1st half 2007, Part II - cruising with Hil and back to the BVI for haul-out

Mid April 2007, and after having tested my skills and survivabilty as a solo skipper, Hil flies in to join me in St Maarten.
We tour St Maarten a bit, check out some beaches, enjoy wandering around  Marigot, and then Hil is ready for some island hopping.

First stop - St Barths. Now I've been there before so no surprises this time. We enjoy swimming and snorkeling in Anse de Colombier, and also take the coastal path to Flamand.

Then we move on to Gustavia, picking up a mooring ball in the inner harbour again. We decide to tour the island, and rent a quad for the day.
Great way to get around, and it gives us a chance to check out all the beaches on a tour around the island.

 Though Gustavia is a lovely sheltered harbour, we do discover a downside - the dockside disco thumps out music until the early hours of the morning.
After a couple of nights, we clear out, and make passage across to St Kitts, berthing again in Port Zante. It's here we meet, and make friends with, Arthur and Jane, cruising aboard Arthur's boat "Zille". We spend an excellent day touring the island with them.

But time to cruise on again, and we bid farewell to "Zille"  and beat up the Kitts coast and across to Nevis, dropping anchor off Pinneys Beach. We tour Charlestown and then chill on the beach, enjoying some swimming and cold drinks.


Nevis is the extent of this cruise. Time to turn back north. We return to St Maarten via St Barths, and motor to anchor inside Simpson Bay lagoon.
 It's time to return to Calgary for a while. We berth the boat at the small Island Water world marina, under the watchful eye of Ben Botund. Hil leaves first, followed a few days later by me.

It's a 2 week short break back in Calgary for me - springtime, and I shift from sailor to gardener - but 3rd week in May I head back south to the islands and the boat, and I'm a solo sailor again.

It takes a couple of days to get ready in St Maarten, then I move the boat to anchor outside the lagoon entrance, and head off at 3am for the passage back to BVI. It had been a night of storms and squalls, and I'm hoping it's over. Luckily, it is, and I have a beautiful  calm crossing back to BVI, on a sweet broad reach.
I enter BVI at about 2pm, through the Round Rock Passage and head straight into Spanishtown where its still early enough to clear customs, or so I thought. Not to be - the boys have headed home early. I clear in early the next morning, having had an opportunity to gently brief the immigration officer on how to politely treat his countries visitors (he actually took it quite well!).

Back in the BVI and my first stop is one of my favourites - the one and only park mooring ball at Fallen Jerusalem. I then hop over to East End to say hello to Walter and the folks at Penns Landing, and then move on to Roadtown and pick up a Conch Charters mooring ball and its time for a few beers and some catch-up with Miles, Jason, Liz and Ian and other old BVI friends.

I don't have long being lonely. Hil flies in to St Thomas and I sail down to Sopers Hole to meet her off the ferry. We have a few days cruising BVI again - returning to Virgin Gorda and Anegada - before we meet and cruise with our old and good friends, the Yeo's. John and AnneMarie, accompanied by all grown-up Danielle and Ross are bare boat chartering with TMM for a week. We have a great time sailing around BVI and catching up, and we're also planning future sailing - more of that in future blogs.

   After the Yeo's leave, we have time for one more sail and we head out to Norman Island for snorkeling at the Indians and the Caves, and I take Hil for her first visit to the remote anchorage in Money Bay. There's barely room for one boat in this anchorage and its off limits to charters due to the reefs and somewhat tricky winds. Hil's enjoyment is somewhat spoiled by a snorkeling encounter with a sizeable reef shark.


 We return to Roadtown and a little more excitement - throttle cable breaks, leaving us powerless but fortunately we're securely anchored outside Village Cay Marina. With some help from a Moorings mechanic, I repair the cable and we head in for a sunset cocktail to celebrate. Returning to the boat, we discover we have a boarder - an agitated Greek, George, sitting on the  bow of a 50+' racing yacht "Brave"   and hanging on to the stern of our boat. It appears George is solo, an inexperienced sailor, and having trouble with his anchor. He gets some choice words from me, but then I relent and help him anchor his boat, prior to it being loaded the next morning on an Atlantic transport ship.


And all that excitement is enough. Hil heads off again shortly afterwards - back to Calgary and summer in Canada.
I have one last week of solo sailing, including a trip around to Cane Garden Bay where I catch the BVI Music Festival - headlined by an amazingly good Percy Sledge.
That ends the sailing year on a great note, and I sail over to Spanishtown and haul-out in Virgin Gorda marina, and my first year of cruising ends.
Back in the fall though.