Good times with Don and Kim and Dragonfly/ BVI

We have been looking forward to our visit from Don and Kim for several months. It is hard to believe that it has been a year since we told them goodbye in the Bahamas.

Don and Kim stayed in a hotel in Cane Garden Bay for the first week of their visit. This gave us an opportunity to take both Dragonfly and Crossroads out for day sails, yes believe it not we went pleasure sailing. This also gave us a chance to use the blow dryer, real shower and blender in the hotel room, items that Una and I had not had the luxury of using in some time. However, after a few days of the crowded beaches at Cane Garden bay, the slightly rolly anchorage and loud music we were ready to spring Don and Kim from their hotel and sail to Jost Van Dyke. We shared a delightful Valentines evening at Harris restaurant in Little Harbor a favorite spot of Glenn and mine. We had a splendid lobster dinner, first with split pea soup, then the salad and garlic bread course; followed by the lobster with garlic butter, bake potato, fresh vegetables and beans and rice. We were so full I thought we might have to sleep at her restaurant.

The next day we took off for our longest sail of the week to Virgin Gorda. We are not used to going to windward since most of the way back we have been sailing downwind, but we did our best to sail to windward and then motored. We arrived at Gorda Sound and were happy that the spot we wanted to anchor off Prickly Pear island was not crowded. Una made her delicious spaghetti that evening and Jeff and Don played guitars. The next day we went on a lovely hike with excellent views and then we rented 3 Hobies and went sailing for fun. It was my first time to go out on trap (trapeze harness). That evening we grilled brats and burgers and had a private picnic on the beach at the Sand Box restaurant. They close at 5:00 so we just kinda took over their space; we watched the stars and had another wonderful night in paradise.

The next day the gang went snorkeling and I stayed at the restaurant at Saba rock and did emails. We moved over to Leverick Bay so we could do laundry and get water. That evening we fried snickers aboard Crossroads. Yum! Yum!

Sunday we sailed down to the baths, boy that was a disappointment, it was Disney Land, yuck! Way too many people for us, we blew out of there and went over to Marina Cay, a very cool little island. Our time with Don and Kim was going quickly and we had so much more we wanted to do. Oh well, we decided to stay another night at Marina Cay and chill out. The weather had been perfect for their visit so I guess that fact that we had nasty weather for their last day was not the end of the world. By the time we arrived at Soper’s Hole all the mooring balls were full and it is too deep to anchor there. We ended up getting a marina slip and with the northern swell wrapping around it was the rolliest night any of us have ever spent in a Marina. We said our goodbye the next morning bright and early as Glenn dinghied them to the ferry dock. A good time was had by all.

We want to say a special thanks to Don and Kim for bringing a silly amount of peanuts and granola not to mention a ton of other goodies.

Michele

Brown Dog/ guest blog

The following are the creative writing assignment guest blogs from our guests Don & Kim of Moonrise:

The rain returned after midnight, it came hurrying down the steep hills like a vagrant anxious to pass through a sleeping town, being swept along on a warm Caribbean wind that left the boats in Sopers Hole Marina tugging at spring lines and cleats like a corral of unsettled Mustangs.
It was not yet 5am and I awoke hourly to the rhythmic creaks and moans of a boat that sat safely in a slip but protested this comfort for want of an anchorage, which remains a cruising boats true place of rest.
As the night sky returned to a wallpaper of stars I padded in bare feet past the rows of tethered sailboats grateful for what remained of the night and its solitude. I needed time to reflect on our two weeks of friends and salt water before catching the ferry to St Thomas to begin our travels back to Oregon.
At the end of the pier I discovered a dry place to sit and watch the water dance along the hulls and torment dinghies that seemed intent on separating their painters from cleats.

“Rainy night.” A voice said from behind me.
“After two weeks of great weather and sailing its best that I don’t complain.” I tossed the words over my shoulder not bothering to look back.
“You must be heading home...”
“Yep, my wife and I our heading back this morning to Portland.”
The voice moved along side of me stretching fully and volunteering a dramatic yawn to the sky.
“Ahh, the Pacific Northwest sounds nice...lots a trees out there.” The voice found a seat next to me and shook the chilling sea breeze from his shoulders.

