BVIs with Soterion

Act III will leave the British Virgin Islands tomorrow, Monday, 6/14/10, on an overnight passage to either the French (north) side of St. Martin, or to Saba, a remarkable small island, just the tiptop of a mountain, actually, 24 nm. to the southwest of St. Martin. If we don't need provisions--and I hope to buy fresh foods when we take a taxi to check out at Spanish Town before departure--we'll skip St. Martin so we can spend extra time at Saba. We hate to rush, but we've must get out of the hurricane belt soon. Grenada is our destination for this season, and we console ourselves with the plan to sail back up the chain of eastern Caribbean islands next "winter." We are stragglers this year, with most other cruisers well on their way to New England or the southern Caribbean, but we are rewarded with uncrowded anchorages and off-season prices. Here in the Virgin Islands, we are usually the only private boat, with the waters dominated by thousands of crew-or-bareboat-charter catamarans marching from island to island carrying happy but often clueless vacationing sailors. Ben and Nikki say it's great entertainment to watch these boats ignore nautical marks and try to pick up moorings in unorthodox ways.

Earlier this week Soterion sailed back to Tortola for work, and we sailed from Virgin Gorda to Anegada, an atoll with elevation 30' and surrounded by miles of beach and reef, perfect for clothing-optional swimming and snorkeleing, and colorful beach bars (not C/O, and the cowboy hat fabricated from a cardboard Budweiser case was in poorer taste than nudity, no matter what your opinion.). At Cow Wreck beach you go behind the bar and mix your own drinks or help yourself from the coolers of beer and soda, and keep your tab on a small yellow-lined legal pad. I wonder how well that works after a few hours of pouring your own drinks, or doing shots of absinthe, the drink of choice for Jean Lafitte and Doc Holliday, illegal in the US, which supposedly induces hallucinations. A boozy gang at Cow Wreck was daring each other to go for the hallucinations when we left with our bellies full of spicy conch cerviche. Me, I feel I'm hallucinating every day, as I dive off Act III into warm, crystal-clear water after my morning coffee, although yesterday I scrabbled back up the ladder when I was face-to-face with a smiling barracuda using the boat for shade. I know, I know, they won't bother me, especially since I wear no jewelry, but I just couldn't relax when he kept turning to face me...grinning widely. Bill, however, said "Cool" and jumped in with his very shiny camera to play with Barri.

It's not all fun and games and there's work to be done daily, even though the tropical heat makes us lazy. Power-management is critical to keep our 6 golf cart batteries and one dedicated starter battery full to run our lights, water pump, watermaker, computer, refrigerator/freezer, radio, special-occasional margarita blender, and start the engine. The freezer is finally empty of the meat I stocked in Fort Lauderdale, so that will reduce our power needs. The watermaker sips energy and is a great luxury where hauling water to the boat is labor-intensive and expensive, if available at all. If we're motor-sailing, the engine charges the batteries; when we're at anchor Bill runs a 1,000 watt portable gas generator. This "project" involves keeping gas in our gerry jug, getting the generator from the deck box where it fits neatly, starting it up, plugging in the power adapter cord, then lying in the hammock reading or thinking (or not) for a few hours.

We read a lot, often going through a book a day, which we pick from the eclectic assortment at free book swaps found at every marina or laundry. I just read an unproofed edition of Black Hats, that has Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and Al Capone in a fictional confrontation in NYC. The history of the OK Corral and description of prohibition was interesting, but mostly I enjoyed remembering Val Kilmer as the definitive Doc Holliday ("You're a daisy if you do.") Fortunately, Bill's Kindle allows us to download most anything, and he just finished Obama's Dreams From My Father.

Yesterday we realized we have no idea what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico. Last we heard, oil had been spewing for 50 days and BP was planning yet another dubioius solution. Whatever happened to "If it's too deep to cap, it's too deep to drill in the first place?" We'll check when we take the computer ashore today. Then we'll check the USA/Britain World Cup Soccer score. But only after downloading weather information and looking closely at the National Hurricane Watch site.

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PS/ Just read the latest on the BP oil spill. Damn!