Housekeeping

Cruising is sometimes called "boat maintenance in exotic places".
We last crossed paths with the Bounty in Lake Worth Inlet.

After touring the area by dinghy on Monday, we upped anchor and motored over to Crown Bay Marina on Tuesday morning to load up with fuel and fresh water. Linda dropped some laundry off at the marina which has a wash and fold service, and I picked up some hardware from the chandlery. About an hour and a half later and nearly two tons heavier, we cast off and came back to the anchorage via Haulover Cut, a narrow but deep channel between St Thomas and Hassel Island, anchoring a bit closer to shore than before.

Facebook followers may recall our main engine start battery died a week or so ago, and since the generator start battery was the same age, I decided to replace both of them again after a call to Caribbean Battery, who met me at the Crown Bay dinghy dock. We wound up with the exact same battery made by Penn, just branded Deka instead of NAPA. To satisfy my curiosity, and not worried about ruining my already dead battery, I decided to remove the cell cap from this “maintenance free” battery. It popped right off, I didn’t even need a screwdriver. Of course, the water was low, as I expected. Now that I know I can get the caps off and back on without ruining the battery, I will do regular maintenance on the start batteries when I maintain my house batteries and hopefully the new ones will last longer.

We had been getting water in the bilge when motoring, and my troubleshooting led me to believe that it was coming from the PSS shaft seal. For the non-cruisers reading this, this is what allows the motor shaft to stick out the bottom of the boat and turn the propeller without seawater coming in around the shaft. A ceramic ring on a rubber bellows presses against a stainless ring attached to the shaft. I expected that due to wear,  there wasn’t enough pressure anymore to keep the water out, but I was able to move the stainless ring about a quarter of an inch aft and increase the pressure, and so far no water.

Now that the bilge didn’t have a lot of seawater in it, I took the opportunity to pump out the last of it and wipe down the bilge, which should stay dry except for the little bit of rainwater that makes it down the mast. That in turn should help keep the boat sweet smelling. Changing the coolant and oil in the generator, and cleaning debris from the raw water strainers have rounded out the work in the last week. Linda has been cleaning and organizing our storage as well as baking for Thanksgiving. If we can get a few days without showers, we plan on some painting and varnishing before setting off to explore the rest of the US Virgins.

Fairwinds

Land fall! St. Thomas, USVI

An adventurous sail to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. 

Troubadour arrived in St. Thomas, USVI, after a four hour journey from Culebra. Anticipating 5-7 foot seas and 15 - 20 kt winds we put one reef in the main. We experienced 6-foot swells with 2-3 ft wave chop - not far off of predictions. We encountered one squall with gusts to 25-30 knots relative (and seeing that coming, we reefed the jib). It was an adventurous close hauled sail; we sailed on a 16° - 20° heel, our boat speed averaged 5.5 - 6 kts, topping out at 7.8 kts, not exactly our 8.5 hull speed, but mighty feisty! What a ride!

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, on the horizon

We searched along Water Island for a place to anchor, but found it quite crowded for our taste. Hungry and a bit tired, we anchored for lunch at Flamingo Bay. The cruising guide was correct that the anchorage was rolly but the break gave us time to find somewhere else to anchor for the night. As the crow flies, Long Bay was two miles away so we motored south around Water Island then northeast past Hassel Island to locate a spot to anchor in 20 feet in St. Thomas Harbor at Charlotte Amalie.

Shopping area in Charlotte Amalie, as viewed from Troubadour

Charlotte Amalie from where we sit is beautiful. We poured ourselves drinks - me, a Margarita, Chris, a rum and S.O.B. Crystal Light (we are trying to come up with a name for this drink). We listened to music and danced in the cockpit in our own small celebration. As the sun set the street lights on the island lit up the hills like stars in the night sky. We feel we've reached a milestone in our travels. One year ago we were in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthera, Bahamas with our friends Skip and Lydia of Flying Pig.