It took a moment and I know I blinked my eyes hard enough to be heard, which is why my early morning companion was kind enough to relieve me of my burden.

“Oh yes, I’m a dog. Well a brown dog I guess. And I talk too. That is to say we all talk when we want to but I admit I’m a bit chatty at times.”
I thought about my use of medication and rum for a second before saying anything.
“Oh well, that’s alright, I am too.” I said, “Chatty that is.” I cleared my throat and tried to act natural the way people do when they want to blurt out “Holy crap!”

“A brown dog over on Cane Garden Bay told me that the six of you had quite a time. Is it true you were wearing a women’s bathing suit in public?” His ears pricked forward when he laughed his dog laugh and I had to repress the sudden urge to pet him.
“Its nothing to me, but people might get the impression you’ve been neutered.”

“So all the dogs talk to one another?” I asked.
“Sure, why not. You know its a telepathy kind of thing, something you two leggers haven’t picked up just yet.” He rolled over and exposed his pink belly and said, “Hey, be a pal, how’s about a quick rub.”
“Oh sure... Glad to buddy, or whatever your name is.”
“Oh we don’t bother with names so brown dog is fine.”

“In fact, the other brown dogs have told me that you guys had a great time in the Caribbean. Snorkeling, hiking, sailing, playing on Hobies, drinking and merry laughter to all hours on the beach at Prickly Pear.” He rolled from one side to the other flopping his tail about as he spoke. “Right there...scratch the ribs for me.”

“Well the beach cats actually told us that... But, you know, were cool.”

“What about the goats, did they add anything?” I asked as he sprung back to all fours.

“Man that was a good belly scratch, thanks a million. Goats, ha, no way. Those guys are just as dumb as a hammer.”
He leaned in as if to insure he had my attention. “The reason you see goats standing on top of things all the time is they are like...lost. They will climb up on something and get stuck there. Idiots. Nice enough once you get past that goat smell, just not too smart. Then with the baaa baaa stuff half the night, which incidentally means absolutely nothing, they just do it. Compulsive nature I guess.”

I rubbed his ears and he smiled. “Now you’re getting it.”

You two leggers are learning but it’s tough being plagued with a thumb. Throughout history its the thumb that has been your problem.” His brow furrowed and he seemed to give his words serious thought. “Dogs don’t shoot or stab anyone. We cant, no thumb. Never built a bomb or wrecked a car, never stole an election or told a lie. Again, no thumb. I have often felt a great amount of compassion for the two leggers and the cards that nature dealt you. Maybe evolution will eventually allow that silly thing to fall off.” His gaze fell out over the water and he settled on his hindquarters. “Oh dear, I am sorry, there I go being chatty again.”

We sat quiet for a moment and I rubbed the top of his head and ears and there was only the sound of the sea and the occasional thump of his tail on the planks.

“See how easy this is?” he said. “As simple as finding shade under a table or a scratch on the belly. Live for the little joy. That’s my advice. And try not to let your thumbs cause any trouble.”

Brown dog stood and sniffed the breeze. “Going to rain again.” he threw back at me as he trotted up the dock.
“By the way,” I asked, “we wondered if dogs have souls?”
He stopped to sample something that only his nose could see before looking up.
“Now you’re just being silly.” he said with a hint of a British accent before disappearing behind the dark store fronts.

I stood and stretched as the rain began. “I bet Glenn has the coffee on.” I smiled and headed home.
Don

Kim’s highlights from her vacation….

Beach
Sun
Books
Barbeque
Pizza and American Pie
Blender drinks
Bikini Man
Fresh coconut
Dinghy rescue
Brown dog
Day Sails
Snorkeling
Swimming
Sand Flies on the Beach
Hamburgers and Brats
Star-gazing
Bloomin’ onion and conch
Hobie racing
Turtles, Stingray and Barracuda
Island Hikes
Kayaks
Sunrises and sunsets
Happy Arrrr
Spaghetti dinner
Margaritas and Enchiladas
Fried Snickers and Fried Plantains
Sausage Balls
Guitars and Cigars
Hammock
Shopping
Cinnamon coffee
Sausage Biscuits and Gravy
SILLY amount of Peanuts
Rock Climbing
Mast climbing
Sailing in a storm
Laughter
Tall tales
Southern food
Southern hospitality
Life long Friends
Loved it
Love you!
Kim

