BVIs to Grand Turk
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Tortola, BVIs to Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
Left East Jost Van Dyke for a lovely windward sail to Trellis Bay. We were definitely racing a 50ft American Beneteau because we won! Picked up a mooring buoy having zigzagged 16.27nms.
All ready for the Full Moon party
The Full Moon! Beautiful fire-balls on the beach, made by the local art gallery
Steel Band Coconut cocktails
Kiln glazing Raku ceramics
Baton twirling with a difference! Someone’s got a drone filming above us!
Beautiful fire-balls alight on the water Drinks on board Flyin’ Low with Adrian & Claire. Haven’t seen them since St Martin. Savannah Bay anchorage untenable with waves breaking across the reef and a swell making it incredibly rolly so we chug back round to Spanish Town. Ashore to catch up on emails. Will thinks he may have sold his business, Hannah’s got more work from her company, all are looking forward to California and Katie, my agent, has let both the houses for next year. Success all round!
Southerly swell next morning makes the anchorage very uncomfortable so we head over to Trellis Bay with just the headsail up to wait for emails from Impressionist & Spectra. We pick up a buoy and have email on boards courtesy of De Loose Mongoose! Impressionist have arrived and are in Leverick Bay so we drop the buoy and have a lovely 2hr sail there whizzing along and anchor right alongside them, 18.3nms in total. We’d emailed Spectra to let them know where we are and have sundowners on board Impressionist with Secret Smile. (Narrowly avoiding Pirate Happy Arr at Jumbies beach bar!)
2 days later, early off , as the Northerly swell has started. Short sail round to check out the anchorage at Spanish Town to see if there is any sign of Spectra. We called them on the VHF as we rounded the corner at 8am and we hear Paul’s dulcet tones in reply.
They’d just turned in between the islands and we can spot them pretty soon. They follow us in to Road Harbour as we know Spanish Town is going to be a lumpy old anchorage too. They’ve sailed through the night from St Martin but still manage beer o’clock on board RT at 11am, lovely to see them at last!
Spectra take the ferry to St Thomas to try and get their US visas sorted out so, as Road Bay is getting a bit rolly, we head over to Peter Island. It’s cold and cloudy, think Spectra have brought a bit of Ramsgate weather with them! Just the headsail up for a 1 hour sail, 4.57nms
The weather is sunny one minute and rainy the next. Spectra show up mid-morning having had some success with their visas and we coffee with them. Ashore for sundowners and to frustrate Paul as he can’t get Wi-Fi access to upload the blog! All on board RT for curry supper and Valentine’s Day champers.
Leaving on Spectra’s tail for a great gennaker sail to Virgin Gorda. We are taking photos of each other when Yacht Shots turn up and take these.
Our photos of Spectra not quite in the same class!
Lovely present from Norma of Spectra – a Norma Russell original, No 9! We anchor 4hrs and 20mins later after 17.1nms. We won, as we wait 30 mins for Spectra! We all go ashore for Paul to have his photo taken at the Bitter End Yacht Club and for him to be frustrated again as he now can’t upload the photos to the blog! Lovely risotto supper on Spectra with home baked focaccia by Steve, and Norma’s fruit soda bread to finish off a lovely evening.
We leave Spectra arguing with their generator (Island Time, Paul!) and pop in to Spanish Town. The weather is foul and we just get back to the boat before it pours down. Spectra have, meanwhile, turned up so they get very wet going ashore for their provisions. We pick up a buoy in Trellis Bay. Spectra arrives in time to go ashore for sundowners and all of us back to RT for another curry!
Spectra (I’ve told you before, Paul, you got to get on Island Time!) still arguing with their generator! Cracking sail through the islands to clear out in Soper’s Hole. We try anchoring and we either dragged or it was just too deep. Search out a mooring buoy with no luck. Plan C was to go alongside the Customs House and for me to jump off – it’s too shallow! Plan D, not my personal favourite, I circle the boat while Mike paddles dinghy ashore. Plan just going into operation when I spot a spare mooring buoy. We pick it up to find it’s marked “Private”. I don’t care, just hurry up and clear out. He’s back quickly and we set off for Cruz Bay, St John’s. Spectra round the island from the other side same time as we turn up. The anchorage looks fairly full and rolly so we carry on to Charlotte Amelie where we anchor after a 7 hour sail (including clearing out stop) after 25 odd nms. Lovely meal ashore with Spectra, of course! 
