Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Just a Glimpse

St. Thomas from our anchorage in Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

View from our mooring ball in St. John view to the east.

St. John view to the west.

Living it up in ST. Thomas

Not much to report on this end. We are enjoying ourselves and have been keeping busy with boat things.

Robert, Liz, Matt, and Sam are here for a visit and we are having a blast! We are going to hate to see them go. We have gone sailing, snorkeling, and exploring.

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Today is Ryan & my 1st Anniversary so that too is newsworthy. Last night Robert and Liz treated us to an Anniversary dinner. When we got to the restaurant it ended up being a parking lot. Literally, the tables were set up in the parking lot. It was a ton of fun and completely fitting for those of you that know about the wedding.

Happy Anniversary Ryan!

From The Birds’ Nest

Greetings, from the most recent stowaway aboard Sandy Dreams.  The weather is beautiful, wish you were here. 

So much has happened the last two weeks. Re-uniting with Ryan, Jen, Marilyn & Sissy has been great. They have made me feel welcomed & comfortable. Sandy Dreams is just as I remembered her, roomy, clean, and very sea worthy.  Have met lots of new friends, from Canada, Chris & Jackie aboard “Higheeled”, Tony & Rosemary aboard “English Rose” from Ireland, Nick & Wendy also from the Great White North, in a nice cat, Matt & Mary Liz, from FL & DC, as well as Dick & Jane, Carl from the Netherlands, and a great local named Tony who keeps a nice sloop here in the marina & has invited us over for a New Years bash.  Marilyn has 3 girlfriends visiting this week, Sandy, Debbie & Diane from Texas are enjoying the sun and the stars.  Oh yea, & don’t forget the Geraldo Rivera sightings in the marina tiki bar.  He glides the Hinkley in from his island every couple days for a cold one.

As for high sea adventures, you must be patient, as we are still securely docked in Salinas, Puerto Rico.  Between morning yoga, reading stints, & poolside libations, I have managed to escape for a few shore excursions.  El Yunke Rain Forest, Coamo Hot Springs, several walks/drives to town for hardware items, groceries, & breakfast beers @ the bakery.

The boat is in great shape, we are caught up on maintenance etc. & ready to leave Salinas.  However, we are currently being held hostage by the US Postal Service. One of the three boxes our new water maker was to arrive in is MIA. Must have got held up in one of the blizzards up North, eh?  Oh well, that’s life in the tropics.  No need to have a fixed schedule when you are cruising, in fact, attempting to keep any hard schedule while cruising could be detrimental to health & well being.  Going with the flow, remaining flexible, slightly buzzed and keenly optimistic is the rule.   

So…………guess that’s it from the nest for now.  Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.  Happy New Year to everyone.  

Cheers, Douglas

aka, “Strangebird”

Christmas potluck, Salinas tiki bar.

 

Sandy Dreams under sail.

 

Ryan rides a Puerto Rican “dog sled”.

 

AM walk to town for supplies. Marilyn, Ryan &  Chris.

 

Local bakery for breakfast and yes……beer.

 

Dingy maintenance.

 

Look out Jimmy B.

 

Doug & Marilyn conquer El Yunque.

 

El Yunke is USFS’s only tropical rain forest……no rx burning here.

 

Sissy relaxes on the forward deck……a dog’s life for sure.

 

Chris & Jackie from HIGHEELED.

 

Captain & First Mate….oh yea & Sis too.

 

Just another day at the office.

Boat Delivery

I got my first boat delivery job taking a Morgan 41 Out Island Sailboat from Luperon, Dominican Republic to St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Matt and I left Puerto Rico by plane on Dec. 8th and landed in Santo Domingo DR around midnight. Since it was so late and we had to catch a bus at 5 am, we decided to go straight to the Bus station. Once at the station we talked to the security guard and he told us in Spanish that we could sleep on the benches. So we got a few hours of sleep on a park bench, in the ghetto of the Dominican capital, at a bus station, in a Third World country, where I don’t understand the language well. I seriously began questioning my decision making skills.  But everything turned out all right. We woke up bought our tickets and rode a very nice bus to Luperon. My only complaint about the bus ride was that it was really cold, living in the tropics without AC has made me a big baby and I froze on the bus!!  The bus dropped us off in Imbert and we caught a guagua (taxi) to Luperon. We made it to Luperon around 10 am on the 9th. The first thing we did was get a hundred peso breakfast at Steve’s then we got a ride to the boat. Once on the boat we started getting things ready to leave and I started to lower the dinghy from the davits so we could stock the boat and clear customs. So I lowered one side of the dinghy and as I started to lower the other side the rope was caught, so I reached down to untangle the rope and I see the largest snake I have ever seen in my entire life!  Needless to say I &%#@ my pants a little and screamed like a girl. At that time Matt came up to see what all the commotion was about, I told him there was a snake.  He looked at me like I was being and girl and said he would go brush it off the boat but when he saw it he jumped back and screamed like a girl too. While I was cleaning my britches Matt found a spear gun and killed it. When we took it to town locals told us that it was a Boa Constrictor. Matt is about 6’3” and he wasn’t tall enough to hold the snake up and it was about as big around as a wine bottle.

After presenting our deadly trophy to everyone in the harbor, we had Papo clean the bottom of the boat, did a little engine and electrical work, got our exit papers, got groceries, ate one last 100 peso dinner and left the DR around 10 pm all in the same day.  That HAS to be some kind of world record!!!  We had a great sail along the North coast of the DR and PR to St Thomas the whole trip took us 67 hours motor sailing. We had very few problems and I got to spend 2 days in St. Thomas before catching a flight back to San Juan where Jen picked me and Doug (our newest crew member) up.  Even though the boat did really good I missed my own boat and crew.  I am very glad to be home even though I have lots of work to do before we head to the Virgin Islands. But I hope to have it all done in time to leave right after Debbie’s visit. Hopefully we will be there in time to see Robert & Liz when they visit the islands.