Vieques

Red snapper

The sail from Fajardo to Vieques was not pleasant. What should have been a 5 hour trip took all day, constantly tacking into wind and waves. Although a horrible sail, it was a great day for catching fish. At every inopportune moment as we were about to tack the rod would start its 'whizzzzzzzz' noise. With a fridge stocked full of meat still, I was all for putting the rod below but Dylan was intent on catch and release so we let go a cero mackerel and large red snapper that day. At 6:30pm with the sun starting its descent we eyed the anchorage and put the motor on to try and get there before it went dark. Not fans of entering unfamiliar harbours at night we have made it a rule that we won't. Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, we picked up a free mooring ball in Sun Bay, the only boat in this mile wide inlet. Dylan complained that forward gear wasn't giving us any thrust but we secured the mooring and said we'd look at it the next day.

After a morning spent organising all of our nuts, bolts, washers and screws (what fun!) and Dylan still not happy with the gearbox, we went for a snorkel and found an amazing big helmet shell but it had a nu nu in it so we put it back. Sob. Not before I took a picture of it though. We attempted to set sail for another bay but the gearbox was still acting up and with this being a first, we opted to go back on the mooring and try and fix the problem.

Vieques waterfront

The nearest town was Esperanza, so in the dinghy we commenced a 2 mile wet and wild ride out to sea, around a headland and back towards the town dock. A ride that would put Thorpe Park to shame. Arriving rather dry considering but with every bone in our body shaken, we leapt out of the dinghy and onto dry land. A really small town, Esperanza has a lovely waterfront and relaxed atmosphere. As we walked out of the dinghy dock we bumped into a woman who had some sailing bumper sticker on her car so Dylan inquired whether they knew a good mechanic. She referred us to her husband who proceeded to walk us around the town trying to find a guy who owns a boat in the bay. What a nice guy, went totally out of his way to help us, couldn't find the person in question. We finally hunted him down and luckily for us is a master mechanic, diagnosing the problem as general wear and tear of the clutch plates. Unfortunately he was too busy to fix it so we faced a 250 mile trip to St Martin. As the crow flies its about 160 miles but we would be heading straight into the wind, waves, tide and sea with an awful lot of tacking involved. Sure there are other places to go but we knew someone that could fix it there and also it is a wide easy bay to sail into without an engine.

Talking to other cruisers about Sun Bay where we were anchored, all without exception warned us against being there and advised us to move to the anchorage off the main town. Regular theft due to high unemployment on the island occurs in the bay and just recently a boat had lost two kayaks padlocked to their guardrails. Its a shame as Sun Bay is a pretty bay, isolated and we were the only boat there in a mile wide inlet. Obviously those conditions make us a prime target and the locals swim from the shore at dark. We didn't experience anything, but being on high alert now ruined the atmosphere so we moved.

The rock that marks a left turn to the grocery store

Anchored off Esperanza with other cruisers, we felt part of the community. Greeting the locals when we went ashore and enjoying the local music of an evening...whether we wanted to or not as those locals seem to party every night till 4am, the music echoing across the bay!

We spent many hours in a bar called Lazy Jacks, using the wifi and meeting the other cruisers, most of which were staying in Vieques for the long term. I can see why, its a great island with plenty to do and yet to get hit by tourism like so many of the other Caribbean islands. One day when we were internetting, very loud music started coming towards us. As it got nearer and our chairs and tables started to vibrate we turned to source the sound and found it belonged to a local in his wheelchair with a boom box underneath his vehicle! We weren't sure whether it was appropriate to find the situation funny so we tried to ignore the noise and stared at the laptop. When Crazy Legs (as we came to name him) was running low on juice for his electric wheelie and power hungry 98db audio, his mates would run an extension cable from a lamp pole to charge him up. He came round a few times though so we gave each other the eye and behaved ourselves.

We were in Vieques on Independence Day weekend. Our friend Alex was visiting her parents in mainland Puerto rico so we jumped at the opportunity to see her and went over. Waking at the crack of dawn (5am) we got a lift with another cruiser catching the 6:30am ferry from Isabel Segunda to Fajardo. Hour and a half later we were at our destination and waiting for Alex's parents to pick us up. There was a very festive atmosphere in Fajardo ferry terminal (day before Independence Day) although not many Puerto Ricans celebrate their colonizers independence from Mother England. A steel drum band was playing and loads of people milling around.

Tucking into a big meal

It was a lengthy 1.15 hr car journey to their home near Trujillo Alto fighting rush hour traffic. It was here that we met Alex's amazing mother (Mami) we still don't know her name as I think she was introduced as “my mother”. She is a pint sized woman who is dwarfed by her husband's 6.4 frame. But has the biggest personality we have ever seen. Before we had even made it to their home, she had been on the phone asking whether we had had breakfast and what did we want to eat. We opted for pancakes and just after performing our introductions, were shuffled ceremoniously towards an awaiting table laden with food. Hot coffee awaited us and a fruit platter while Mami prepped the pancakes. The rest of the family did not join us but stood nearby talking away. We soon got over our awkwardness of being waited on hand and foot by Mami and tucked in! Alex had obviously told her folks of all the stories about how we don’t wash in fresh water often etc and as such there had been offers of using the pool, showers even the washing machine. Interestingly the pancakes made for us had a melted cheese slice on top and whipped cream. Added to this was a helping of maple syrup. A interesting concoction, not necessarily Puerto Rican but rather Mami's recipe. A large lunch meal awaited us, so we did not stuff ourselves with too much.

We were taken on a tour of the house (which is lovely) and almost stereotypical of an American house. Alex's Mami speaks little English, where as the rest of the family speaks good English. As such all conversations were via Alex who interpreted for us. We were shown how to make the perfect Pina Colada's and whilst sipping away on them and eating more snacks of salmon and meats, Alex mother was insistent that I learn how to cook rice for Dylan. I was led into the kitchen whilst Alex and Dylan sat outside catching up. With limited English Mami proceeded to teach me not only the finer points of rice making in a rice maker, but taught me a whole bunch of Spanish words too. I walked away with a rice maker of my own to cook for Dylan. Not sure I agree with waiting on Dylan hand and foot but hey, he can get a treat every so often.

