We then drove into the historical center of Ponce, where we toured the Catholic Church, the bright red and black Fire Department Museum, Ponce Museum and the Fine Art Museum. The church is Our Lady of Guadeloupe Cathedral where noon mass was being conducted after we took this photo.
After a fine lunch at Chef’s Creations and a nice break, we hit the road and drove back to Salinas passing Sheep, Horses, Goats, Dogs, Chickens and Roosters on the city streets….
Then back at our very nice marina and harbor we enjoyed the pool and the shaded decks where we all talked about our next leg of moving into the USVI and eventually the BVIs…
For now, we will enjoy one more day here in Salinas and then we will take the calm trade winds and power 50 nm to the end of Puerto Rico. Here is the chart of the Salinas Harbor, you can see why this harbor is a hurricane hole!
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| …a lifetime goal reached… |
We crossed into the Caribbean Sea on Friday March 31, 2017. A lifetime goal reached and accomplished, that being buying a sailboat, learning how to run it and then taking it to the Caribbean Sea. It has been 1,410 nautical miles since we left Stuart Florida after out refit work. From Stuart, we moved down to Biscayne Bay where we broke in the Spectra Watermaker and enjoyed great friends, Freddie and Gail onboard. Then on Super Bowl Sunday Feb 5, we sailed out of Miami bound for the Caribbean Sea and now, we finally reached that line where the North Atlantic ocean touches the Caribbean Sea. This point is Cabo Rojo on the southwest corner of Puerto Rico.
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| Small but mighty, Island Spirit pushes on to the Mona Passage |
We crossed over the Mona Passage direct from Samana, Dominican Republic, with an overnight rin of 150nm in about 20 hours. We arrived at Puerto Real, which is on the west cost of Puerto Rico, there we checked into customs via a phone call and enjoyed the quet little fishing village. From there we moved only a few miles around the bays to Boqueron, another fun small local village where we worked over the local beers and had another fun night.
Then finally we left there and powered on around the SW corner and reached the Caribbean. Radeen and I were so happy and proud that we actually made it and NOW we will base our boat in this beautiful sea for the next 4 – 5 years.
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| Cabo Rojo Lighthouse where the Atlantic meets the Caribbean Sea |
For now, we need to power east into the trade winds and work our way down the south coast of Puerto Rico. The normal process is to up anchor at 0600, daybreak, and motor sail into the lighter trade winds until about 0900-1000 at which time the winds build to 15-20 knots and the seas come up. So, we turn into land, find a place to anchor, maybe a cool town, and drop the anchor around 1000. This process is detailed and explained in the book by Bruce Van Sant, “Passages South, the Gentleman’s Guide to the Thornless Path.”
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| Powering into the East trade winds early in the morning using the engine and staysail |
Then, we have the day to discover this new spot, dinghy into town and explore….
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| Taking a break and exploring the local towns and drinking the local beer. Hayden’s hat is sporting the logo of the local beer, Medalla. |
Then we get up and do it again. If we want, we could head out in the evening at 1700-2100 when the winds drop and then motor sail all night into the light east trade winds until the AM. We plan to do that to reach the Spanish Virgin Islands of Veiques and Culebra. After cruising these, we will then push into the US Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. Johns, and then finally the British Virign Islands. For now, we are enjoying our short hops to the interesting small towns and state parks along the coast.
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| We really like Puerto Rico….it is very interesting |
Overall, we are very impressed with Puerto Rico. We thought we would just blast on by here, but now we are finding all these very interesting villages and harbors with mangrove islands. Very fun!
Just look at Radeen’s very happy smile as we rounded Cabo Roja and reached the Caribbean Sea. Radeen loves to travel more than anyone I have ever known. We both love to sail and live on our boat, so, it was only natural that we now travel using our sailboat. We will rediscover the islands of the Eastern Caribbean, many of which we have chartered to before, but this time we will have no schedule and no timeframe and that should make this really very special.
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| Beautiful Radeen, happy Radeen, traveling Radeen |
Welcome to the Caribbean, it is going to be a very exciting time ahead for us. This map shows each day of our passage along the coast. Thank you for sailing along…..
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| …Goodbye DR, hello PR… |
With a serious low pressure storm north of us, the normal east trade winds have been pulled to south flowing into this storm giving us a nice motor sail 150 nm from Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico where we planned to enter the USA at Puerto Real. This crossing of the Mona Passage is well known in the cruising circles to be difficult and always rough, with confused seas and unpredictable currents. Lucky for us, this passage turned out to be relatively calm with a 5 foot swell of 9 seconds with a wind blown chop of 2-3 feet.