BVI - not chartering this time

I have long looked forward to returning to the British Virgin Islands on our own boat so I could wave at all the Charter boats and say “Na-na-na, we’re on our own boat and your just pretend cruising”. Well, I didn’t actually say that, but I thought it to myself sometimes. The best part about being on our own boat in the BVI was the pacing. There was no need to rush to a new anchorage everyday in order to “see it all”. We spent our first week in Gorda Sound. A week. That’s the length of an entire charter vacation and we wasted it in one place. A vacationer would have moved every night and sometimes once or twice during the day. I just don’t enjoy anchoring that much. We did, however have time to enjoy the beauty of Gorda Sound. The Sound is like a big lake formed on one side by Virgin Gorda and on the others by a group of smaller islands and reefs. The water within is calm and clean. If the entire BVI’s were just Gorda Sound, it would still be a great cruising ground. We hiked up hills for dramatic views of the islands and wondered at the limitless number of colors of the water. The snorkeling was also great and we could swim from the boat to a very nice beach to sit on chairs under an umbrella and watch Crossroads bobbing at anchor. Great place, go there!!

One final observation from the BVI – listening to the guest of a crewed charter boat anchored in front of us. The caption was pulling pairs of them behind the dinghy on an inner tube. This was high adventure. They whooped and hollered and screamed. Discussing their experience after their turn and talking the reluctant ones into giving it a shot, I heard, “ unbelievable”, “exciting”, and “A once in a lifetime experience”. Wow, and I thought I knew how to have fun. I think I‘ll go scrape barnacles off the bottom of the boat.

Glenn

guest pre-blog from Don Wood

Our friends Kim & Don from the boat Moonrise (now dirt dwellers) will be joining us here in the BVI later this week. Don sent a note as they look foward to reuniting with us and the sea.

The Crew of CrossRoads and their friends,

Glenn understood as a young man he was going to sea in one form or another. Indeed, it was sewn into his easy nature, already woven into the fine stitch that cast a shadow he would not see for decades. We make turns that redirect our lives and position our destiny, is it ordained? Does it arrive with us as a birthright delivered onto the world another burdened soul with a puzzle to complete before the sand escapes the glass? I often wonder. These great pages you have written in your lives could not be mere circumstance and quest for vanity. No, its your fabric, the "cut of your jib" as they say, that makes you press on and enjoy people, life and the sea. If I seem remorse, it is because Kim and I were only able to enjoy all of you so very briefly. I like knowing that adventurers and non-conformist exist. Everyone is born with a voice that whispers to them, very few listen. We are past excitement when we think of our up coming visit.

My last sail of the season was on Lake Erie to deliver a boat to Sandusky Bay in sustained winds of 40 knots from the north. As you might imagine it appealed to my nature and tempted me like a harlot. Tonight has been spent in front of the fire with egg nogg spiced with rum and tomorrow an evening planned at the theater for a one man performance of "Its a wonderful life" Here, just minutes from downtown Portland, it is. After an afternoon of visiting art galleries and waiting for the train I stood looking at the full-faced moon. "Right now ChickenFoot is sitting under that same big moon," I said. "I know." she said comforting, "I know." "I have become to myself a piece of difficult ground, not to be worked over without much labor." - SAINT AUGSTINE. To me, the quote is linear and ageless.

My very Best to all of you and wish to see you soon!

Former captain of the sailing vessel "MoonRise",

WhiteTailed Jack

The Magic of the Night Watch….

I know it sounds crazy, but I really do enjoy my night watches. Of course my sleep is interrupted but the closeness that I feel to the ocean and sky is amazing. I noticed on the way back up that I started thinking about how few night watches we have left. Most people would think that’s a good thing, but I really enjoy my time alone at sea. To give you an idea of how Crossroads does a night crossing, I will walk you through the get-ready of the passage, then the actually passage.

I get pretty anxious the day we are getting ready to leave a harbor for an overnight. I am not sure why, but I do. As soon as the anchor is up, however, and we are out at sea, I feel relaxed and at peace.