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A typical Puerto Rican dish, usually made at Christmas is pastelles. They take a full day to make and the process involves, grating and peeling loads of veg, cooking meat, blending the ingredients, putting dollops into plantain leaves and boiling them. They are an acquired taste so there was great concern that we may not like them. Needless to say we sat down to lunch and tucked into the Puerto Rican spread of rice & peas (pigeon peas), fried plantain (both ripe and green), roast pork and don't forget the pastelles! We were to just try a single pastelle and if we liked it we could have one each. I tried it and loved them, although not the same ingredients, they reminded me of the mince and potato dish that Dad makes back home. Dylan tries them and makes a big show of almost throwing up. The expression of horror on Mami's face was priceless. Big joke all round.

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Completely stuffed with food and confronted with a huge cake, we rolled off the chair, declined dessert and sat in front of the tv, fighting the overwhelming desire to go for a nap. Their back garden looks out over the town as well as the rainforest of El Yunque...it also has a swimming pool which we took full advantage of. From the pool, I went to have a hot shower. Wow it was wonderful and as I stepped out of the bathroom, Alex's mami was waiting for me to blowdry my hair. Such pampering! She lead me to her bathroom where she had already laid out the blowdryer, a stool and a brush. Tutting at the state of my sun and salt ruined hair, she proceeded to blow dry my hair straight. Having not done this since December it was heaven. Back downstairs we tucked into a slice of cake and then accepted a doggy bag full of pulled pork, cake, 2 more pastelles, bags of sweets and a rice maker. Wow!!

Alex's Papi drove us back to the ferry and we jumped on the 8pm return. Very tired by this time we arrived in Vieques looking for a publico to take us back to the boat but there were none around. Dylan enquired with a police man how to get back and he said he would take us! We had our first ride in a police car whilst the 2 officers in front talked away in Spanish as if we weren't there, ignoring the radio traffic coming form their lapels. What a fantastic day.

375 year old ceiba tree

On our last day in Vieques we went ashore to Lazy Jacks to check the weather for the next couple of days and then enquired how to get to the airport to clear out. Barman referred us to 'Jug' (who knows if that is his real name...) who took us there and back for $30. A fair ride away Jug got chatting about the island, knowledgable guy as he had lived there for 20 years. Customs at the airport was the quickest yet. We caught the officer just as she was about to leave and she doesn't normally work in Vieques so didn't know where any of the papers were. So she grabbed a form, filled our name and boat name, stamped it and told us to fill in the rest. We were in and out in about 3 mins. Much to Jug's amazement as he had never known anything like it and opted to go for gas 15 mins away. Whilst we waited for Jug to return we saw a bar in the middle of the car park that we went to get a drink at. Very odd, run by a Louisiana hick he only sold Louisiana beer and his other 2 customers also came from the same place. American country music blasted out of the stereo, the guys looked like Harley Davidson fans with long thin hair, leather jackets worn in 90F heat and bandanas. All going on whilst wild horses were strolling about the car park, nibbling at the grassy verges. Surreal! On the way back to the boat, Jug stopped off at a 375 year old Ceiba tree. Most impressive, the buttress roots alone were a good 3 x the height of me.

Although we planned to go to St Croix and Saba, we are going to skip these islands in favour of heading straight to St Martin to sort out our gearbox problem. A 2 /3 day trip, this will be our longest yet at sea without stopping overnight. Eeeek!

Fajardo

Quote from Dylan – Fajardo, the place where boats go to die. Now it could be because we went there in hurricane season but we found Fajardo soulless, not cruiser friendly and void of people. There are wrecks everywhere, as we motored into the anchorage of Isleta de Marina, a fishing boat was busy pumping out a sunken vessel similar to their own from a nearby reef. As you look around, there are high rise buildings everywhere blocking your views to the rest of the island. We had 4 loads of laundry to do as well as internet connection to find having not been online for about a week so we got in the dinghy and went over to the marina on the island we were anchored off. Greeted by an obese man with no teeth who claimed to be the bar manager I eyed up the 'dinghy dock' that was swarming with louse and made our conversation brief. We couldn't use the laundry unless we brought the boat into the marina, they didn't have internet and berthing was $1 /foot /day. Yes it may be cheap but I had been doing rather well keeping bugs at bay from our boat so despite the bargain I was not staying in that ropey place. Luckily Dylan agreed so we went back to the boat and vowed to dinghy half a mile to the mainland the next day.

Motoring in the direction of a bunch of boats, we found ourselves in Sunbay Marina which is the only place that lets boats at anchor not connected to their marina, tie their dinghies at their dock. Wanting to stretch our legs we went for a walk into the town which provided us with more views of high rise buildings, a couple of interstates and a dodgy liquor store. On the way back to the dinghy we made use of the open men's room and both went for showers. Had no towels so we came back to the boat dripping in our clothes – was worth it though! Dylan went to go and charm the ladies on reception and we got to use the laundry with the promise we would bring the boat in the marina the next day. So that night was spent sweating away in a windowless laundry room doing load after load of washing.

The next day was a new experience logged - the first time we had brought Orion into a marina. We were up early going over our plan and at 8am we called ahead for a line handler to be at the berth to help if needed. There was 15 knots of head wind to add to the challenge, I threw the lines whilst Dylan was on the helm. Easy peasy lemon squeezy, we slid into the berth and secured the lines like pros. Phew, that was one worry over, now to slip into the world of the American consumer....Walmart!!