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| motor sailing out of the DR for PR |
The beginning of the trip was flat calm with main and jib and 2500 rpms motor sailing at 7 knots out of Samana harbor and past the capes. By midnight, we reached our point in the 1,000 to 2,000 meter waters well off the “hourglass shoals” which is known to have confused seas and crazy currents. We found the seas were a bit confused and the current was not too strong. We had a NE swell, and NW wind blown chop, and a S current, all making for a strange sea state. But overall, it was a relatively calm passage. We then turned SE for the Puerto Rican coast, aiming for the SW corner where we could check into Puerto Real harbor.
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| Docked in Puerto Rico |
We had made reservations for all three boats at Marina Pescarderia in Puerto Real, where the the fee is $1.20/foot. This marina is in a fishing village and the people are extremely friendly and helpful, though most do not speak English. From here, we plan to make small, easy, short, early morning hops along the south shore of the Puerto Rican coast, discovering all the great towns and harbors this island has to offer. It is GREAT to back in the USA after sailing out of Florida on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb 5.
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| Our lobby where we enjoyed relaxing |
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| Island Spirit in the shade, Radeen heading for a walk |
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| When in the DR, drink the local and smoke the local |
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| Heading to sea with Cape Samana in the distance |
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| The DR coast line falling away on starboard |
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| Along the DR coastline there were many floating fish nets and traps! |
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| Sunrise over Puerto Rico, welcome to USA |
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| Our B&G Zeus as we motor sailed in to Puerto Real |
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| First item, call into USA Customs and check into the country |
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| Next, raise the Puerto Rico courtesy lag on the starboard spreader |
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| A short walk up to town we found the bakery |
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| Flan for Radeen, WOW was that good! |
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| The local waterfront houses and fishing boats |
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| Our local store with fresh MILK and EGGS! yahoo |
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| When in PR, you drink the local beer |
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| Not bad for a light beer |
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| P A R T Y on |
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| This is the Overview of the course from DR to PR |
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| You have to go out 25 NM off the DR to clear the Hourglass Shoal where waves and currents are bad |
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| The turn around the reefs and then into the coast of PR where we made Puerto Real |
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| Crazy Fish traps all along our course |
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| Our buddy boat FEZYWIG a Lagoon 38 |
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| Lagoon 38 FEZYWIG in the ocean waves |
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| Island Spirit in the Mona Passage heading to Puerto Rico Photo Credit: Meloney on sv/FEZYWIG |
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| …Another Large Storm helps us… |
We are checked out of the Dominican Republic and we have our exit paper work called a “Despacho” which will allow us to legally leave the country. This all took about 4 hours with customs, marina office and the navy officer to check out our boat. Once all was signed, stamped and approved, we were given the proper paperwork. Next task was predict wind app which we now spend an hour a day on as we study the winds and the swells. As it looks tonight at 1900 Sunday, with a planned departure at 0700 Monday, it all looks good to cross the Mona Passage. This is a 150 nm run all into the east and with the current storm up north of us, once again we have the winds pulled from east to southeast and then flipping to northwest. The storm has the ocean really kicked up into a 10 foot to 15 foot swell but that is north up in the Bahamas. For us the swell is predicted to be 5 feet out of the north east which will put the swell on our port beam. The winds are to be on our stern at 10 knots. We plan to check into Puerto Rico at Marina Pescaderia in the town of Port Real Tuesday at 1200-1400. Here are the captures of the predict wind app.
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| Samana 0700 when we depart port |
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| Monday Midnight as we push onward |
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| Tuesday 0800 as we approach the coast of Puerto Rico |
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| Tuesday 1400 we should be docked at the marina, ready to check into the country |
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5 foot swells on our port beam. Not a bad ride, we hope
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This being our first crossing of the Mona Passage, of course we are looking at all data we can access. While here at the DR marina, we have had intermittent internet access making it difficult to get our weather information, let alone blog. We do feel that we have a good weather window to cross the Mona Passage, once again, a strong storm far away from us has pulled the trade winds south and then north and has given us a passage opportunity. Sometimes cruisers wait for weeks to cross this passage, we waited 4 days! OK. We will see you in Puerto Rico…..
