Sailing adventures aboard a PDQ Antares 44i

Summer 2010

June 9 – July 17:  Following a visit from my sister, Steve and I continued diving and spending leisure time with John, SOJOURN.  Our frequent afternoon Sequence games often gave way to cocktails and dinner.  It was a lovely, slow-paced month appreciating the quiet and newly uninhabited anchorages of the USVI.

Steve also began in earnest to prepare the boat for haul out at Nanny Cay Marina, Tortola.  It is always a chore to put the boat on the hard, but the effort is well worth it.  Steve goes through all boat systems, bringing everything back to tip-top shape. 

July – September.  We returned to Colorado on July 18 for yet another summer at Brook’s Towers in downtown Denver.  This summer proved to be just as eventful as summers past, two weddings in Minnesota, a road-trip with Steve’s Mom through South Dakota celebrating her 90^th birthday, many good times spent with our daughter, Katie, and her husband, Ryan.  Katie and Ryan always keep us busy with a variety of activities, Katie’s 32^nd birthday party at a Rockies baseball game, the Great American Beer Festival, softball or just exploring the many fabulous Denver restaurants.

Perhaps the most surprising turn of events this summer was an impulse purchase of 81 acres near Salida, Colorado.  As real estate had always benefitted us, we decided to investigate “investment” property as a hedge against the unpredictable stock market and increasingly poor interest rates of CDs and Money Market Accounts.

We intended to buy 160 acres of “recreational” property with live water, adjoining BLM or National Forest, a mixture of trees and meadows with potential for subdivision within a reasonable distance of a substantial town.  We thought such a property could have resale value and be of future interest to sportsmen, or anyone desiring a special summer property. 

We were surprised to realize we would fall in love with the property ourselves.  Even though we bought half the property we intended for twice the money we expected, we still think it is a good investment. 

Oh well.  It looks as though we will have another adventure awaiting us when we decide to leave the Caribbean and sell Seaman’s Elixir.

June 2-9, 2010.  My sister, Paula, niece, Tracy and grandnieces Sadie and Sophie (soon to be known as Mac and Cheese) came for a visit.  As Paula hates to fly, hates boats and cannot swim, you may be asking yourself, “Why would she choose to fly thousands of miles to visit us on a boat?”  Our answer, “Good question…”  Sadie was to turn 11 during the visit; Sophie had just turned 9.  Never having had children on board, and with my sister’s issues, I was a tad worried; but to everyone’s credit, my worries were unwarranted.  They were real troupers.

June 2.  After arriving around 8PM, a quick meal at Tickles Restaurant, we went to bed.  We spent the first night in Crown Bay Marina to give everyone a chance to get a good night’s sleep with air-conditioning.   After tonight, sleeping aboard will be like sleeping in a sauna.

June 3.  Heading out to Hawks Nest, the next morning, everyone managed to keep breakfast down, even though the water was lumpy.  Paula entertained us all with her hoopin’-hollerin’ each time a wave bounced her on the forward trampoline.  She kept saying, “I think I’m gonna die”, all in jest, of course.

Once we arrived in Hawks Nest, the girls were in the water from noon until 4:30.  Even Paula got in the water with a floatation device.  I towed her to shore and Steve towed her back to the boat.  We celebrated Paula’s BD with steak, asparagus, baked potatoes…I also baked her Grandma Cooper’s famous chocolate sheet cake. 

June 4, we went to Trunk Bay and the girls were in the water or on the beach from 10:30 until 3:00.  We did the hundred+ steps up to Maho for dinner.  Paula made it up and down, even tough she though it would be tough after being in the water almost as long as the girls were.

June 5-6, Waterlemon Bay, the Annaberg Plantation and snorkeling.  The girls were fish-like in the water.  Whatever concerns we had about water safety are completely resolved.  They dive down without care, examining coral and sea life, collecting shells.  They even accompanied Steve on a long snorkel through the bay and completely around the cay. They saw starfish, a ray, some huge sea cucumbers, a peacock flounder, and a lot of neat stuff. 

We played dominoes and cards after dinner in the evening.   I have to tell you, I laughed so hard that Sophie could bluff Steve into exchanging cards with her during a hand of “S**t On Your Neighbor)”.  (He was shocked, too.)   Sara Bernhardt had nothing on Sophie!

June7, Sadie’s 11^th BD.  We went in to Cruz Bay, had burgers at Woody’s Restaurant.  The waitresses at Woody’s played the Stevie Wonder Birthday Song, made her a fruit smoothie, which was really a nice surprise.  They also took our picture for their website.  (Hollywood will soon be calling the girls; I am sure.)  Both the girls got their hair braided into cornrows.  As per Sadie’s request, I made pizza and chocolate cake for her birthday.