A sea plane takes off in our new "backyard"

We awoke this morning to find two cruise ships in port and the sounds of commerce.  While enjoying our breakfast (of tortillas and eggs) we watched as sea planes landed and took off near Haulover Cut and tour boats ferried passengers to shore for their excursions.

The anchorage in St. Thomas Bay with cruise ship docks to the right

We marvel at how lucky we are to be in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, on our own boat. And we look forward to cruising the Virgin Islands while we host family and friends aboard through February.





Fairwinds

A Taste of Home

The flavors of home, and being with family, flood my senses during the holidays  

I recently bought two Granny Smith apples thinking that in the hot climate of the tropics they would taste refreshing. They didn't. They were sour and tart.  After we shared just half of one, I knew I had to do something to give these apples another chance at feeding us. Out came my cherished recipe for Mom's Apple Slices. A piece of heaven, easy to make and delectable to eat.

Memories of summers as a young girl growing up in a little bit of countryside in Lake Geneva, Wis.  flooded my mind as I made this traditional family desert. Our property came with a small Eden: an apple orchard, two cherry trees, a peach tree, a pear tree, and a plum tree; a grape vine and a gooseberry bush. Did I miss anything?  Oh yes, the rhubarb. Summers and falls were busy with us kids picking, pitting or slicing, and Mom in the kitchen cooking and canning. Good thing there were five kids to do all this work! We had home baked pies and jams every summer and fall for many years during my childhood. I can still taste the homemade rhubarb cherry pie and the freshly made cherry sauce over vanilla ice cream.

The fruits of our labor (no pun intended) were well worth the camaraderie of brothers and sisters giggling and climbing in trees and the memories of home and traditions that Mom's Apple Slices now stir up for me, especially as the holidays dawn near.

At Thanksgiving, the aroma of pumpkin and nutmeg will transport me home to memories of my family at the table in lively repartee.  I envision Mom and my sisters in the kitchen, Dad and my brothers watching football. There will be little children running underfoot and a newborn baby to cuddle as the family grows. There will be extended family there, too. Mom and Dad always open their hearts and home to others. I admit that I am nostalgic during the holidays. I miss my family most at this time, and I am thankful they are in good health.

Now that Chris and I are away from our families during the holiday season, we've reinvented our family traditions to fit our life afloat. Even though the days tend to blend together, we still recognize that Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, and we are away from people we cherish.

But we do have a family in each other. I am thankful because I have a partner in Chris. We are building a life together and I believe in what we are building. It amazes me that we have undertaken this incredible journey in our lives. During the holidays this year, as we build our own traditions, the boat will be filled with the aroma of pumpkin pie and we'll toast to the good fortune and good health of both our families.

Here's a toast to family, holiday traditions and a taste of home!

Cheers!

Mom's Apple Slices, made with loads of love, taste like fresh apple pastry

Mom's Apple Slices

(Not all ovens are created equal! Mine sometimes seems like an Easy Bake Oven because normal oven-size bakeware usually does not fit. I cut this recipe in half and bake it on a 7 x 10 cookie sheet.)

CRUST
Cut together in a bowl
2 cups flour, 3/4 cup butter/margarine (or oleo!), 1/2 teaspoon salt, add 2 egg yolks, 1/2 cup milk, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, mix all together, form 2 balls, roll 1 ball to fit a cookie sheet with sides

FILLING
4 cups sliced and peeled apples (about 3-4 apples), 3/4 cup sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, mix together in bowl, put on top the crust in your cookie sheet, then roll out the other dough ball and put on top the apples, bake at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes

FROSTING
1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons hot water, mix together, frost while hot, drizzling on top crust

Bon Appétit

Moments

I ran across a blurb in Full and By (the column in Sailing by Bill Schanen) that resonated. He was writing on the passing of Dodge Morgan, who sailed around the world, singlehanded, non-stop. When Dodge was asked to describe his most frightening moment during the voyage, he said it was "when I pulled the next-to-last bottle of beer from the bilge."