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| …as least we had a car… |
We rented a car for the six of us using Oliver at the marina excursion office and we received a mini van with a seriously cracked windshield and bald tires with a boom box and several amps. It also had a commercial taxi sign on the side door, so we could have offered rides as well. We are not sure where they got the car but no one asked questions. The rate was $90 US for the three couples to drive south to Santo Domingo to the colonial section of town. Meloney drove and did an unbelievable job weaving in and out of city traffic avoiding motorcylces, horses, broken down cars and trucks. We only were pulled over once for making a left turn like a pro at a 4 lane interesection where no lefts were allowed. She got out of the traffic ticket by showing Google Maps on the cell phone which had told her to make the turn. None of us could understand Spanish, he spoke no English, and so he shook his head and let us go with a stern look and a clear gesture to keep our eyes on the signs.
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| Fuel stop, look at the prices |
Our first task leaving Samana was filling up the car which arrived on fumes. We stopped at the closet station 10 km away and we filled it up. That cost us $60 US and we ended up leaving about $20 of gas in the car at the end of the day. With wages averaging $10 per day here, this was a real win for the owner of this car. Notice the sign for the gas station prices. RD 210 per liter. The exchange rate is $1 to RD47. That works out to $4.46 per liter. One US gallon is 3.75 liters. So That means this is $4.46 x 3.75 equals $16.75 per US gallon! No wonder everyone is running around on small Honda Z3000 motorcycles. They must get 50-75 miles per gallon.
The next challenge was driving 3 hours from Samana to Santo Domingo and then finding our way around town. We crossed rice fields, rolling hills with cattle, river valleys, rugged mountain passes and finally into the metropolis of town. Once in Santo Domingo, it was C R A Z Y….like driving in NYC. Cars cutting us off, multiple lanes of traffic, signs in Spanish, treacherous culverts on the sides of the streets, children sprinting across the divided highways, few traffic lights and “Una Via” streets everywhere.
Thank goodness for Don’s LTE chip on T-Mobile, so he was able to navigate for race car driver Meloney as we quickly threw ourselves into the crazy flow.Once in the city, we stopped at a super market to secure funds from a Western Union where buddy boat Sea Star needed some serious cash to fix their bent prop and prop shaft damaged while we all crossed the Caicos Banks. They hit a coral head in the low angle morning light where none of us could see the massive coral heads as we powered at 6 knots into the sunrise. The Caicos banks are dangerous due to these large coral heads. You can not see them until it is nearly too late. Unfortunately, Sea Star caught one prop on the edge of coral and took damages. Lucky for them, here in the Dominican Republic, they hired divers to replace the shaft and prop while in the water! WOW, amazing workers like this are needed, since we have heard there are no haulouts anywhere in the DR.
After a quick stop at the very large store, we moved on to the colonial section of town. Here are some photos of the Carrefoure Store. It was a food store and a Walmart type store.
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| Radeen and Meloney had a funny exchange with a young employee as they tried to find a small cooler. They pantomimed “cold” by shivering, then drew a box in the air and pretended to put something in it, while saying “leche.” He sent them to the aisle with jackets and sweaters! After wandering around, they found the coolers and brought one back so he could see it. They laughed together as he shook his head as if to say “Now I understand!” Part of the problem was probably the fact that milk here is all UHT milk in a box that does not need to be refrigerated until opened. |
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| 20 eggs shrink wrapped, unwashed and unrefrigerated. They will stay fresh for weeks. |
Driving into the colonial section of Santo Domingo, we enjoyed seeing the street vendors’ carts of coconut water drinks and fruit stands. The DR people are so hard working and everyone has a shop, a cart, a stand, or some crafts to sell. It is really a bustling city and it was very exciting. Especially when compared to the Bahamas or Exumas.
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| Coconut water drink cart |
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| Typical fruit stand |
We parked the car and walked into the colonial district where we bought a very valuable English audio tour of the Cathedral Primada de America Catholic Church, the first cathedral in the new world. Construction began with the consecration of the land in 1514. Over the next 200+ years, they continued to add twelve small chapels onto the sides of the main sanctuary. The church is in amazing shape and was very impressive.
After a full day in town, it was time to hit the road and drive the 3+ hours back to Samana where we arrived around 2030 hrs. What a fun day of touring the countryside of the Dominican Republic and the city of Santo Domingo. This country has so much to offer and it seems like the people are very hard working and proud of their country, as well as very friendly. The DR is a must stop place on the sailing cruising tour.