The get ready: Glenn puts on the jack lines (lines on deck that we can clip into with our harnesses), ties everything down on deck, removes sail covers, checks the engine and oil, etc. I secure the stuff down below, stuff towels around things that clank, make sure our ditch bag is readily accessible and make sandwiches.

Glenn and I don’t like to spend a lot of time down below while underway. We have been very fortunate so far and have not gotten seasick, but we don’t want to press our luck. I usually make up some mac and cheese or something that I can heat up quickly and we keep lots of snacks in the cockpit. Now for the music, I love to listen to my ipod (thanks FHAO staff) while I am on my 11:30-2:30 watch. I sing along while, of course, Glenn is down below trying to sleep. I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, I mean I am bad and Glenn swears I don’t know half the words to the songs I am singing. If it is a calm night and we are actually getting to sail, I usually prefer to hand steer so that I can dance with the steering wheel. Of course if it is really calm and we have to motor then I let Ray (Charles - our auto pilot) steer the boat. So far I have been lucky on our night passages. From Trinidad on, Glenn was had most of the squalls on his watches while I was down below sleeping like a baby.

I usually get sleepier earlier than Glenn so he is on watch from 8:00-11:00 PM. We have little transition time when we talk about anything that happened on our watch, then I take the 11:30- 2:30 and Glenn takes the 2:30-5:30. I get to watch the sun rise during the 5:30-8:30 shift, which is another cool thing about a night watch. Glenn gets less sleep because we are usually arriving at our destination by 7:00 or 8:00 AM so he gets up to assist with our entry into the harbor. I grab some pop tarts and a Diet Coke and we have hobbit first breakfast before we get in. Once we get our anchor down and feel secure about our position we usually have hobbit second breakfast and go to bed.

Michele

Arrived in the British Virgin Islands

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Wednesday night we had a calm motor sail from St. Maarten to the BVI. The moon was almost full and the sky was fabulous. I really love my watch on a night sail it is truly a spiritual experience. We anchored in Gorda Sound very near the spot we anchored 9 years ago on our honeymoon. Yesterday, we moved over closer to Prickly Pear island to get out of the highwinds and chop predicted for this weekend. Wow! It is so cool to be here in our own boat.



Crossroads anchored off the beach at Prickly Pear island, BVI.

Michele

St. Maarten highlights

It is hard to believe we were in St. Maarten for almost 3 weeks. We really enjoyed our stay and can see how people spend months on this island. The first week we were there we had squalls every few hours for 5 nights. We got really tired of the wind and the wet dingy rides. The great thing about being in the sheltered waters of the lagoon was that we were close to an awesome yoga studio, movie theatre and hair saloon - all things that I had really been missing. So, even though the weather was dreadful the first week, I still enjoyed all the luxuries of St. Maarten.

When we arrived in St. Maarten, Glenn did his usual survey of the island and found a local bike shop and they told him about an upcoming 5k-10k run. Jeff, Una and I walked the 5k and Glenn ran the 10k. The race ended at a beach where they provided fresh pastries and coffee, a beautiful setting and much tastier than the cold bagels we get after some of the Memphis runs. We decided to blow off projects for the day and go to one of St. Martin’s 32 beaches. Jeff led the way in his dinghy and we found Mullet Bay, a beautiful beach on the west side of the island. We had a blast watching the children body surf the waves.

The second week we had wonderful weather and decided to hit more of the beaches. Glenn and I walked to the Simpson bay beach just a few blocks from our boat. This was a great way to spend a few hours after running around doing boat projects.

One day Glenn and I really wanted a long hike and thought we could hike to Orientale sometimes called Orient beach. Well, the trails are not marked as well as they are in most of the French islands. Three hours later we were hot and tired and had been climbing killer hills to the top of Pic Paradise but we were no closer to finding our way down to Orient beach. We decided to head back to the boat and take a bus to the other side of the island another day. After all you go to Orient beach to people watch (if you know what I mean) so you really need the full day.

