Post Script - 2009

This will likely be our last blog entry for 2009. When I look back at our ‘stories’ over this past year, where we’ve been and the people we’ve met, I feel so very lucky. We are lucky to have experienced such a safe journey and more than lucky to have our health so we can do some of the crazy things we do.

Hope you had a good Christmas with your family. We spent it here at the KOA where they had a big turkey dinner, mashed potatoes and gravy + assorted pot luck dishes from everyone here at the park. As for presents, Santa was VERY, VERY good to me. Amongst a number of gifties under our wee tree was a "Snuggie"!

Whaddayathink? Look as good as the one on TV? Cheetah, no less!

Please celebrate the arrival of the New Year with some kind of resolution… I hope one of yours will be to stay tuned to RV Southbound in 2010… cheers till the next decade… m.

BVIs - "The Conclusion of Our Vaca"

After spending 3 glorious days on the island of Virgin Gorda, we left mid-morning on Saturday, December 6th and made our way out of the harbour at Bitter End. As soon as we entered the Sir Francis Drake Channel, Jimmy and Amanda put up the sails and away we went - straight down the channel with the wind at our back the whole way! We sailed about 4 hours and passed by some of the places we had visited over the week. Lastly, we sailed along the southern coast of Tortola, past the village of Road Town and returned to West End. Here we claimed one of the mooring buoys in the harbour and spent the night.

Sunday morning kept us busy with packing up, tidying our cabin and preparing our paperwork to depart the BVIs. John and Jimmy went ashore in the zodiac to purchase our tickets for the ferry and Amanda and I enjoyed the last of our ‘pink’ conversations while we cleaned up the galley. When the ‘boys’ came back, we had breakfast, made our Xmas video for the Grant/Hamre clan et al and laughed the morning away.

When the time came for us to board the ferry, Jimmy and Amanda took us in the zodiac and did a ‘drive-by’, dropping us off at the ferry dock. We hugged each other hard and they shoved away from the dock leaving us to wait for the ferry. They returned to their boat, lifted the zodiac and unhooked from the mooring. In turn, John and I boarded the passenger ferry and climbed onto the top deck – from here, we could see Jimmy and Amanda preparing for their departure. And, as the ferry departed the dock, Jimmy and Amanda followed in the wake of the ferry:

We waved till the boat was a wee speck in the distance and I’m sure I could see them waving back – Amanda on the bow and Jimmy at the helm!

It wasn’t long before the ferry was ‘on plane’. By then, Jimmy and Amanda had rounded the corner of the island to head back towards the village of Road Town. The ferry powered its’ way over the 20+ miles in 40 short minutes to St. Thomas. We arrived at the port, passed through US Immigration and Customs, caught a van-type taxi and made our way to the airport to catch our Cape Air flight back to Puerto Rico. The next two flights to Houston and then back to Harlingen were uneventful. It felt funny to come ‘home’ from vacation to South Padre Island instead of Kingston – back to Texas instead of Ontario – first time we’ve ever done that!

It was wonderful to be with Jimmy and Amanda and, in the end, it was sad to leave them. Yes, it was ‘a trip of a lifetime’ but, more than that, the week together was incredibly memorable – it was jam-packed full of quality time. And, even though it was sad to leave them, I knew when they rounded that corner, they were already on their next adventure… and so were we…

BVIs Chapter Three - "Kite Boarding"

When I could hardly walk, my Auntie Mildred started me swimming at Island Lake at our cottage. As a kid, my Mom sent me to the YMCA Day Camp down the road from our cottage so I could learn to swim longer distances. When I was a 'tween', my Mom (always the promoter of ballet) sent me to the YMCA in town to learn synchronized swimming. And when I was in my early teens, my Dad used to take 16 mm movies of us water-skiing behind my friend's 25' boat with a 50 Merc.

In my mid-teens, the YMCA Day Camp graduated me to Camp Counsellor in Training. At this point, I took my first life-saving course and started teaching young kids how to swim. And, finally, when I was in my mid-twenties, I completed my dive course and did my open-water dive. Sailing was not something I ever learned to do – our cottage was not on a big enough lake for me to become a sailor and Lake Superior was too big and too scary a lake to do anything on. And wind-surfing had not even been invented (that I know of… )

I’m not sure who invented kite boarding (sometimes called kite surfing) but it has to be the single, hardest thing I can think of to do on the water. It seems to be a combination of swimming, sailing and wind surfing. What I’ve also observed is that you need to be strong, determined and forever patient. To complicate the learning process, you need to have 15-20 mph (min) winds and be ready at ANY time to 'take the plunge’. It is definitely expensive. It’s got to be a tough, tough sport to learn and it must take a long, long time to become good. In the BVIs, this all comes together in the North Sound at Bitter End – great wind, beautiful, warm water and friends with whom you can enjoy the sport. More importantly, friends you can depend on if something goes awry - and yes, a chase boat (a zodiac) in case you get into real trouble.