Our Walmart receipt

Leaving Orion at the marina and with a long list of provisions to get, we rented a car from Thrifty's ($50 /day including insurance) and spent 3 ½ hours in Walmart Superstore much to Dylan's horror. Filling 2 trolleys we brought the goodies back to the boat and completely filled our cupboards with provisions and toiletries to last us a good few months. That day ended with a shower that must have lasted 30 mins, I've said it before and I'll say it again – never again am I going to take a fresh water shower for granted. I came out with hair feeling like hair rather than straw off a scarecrow. What luxury!

North America has not been kind to the average Puerto Rican physique. As we drove down the interstates there was chain after chain of fast food places – Wendy's, Taco Bell, Burger King, KFC. Almost at every light the same logos greeted us.

Marina day 2 was spent doing chores and making use of the unlimited fresh water. By dusk Orion was sparkling inside and out, had fresh oil in the engine and my hair was a new colour (why dye hair in the cockpit when you can take full advantage of someone else's bathroom!).

Two days was all we allowed ourselves in the marina so we left just before night fall and anchored back in the same place off Isleta de Marina. Before we left Fajardo I wanted to go and check out Old San Juan so we hired a car again and persuaded (or rather charmed) the ladies in Sunbay marina to let us leave the car there over night. Old San Juan is beautiful, full of history and brightly coloured Spanish architecture. We parked the car in a multi storey and paid a visit to Starbucks, our first one since Seattle in December. I ordered my favourite Chai Latte and Dylan a mocha frappuccino. Going back into the 95F heat we walked to San Cristobal Castle and drank in the local history opting to pay a little extra and take a 20 min walk to the next historic sight, El Morro. El Morro is a very pretty fort on the top of a hill covered in grass. Here the locals were flying their kites, looking out to the ocean and a colourful cemetery on the cliff edge. Spending all morning looking round old forts, we wandered through the narrow streets checking out the old fashioned houses and bayonet balconies overlooking plazas lined with weeping willows and elderly just sat about watching you watching them. After stopping for a picture of the Government mansions we went for lunch at Cafe Del Punto. What a place! As you walk in you are greeted with a long narrow corridor lined with craft shops and at the very back is the cafe. We chose a sampler which came with traditional Puerto Rican food such as beef turnover, stuffed plantain with crab and chicken and falafel. It all tasted amazing but was so starchy, we both felt extremely bloated afterwards. From lunch, Dylan nipped into Yuto where he bought some Puerto Rican hand rolled cigars (yuck) which he likes to smoke on special occasions. On to the Paseo de la Princesa which is a tree lined walkway leading you down to the sea and the Raices fountain. By this time it was 3pm and having walked all day we were tired, full and ready to head back. Definitely the highlight of our Puerto Rican adventure so far!

Government buildings

San Cristobal

El Morro grounds

Pretty streets in Old San Juan

Looking over to El Morro

Culebra

Sailing from St Thomas to Puerto Rico is an easy day sail and we got into Ensenada Honda (main anchorage in Culebra) with plenty of daylight left. A huge lagoon, Ensenada Honda is home to loads of local boats and free moorings. Not the prettiest of places we have seen but there are plenty of spaces to spread out away from anyone else or anchor right near the town as you so wish. Once the boat was secured, we jumped into the dinghy and set off in search of customs. We had read somewhere that there was a guy sometimes available to clear boats in located in the main town of Dewey (locals call it Culebra) which is near the dinghy dock. A boiling hot day we walked a mile or so and couldn't find anything that resembled a customs hut but we did find a police man who called his mate and sent us on our way to the airport. And there was our first indicator of how friendly these Puerto Ricans are, whether they can speak English or not they will go out of their way to help you.

Stepping into the blasting air conditioning, we spent a few minutes waiting for the sweat to stop dripping from our foreheads, unsticking our clothes from our bodies (nice), and located the customs official. Boy was this guy bored, with it being hurricane season and a very small airport that only caters for internal island hops he didn't see many people each day and it showed. We must have been there for 2 hours chatting away to this guy who told us everything we ever needed to know about Culebra including where to find the best Pastelas, cheapest food, best bar etc – ringing each one for us on a map. We were a little nervous coming into Puerto Rico on a boat as we had heard all sorts of horror stories about $1000 fines for hazardous waste disposal etc. Please don't believe any of it, we made sure we had eaten all of our fruit, veg, seeds, meats and beans before we came and we didn't have anyone board our boat and he just told us if we did have anything off the banned import list, to throw it overboard.

Example of the Puerto Rican culture

Formalities out of the way we hunted down a grocery store and filled our basket with meat. Thinking about it, we dined extremely well the whole time we were in Puerto Rico. Filling ourselves with meats and American produce (not the doughnuts though). I call Dylan the chicken monster and he certainly came out to play, devouring chicken wings and carcasses complete with Frank's buffalo sauce in one sitting. Hopefully he has put on a bit of weight!

At the edge of the lagoon is a bar /restaurant called Dinghy Dock where you can tie your dinghy up to the table you are going to sit at, unfortunately service on the day we were there left much to be desired but it did give us plenty of time to check out the local sea life. As we sat eating our fish quesadillas right below us was a school of tarpon circling us. Most unnerving to see these beasts so close but gave us something to take our mind off the 45 minute wait for our drinks.

The top place to see in Culebra is Flamenco Beach, rated one of the world's best by Conde Nast. We walked there from the dinghy dock, slightly underestimating the distance so by the time we arrived the first thing we did was jump in the sea. Its a very long pretty beach with white sand and clear water...but it is packed with people so for me, its not the best I have ever been to but it definitely gets 10/10 for scenery. There were families everywhere, set up for the day with wind breakers and portable BBQs cooking up meat, the smells wafting out to us in the water. Dylan decided to teach me how to body surf and after a few times of loosing my bikini top and bashing my head on the bottom we called it a day and went in search of food. Behind the beach is a cluster of stalls serving all sorts of local dishes and drinks, we tried out a Puerto Rican version of a pasty stuffed with fish and it was great, so much so we had a second one. Not wanting to do the walk back and with Dylan complaining of a 'walking rash' we found a guy wearing a bright yellow shirt with 'TRANSPORT' emblazoned across it. Turns out here in Culebra, taxis and buses are the same thing so we paid him $3 each to take us back in his bus to the dinghy dock. Money well spent whilst we watched the dry dirt roads whizz by in the comfort of an air conditioned vehicle.

