April 14, 2022
When we first started chartering boats back in the mid-90’s, we began by chartering in the Virgin Islands. We had chartered here many times since and were in familiar waters. However, a few things have changed since our last trip, such as this time, we could not check into the BVIs on the island of Jost Van Dyke because Customs on the island closed during COVID. In addition, there were more mooring balls everywhere leaving little to no room for anchoring. Also we had never sailed here during this time of year, so the multitude of yachts were slightly overwhelming which was made worse by the Easter holidays.
We learned there was a new mooring reservation system. To assure that you had a mooring ball at the end of the day, one must be online by 0700 as most “reserved” balls were booked by 0715. After that you were relegated to first come first serve balls that were snatched up quickly by lunch time. Except for visiting the Baths, we had never had to worry about whether we could stay somewhere are not. This was new for us!
Since we needed to check into the BVI’s at Road Town or Soper’s Hole, we chose the less commercial port of Soper’s Hole which was a 3-hour sail/motor from Crown Bay Marina in St. Thomas. It was odd to be leaving the USA behind again knowing we would not be returning for a while.
We motored past majestic St. John with its steep rocky mountainous terrain and beautiful beaches.
The era from Sugar Plantation days were evident around the island of St. John, USVI.
One of the barriers to navigating St John’s water was Johnson’s Reef, but luckily it was well marked!
As we neared Tortola, we saw cute houses on the beach and high up on the cliffs before the entrance into Soper’s Hole.
We dinghied over to the ferry dock where Customs and Immigration were located. I had thought I could walk around town while Ben checked us in, but I didn’t realize that the offices were located on the opposite side of the bay from town. When we arrived, a customs officer indicated that only one person should come ashore. So I agreed to sit in the dinghy to wait while keeping our dinghy from hitting the rocks next to shore. However, I had no idea that meant I would be waiting in the dinghy, in the sun, and holding the dinghy line for two solid hours while Ben was given the run around from one office to another. We had completed all the paperwork online, but they couldn’t find his account. So Ben had to start over and complete all the documents by hand after going back and forth between Customs and Immigration offices several times. We were both somewhat annoyed when this process was done, but NO MATTER—we were in the BVIs!!
Now it was time for painkillers and appetizers at the Pusser’s restaurant.
We sat in the shade and visited with a fellow sailor, Jerry, who also had just completed the customs process. It was relaxing! Back on the boat, we both took naps and had a nice uneventful evening watching the sunset.
April 15, 2022, Good Friday!
After a slow morning, we dinghied over to visit with friends on SV Change Up, Becky and Kevin and their two children, that we had met in Cape Charles, VA last summer. They had been blazing the trail ahead of us and giving us advice along the way. It was fun to finally catch up with them in person.
It was now a quarter to 1200 and we had to be off our reserved ball by noon. So we started the engines and released the mooring line. We navigated between Tortola and Great Thatch Island across to Jost Van Dyke. There were large rollers coming from the north, but otherwise it was a beautiful, sunny day with large cumulous clouds which might bring showers later in the day.
We knew it was long shot whether we would find a place in this popular harbor to anchor or moor on Good Friday, but we hoped that since it was still early in the day, space might be available. Nevertheless, as we entered Great Harbor, we were disappointed to find that there was nary a mooring ball to be had!
After a quick look around, we headed back out of the harbor. We had started the water marker when we left Soper’s Hole. So we decided to motor around towards Sandy Cay to allow time for more water to be made.
We couldn’t decide where to go to find another ball this late in the day with the wind blowing 25 knots. So we reserved a ball in Soper’s Hole and made our way back, skirting afternoon showers. Tomorrow morning, we would try to reserve a ball at Jost, or somewhere else. Learning to navigate the BVI mooring system with so many boats racing from one anchorage to another was quite different for us. We had always sailed here in late May or early June and never worried about crowded anchorages. In fact, the last two times we were here after Irma, we barely saw two or three boats in any anchorage.
The breeze in Soper’s Hole harbor was wonderful allowing us to eat a simple stir fry dinner outside in the cockpit while enjoying the lovely full moon.
April 16, 2022
Well sometimes you watched the entertainment, and sometimes you were the entertainment, Ug!
Ben tried to reserve a ball at Jost Van Dyke right at 7:00, but for some reason, he did not get one. So we left by 8:00 and headed north to the island. It was about two miles away. Once we entered the harbor, we quickly found a vacant mooring ball. Halleluiah!
Because of our long bow sprint, we had been using a two-step method to grab a mooring ball. We would bring the ball alongside on starboard where both Ben and I could see it, and I would grab it with a super large carabiner tied to the starboard bow of the boat. Then, Ben would go up front while I drove and attached the bridle while giving directions through our headsets. This might seem like a cumbersome method, but when was really windy, it was easy for us.
This time however, as I went to grab the pennant to attach it, I found that it was being held under the water by a plastic bottle that was supposed to keep it floating, but instead was holding it down. So even with our new extra long boat hook, I had difficulty grabbing it. Yet, on the second try, I finally got the boathook below the bottle and tugged the line up and put the carabiner through the pennant. Yay!