I LOVE to watch them skimming across the water, working their kites, turning, jumping, doing tricks, falling, getting back up and starting all over again. Completely entertaining! I could watch them all day long. And, since I had no intention of joining them, I chose to take some photos from a lounge chair at the end of the dock:

Here’s Jimmy –


hope this gives you a sense of how far the kite is from the person on the board.





Here’s Amanda – gives you a sense of the gear that is worn.














And their friend Marko –



any guesses on high he is off the water?













And here’s a picture of me – way too tired after watching them all afternoon! Sorry – only room for one in this hammock!
















Will be back at you in a day or two when I will conclude our BVI vacation story… talk to you then… m.

BVIs Chapter Two - "Virgin Gorda"

Sailing along the north side of Virgin Gorda, we decided to anchor one night in a small bay off the Channel. We were east of the Dogs and south of Necker Island and our anchorage was inside the curl of the reef that protected the bay. First, just a word for you about the Dogs and Necker Island…

The Dogs are a set of four smaller islands that got their name from the Monk seals that used to inhabit the islands. From a distance, the sounds made by the seals sounded like dogs barking – hence, sailors named the islands “The Dogs”. FYI, the seals became extinct some time in the 1950’s.

As for Necker Island, it is privately owned by Sir Richard Branson. You may have heard of him – a British baby-boomer who became a billionaire by first creating Virgin Records in the late 70’s followed by Virgin Atlantic Airways in the 80’s. More recently, you may have seen news clips of him attempting a round-the-world hot air balloon ride. He does not live on Necker Island but I’m sure he visits on occasion. Just so you know, the island is available for rent. You can have it for as little as $45,000 per day (yes, per day) – plus 18% tip (so that can round off pretty quick to $55,000)! Now you aren’t left there alone – the rental comes with full-time staff for the house and marina operator for the shore equipment (zodiacs, sailboats, power boats, kite-boards, etc.) And you can bring up to 28 friends with you! Take 5 minutes to dream and browse through www.neckerisland.virgin.com

OK back to reality (or sort of)… the next day we moved the boat around the end of Virgin Gorda to the North Sound and docked at the Bitter End Yacht Club (BEYC). We stayed there three glorious days and nights. The dock gave us the chance to put our feet on the ground and tour the island. Jimmy and Amanda were excited to be there ‘cause the North Sound offers great wind action – in the past year or so, they have taken up kite-boarding!

Yes, they kite-boarded and and kite-surfed. Meanwhile, John and I watched all the action from a little dock at that end of the resort – these lovely wooden lounge chairs looked after us VERY nicely.

Let me tell you a bit about the BEYC. The bay offers a true safe haven for sailors and boaters and is cruiser-friendly. Small cruise ships (50 pax) come by on occasion and the passengers get to off-load for the day. Hotel guests stay in private small villas like these in this photo:


The beach sand was white and the water beautiful and warm. There were very few guests there - apparently a bit of a reprieve between US Thanksgiving and the Christmas season. I sat at the small beach front near the boat and read for an entire afternoon and no one joined me on any of the chairs.

The resort was definitely first class. Despite this, guests were relaxed and in regular attire – shorts, T-shirts and bathing suits. It was an interesting couple of days and the “Painkillers” they served at the bar were better than phenomenal! I took this shot of one of the dining room tables – so beautifully decorated with bougainvillea and hibiscus flowers:
Come on back in a few days… I hope to show you some kite-surfing photos that I took from that lovely wooden lounge chair… m.

BVIs Chapter One – "Our first 3 Sleeps"

On Saturday, November 28/09, we flew from Harlingen, TX to Houston and then to San Juan, Puerto Rico - both were good-sized jets. From San Juan to St. Thomas (US Virgins), we flew in an 8-passenger Cessna. On our particular flight, the number of passengers (including us) was 4. The ground crew boarded us, stuffed our bags into the wings and away we went on our 29 minute flight – sometimes as low as 200’! Trust you can tell that our pilot LOVED his job!


