Cruising the Caribbean,

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Tue 31 May 2011 11:49
SUNDAY  29th  MAY
 
Another beautifull morning in paradise,
Skipper took Aileen ashore with her NBF and returned to the boat , cleaned the main water filters to the engines and
the refridgeration, A/C units and watermaker, Its amazing the amount of living things that hibernate in these filters,
from small crabs, to perrywinkles, barnicles , mussells etc, yeach. by the time skipper was finished, his hands were
in bits from all the scratches,
 
later we departed Spanish Town and motored back to "Bitterend" via  " The Baths "  the Baths is a national park and one is
not allowed ashore in the rib, but the authorities do provide many small blue mooring bouys just off the beach , where you
leave the rib and swim ashore, jolly good idea.
 
When we reached Bitterend Y.C. we picked up one of the many moorings for rent,
Skipper had a refreshing swim offf the back of the boat and then took the first mate ashore so she could swim
by the beach, ohhh, such a beautifull day, with just 14 knots of breeze to keep us cool enough.
 
In the afternoon , we paid a visit to Saba Rock, this is a small , very small little Island, more like a big rock , but has
a great restaurant and a few bedrooms to boot. and of course a few motor launches to collect and deliver all the guests as they
flow backwards and fowards,
 
Kevin Dwyer spent a few days at Bitterend on his way home from " A Lady" , march 2010, and recommended it to us, that if
we ever reached the BVI's we should go visit the place, and we did and it was well worth the visit.
Thye place was buzzing with boats, even though it is the end of what they term Winter , which means that the Hurricane season is
almost upon us and thats our rush to leave . head across the Bermuda triangle to Bermuda and out of the hurricane area.
 
Now , talking about Pirates, did you know that as a young Roman "Julius Caesar" was captured by Pirates on his way to Rhodes
to polish up his oratory skills, He was captured off the coast of Turkey and was released after 38 days when a ransome was
paid by his family, Caesar vowed he would crucify the pirates for kidnapping him and criticizing his poetry, but the Pirates only laughed
at this self important Roman and let him go......
Julius Caesar immidiatly went to the nearest port, raised a fleet of ships without delay and off he went and captured all the
Pirates and then crucified the lot of them, Justice was done ..
 
Later , we had dinner in the bitterend YC, it was only so so.. and whats more, we got bitten all over our legs, we blooming well forgot to bring
the " OFF" spray  , for keeping the bugs and Mossies away. so not everything is perfect here.......
 
Thats all for now,
 
 
MONDAY  31st  MAY 
 
Another beautifull morning, with an ENE breeze blowing 16 knots,
Skipper finished making the boat ready for going to sea, while Aileen went ashore with her NBF and also for a swim,
The lady has really got the hang of that laptop, calling her friends and relations, not to mention her, ( yes her ) children,
on Skype..... it is a great system and for very little cost.....
 
Meanwhile back on the boat, skipper had a visit from 2 different people,
Oggie, ( Noel Fitzpatrick ) from Howth ,who is working at the Bitterend YC, Oggie knows our youngest son Stefan, Daz O Rielly
Dillon Gannon, etc, and came out to say hello when he saw the Irish flag .
And then a visit from Francois and his wife Magda, they spend a lot of time in Porto Rico, but were on a sailing trip with friends
to Bitterend when they saw " A Lady "
Francois met skipper in Bali, when he was setting off with Stephen Choi on the Amel called " Skylark "  she was on the World ARC trip
with us as far as Bali, where they left the fleet to return to Singapore, where Stephen lives,
Ohh, such a small world,
 
11.30 hrs, we left port in beautifull conditions, Distance to Bermuda is 830 miles, it will take 4 to 5 days, depending on the
wind,   the grib files are showing light winds out of the East and NE for the next 5 days,
 
We relaxed all day,  looked over the charts, checked the weather and did some reading,
We had some real heavy downpours during the evening,plus the wind varied all the time,  we did not eat much
as we were just settling into the routine of night shifts,  so hunger did not arise, besides we had two real squalls, where the
wind suddenly shot up to 36 knots along with some horizontal rain, That kept us busy for a while.
 
But we are on our way again,
 
Thats all.
 
Signed :-  Stephen Hyde   ( skipper )