Monday, 11/24/03

Woke up at the Saba mooring at 0800 a little worse for wear. In a hurry to get underway for Anegada, promptly wrapped the (new) dinghy painter arount the port propshaft (again). Re-acquired the mooring (again) to dive in and unwrap the line, which was still intact this time. The swim did me good. Waited 30 minuted for the 'free' water dock to open up and filled up the tanks. Got our free bag of ice.

Motored over to BEYC to top off fuel and dinghy gas and get more ice. Waited another 30 minutes for the dock to free up. PAINFULLY slow to get underway. The ice is so far from the fuel dock that even at a dead run it was slushy before it came aboard.

Finally got underway to Anegada at 10:00 with winds ENE around 10-15. Sailing close-hauled with little keel, the boat made 5-6 knots with a lot of leeway. Couldn't hold the rhumb line to Walker's 'outer marker' but arrived about a mile south of it about 12:30. Just as we dropped the sails to go to windward up the channel the depthfinder quit. Lovely. Held position for a few minutes while we fiddled with it to no avail. Declared it DOA and paid extra attention to the Garmin 176C that I brought (with Walker's waypoints already installed...thanks again Walker!). Followed a heavy-looking sloop just to be sure. Picked up a ball off the Anegada Reef Hotel at 1:00. About a dozen boats in the anchorage.

Called the ARH on the VHF to make reservations for eight (8 lobsters). Four of the five girls took the dink to the ARH bar for fritters and beer. The rest of us limed on the boat for the afternoon. The shore party returned around 4:00 with fritters and beer for us who were boat-bound.

We all had a few of my wife's PK's (by all accounts the best PK's we had the entire trip) and watched a spectacular sunset before dinking in to the ARH for our 7:30 table.

On the way up the dock, I stopped to watch Keith Smith preparing the HUGE pile of lobsters by the lobster pens. He said if I procured him a Heineken from the bar he would see to it that our party got the picks of the litter. I returned in 60 seconds with a Smoodie for me and a cold Heineken for him. We chatted awhile before my Smoodie was empty and went back to ask Sidney to make me another.

Dinner was extraordinary...Keith came through with 8 of the finest lobsters we could have imagined. Even the finicky among us were speaking in superlatives. The lemon cake for dessert was the perfect touch. What a meal!

We all went back to the bar after dinner and had a wonderful time with Sidney, Keith, and Cap'n Ray. Got back to the boat around 11:00. After the terrible rains the week before, there was no damage on Anegada but there was still a lot of standing water on the island and the bugs were FEROCIOUS!
No amount of bug spray or citronella would fend them off.

Tuesday, 11/25/03

Myself and two others were up at 0730 so we dinked in to the ARH for breakfast. Took one FRS radio and left the other for the still-sleeping crew. That was a mistake: we began taking to-go orders one by one at our table as the crew awoke. I met with Keith to make arrangements to take us to Cow Wreck Beach for the day. Returned to the boat with the breakfast ordered by radio.

Keith took us "the long way" to Cow Wreck so we could see more of the island. There sure is a lot of building going on! I hope they don't over-develop this lovely slice of paradise.

Cow Wreck was fantastic, though snorkeling was 'out' because of the substantial northerly swell. Viz was no more than 3 feet. Between limin sessions hung out at the bar with Alex. Everyone had (very good) conch and lobster fritters and a few Caribs for lunch. I mentioned Walker & Nancy's TTOL flag hanging on the wall...Alex wanted me to pass along his thanks (again) for Walker's help in getting his band to Carnival last summer. Bought one of his CD's (it saved my sanity as I listened to it while driving around in a blizzard a week after returning home). GREAT reggae.

After asking Alex, used the VHF radio in the kitchen to call Neptune's Treasure for dinner reservations. Keith picked us up right on time at 4:00 for the ride "the short way" back to the ARH. The male members of the crew sat at the ARH bar for a few smoodies while the female contingent went to the boat to change for dinner. We were nicknamed Dumb, Dumber, and Gilligan. Saw a low-flying seaplane first buzz the salt pond and then the shallow water off Pomato Point.

Dinner at Neptune's Treasure was also fantastic, though I opted for the ribs (as good as the lobster). Used the Drinking Man's guide for the free bottle of wine with dinner. Opinions were mixed as to whether the lobster was better here or at the ARH. It's all good!

We were talking with Nelson about the ferocious bugs. He gave us a couple of aluminum-bucket citronella candles for the boat. We had a lot of fun at NT!

Half the crew retired to the boat while the other half (myself included) went back to the ARH for after-dinner drinks. Found out that the low-flying seaplane we saw earlier was Jimmy Buffett up from St. Barth's for a couple of days of bonefishing. Missed him at the bar by an hour - damn!

Keith introduced me to Sue Wheatley (Lowell's widow) and Toby Jones (son of the recently-deceased BVI weatherman David Jones) at the bar. I expressed our condolences for their losses. In spite of recent events, we had a great time talking with them for several hours. Sue and my wife Jenny were inseparable. Can't say enough about all the people we met on Anegada. All were welcoming, friendly, funny, delightful. As beautiful as the place is, the people truly make the island a treasure. Told Keith we were bound for JVD the next morning. He told me to look up his friend Zeti there.

Dinked back to the boat and was eaten alive for the second night in a row.

Wednedsay, 11/26/03

Underway at 0730 for the run down to Jost Van Dyke. Winds NNE and very light with a big northerly swell. Too bad...I was really looking forward to making some foam. As it was, motorsailed using the jib for a steadying sail in the big following swell at 5-7 knots. Yuk.

Pulled in to Soper's Hole at 1:00 for provisioning. Got water, ice, and more rum. When we came back out of Soper's we found that the wind had FINALLY come up out of the East at 20-25 so the reach over to Great Harbour took 25 minutes. I wished it was longer!

About 25 boats at anchor. We motored past all of them and anchored our shallow-draft cat 300 yards off the beach. With no DF I swam the anchor to find we were in 25-30 feet with a good set.

Couldn't raise Foxy's on the VHF so 3 girls dinked in to make dinner reservations Then they came back to the boat, picked up their Dringing Man's Guides, got dropped off at the dock, and thumbed a ride over to the Soggy Dollar for the PK special. (A cab ride would have negated the freebie, they said).

We all arrived at Foxy's at 6:30 for our 7:30 table. Asked the bartender for Keith's friend Zeti. Not in the house yet, maybe later.

Another GREAT meal. The place was quite busy, but the service was still excellent. FINALLY got a license plate from my Corvette (Connecticut '69-CHEV') screwed to the wall.

Danced to a great reggae band to work off dinner. Bartender introduced me to Zeti, who turned out to be one of Foxy's sons. More great times! Danced and hung out with Zeti and his friends until around midnight.

Slept LATE (till 0830) on a breezy, bug-less boat.

To be continued in Part 3.