Here's to keeping the bilge stocked!

Vieques: Serene bays and beautiful beaches

Vieques naval bombing area with OP barely visible at top of mountain 

I didn’t get to visit Vieques when I did a bareboat charter in 2001, so I wanted to visit when we were in the area this time. Since there was no chance of running into a Navy ship on the firing line, last Thursday we sailed right by the old shore bombardment range and could clearly see the Observation Post (OP) used to call in the fire missions and grade the exercises. The cruising guide showed an anchorage in the bay, but with quite a bit of confused wind chop and swell running, we continued downwind to Ensenada Honda, described as one of the “Hurricane Holes” in the area.

Troubadour at anchor in Ensenada Honda

The protecting reef was long and visible, and the depths across the bar were not quite as shallow as charted when we worked our way back to the NE and into the calm bay. The bay is fairly large, and over 30’ deep in the middle, so we worked our way to the SE and anchored behind a rise which gave us a good break from the wind and kept us out of any wind chop. The bay remained virtually ours for the two days we lounged, snorkeled, swam, and explored in the dinghy; we saw one other cruising boat and one fishing boat in the bay.

Entering the narrow, shallow cut to Ferro Bay

Ferro Bay opens south to the Caribbean Sea, the anchorage can get rolly

On Sunday we motored the five miles to Ferro Bay, one of the two bioluminescent bays on the south coast. Arriving near high tide gave us two feet of water under the keel as we navigated into the bay and anchored in 10’ of water near several boats stored there, and discovered there were several more boats stored back in the mangrove creek. Our evening swim did indeed generate a plume of glow upon plunging in, and a halo of luminescence around any kick or paddle. It’s not quite as bright as the time lapse photos, but was cool to finally see for ourselves.

Four good mooring balls are available in Sun Bay
 (we snorkeled them and checked)

Sun Bay beach is more than a mile long, the water crystal clear

Ferro Bay opening is fairly straight and open to the S, and as a result we rolled mildly as we faced into the mostly E breeze. I noticed one boat had a stern anchor out, but we slept through the rolling and arose the next morning to move on to Sun Bay. There are four public moorings in good shape on the E end of the bay, and we took one to get us out of most of the swell working its way around the corner, or reflecting off the jagged rocks on the far side of the bay. The charts show a shallow area between Cayo de Tierra, on the west end of Sun Bay, and the Esperanza dock. Walking the beach, we could see rock and sand bridging this gap all the way across.

The public dock and the Malecón in Esperanza

We dined at Duffy's and enjoyed the microbrew beers

Which beer did Chris choose?

Wednesday we set off in light winds and calm seas to head back to Culebra via the west end of Vieques. The wind filled in to give us a great reach down the south coast, but started backing too quickly as storm clouds worked their way across the area. When briefly headed by winds from the west, we  motorsailed briefly before the winds restored from the SE and we were rocketing towards Dakity in rainy conditions. Alas, the winds started dying after another hour and we had to fire up the “Iron Genny” for the last ten miles.

Storms and rain squalls made for a wet journey back to Culebra

It was right about this point when we caught our second fish of the journey (at least the second one we landed!), a 3’ king mackerel. Linda saw it hit the lure (a green lure, meant for Mahi), and I donned the gloves then reeled in the hand line. Linda didn’t get a hit with the gaff, but I was able to swing him onboard with the line. Once again, the vodka didn’t seem to do as much as putting the guy in a black plastic bag. Next time I think the vodka goes in the captain’s mouth!

A gift from Neptune! 

We’re back on the same mooring at Dakity with the fish filleted, and guts likely gobbled up by the tarpon that started swimming around as soon as we started cleaning. Storms last night took care of washing off all the salt from the salt water washing of the fish blood and gore! A bit rainy today, and Bernie the TV weatherman says things will stay wet for a few days. We will try to find a dry interval to get into the market for some fresh fruit and veggies tomorrow, and then will get back to the boat projects.

Written by Captain Chris

Fairwinds