Another anchorage we tried out whilst here was Ensenada Dakity and we'd recommend that more than the main lagoon. Its a small area with free mooring balls tucked in behind a reef that looks out to the open ocean. No facilities around here and you would need to dinghy the length of the lagoon to get ashore but its prettier. Unfortunately on this side of the island the water is really murky so snorkelling was no fun. We stayed only a few days to stock up then headed to the main land...

US Virgin Islands

US VIs looming towards us

We weren't going to bother going to the US VIs when we had already spent over 2 weeks in the British Virgin Islands, figuring it would be the same but with stars and stripes. However as we were passing them anyway, had the time and the cruising guide for that area we thought...why not? They lacked the beauty, atmosphere and salty sailor spirit found in the BVIs yet they still had a charm of their own that made it an enjoyable 6 day stay.

Only 8 miles from Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, we opted to sail to Cruz Bay, St John to clear in as we only had 2 options. We were dubious of the customs process as we had heard all non US visitors needed a VISA. Luckily for us, we had already obtained a B2 6 month visa before we started on this adventure and so with a visa stamped in both my British and Dylan's Canadian passport, we had no problems. It is worth noting though that without my VISA I would have been denied entry (although a visa waiver programme would have been fine rather than a B2) and Dylan would have been granted entry without his VISA being a Canadian.

Cruz Bay is a crowded anchorage with plenty of shallow parts to keep you on your toes. We puttered up and down the buoyed channel looking for a spot that looked decent enough to anchor the boat for a couple of hours whilst we cleared in. As we entered to the left of the channel, a catamaran was leaving so we hung back and nabbed their space, anchoring in 7ft on a lee shore. Not the most comfortable of spots to leave our pride and joy but we had little choice and there was no wind.

St John itself has an interesting charm and culture we haven't seen elsewhere yet. It is quite American in its aesthetics, chains of Burger King, Avis Car Rental and AT&T line the streets yet the vibe of the place is very peaceful, stress free. As we wandered about with a map courtesy of the Tourist Office, we tackled steep hills and gazed out over the colourful Caribbean architecture that has become familiar and loved.

A local lady directed us to the Dolphin Market which is apparently where the locals go to stock up their cupboards. We found it cheaper than the BVIs and they had a great supply of fresh fruit and veg that we filled our basket with.

From research on the internet I had found it difficult locating any anchoring spots in the area so we figured a trip to the National Park Center was necessary to see if the reason was because you can't anchor or people just don't. The answer is the former, turns out that most of St John is an anchor free zone and boats need to pick up an overnight mooring which costs $15 /night to protect the coral reefs and sealife. The Center we visited gave us a wealth of information on where we can pick up buoys and where and what we can fish.

Hawksnest Bay

Cruz Bay isn't a pleasant anchorage to spend the night due to the close proximity to other boats, no view and a busy ferry service so we upped anchor as soon as we got back onboard and motored a mile around the coast to Hawksnest Bay. A huge lovely bay with 22 mooring balls yet we were the only people there until about 6pm when we were joined by one other boat. We took the dinghy to a reef at the entrance to the bay and went for a much needed snorkel to cool down. Here I saw the biggest puffa fish yet, initially I spotted it by the bright white '0' of its mouth whilst it was sucking in water near the bottom. Hanging out with its friends Angel Fish and Trunk Fish. The snorkelling at this location was the best we did in the US VI.s The variety was amazing, everywhere you looked there were bright good sized fish feeding off the sea moss suspended a couple of metres below the surface. Dylan sized up a lobbie for din dins but the lobbie won by breaking off one of his tentacles to get away. He marked the place lobbie lived and vowed to go back for round two the next day (he lost round 2 as well, blaming it on his tools...)

Francis Bay

Whilst in Francis Bay we took the dinghy ashore and went to check out the Annaberg ruins. These ruins are beautiful with loads of information to illustrate a day in the life of a sugar slave back in the 1800s – well worth a visit. Dylan the tour guide read out a leaflet whilst we toured the site. A very hot day we sweltered in the heat, sweating buckets and trying to stick to the shade whenever we could.

As I write this now in a laundry room with both the washers and driers going...no windows and no air con...that day seemed like the Arctic compared to this. Debating taking my dripping with sweat clothes off and washing them too...

Annaberg Ruins

Back to the Annaberg trip. We walked there from the beach where we left the dinghy and came across a cute looking donkey. Being a big fan of these animals, I lean in kinda close to take a photo of my new friend which is when he proceeds to lunge at me with his teeth. Scary stuff, I squeal and make a run for it whilst Dylan looks on amused. After that scene the donkey then proceeds to follow us, braying loudly to ensure we know he is there and showing us who is boss. We left the road for 15 mins or so to check out a ruined school and when we joined it again, the donkey was waiting for us! At this point I was sure he was after me, making Dylan walk on the side where the donkey was we picked up the pace and left him for dust. Naughty, sinister looking donkey.

Christmas Cove was our last anchorage in St Thomas and the best for adding to my shell collection. It made for great pickings as Neptune really made us work for our finds, a strong current was trying to sweep us out to sea as we dived up and down scouring the ocean floor. Unfortunately the really good shells we found (big helmets for example) were all very old and covered in barnacles. Exhausting the hunt, we reluctantly got back aboard Orion and set sail for Elephant Bay on St Thomas – the next island along in the US VI s.

Elephant Bay is about a mile dinghy ride away from Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas – the main hub in the US VI s. Not that far but boy is it choppy! Check out the video below...