We’ve come to expect that Spectra will still be arguing with their generator every morning! Ashore to clear into the USVIs.
Best not to ask Paul how the generator is, or to mention Island Time! He is ready to give up and sell the boat! Norma is advocating throwing it overboard. Steve is keeping his head down and so are we! Ashore in the evening to go to Bluebeard’s Castle for a tour, then out to pizza with Spectra while Mike misses out!
Cleared out ready to depart the day after tomorrow. Spectra have left for the Spanish VIs and we will catch them up in San Juan, Puerto Rico in a few days’ time. We have chosen our channels for the start of the Temple Net on the SSB which should start tomorrow at 12:00UT! Mike has bought a new shirt with a leaf pattern on it – watch out, the next step is flowers! Ashore in the evening to check out the Jazz in the park and get a final helping of spare ribs. Bliss.
I’m ready at 8am to do the first Temple Net broadcast but no response from the only other net member, so intend to try again tomorrow. Decide to head off to Celubra today and spend tomorrow anchored there as we know it’s a fairly isolated anchorage and may get some blue water swimming in. Good sail, poled out, except for motor on the last half hour. Bit rolly in the anchorage, but a sweet little place behind the reef. Just under 5 hours, 21.52nms
Still a touch of “care in the community” about him, I feel!
Next day, we forgot the Temple Net!! Was meant to be an early start but Mike overslept so we didn’t hit the road till 7am! Some wind, small amount of rain, poled out and gybing all the way. Spotted a couple of whales in the distance, by their blows. Finally spotted Spectra in the marina, after 9 hour sail covering 49.79nms, so they helped us tie up in those ridiculous slips where there are 2 tall poles by your bow ready to have a rope thrown over them. Impossible for little me who throws like a girl!. Steve gets back from the town having spotted us rounding the headland into the harbour and has several great photos of us. We are all out to Casa Lola for a farewell to Steve supper, even if we had to wait the 45 minutes it allegedly takes to cook Mike’s swordfish dinner!
Bad photo of ridiculous water colour change as we cross from very deep to soundings
Lovely Old San Juan
Steve is off to airport so we hitch a ride in his taxi to do the supermarket run. Hoping we have enough supplies to see us through till we hit Florida as markets are a bit thin on the ground from this point on. We fill up with very cheap diesel Ridiculous “A”, owned by ridiculously rich Russian. Looks almost as tall as the apartment blocks behind it!
A minute later, we are asked to reanchor further away! Not so lucky for the Austrian boat who left their boat to go ashore and the Coastguard had to board, pull up the anchor by hand and then reanchor for them. Machine-gun on the front of the Coastguard boat not ultra-useful! Lucky they didn’t get impounded!
We lounge around while Spectra go and see Customs again! Sundowners together on RT
We are underway with a good wind and out of the harbour by 6.30 with Spectra close behind us setting off for Grand Turk
Sunrise over San Juan Beauty (Spectra) and the beasts! 2 days and nights pass with the wind up and down. Spectra keeps pace for the first day but by the 2nd evening we lose sight of her. However, the Temple Net (now that we have both remembered to do it!) functions well at 8am and 8pm local time every day on Channel 25 SSB. We only have 2 members at the moment but happy to enrol others! We spotted a couple of small whales alongside the boat on the 2nd day but they were camera-shy, sadly.
Morning 2 days later, we can’t see Spectra but the morning Temple Net places them about an hour behind us so we head round to the anchorage we were in last time we were here. It’s called “The Cliff”, as you anchor in 3 metres of water but the stern of your boat is off the scale it’s so deep. It’s a great dive site apparently. The sea is quite choppy as the wind blows it round the corner so we head back up to anchor of the town at and radio Paul to tell him change of plan. We are anchored by 9.30am, so 51 hours and 322.39nms makes it a good fast sail overall. Nearly out of the Tropics now. 3 head for sleep, 1 heads for nail varnish and blog!
100s of very pink American cruise ship punters snorkelling in very small area of massive sea!
It’s very blue! Spectra coming into Grand Turk anchorage
521nms this month (BVIs to Turks & Caicos) and 9032nms since RT was last in Ramsgate |