Small world… Glenn and I were having lunch in Marigot eating one our favorite, French style thin crust pizzas, I looked around and saw Jackie Fishman a Facing History Teacher from Charlotte. She and her husband were there on vacation. We had another small world connection about a week later. We received an email from our good friend and webmaster, Ken Hamric. He told us that his business partner and wife were in St. Martin on vacation. We left Wayne and Susie a message at their resort telling them that we would be at the Simpson Bay Yacht Club that evening. We arrived a little after 5:00 pm, we saw a man, we later learned was Wayne, waving his arms and standing next to a friend of ours from the boat Dreamtime. We hung out for a while then we decided to go eat at their favorite restaurant in Marigot. The next day Wayne and Susie brought a sack of fresh pastries to Crossroads where, over lunch we discussed our trip and their dreams. They had a car so they graciously offered to pick us up on Sunday and go to Grand Case for ribs before they caught their plane. We really enjoyed the food and company, Wayne stopped on the way back to view one of the prettiest coast beaches we have seen on our whole trip. (Cupecoy) The waves were spectacular!!! Thanks, Wayne and Susie for the island tour.


We were extremely excited to meet Ann Vanderhoof and her husband Steve. Ann is the author of one of our favorite cruising books, An Embarrassment of Mangoes. We have encouraged our families and friends to read this one as it gives a wonderful glimpse into the cruising life and so many of their experiences parallel our own. We had heard that Receta was in St. Martin, so when we saw their boat we dinghied over to introduce ourselves. We were leaving soon so we invited them and Dragonfly over for happy hour. Earlier in the day while doing laundry Ann was also doing hers so we really had a chance to get to know each other. Ann is also something of a gourmet, so the book is filled with yummy island recipes. That evening, we had them aboard Crossroads for appetizers and stories. They were impressed with Jann’s buffalo chicken dip and even asked us to email the recipe. In the photos, Ann is signing our copies of her book and she and Steve are looking at our post-Katrina pictures of old Crossroads and our marina in New Orleans. . If you have not read her book, it is a must read. She is also writing another one about Caribbean cuisine and culture.

We left the next day for an overnight sail to the BVI.

Michele

St. Maarten stuff

Our return to St. Maarten was made to feel like a home coming, as it meant returning to Shrimpy’s. Shrimpy’s is one of those special establishments that can truly be called a cruisers friend. They bill themselves as a tapas bar, so the menu isn’t very extensive. (We had the fish and chips once and it was good.) Their main focus seams to be to provide the cruising sailor with what they need. For starters, they have a big neon sign that faces Simpson Bay Lagoon where hundreds of boats are anchored. From the road you would never find the place. On the street side there is just a two-foot sign to lead you down an alley next to the grocery store. They don’t seem to want to compete with the two hundred other restaurants and bars that vie for the land tourist’s dollars. Instead, Shrimpy (the owner) provides a place for sailors to hang out, use the free dinghy dock and check emails with free wi-fi access. They also house an excellent laundry service, used boat gear store, book swap, Sunday gear swap meet and also offer water and even boat bottom cleaning (which explains why you will often see the proprietor in a wet suit). If someone is anchored in the lagoon, you will eventually see them at Shrimpy’s. No one seems to mind the 4 inches of water that run across the floor when it rains really hard or that Shrimpy (the dog) sleeps on the bar. When we needed a bit of sewing done and the sail lofts were too busy to look at it, Shrimpy recommended and then called a small canvas shop and even arranged to for her to meet me, at Shrimpy’s of course. He even let me lock my bike to the rail outside for the three weeks we were in the lagoon. In short ( no pun intended) Shrimpy is there for the sailor.


The hard-core mountain bikers in St. Martin get an early start on their mid-week training rides. They meet at 6 AM when it’s still nice and dark. That meant a 5:30 dinghy ride for me at a time of night that squalls sweep the anchorage about every hour. I waited for the rain to stop, then headed for Shrimpy’s Tapas Bar where I was keeping the bike. A fifteen-minute ride on pothole filled, unlit streets got me to the Texaco station where a dozen other riders were about to take off. They were mostly twenty to thirty somethings, obviously rode a lot and were all training for the thirty-five mile race around the island. The race sounded like fun until about thirty minutes into the ride when we really started to hit the hills. They don’t call it mountain biking for nothing here. The group pretty much kicked my butt, although I did notice that they had more low gears on their bikes than I have. One muddy stretch leveled the field a bit, but they left me behind on the next set of hills. I was mostly able to keep them in site and had a fun two and a half hour tour of the south end of St. Maarten. Man, I need to ride more!

Glenn