Charlotte Amalie is home to one big road lined with duty free jewellers. As we walked down the strip we were accosted by multiple vendors enticing us into their stores even though we were dressed in salt stained shorts and holey tops. A cruise ship was in town and taxi drivers kept confusing us for cruise ship passengers. We decided that either the passengers on the ship were really budget or the taxi drivers were long sighted and could not see our tatty threads that we were adorned in.

Prior to coming into Charlotte Amalie we had agreed to sate our junk food craving and we found our solution towards the ferry dock in the form of the infamous Pizza Hut. We would never have dreamed of frequenting this 'restaurant' in London yet after 5 months of beans and rice and the odd chicken and fish dish, we practically ran through the doors. Greeted by the security guard (odd), we were seated and opted for the all you can stuff in your face buffet. We put away about 2 pizzas each as well as a mound of salad, shovelling it in with great gusto.

Well we certainly got our money's worth but not quite as much as the woman behind us who we think is still there judging by the amount of food on her table as we exited the place!

Salvaging

It is quite amazing just what mother nature claims for herself. Or what people decide to donate to Neptune, mostly in the form of beer cans or wine bottles. Tells a tale in itself.

With many anchorages consisting of 50ft deep moorings, these have proven most lucrative for the humble cruiser scavenging for useful items. Reason being that most people seem to be of the opinion that if they can't see their missing item from the surface, it is probably being whisked off to Neptune's extensive cutlery draw, linen closet, wardrobe etc. (That or they can't free dive to 50ft...whilst this is only 16 metres, there are multiple ear popping stops on the way down)

With a bit of hyper ventilation and some of Sallys rock hard cooking to decrease buoyancy, a good rummage around each of the moorings in deep water have revealed a vast quantity of potentially useful goodies. Sally refuses to acknowledge these handy goodies as true treasure but she will come around when I find her something she appreciates. I have brought up a few bikini tops and bottoms but Sally believes it to be in poor taste to wear another woman's clothes, especially items that closely mimic under garments.

This is not to say that only charter boats have helped to supply Orion's inventory. We have salvaged stuff from all over the Caribbean.

The most expensive piece of kit we have brought up has been a winch handle. Also to be added to the useful pile has been a number of stainless steel shackles that I have prised off rusty anchor chain. I even found an old anchor too. We now have 3 anchors and enough shackles to connect some chain to them. Now I just need to salvage 300ft of 3/8” chain...

The most popular item to canvas the seabed with seems to be towels. As all cruisers will know, you can never have too many towels. Although Sally is now starting to dispute this. I have acquired 5 towels to date. Many with ill placed pegs still attached. I must admit, Sunsail or Moorings seem to equip their vessels with quite good gear as these towels are more absorbent than a five year old learning swear words.

These gains do not come with out their fair share of swashbuckling and tragedy. Many a time have I wrestled with crabs and other creatures of the deep for ownership of these items. Some crustaceans being so committed to their goods that they actively fight back. I have the scars to prove it.

I just wish people would poorly peg more clothing as my wardrobe is wearing a little thin...

British Virgin Islands

The British Virgin Islands are a charterer's paradise. Consistent 10-15 knots of breeze, calm seas and 60 plus islands to explore all within an hour or so sail from each other. To aid all and sundry, the entrances to anchorages are marked and there is tons of information on hiking, fishing, diving, restaurants available everywhere. 21 of the 60+ islands are inhabited leaving plenty of deserted islands to explore...if you can get away from the sunsail, moorings and footloose fleets!

As well as the great sailing, these islands are home to fantastic sea life. Almost every snorkelling trip we went on we were amazed at what we saw. Better than the other windward and leeward islands we had seen on our trip up.

With all good things in life, this paradise comes at a cost. Most places are no anchor zones with a mooring ball a must for $25 /night. With our budget at a £1000 a month which breaks down to around £30 a day (covers boat running costs and living expenses for 2), this makes a substantial dent in our living costs, so we anchor whenever we can!

We loved the BVIs so much we stayed longer than planned. With over 2 weeks of exploring we got to see many places. I shall try and cover all the anchorages we went to along with the highlights in this post (may be a rather long one...).

Virgin Gorda

Sailing in from the East, Virgin Gorda is the first collection of islands you come to and it is here where we checked in. Gun Creek is a new port of entry within the BVIs, located in Gorda Sound. There is no anchoring or mooring near the customs building so we dropped the pick off Prickly Pear Island and dinghied about a mile to Gun Creek. Officials here are friendly, didn't even look at our paperwork and instead gave me 5 forms to fill out, all with similar information. As usual, Dylan found a particularly interesting magazine to read whilst I dealt with the admin. For a 2 week stay on a private vessel measuring 37 ft it cost us $14.25, barg!

Prickly Pear Island where we first anchored in Gorda Sound is a lovely spot as there are no mooring balls in sight therefore puts off most people from staying around here. A windy spot but movement free so we had loads of electricity and ventilation with only minimal roll at night. We went for a snorkel on Cactus Reef and saw a huge hermit crab hugging a wine bottle, sussing it out to be its next home upgrade. We rested here for a night to catch up on sleep after our night passage and then left. No more than 30 min into our trip out of here did the reel start buzzing. Dylan insisted it was my turn to fight with the fish so I took the rod and reeled in a 2 ft long cuda. As we did not want to eat it for fear of ciguatera we took the hook out of its mouth and threw it back. Aw shucks, what greenies we have become!