June 8.  Another day spent in the water, this time at Christmas Cove, St. James and more cards after dinner.

June 9.  Back in Crown Bay Marina, Paula and Tracy have opted to spend the last night at the Holiday Inn.  Craving a long, hot shower and sleeping with air-conditioning throughout an entire night is too tempting to ignore.  It has been unseasonably hot and humid here.  Who can blame them?

Despite the heat and numerous boat breakdowns, everyone made it through the adventure with smiles on their faces.  I think the girls have good memories of their time with us.  I know we have good memories of having everyone aboard.

Diving The Dogs May 7-8, 2010

The underwater lights for my Camera Mask arrived, making a tremendous difference in the quality of my photographs.  When God said, “Let there be light”, He really knew what He was doing!   The crystal-clear water, combined with lights and a red filter for the camera lens, produced photographic images nearly as pretty as what we saw firsthand.

Steve patiently accompanied me as I putt-putt-putted along the reefs.  I could spend hours taking photos, duration under water only limited by the amount of air in my tank.

This is so much fun; I can hardly wait to get back in the water.

April 27- May 3  Farewell, Dear Friends.

Our social concierges (Kenny and Kathy, MER SOLEIL) are leaving for St. Martin in the next day or so.  To get our last "fix" we joined them in the BVI. 

First night, LEAP OF FAITH, MER SOLEIL and SEAMAN’S ELIXIR met at the Happy Hour Bar atop the hill at Marina Cay.  Michael Bean, musician cum pirate, performed his take on Jimmy Buffet songs.  Kenny and Kathy brought a myriad of acoustic accompaniments they had gathered during their travels throughout the Caribbean, as well as guitar shaped fly swatters emblazoned with their boat name, MER SOLEIL.  We were certainly the best-equipped "musicians" in the audience, shaking-rattling-and-rolling with exuberance.

There was a moderately rowdy crowd, highlighted by a 60-something-pole-dancing-blond-wigged-dress-sprayed-on-Marilyn-Monroe-wannabe who gave new meaning to the phrase "too-old-to-care".  Boy!  Did she have her groove on…pretty good moves for a woman of her age? 

At one point, the musician hosted an audience participation segment wherein one could win free rum for sharing pirate jokes, toasts and stories.  "Marilyn" raised her hand (which he ignored).  She kept it raised, insistent he call on her.  He finally relented and she began to share her pirate joke, "What does a pirate use to remove chewing gum from his pubic hair?"  The musician made a small gasp and said, "There are children in the audience…"  Needless-to-say she did not have the opportunity to answer.

Later in the program the musician asked us all to point out our dinghy captain, give him/her a round of applause for a job well done, yet often unappreciated.  "Marilyn" pranced up to the stage, struck what she must have thought to be a seductive pose and announced, "I’m dinghy crew."  Based on her aforementioned description, I had to stifle my laughter.  All I could think, taking in her dress, make-up and flagrant, curly blond wig and out-there-attitude was, "Did she mean "dinghy" crew?"

We spent the remaining days in North Sound, Virgin Gorda, on mooring balls at either Saba Rock or Leverick.  Whiling away our time between snorkeling, playing games, doing laundry, our final night was a celebration at the upstairs restaurant at Leverick.  Dinner was superb.  A fitting goodbye until we meet again in…gasp…January 2011.  No doubt, we will miss them.

April 21-26 Becoming a certified diver

After completing my ecourse with PADI, I contracted with the dive shop at Maho Eco Resort for my confined and open water classes.  Instructors Bruce, a stickler for form, and George, laid-back and easy going, whipped me into shape.  As of Monday, April 26, I was certified.

It is difficult to believe I actually did it.  Steve, still in a bit of shock that I finished the course  J  was so excited he bought a fourth dive tank, bringing our inventory to four 80# and two 60# tanks.  Watch out Jacques Cousteau!  Here I come!  I be divin’, Mon!

April 10-12 Three days of fun in the BVI

As we rounded the southeast corner of St. John on our way over to Soper’s Hole, we saw a whale.  Steve saw the blow off the surface of the water and within seconds, the whale blew again.  It never did breach, but we got close enough to see its body at the surface of the water, as well as its dorsal fin and back above the water.  Stuff like that is so wonderful.

