Video From November Passage Beaufort, NC to Virgin Islands - Karen on watch

Sailing Video - BVI with Dale and Roni

The Mice Will Play While the Cats Are Away 2/13/15

 Kari and Ryan flew out a couple weeks ago for family celebrations.  That left Jerry and I aboard Valkyrie for a few days of work before Jerry’s buddy Dale and his girlfriend Roni flew in for a week.   Work included getting in the water to scrape the grass and critters off the bottom of the boat.  (There’s one boat here at Water Island that has not moved in years.  Besides grass and barnacles there are little lobsters who have made their home in the growth around the propeller!)

After free Cruzan rum samples at the airport arrival gate we took Dale and Roni to the boat for dinner.  The next morning off to the “big” grocery store on St. Thomas – Pueblo for groceries and then to Honeymoon Beach.  Nothing like a burger at Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill to prompt a hike up to the fort at the top of the hill.  In just one day Dale and Roni experienced shopping here, sampled the Water Island cuisine, roamed the island, had a couple of painkillers, and listened to Barefoot Davis play at Dinghy’s Beach Bar.  The next morning – Roni’s first experience sailing as we beat our way to St. John in brisk winds.  Back and forth we tacked and strained our muscles cranking on the winches as we sailed to Bitter End on Virgin Gorda over the first few days.   Dale and Jerry had their “sailing fix” and marveled at the grace and speed of Valkyrie.  “It’s like sailing a big dinghy!” they’d exclaim and let out whoops as we whizzed by other sailboats.  Every anchorage we stopped at included a walk on shore for our guests to see the sights, feel the sand beneath their feet, and mingle with the locals and tourists.  Dinners in the cockpit at the end of each day followed by sailor’s tales and star gazing.  And then back through the BVIs with light winds the rest of the week.  Our whirlwind tour ended with tacking back and forth up Lindberg Bay on St. Thomas.  Lindberg Bay, appropriately named, as this is where the airport is just a short dinghy ride to the beach and up the road.  Hugs all around for Dale and Roni as they flew back to Florida with smiles, tans, and a boatload of memories.

Yacht at the Bitter End Yacht Club

Another yacht at the Bitter End.

Dale at the helm

Dale dreams of sailing his own boat to the Caribbean

Dale and Roni

Full moon at Cane Garden Bay

Galley Girl

Beautiful iguana

Jerry poses at the kiteboard equipment center at Bitter End

Roni enjoys a hammock at Peter Island

Dale and Roni at Sandy Spit

Sandy Spit thinking man

Sunset at Cane Garden Bay

St. John

1/25/15   Valkyrie leaves Water Island!  We hauled the anchors and took a trip to St. John last week.  Jerry and I walked from Lameshur Bay on St. John up and down the hills to an area where the Taino indians carved petroglyphs into the rocks around 950 AD.  They are at an important site - a fresh water stream coming down from the mountain top.  Here are some pictures.

Taken from above the pool of fresh water.  Petroglyphs are on the rocks to the left in the picture.

Petroglyphs

Up close - can you translate?

More petroglyphs.

Lameshur Bay, a day trip to Salt Pond Bay, and then on to Christmas Cove on the way to St. Thomas.  At Salt Pond we went out to eat - we hiked up the hill to "The Tourist Trap".  Many locals hang out here.  The food was fabulous just as we'd heard. 
Hiking, snorkeling, water color painting, relaxing.....a great way to spend a couple of days before Kari had to be back at Water Island for her job. 

1/9/15

Happy New Year!

Time just flies by!  We’ve been anchored here at Water Island for more than a month and we all have slid into a routine.  I’m often up on deck reading each morning as the sun comes up and the cruise ships come in to port.  Jerry and I take our dinghy to the beach and walk on Water Island for an hour or so.  Kari also dinghies to the beach to start her hard day’s work at Dinghy’s Bar and Grill.  Where else can you show up to work wearing a bathing suit and no shoes?!  Ryan spends his day at the computer plunking away operating a successful business aboard Valkyrie in paradise.  And, Haley, Kari’s daughter on break from college, has been aboard for the last 4 weeks enjoying the sun and time with her Mom at work and on the boat.  We always have boat projects to work on, meals to cook, and Scrabble to play.  Most every day you can find us in the water with our snorkels on.  We can jump off the boat, swim 50 feet to the rocks and see all kinds of fish and other sea creatures.  It’s a challenge to see how many lobsters can be spotted (all small ones) and where the octopus are hiding.

The organized activities on the beach keep us all coming and going – Monday night is movie night.  Bed sheets are strung up between the palm trees, golf carts and chairs line up, and the movie plays with the boats at anchor in the background.  Sometimes it showers briefly and we either wait it out or run for cover.  Umbrellas are suspended over the projection equipment.  If the speakers go out it’s up to the audience to fill in words and sound effects to go with the picture on the screen.  Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill sells a big bag of popcorn for $2.  It doesn’t really matter what the movie is; it’s more about the experience.  Thursdays the girls have been going to Dinghy’s Beach Bar and Grill for karaoke night.  It’s fun to watch, cheer the others on, and try a song ourselves.  We also enjoy just sitting on the beach after walking each morning before the sun starts beating directly overhead.  There are people here to chat with from all over the world – living on the island, living on boats anchored here, or tourists stopping by for a visit.  We comment each day how thankful we are to have the opportunity to be here aboard Valkyrie with good friends in such beautiful surroundings and climate.       

Karen

Valkyrie anchored next to Malu off Water Island.  St. Thomas in the background.