Saba Rock is also located in Gorda Sound and we stayed on a mooring ball here for one night to get free wifi. Another busy place with all mooring balls taken by later afternoon. The process for paying a mooring ball here seems to be a boat boy coming to the boat either during happy hour (5-8pm) or breakfast time the next morning (8-10am). We thought that we got away without paying but alas, the guy showed up just as we were about to up anchor and we waved goodbye to $25. At least here they give you free internet and up to 250 galloons of water if you pay for a mooring ball, unlike many other locations. Dylan made lentil and bacon soup that night which I proceeded to spill down myself whilst eating in the dark in the cockpit and burnt my leg – tasted like shite anyway!! Usual Dylan concoction of shoving every herb and spice from the cupboard into it resulting in every dish of his tasting the same. (Dylan's addition – I liked it, so was more for me)

To start our sight seeing tour we wanted to check out The Baths. A natural granite boulder formation on the shore that looks like something straight out of Disney World. It can only be visited in the day so we anchored in St Thomas Bay (Spanish Harbour) for the night with the plan to visit The Baths first thing the next morning. We would not recommend St Thomas Bay - the tide / wind must have changed in the wee hours of the morning and it became a very rolly anchorage and not pleasant at all. The constant inter-island ferries created a lovely wake for us to surf while at anchor. There is nothing to see here anyway, it was just convenient due to its close proximity to The Baths.

The Baths

The Baths are part of a marine park. As such the visiting hours are limited to daylight hours only, there is an entrance fee as well as a mooring ball fee. As no-one came to get any money from us, we didn't pay either of these charges and visited for free. An extremely popular place and as we rocked up late morning, we managed to nab the last mooring ball which was very near a huge catamaran on the mooring ball in front – as in, we could see the filling in their sandwiches! After a few suggestions from the people on the cat to move on (ignored of course), I picked up the ball and attached a very long rope to the eye to ensure we were well away from them. Happy with our positioning we jumped in and swam to the boulders. This place was fantastic, a great walk through interesting caves of strewn boulders all over the place. The snorkelling was good as the submerged boulders made for an interesting landscape. Whilst we ate lunch back in the cockpit we watched the vulture yachts circling looking for a vacant mooring. We have heard stories of boats crashing into each other here as they both speed to pick up the final mooring ball in the area, crazy!

Tortola

Tortola is the biggest collection of islands in the BVIs and home to the capital, Road Harbour. It is also where the charter fleets are located so plenty of traffic during our passages keeping us on our toes.

View from Marina Cay

Marina Cay is located in Eastern Tortola and one of my favourite places ever. It is just beautiful, pristine water, oodles of sea life and fantastic views over to Virgin Gorda as well as the rest of Tortola. Its a very small 8 acre island with a real exclusive feel to it. Home to a Pusser's store (local rum brand), a boutique hotel and an amazing beach. We managed to find an anchoring spot at the back of the mooring field in 30 ft of water. Many an hour was spent looking over the side at the huge fish circling the boat. They seem to like our black hull, maybe it provides them with some much needed shade but thanks to that aesthetic we saw baby black tip sharks and big ass barracuda and tarpon. Needless to say during those times I was put off snorkelling and much preferred to read a book in the cockpit!

Another view from Marina Cay

Trellis Bay is a mile dinghy ride from Marina Cay and this is where we went to provision and check out the happy hour. Trellis Bay is home to an arty community, the buildings along the beach front are craft shops and the local potter. It is also the worst place for mozzies and no-see-ums, despite putting almost 100% deet over me, we both got eaten alive. Bug problem aside, we went back here a second time for a full moon party. A popular event that sees the mooring balls and any possible anchoring spots full of local, cruiser and charter boats. The shore line was buzzing with people having a good time, all the shops opened later, there were stilt walkers, a steel band and a huge buffet. Large metal balls stuffed with wood were ablaze all over casting interesting shadows and heating the night air making it even warmer than it already was. Watched the lighting of the guy at 9pm, a metal sculpture was set ablaze as the coup de gras and people gathered around to watch the spectacle. I found it even more entertaining counting the amount of hawaiian shirts being worn out in public!!

Provisioning in Trellis Bay is possibly the easiest place to do it in the BVIs. Ring up Bobby's Supermarket located in Road Harbour and they offer a free service to pick you up, wait for you to do your shopping and then take you back...for free and there appears to be no minimum spend in the shop!

We did anchor for a couple of hours in Road Harbour. Although it is possible to anchor here, the amount of ferry traffic makes it loud and rolly so we didn't stick around for long. Just to drop off our first visitor that had stayed with us for a long weekend and then we were out of there.

Cane Garden Bay is located in Western Tortola and our friends off Frolic insisted we check out this place to visit the Callwood Rum Distillery. Dylan being a rum drinker decided it was a must on our itinerary. Cane Garden Bay is a huge protected bay with...yep a big mooring field covering most of the area but we did manage to anchor at the back near a reef. Comes in handy being a shallow draft! The Callwood Rum Distillery is a rundown ramshackle place in the middle of a sugar plantation built in the late 1800s and still in use today. I was expecting rumpelstiltskin to greet us but instead we got a teenage local girl who took us on a tour. At the end we got to taste what was on offer and Dylan bought a 10 yr bottle.

Having lived off dried beans and tins for the past week we went to Bobby's supermarket to stock up on essentials. Surprise surprise none of the items had prices on (a common theme the further North we go in the Caribbean) so it was a surprise at the checkout when it cost us $70. Dylan is still seething at paying $8.45 for some shitty processed cheese.

Cooper Island

Cooper Island anchorage (Machioneel Bay) is deep at around 50ft+ and so we had no choice but to pick up a mooring ball. Luckily for us, for the 3 days we were there, no one approached us for any money! I think the trick is to pick up the moorings balls that don't belong to moor sea-cure. These are private and a gentleman that lives in a house overlooking the bay apparently comes to collect the fee...he was away when we were there.

Cooper Island Beach Club owns the dinghy dock so we went there to plan our RMS Rhone dive as well as check out happy hour with our friends from Frolic. We were introduced to 'Painkillers' which are a mix of dark rum, pineapple juice and cream of coconut...mmmm they are yummy.

We took our visitor 'Miami Alex' here too and snorkelled on the Cistern where we saw turtles, file fish and loads of trunk fish (one of my fav only second to puffa fish). In the middle of the bay are some big rocks on the water edge which are home to a nursery for fish. Loads of nu nu reef fish splashing about, having a lovely time.