Now it was Ben’s turn. We used our headsets as he told me where to steer the boat so that he could attach the bridle. However, because it was so windy and the current was running, he had to let the mooring line go three times. During the third time, the carabiner line also let go. Dang it, now we were not on the ball at all!! And we had no carabiner with which to snag it!
We quickly navigated to an “empty reserved ball” where the pennant sat on top of the ball, not under it. I snagged this ball and put the bridle on it in one step. As we were lowering the dinghy to go back and get our carabiner line, another boat came along and tried to get the ball. However, when we explained the problem with the mooring line, they decided to forgo our ball and try another one.
So Ben dinghied over and retrieved the carabiner line. He put the pennant on top of the ball on a metal piece that was sticking up. This should have made it simple for me to grab it.
Back on the boat, we raised the dinghy and tried the whole process again. However, when I tried to pull the pennant off the top of the ball it was super stuck to the metal piece. Dang it again!! We were about to give up and find another ball when a good Samaritan drove over in his dinghy. He tugged the pennant off, and I gave him the bridle which he attached. Wow, that was super nice as by now Ben and I were both beyond frustrated with the process.
The spectacle was being watched by all the boats around us. So I announced that the show was over and took a bow both on the front of the boat and at the stern where we got a round of applause. It was good to be able to laugh at ourselves.
Now we collapsed and tried to gain our composure before I cooked some taquitos for a late breakfast. Whew! That was a morning work out fighting the wind and current!
Later in the afternoon, we took the dinghy to shore to visit one of my favorite places, Foxy’s!
I have so many fond memories of this place with lots of different friends. We bought some T-shirts, and of course a painkiller. Then, we sat on the beach and enjoyed the view!
We were going to grill porkchops for dinner, but evening showers began around dinner time. So I cooked them inside with rice along with heating up some of the sourdough bread.
Pork Chops for Two is a wonderful one pot dinner to cook on the boat. Sometimes I add mixed vegetables just to get in more vegetables.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter (split)
2 (3/4-inch) bone-in pork loin chops (7 to 8 oz each), trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt(split)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper(split)
1/2 cup thinly sliced yellow onion
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup uncooked regular white rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley leaves (optional)
Steps
In 10-inch nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Rub pork chops with 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Add pork to skillet; cook 4 to 6 minutes, turning once, until brown on both sides. Using tongs, transfer to plate.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon butter to skillet; melt over medium heat. Add onion and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion softens. Stir in garlic. Stir in broth and whipping cream; heat to boiling. Stir in rice; return to boiling.
Place pork over rice. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 25 to 35 minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed, pork is no longer pink, and meat thermometer inserted in center reads at least 145°F. Sprinkle with parsley.
About 30 minutes after I had gone to bed, Ben got me up to tell me we had a water leak in the port engine compartment! Yikes! That port engine is driving me nuts. He turned off the through hull and got it to stop leaking. After pumping out the water and vacuuming up the leftover water in the bilge, we felt like it was safe to go to bed and deal with the problem in the morning.
April 17, 2022, Happy Easter!!
We realized today that it had been two years and a day since we sailed our new boat into Kemah, TX, and one year ago today that we left Kemah to begin our full-time cruising life. We have sailed 5000 miles over this last year, across the Gulf, up and down the East coast of the US, played in Florida, sailed to the Bahamas, and then south to the Virgin Islands! Wow!
And today was Easter! For us that meant everything was basically closed on shore. So it was a good day for boat chores. Ben diagnosed our leak issue as being the water pump. We would have to wait until tomorrow to find a solution to this problem. In the meantime, we must remember that the definition of cruising was: “Fixing Boats in Exotic Places!”
I opened my Beach Devotional book that Irene had given me and laughed when the page opened to “Water, Water, Everywhere.” Yes God was with us every step of the way. The next devotional book opened to, “Turn on Your GPS.” Such perfect passages for Easter when living on a boat with a leaky water pump. We must let God guide our way using the living water of the Holy Spirit! Halleluiah!
While Ben “played” in the engine room, I cleaned the salon/galley from top to bottom. Ben applied some Permanon to the hard surfaces of the galley and salon in hopes they would stay cleaner and/or be easier to clean in the future. Time would tell.
In addition, I spent the day cooking some meals to be eaten later in the week since we were not sure where we would need to go to obtain parts for the boat. I cooked some ground meat and made spaghetti sauce for Easter dinner, and taco meat for later. I also used some fresh onion and green pepper with steak to cook up some fajitas to freeze.
Once again, we had some evening showers which was nice because it cleaned the salt off the boat. So we had our Easter dinner of spaghetti, bread and key lime pie in the cockpit listening to the rain.
Stay tuned to see if we can find a water pump and get the engine repaired in time to make our Saturday weather window for our next journey to St. Martin!
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Fixing boats in exotic places. Sounds a lot like photography — fixing cameras/equipment in exotic places. Can’t wait to see how Ben repairs the leak.