Anguilla to Virgin Gorda and onto Tortola

Spectra
Paul & Norma Russell
Wed 18 Feb 2015 12:48

Anguilla to Virgin Gorda and onto Tortola

18:25.442N 64:36.696W

12th February 2015

6040 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

 

            Again apologies for not writing earlier but I have been rather tied up with generator and IT problems, first the good news we are in the Virgin Islands and they are amazing! Secondly the even better news, here is the picture of my next grand daughter, due on July the 4th and I think you will agree definitely showing early signs of brilliance and beauty in equal measures.

 

clip_image001

 

I have suggested Pauline or Paula as a name what do you think?

We checked out of Anguilla and set sail for Virgin Gorda at 1430 on the 11th of February for an overnight sail of 80 odd miles. All went well at first and we managed to dodge a myriad of fishing buoys before reaching deep water as night fell. We drew lots for the night shifts and it ended up with Steve doing 2200-0000, me on 0000-0200 and Norma on 0200-0400 and so on but it didn’t quite work out that way. On Norma’s early shift 2000-2200 a lot of lightning developed over on our starboard side which is never nice but it didn’t come our way and as night fell the wind steadied from the South West at force 4 which was perfect for our needs and so all was well with the world, that was until the end of Steve’s watch. As I took over at midnight Steve commented that the wind was dying and heading more into the North which was pushing us quite a way off course.  I settled into my watch and the wind kept on shifting right through to North East until at 0100 I tacked the boat around and we managed to resume our original course again with the wind now down to Force 2-3. Steve hearing the commotion, the winches are right above his cabin roof, called up to see if I needed a hand with the tack but I replied all was ok, 10 minutes later the wind was up to 30Kts and we were definitely leaning on our elbow.  I called that the help would be appreciated now and Steve came up to help reef the sails down just before the heavens opened. I have rarely seen rain so heavy, it was literally bouncing of the decks. Steve dived below to dry off after half an hour and I stayed up huddled under my umbrella, (I know it’s not very yachty sailing with an umbrella but at least it is very British). Anyway Umbrella or not, I was soaked to the skin in no time at all and so I thought it was pointless waking Norma up at 0200 as she would just get soaked as well and so I carried on until 0400 by which time the rain had finally stopped. Norma’s comment when I woke her at 0400 and explained why she had had an extra two hours in bed was, “oh I’ve got the 4 to 6 shift now, I hate the 4 to 6 shift”, Tch, Tch, I just laughed and laughed I can tell you.

            As the sun came up we sighted the BVI’s through the gloom and here is a direct extract from the log: 

Time 0900, All up for tea and toast.

Sounds like an extract from an Enid Blyton Famous Five novel doesn’t it? The Famous Five go sailing perhaps, or maybe the Secret Seven bugger of to the Caribbean, anyway I digress.

We passed through a gap in the islands west of Virgin Gorda and turned right heading for Spanish Town. As we approached the bay the radio crackled into life, it was Mike and Kate who were already inside the bay waiting for us, they advised us that it was very lumpy and uncomfortable in there and so suggested we moved over to Tortola. Never one to ignore a bit of local advice we readily agreed and after waiting for Right Turn to come out of the bay we followed them over to Road Bay in Tortola.

 

clip_image003

Right Turn finally meets up with Spectra again having shared a boat park in Ramsgate 2 years ago

 

By 1120 we were anchored right up at the head of Road Bay just outside the marina entrance and very shortly afterwards we launched our dinghy and went over to visit Mike and Kate aboard Right Turn for a beer and catch up. Later that day we all trooped ashore for the customs entry procedure which was the usual fun and games but nothing particularly problematical, after filling out a multitude of forms, in quadruplicate of course, and paying $17.80 US, we were in and celebrated with a meal at the marina. Mike and Kate were at the marina bar taking advantage of the WIFI connection and invited us aboard for a meal, unfortunately we gave it a rain check, no pun intended, it was raining again though, as we were all pretty tired from the night before and wanted an early night.

 

clip_image005

Chickens in the yacht club bar help keep the floor clean

 

On top of that, as it was Friday the next day we had decided to catch the ferry to St Thomas in the USVI’s on the following day before the weekend in order to get our passports stamped so that we could take Spectra into the USVI’s and onto Porto Rico which is a whole new story and involved getting out of bed at 0530. All of which will be covered in full in the next addition. For now I am going to take the generator apart again to see if I can find out why it keeps stopping (I am beginning to think it is personal).  

clip_image007

My generator or as I like to call it “£$%^&*****(()!!!!

 

PS: we are still looking for some crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June. Three legs of about 2 weeks each, Norfolk to the Bahamas, Bahamas to the Azores, Azores to Cork….anyone interested in all or part? drop us a line.

 

 

Spectra {CHANGE TO AT} mailasail {DOT} com

 

No attachment or pics please as this is a very low bandwidth satellite link and costs a small fortune per minute for downloads and they block up my weather reports.

 

If you want to send normal email pics attachment etc.

Paul {DOT} russell732 {CHANGE TO AT} hotmail {DOT} co {DOT} uk and I will pick it up when I am on WiFi