We landed in St. Thomas (USVIs) and took a cab to Red Hook to the American Yacht Harbor Marina. Jimmy and Amanda had moored the catamaran close to the main dock. We spent the evening having dinner at a local hang-out and returned to have our 1st sleep on the boat. In the morning, we headed for West End on the island of Tortola where Jimmy checked us into the British Virgin Islands through Immigration and Customs. Once that formality was complete, we moved on into the Sir Francis Drake Channel.

Our next 2 nights were at "Pirate’s Bight" (aka The Bight) on Norman Island. We anchored in a gorgeous spot, went on zodiac rides around the bay and went swimming in the teal-coloured waters. Here’s a picture from the stern to show you how close we were anchored to the island – isn’t the colour of the water something else?


From the boat, we snorkelled around "the Indians" – what you see from the surface is a large group of rocks poking out of the water and what you see underwater are the coral housing units for parrot fish, sea urchins, clown fish and so many species unknown to me. Later the next day, we snorkelled around the corner in (what’s known as ) 'the Caves" – you need to wait till it’s late in the day so the sun shines into the Caves and on the all the fish! It was FAN-tastic!

We visited the famous William Thornton II – a floating 98’ schooner anchored at one end of the bay, stripped of her engines and open for ‘grub and grog’ apparently until everyone goes home! It’s called Willy T’s for short because ‘after you’ve been here for a bit you won’t be able to say its full name without slurring’!

Willy T’s is accessible only by boat. Tied up to both her port and starboard sides, double and triple-deep, were dinghies, zodiacs, 40‘ centre-consoles and cigarette boats. Here’s a place where you can get ‘stewed, screwed and tattooed’! And, after spending part of a Sunday afternoon there, I believe all those things happen – and they have photos posted electronically that prove it! And FYI, the barkeep only tattoos the ladies (henna) and only on preferred locations – NOT their shoulders! You can jump any time you like off the stern whether you are in your bathing or birthday suit! Close at hand is the ‘shotski’– a water-ski modified to hold 4 shot glasses to facilitate ‘synchronized swilling’. By about 5 pm, it’s definitely not a place for kids! Alas, we were back at the boat for an early dinner…

We departed the next morning and motored up the Channel past many other islands with their special stories – Peter, Salt, Cooper, Ginger on the Caribbean Sea side and Tortola and the Dogs on the Atlantic side. There are about 40 islands in the BVIs – a story or two will follow on Virgin Gorda when we pick up the next time… m.

Vacation - British Virgin Islands (BVIs)

How lucky are we? Well... on a scale of 1-10, I’d say, “20!” We had a wonderful, wonderful time. There’s so much to share - it’s probably best that I split our story into smaller chunks. So you should consider this the intro. In the pieces that follow, I’ll try to give you an idea of where we sailed and the places we visited. And throughout, I hope you’ll get a sense of our overall experience.

The ‘lucky’ and ‘wonderful’ part happened because of Jimmy and Amanda, John’s son and daughter-in-law. Their work involves being a Captain and Chef team on a 58’ Voyageur Catamaran in the BVIs. For the week we visited though, they were not ‘on charter’ - lucky for us. And as to the quality of the time we spent together, it was so valuable – wonderful for all four of us!

Most of you know that Jimmy and Amanda moved to the Caribbean several years ago. For the past two years, their neighbourhood has been the Virgin Islands. They are familiar with the waters – both being on it and in it. They are familiar with the history and pirate folklore – and there is lots of it. I’m sure we asked a zillion questions and neither of them tired from sharing their knowledge. We have vacationed together in the past and this experience was no exception – lots of laughs, a healthy lifestyle and a very relaxing time.

Here’s a pic of the four of us on the top of a ridge on Norman Island off the Sir Francis Drake Channel:


The night before, we had anchored at Pirate’s Bight:



It's not hard to imagine that pirates took refuge in some of these bays!






In the morning, we took the 15’ zodiac to shore and Jimmy encouraged us to trek to the top of the ridge ‘to see what was on the other side’! Here is the view of Money Bay:


You can see the Caribbean Sea spreading out to the skyline and, in the foreground, a huge bay with two separate beaches. The bay is uninhabited, unreachable (except by water) and heavily protected by a nasty coral reef.







More in a few days on our overall trek from Red Hook (USVIs) to Tortola (BVIs) east across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to Virgin Gorda (BVIs) and eventually back to St. Thomas (USVIs). If you can connect to Google Earth, try Tortola. The long and lat is 18 degrees 25’ N and 64 degrees 35’ W.

Don’t forget to check back in a few days… m.