Whilst us girls read in the cockpit, Dylan went on another salvaging missions and came back with a breeze catcher, 3 towels, t shirt, bowl, cup and board shorts. I look and think 'great more things to put in the washing pile' whilst Dylan treats them like absolute treasures of the deep!

Norman Island

The Indians are a group of 3 rocks on the way to Norman Island that have excellent snorkelling. Being part of the marine park we picked up a mooring ball and swam in. We saw tons of angelfish and barracuda under our hull. There was an underwater tunnel that Dylan found and we both swam through to the other side whilst an audience of pasty flailing American snorkellers that don't get their hair wet looked down. This location is home to great bright corals and a good selection of sponges and fans. Unlike other reefs we have snorkelled /dived on, this place is very much alive and buzzing with sea life. Friends that have been coming here for 8 years now tell us that the sea life is just getting better and better!

The Indians is only a day anchorage so after snorkelling we sailed to The Bight, Norman Island, anchored at the back of the mooring field (again) and took the dinghy to Treasure Point. This place has 3 great deep caves. One cave was so dark we had to turn back as our vision completely went and we don't have an underwater flashlight. For the evening entertainment we had to go to the infamous Willy T's (William Thornton) which is an old schooner turned into a bar /restaurant and renowned for its party nights. Dylan had beers and I had pina coladas whilst we sat watching people arrive in their dinghies, some people in pirate fancy dress. Downstairs was a dance floor and 2 tv screens showing pictures of girls with their tops off, we watched the locals shaking their thang before feeling slightly nauseous and calling it a night!

Peter Island

This is a private island with very few inhabitants and one big resort on the North side. We opted to check out Little Harbour on the south side where only one other boat was anchored. A small bay that has nothing ashore, no restaurants, no dinghy docks and gin clear water. We anchored in the bright blue waters with our cockpit facing out to the other islands. The bay was very well protected with no wind or swell and the boobies and gulls were having a lovely time feeding and sitting on our dinghy whilst we enjoyed happy hour. It was here that I saw the biggest tarpon ever, typically I was by myself, thought I was going to get eaten and swam my best, most speedy front crawl back to the boat. Much to Dylan's delight who unknown to me was snapping away with the camera from the boat!

Me spotting the beast

Me swimming away...quickly!

Anegada

- See blog post 'Mopeds and Flamingos'

Great Camanoe Island

We loved this place. But you must remember what we look for in a 'good spot'. No mooring balls, no charterer's, ideally no boats at all, clear water and no swell. Well this was all of the above and more!

We anchored in Lee Bay which is nothing remarkable in terms of what's ashore (nothing) or the beach (there isn't one) but it has a pretty impressive view looking out to Virgin Gorda and a passage that is rarely frequented by boats. It was a very hot day when we arrived so as soon as the anchor was bedded we went for a snorkel and came across a huge bait ball with mackerel feasting and the birds overhead going nuts. At around 5pm we were still the only boat in the bay, totally alone with no other house, person or boat in sight for the rest of the evening. Making the most of this opportunity Dylan gets out his......spear gun (sorry couldn't resist) and jumps in. Not wanting to be anywhere near him when he attempts to spear a fish, I stay well clear and busy myself in the galley. Around half an hour later I get summoned to go and get a bucket, looking over the side I see Dylan has managed to capture a cero mackerel, big cheshire cat grin on his face. To top it off, he is so pleased with himself HE even guts it! That night we dine on baked mackerel, garlic butter and rice. Mmmmm.

With the bay being really well protected it meant no wind but SWARMS of mozzies. We put the nets up for the first time since Grenada, I bathed myself in bug spray and even went to bed in full length pjs...yet the next day I still woke up with what looked like chicken pox and I was probably a stone lighter with the amount of sweat that came off me wearing pjs as well as a sheet over me to doubly make sure there was no skin on show! Dylan had enough of the heat exuding from me and unknown to me (deep sleeper) he went and lay in the cockpit for most of the night to get a little cooler!

The next day Dylan successfully caught another cero mackerel so this time we had it Japanese style – although still cooked as I can't quite bring myself to make my own sushi yet despite how much I miss our local Kulu Kulu back home. BTW, the BVIs frown on speargun use; Dylan accidentally caught the mackerels whilst trying to rid the reef of Lionfish but the mackerel swam in front of the speargun...twice...in a row...

Jost Van Dyke

A very busy island when we were there and as such it may have tainted our views a little when every bay was bursting with boats.

Sandy Cay is a very small island that is now a marine park, so we picked up a mooring ball and swam ashore against a strong current. Surrounded by a white sandy beach (hence the original name), there is a 'botanical' trail that leads you around the perimeter of 13 acres. We saw loads of hermit crabs all with shells too small for them, we would pick them up, they'd tried to hide and fail miserably as all their legs still stuck out of the shell. As we swam ashore, I didn't take our camera. That was all there was to see really and been spoilt by similar islands in the Grenadines, we left after an hour or so and went to find our anchorage for the night.

Both Machioneel Bay and Diamond Cay anchorages (nearest to Sandy Cay) looked very rolly so we laughed them off and headed into Little Harbour in Jost Van Dyke. We dropped anchor twice amongst 2 big mooring fields (refusing to pay the $25), greeted with a hard coral bottom and poor holding and decided against it as an overnighter. Still not wanting to pick up a mooring ball and with plenty of daylight left, we sailed around the corner to Great Harbour instead and dropped anchor...again amongst a load of mooring balls but this time the holding was good (see a pattern emerging here?!). We worked out that if we had forked out for mooring balls for all the nights we stayed in the BVIs we would be $300 poorer.