A view from up above the anchorage as we walk in the morning.

Another hilltop anchorage view.

Honeymoon Beach on Water Island.

Another view of Valkyrie with the swim area in the foreground.

Christmas morning

Jerry and Karen have new fancy duds from Ryan and Kari.

Kari, Karen, Haley Christmas morning.

Kari made chicken pie for dinner.  Haley is the artist.

Taking fresh flowers to Susan and John on Sea Witch.

Snorkeling find - a hermit crab.  He went back in the water after the photo op.

Jerry made whole wheat bread.

Ryan flies his sailboard training kite on St. Thomas.

A floating, motorized picnic table complete with shade, bbq grill and cooler.

Sunset looking through the anchorage towards Puerto Rico.

Pictures

I wake up and see frost on the hatch above my head!

Lunch in the cockpit as we leave Beaufort, NC.

Look Mom - I'm wearing a harness while on watch.  No worries!

Sailor Jerry at the wheel after Kenny dies.

Ryan holds up our mahi for dinner.

Our well-used chart from Persephone showing Valkyrie's position each day (blue triangle) from Beaufort, NC to the Virgin Islands.

Kari and Karen's special stuffed turkey on a skewer raft for Thanksgiving.

Sweet potato pie! 

This year our apple pie is pie-r-square.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Thankful for good friends and thankful to be here in the Virgin Islands.

Pirates at Honeymoon Beach for the full moon party.

Firedance performance on the beach at the full moon party.

Arrival in the Virgin Islands aboard Valkyrie

12/1/2014
After packing every nook and cranny aboard Valkyrie with provisions for the winter – time to leave the dock at Deltaville, VA.  The inevitable unplugging of the electric heaters was the last task.  No more heat.  We bundled up and took turns standing in the galley in front of the stove to make tea, coffee, meals.  The shakedown cruise from Deltaville to Beaufort, NC took about 39 hours.  It afforded the opportunity to hoist the sails, start the engine, find out what needed attention before our sail to the Caribbean.  Light winds for the majority of the trip meant motor sailing. 

The watch schedule worked well – Kari 6-9 am & pm, Ryan 9-12, Jerry 12-3, and Karen 3-6.  Jerry and I thought last year’s trip with Jerry Luh was a breeze having 3 instead of 2 to keep watch.  This trip with 4 people was a piece of cake.  When you’re on watch 8 out of 24 hours that provides a lot of time to stay well rested.  As long as the conditions allow.

Our 1 week in Beaufort – cold!  Work continued aboard as we waited for a weather window to leave.  Donna and Jerry, about a 2 hour drive away, came and spent our last day in Beaufort with us.  They brought us all kinds of goodies (chocolate!) and drove us all over Beaufort for last minute provisions (like frying pans and a gaff hook for fishing).  We enjoyed a southern bbq lunch at a place called Fat Fellas while it POURED outside.  Another cold front coming through.

There’s nothing that motivates leaving for the tropics on a sailboat like a forecast low of 28 degrees.  That’s what the temperature would be on Wednesday morning.  We were off by noon on Tuesday just after the front.  We had plenty of wind behind us as we whisked away from the coast and across the gulf stream all bundled up.  It may have been a low around 45 degrees Wednesday morning – much better than 28.  On watch means sitting in the cockpit and watching for ships, watching the wind strength and direction, watching  the sails.  Valkyrie, at 57’, is a tank compared to Persephone at 37’.  Valkyrie was built for the ocean.  With a mast height of 77’ and a draft of 9 ½ feet it is difficult to cruise the ICW on the east coast but she cuts through the water and races along with the motion of a race horse.  In only 2 days we started shedding layers.  Jerry came out one morning when I was on watch and I told him I felt like I was flying a space ship on the ocean.  We’re not used to sailing at 8-9 knots. 

Conditions couldn’t be better the first half of the trip – going east with west winds and then clocking to north, then east.  We had the wind on the beam or just ahead of the beam around 25 knots gusting higher for the last 4 or 5 days as we made our way past Bermuda turning south at that point.  It warmed up nicely though we continued wearing full foul weather gear pants and coats.  As Valkyrie speeds along the wind more on the beam, the waves slap the hull and send spray up and over everything.  Guaranteed you were going to be salt water soaked at the end of the watch.  At least it was warm!

Off-watch down below can be like an amusement park ride.  The boat heeled over to starboard requiring an angled walk finding a place to grab hold with each step.  When a wave lifted the boat it would lurch over a little more and send you flying.  And imagine cooking in the galley, the stove gimbaled and swaying back and forth to prevent the pots and pans from falling on the floor.  Kari ended up doing most of the cooking due to the watch schedule.

At 22 miles from the Virgin Islands we could spot the land lumps through the haze.  That’s when Kenny started having issues.  Have you ever seen the Southpark cartoon?  I haven’t but Ryan is a fan and years ago named his autopilot Kenny.  Kenny’s character dies at the end of every episode.  And, true to his name, with 4 hours to go on our passage, Kenny was dead.  Ryan and Jerry hand steered the rest of the way.  (Which included a chance to use the new gaff on the mahi we had on the line.)  Last year Ryan and Kari had to hand steer for 7 days!  Tiring!

It was 8:30 by the time Ryan navigated past Jost Van Dyke toward St. John and Caneel Bay to the national park mooring field.  Fresh fish for dinner to celebrate a great passage and a still boat.  In the morning we came on deck to admire the sandy beaches and palm trees on shore, the turquoise water surrounding us.  Talk about warm!