Tom’ favorite saying these days: You can always work and make money BUT you can’t make TIME! So we are pinching our pennies as we escaped work abit early!
We are looking forward to seeing friends/family when we return from July 17 – September 15th.
We are in the British Virgin Islands – not because Rose wanted to but waiting for weather so why not go. Initially we were waiting for credit card replacement (company changed names), power supply for our PC we use for navigation and boat documentation (as were told that the French islands won’t let you in without current USCG document). So had to bypass a good weather window and then 3 weeks later – we finally get to leave (May 5th or 6th) to proceed further south in order to get to Trinidad by July. You can tell you hit BVI by all the CHARTER boats. Its sorta scary when you see 5-10 boats entering a harbor at the same time looking for an anchorage or HOPEFULLY a mooring ball. It changes things abit when the boat becomes your HOME. Fortunately we arrived at the end of their busy season – so they say! Virgin Gorda is probably the worst island for many boats but then we haven’t seen the BATHs yet. THOUGHTs below:
– So far not too bad to find cheap or free internet connection. Even at times on the boat!
– Who would of thought that customs would charge you based on the weight of your boat. Tom noticed awhile ago that our USCG document was incorrect with 20 Ton vs 8.5 Ton. Plus customs charges you an extra $5 for weekend check in. I guess that makes sense.
– We have been told that soon we should not only like our dinghy to boat but put the outboard back on the big boat and lock it each night. We are pretty sensitive to theft already having had almost lost it at Vieques (Spanish Virgins).
– Spring has hit us (but you don’t always notice since there is no snow to watch melt and temperature has varied that much YET). We see more baby goats, chickens, flowering bushes/cactus and even flies. Tom says that these flies are WAY faster than the ones on Lake Superior. It must be because its so COLD up their. We keep missing them with our swatter!
– Water is $.15/gallon in the BVI so not sure if we will put in a water maker. We sorta average about 2 gal per day (not including our minimal solar shower. Now if we could figure out a way to make gas ($3.84/gal) /diesel($4.14/gal) as they keep rising. But beers keep getting smaller 10 vs 12 oz and usually a steal at $1/can. Tom did find some Beck’s 12 oz in small Gun Creek Village, Virgin Gorda for $1/can. So that’s the liquid situation down here. They say it will get worse down island.
– We are the water and battery natzies. But the wind and squalls lately has helped both situations. Rose often uses the rain water from clean dinghy to wash clothes or for shower water.
– We were checking out many places in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela and Chagaramas, Trinidad and talking with other cruisers. Decided it didn’t really make any difference other than Venezuela was about ½ the costs. So finally made a decision and were concerned since we have heard that you need this figured out by February. We were told the cruising is down this year so maybe that helped us get a late reservation. Fortunately, Vicki helped us by finding flight home using NWA air miles since we attempted to do it via internet and phone with no success!
– I was surprised to see how high the hills are in the US/British VI – they are quite beautiful to hike and see the vistas. Snorkeling was good at St. Johns (USVI) and Norman’s (BVI) but otherwise it’s the vistas. I keep open to the differences and have enjoyed them all. Even the beaches are almost as pretty as the Bahamas – but not the aqua water varied colors!
– I haven’t missed all the black military planes/helicopters viewing the anchorages in Bahamas and Puerto Rico. They say they know what boats are at each anchorage – so GOV is watching for TERRORISTS!
– Fishing doesn’t seem to be prevalent in US/BVI as TOURISM has taken CONTROL. I guess we created this. We are using a 1995 cruising guide so its lovely to read and see pictures of what it was back then and be surprised when we get to an harbor – anchorage. Its like being explorers attempting to find a place to anchor within all the mooring balls @ $25/nite. But then they needed to do this to save what’s left of the reef! We are careful!
– Jost Van Dyke — an island where alot of celebraties used to visit as a hide away from tourism. Not any longer but it is a layed back carib island. We did visit Foxy’s Bar/Restaurant for lunch/beers and then came back and played Mexican Train with some other cruisers.