Great Harbour is the main town in Jost Van Dyke and as such a very busy bay with constant ferry traffic. Wanting to get to White Bay but not feeling like upping anchor again to sail only a mile, we went ashore in the dinghy and walked up and down a couple of steep hills to the next bay along – White Bay. It certainly got the heart going in the midday sun and we were ecstatic when the infamous Soggy Dollar Bar was in sight. Downing a water and following that with a diet coke, we cooled down in the shade of a palm tree on the beach and then commenced our trek back. Great Harbour reminds us of a more rural Bequia. The coastline is lined with huts selling drinks, a church and one dive shop. We went for another drink at the infamous Foxy's where thousands of people flock to each New Year's Eve from all over the world. Quite a place with every surface and roof space lined with business cards, flags and t shirts. Back to the boat where Dylan went for a swim and got chatting to a Californian couple who had read our blog. Wow we are famous!

So taken with these islands, we have decided to visit the US Virgin Islands just across the way, a mere 8 mile sail between the 2 countries gets us from Great Harbour to St John. British people need a visa to enter but luckily we had applied for b2 visas before we left the UK so I can stay there for 6 months if I wish...o the opportunities!!

Mopeds and flamingos

Anegada is a low lying island surrounded by reef similar to Barbuda with the highest point being only 28 ft above sea level. Only 11 miles long, sight seeing is easily done within a day and we chose to do it on a moped.

It is difficult to dispose of garbage in the BVIs and as such we had accumulated 3 bags worth of stinking rubbish. We took these bags ashore in the hope that we could get rid of them...we could but had to pay $3 /bag for the pleasure which Dylan refused to do. So it was with the 3 garbage bags and a rucksack that I straddled a moped and clung onto Dylan with my one free hand as he started up the engine. We got off to a wiggly start and Dylan informs me that he has never ridden a moped before! As we motor away (very slowly as I dig my nails into Dylan every time he goes over 20 kph!) we very quickly realise that the roads here are not all tarmac...but the majority sandy tracks. Interesting...

I am armed with a tourist leaflet of the BVIs that has a small 4 finger sized map of Anegada. I try to juggle that with the 3 bags of garbage and still hold on to Dylan as we sway about like a drunk after a day of drinking. As we hit the sand, Dylan wobbles, the moped veers near a gorse bush, we grind to a halt and I get thrown off. After only being on the moped for less than 5 mins and already seeing my life flash before my eyes, I took a bit of persuading to get back on the moped let me tell you! Helmets back on we set off in search of Flamingo Pond – home to 100 local flamingos. Falling off a second time I have a mild hissy fit and question Dylan's ability to drive cursing the fact we were cheap skates and didn't opt for the jeep rental instead. Sure I appreciate that driving on sand has the same feeling as aquaplaning in a car...yet I can't really sympathise with him when my feet cant touch the ground and the only way of getting off is if the moped is seriously tilted to the left or right. I was relying totally on his non existent experience in driving a 2 wheeled vehicle. I have driven a moped before in Thailand when on holiday with the girls, lets just say after accidentally driving myself into a group of monks, getting shown into their private quarters to take the embedded gravel out of my knee whilst the monks retrieve my moped from the bushes – I wasn't going to be driving one anytime soon, especially with my beloved as a passenger!! I figure Dylan just needs practice and get back on again, clinging on for dear life, staring at the speedometer. We saw 2 flamingos and not a lot else as we were concentrating so much on the sand piles.

With only 11 sq miles to explore, it wasn't long until we reached our second stop, Bones Bight beach. By now Dylan had figured out how to turn corners but I still wasn't all that confident on his u-turn capabilities so I bailed whilst he drove the moped round with his feet swinging out either side ready to level out the moped if needed. Bear in mind I still held on to 3 carrier bags of stinking rubbish and a rucksack on my back – o thank god we barely came across another person the whole day, we looked a right pair.

Bones Bight beach is a gorgeous deserted white beach. We get out our snorkels and go and explore the coastline. A few fishes but not that big on sealife, definitely focus on the beach impressiveness and not the underwater scene. We did however see our first small sea snake! We went for a long beach walk, no other person in sight, dried off and got back on the moped (well I didn't really have much choice did I).

Hitting a particularly sandy spot in the road I fall off for the third time (yes parents, we were wearing helmets) and this time manage to embed a load of thorns in my feet. Another mild tantrum, swearing and flinging of rubbish and we are on our way again. Yes I must be a glutton for punishment. Dylan putting on a brave face finding this whole thing hilarious as we fishtail our way up a sandy track hoping like hell we don't meet any oncoming traffic. We realise that this visitor's map is rubbish and totally not accurate when we end up at the South East corner of the island rather than the North East. A kind local with a kitchen paper wrapped around her head (no idea) pointed us in the right direction.

We weaved past goats and cows in the middle of the road and arrived at our destination – Loblolly Beach. And guess what, they had a bin free of charge! After carrying around 3 stinking bags of rubbish for most of the day, I was very keen to get rid. This beach was pegged as one of the best in the world so we had high expectations. Dylan, never to give anything a 10 /10 in the Caribbean as there is always better alternatives in the Pacific, declared that it was disappointing but I beg to differ. Sure it was busier than other beaches we had been to but the beach stretched on for ever and the coastline had great snorkelling. Reef fish we have seen before but all twice the size. We also spotted a medium sized sting ray chilling out on the bottom. Wanting to dry off before we got on the moped, we went for a drink at the bar and were greeted by two pet goats taking a snooze under the tables. Cute!

Next stop – The Settlement. How much easier it is to be a passenger on a moped when you can hold on with both hands rather than occupying one holding bin bags! The Settlement is the main town on the island. We were expecting a central hub and got a road that just looked slightly more populated than the rest. A lone Indian lady sat on a green plastic chair greeted us into the town as I continued to dig my nails into Dylan if we went over 30 kph (yep I had upped my tolerance by 10 kph)! On our way out we stopped for a herd of sheep going home. Much more interested in our strange faces they all stopped where they were and checked us out.

Heading back to the rental place I allowed Dylan to drive a little faster on a straight road yet we were still getting honked at by locals and overtaken. Whether that was to say hello or tell us to move out of the way – who knows!

Here is a video I made whilst on the moped:

Dylan now has another nickname - Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races.