We met MER SOLIEL and LEAP OF FAITH in Soper’s Hole to listen to Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats at Jolly Roger’s.  Although we were concerned dinner would never arrive, once it did we had sustenance for copious dancing.  The band was great, and we had a good ol’ time. 

The following day, we took Kenny and Kathy to the bubbling pool at diamond Cay.  Low tide and no surge made the pool more of a murmur, so we played games/had dinner at Foxy’s Taboo. 

The four of us spent the last night with LEAP OF FAITH at White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, and the location of the Soggy Dollar Bar.  Lynne, Bob, Kathy, Kenny, Steve and I had lunch there, corralled under the watchful eye of B&L’s dog, Molly. After lunch, K&K, Steve and I walked over the hill to pay for our mooring ball at Ivan’s Stress Free Bar and Campground.

What a hoot!  The walls, covered with seashells, murals made of seashells-coral-sea fans, plaques with clever sayings made out of the same, is a shrine to the sea.  I highly recommend a visit to anyone staying in White Bay.  The place is very “picture” worthy.

Kathy and Kenny, cordial hosts, began the Easter weekend with a surprise visit to SEAMAN’S ELIXIR.  Kathy can rarely come for a visit without bringing some type of surprise, this time malted milk and chocolate Easter eggs in a hand decorated mayonnaise jar.  (Martha Stewart has NOTHING on Kathy!)

Easter morning, we walked to Drunk Bay to explore the “bone yard”.  Drunk Bay, strewn with all shapes and sizes of coral and rock, gives the ambitious sorts an opportunity to express themselves creating any number of abstract sculptures.  As it was Easter, Kathy created a coral Christ on the cross, facing East…much more appropriate than my original idea of an Easter Bunny.

A traditional ham dinner followed aboard MER SOLIEL, which included a to-die-for cauliflower gratin, wonderful warm bacon vinaigrette bacon dressing with baby spinach salad, completed by homemade strawberry short cake.  I surprised them both with an Easter Basket Hunt, giving them “hot-and-cold” directions as they scoured their boat.  What fun!

Our hike the following day was to Ram’s Head, which is the site of a mass suicide by slaves in 1733.  The slaves had succeeded in taking over St. John during a rebellion and held the island for 6 months.  When the West Indian Brigade (sadly comprised of Black soldiers) came to put down the insurrection, the slaves retreated to Ram’s Head and threw themselves from the cliff rather than return to slavery.

It is a mile hike to the summit, up some small inclines and then down to an incredible blue cobblestone and coral beach, followed by a few more inclines, which traverse the hill.  The layer of cobblestone on the beach is so deep; footsteps produce a hollow echo through the stone.  Very nice hike.  Ram’s Head summit is maybe 200 feet above the water, a shear drop-off to the rocky, wave crashed shore below.  You can see the BVI easily and all the way to St. Croix on a clear day.

Booby Rock, a designated dive site, was my fourth and first mid-depth dive, up to 50 feet.  John, SOJOURN, Bob, LEAP OF FAITH, Steve and I went together.  Of course, it was a lobster hunt (successful, might I add).  Steve got pretty beat up wrestling with a lobster tucked well back into its hole.  (These lobsters make wrestling cattle look like a Sunday afternoon tea…)

What amazed me was the profuse amount of coral.  It was incredibly lush…I have never seen anything like it.  I saw the most beautiful coral, two side by side, which looked liked blown glass cylindrical vases.  I tried to look them up in my Reef Coral Book, but they are not included.  I did get a picture, though  🙂

Steve and I saw our first-ever scrawled filefish, two that appeared to be mating.  There were dozens of Blue Hamlets, Fairy Bassets and Bicolor Damselfish.  I was not as successful with my picture taking as I hoped I would be, but I did get a shot of the filefish, basset, and the guys getting a lobster.  There was so much to see, and the guys were on a mission to get a lobster, I could not just sit and sit to take pictures.  Just the same…IT WAS AMAZING!

After a few days of quiet, semi-alone time, we moved to Coral Bay to provision and have lunch with Kenny and Kathy at Shipwreck.  That night, the four of us went to Skinny Legs for a concert and dinner.  The Sun Mountain Band played…what a hoot!  The man who is head of the band must be in his sixties, a fiddler…and he plays everything from Irish jigs to blues to an occasional polka…an unusual mix to say the least.  He has energy to spare and great humor.  Most of his songs are original and the lyrics are just hysterical.  Unfortunately, quoting what I can remember of the songs just would not do them justice.  At any rate, it was a hooting-hollering-dancing-gay-old-time.