11/24 Monday

Woke up and headed for North Sound. Oh I forgot. Always liked to fish and read the post abouth the guys fishing with their Dad a few months ago so we rented a rod & reel and trolled while sailing. On the way to Trellis from the Baths we caught a 3 foot barracuda. Lots of fun. Luckily he wiggled of the line while we were posing for pics. Don't know what we would have done if we landed him. Cut the line I guess. This was the only fish we hit the entire time

Very light winds cause a long sail upwind toward the North Sound. I've noticed winds are always perculiar on this side of Gorda Peak but on this day they were even lighter and moodier. Motored through Anguilla passage. Usually use this pass in a cat never, ever will try in a mono. 6ft deep at lowest point. Noticed a mast sticking out of the water south of Leverick. Grabbed a ball and snorkeled over to check it out. A monohull obviously sunk here. Never heard the story. If anyone reads this I'd be curious to know what happened and when!

Moored at BEYC we ate dinner aboard-Burgers and the kids went in to watch movies while we sampled the pub. Drinks are good here but we've never been very impressed with the food. That afternoon Laine & Len (TTOLers) kyacked over. They also had two teens onboard a Moorings 3800. Unfortunately, they had a very sick child. What a drag our hearts went out to them. Couldn't image dealing with a sick child on the boat.

11/25 Tuesday

Late sleep & pool. Filled up with water and had the Moorings address a few annoying and stinky issues. Had a family meeting about Anegada. Also got more bug stories at the Pub and from the Moorings folks. I lost out and being the considerate skipper went with the popular vote. Even though it is not a democracy on our ship! Who could argue with Jost.

Long sail again. Straight down wind with very light breeze. Wing and Wing never works too well on a big cat in light breeze so broad reach in fairly bumpy seas. Got to Monkey point to snorkel around 2:30. Very murkey and impossible to see. Ashame, we love this place. Motor sailed to Great Harbour. Foxy's for diner. Two dragging boats were announced while we were there. I know it's scary and I hate to admit it but it has happened to me too, but it's very amusing to watch the tables jump up and clear out when the announcement is made! We now anchor pretty far out where I know it's sandy in about 30' of water with lots of scope. The real problem is others in close proximity. This night was not to bad.

11/26 Wednesday

Woke up and dinked in to inspect the rain damage. A river had formed next to Wendels World. It looked almost as if the building was going to fall in. They had rigged a raft to pull youself across between Wendels and the goats. I'd guess the river was 6' deep. Also lots of beach erosion. Dinked around to White Bay. Our plan was to anchor there for the day and I wanted to check it out to see how busy it was.
Poor Ivan. His place was almost completely gone. I don't know how the big tree was still standing. you could see clear underneath about 4-6 feet. I also did not remember all the mooring balls in front of his place on the east end of the beach. No real visible damage further south and only a few boats (4) were anchored. Went back to the boat and motored over. Followed Lew, the other TTOlers in through the marked pass in the center of the reef turned south 50 yards pointed in land and dropped anchor. As I was reversing slightly to let out some scope. The port engine died. I had this experience before and I knew I had wrapped somothing around the prop and I wasn't sure the anchor was set. Great thing about a cat--twin screws! I'm glad it was still early 9-10 or so not too many people to entertain at the Soggy Dollar. Wife at helm. Made sure to explain nuetral once again. Jumped over to find the prop was wrapped around an anchor line that the day trippers from STT used to tie up to. On top was an empty 1 gallon milk jug. I swear it must have been partially submerged when we arrived because no one saw it. Oh yeah, we were dragging anchor. Climbed back on board, knife in teeth jumped over and cut the line back on board raised the anchor. Motored with starboard engine to a ball in front of Ivans. Looking back this is the fun part of sailing, you never know what it's going to be but something almost always happens. I call it "the adventure".
After tugging and unwinding I got the rope loose. Ever see the blue man group. Thats what my back and shoulders looked like from rubbing on the boat! Now a family joke. Is it too early for PK's?? Not! Thankfully, I checked the engine compartment and the clutch they have to protect the motor from just this kind of event had no visible damage. Cranked up the engine and it ran great. Motored back over to a closer spot to the Soggy Dollar and successfully anchored.
Directly to the Soggy Dollar with my Drinking Mans Guide. The only place i remembered itall week! I also won the annual family Thanksgiving ring game contest and now will only respond to family members when addressed as "ring master". Wasted the day at the bar, on the beach and on our mayan hammock (a definate must bring on all trips). lunch at the bar and dinner aboard. Not sure I recall what we had. Long day at the bar with Windy (Wendel) the dry witted bar tender and as I recall from past years Foxy's son. I also recall three outgoing females arriving at the bar in a flurry with three Drinking Man Guides talking about Jimmy Buffet at Anegada. From reading this board I think they were part of Wildmeridian's crew--we also saw them later at the Bight and diving at the indians. If I had known I would have introduced myself. I forget the names of the TTOLers that were going to be there and never quite made the 1700 VHF #69 call. Even in my stoper sleep was light. We had a pretty strong swell and I made several anchor checks throughout the night. Captains duty.

11/27 Thursday/Thanksgiving

Should we stay or should we go now?? Were all set to stay but the wind kicked up and I really wanted to sail. Even though I love this place, and could spend eternity here, we decided to go for it with no real final destination in mind. Raised the main, lifted the anchor and away we went toward Sopers. Wind hit 25knots and the big cat just over 10. We were cranking. It literally took maybe 40 minutes to Tortola. We blew past Sopers/West End and headed for the Indians. Not sure how long it took but we were really sailing fast. No balls at the Indians and very rough. Went to Brenures Bay. Great snorkeling....best of the trip by far. Dropped the hook and had lunch. Motored around to grab a ball at the Bight. Wanted a ball to sleep on tonight given the big swelland lack of sleep the night before. PR navy was in tow. Our ball was in the northeast corner opposite the Willy T. Lots of topless girls behind us on a Moorings 4700 was enjoyable to everyone with the exception of my wife. There was really great snorkeling here. I never realized it. Very pretty reef lots of fish and color!

Went into Pirates for dinner. Lew and family were there. Their son was thankfully feeling better (although he still looked a little pale). Dinner was fabulous. Grilled turkey buffet with all the trimmings. The turkey was well seasoned and perfectly grilled, gravy was smooth and the dressing (stuffing) had just the right amount of island flavor. Pecan pie was also good. Steel drum band, limbo, Wildmeridean and crew. What a great night and Thanksgiving. The folks at Pirates really have gotten it together over the years. When Billy Bones went away i was disappointed. My first few stops at Pirates were just OK. This was great. We will definatley go back for the Thursday night buffet if it's a regular thing.

11/28-Friday

Snorkeled around the reef. Watched the heavy construction going on. A road was being worked on. I imagine development is coming soon. Dinked over to the cave for a nice snorkel. Winds were still up so we were anxious to sail. Grabbed a ball at the Indians...actually very close to Pelican. I think I saw Chuck/Wildmeridian diving with a partner underneath us while we were snorkeling!! TTOLers everywhere.

Sailed the back side of Peter out into the Sea and around to Deadmans Bay. Very fast sail and very high seas when we got beyond the east end of Norman. Deadmans was a construction site with the PR navy. At this time this anchorage has lost its flare.

Since we had an 11am Cape Air flight out the next day we put up the Genoa and sailed at 5 knots back to the Moorings base. Dinner at Pussers was fun.

11/29-Saturday

Cape Air flight was great!

Time to plan the next trip. don't want to wait until next Thanksgiving.

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