BVI To St Maarten

Happy birthday Janine. April 14th marks 41 years old for our intrepid Admiral, mother and wife!! It seems like just yesterday………. Unfortunately for Janine and Granny (who is in for another visit) we took a marina in Roadtown, Tortola for the 13, 14 and 15th. This meant working. Cleaning, fixing, laundry, grocery shopping and stowing away all the stuff. We also got our boom sorted out once and for all, as well as buying new house batteries for the boat. True to form on the 14th itself it poured rain all afternoon (as it almost always does on Janine’s birthday),but at least we were quite sure it wouldn’t hail! It was a very busy day without much time for birthday revelries. We had a birthday dinner in the restaurant at the marina with Granny, Rennie, and Denny. It was a nice dinner but we were all very tired. With Granny aboard and all our chores done, it was time to start heading east again. We have been in the BVI’s for nearly a month. These are a very beautiful group of islands and despite the large number of boats (think Ganges on August long weekend) and that everything out of the main towns is overpriced “No I will not pay $12 for a hot dog!” We have really enjoyed ourselves here. Snorkeling and diving in these crystal clear waters is truly amazing. We have also been able to meet up with family and friends (see Sue and Steve’s post). Although you could probably spend a lifetime here and not see it all, it was time to move on.In preparation for our passage to St Martin we spent 2 nights in Gorda sound at the eastern end of the Bvi. The Bitter End Yacht Club is a five star resort that welcomes charterers, cruisers, and their families to their facilities. The mooring balls are only $30 a night. On our previous visits the boys really wanted to sail one of the Hobie Cats the club had to rent. Up steps Granny “ Oh I’ll rent one!” Yippee !! Dad and Granny got the first ride. Zipping across the bay at full speed, water spraying everywhere, was lots of fun. Our friends and us all got a chance to sail. Thanks again Granny! There was a photographer out in a dinghy taking pictures of the fun www.yachtshotsbvi.com is their website and if you search April17, and I think the subheader is “watersports fun” you can see the pictures. We left Gorda sound and the BVI on the afternoon of the 18th and by dark we were well on our way to St Maartin. Again it was a motorsail into the wind with lumpy seas. Not very exciting, or comfortable but in the morning we were able to anchor in the lagoon at St Martin. The crew, along with friends had a great breakfast of Ham and cheese Croissants, Pain au chocolate, Café Latte, and other such luxuries. After checking out the Dutch side of the island ( you can pass freely between the 2 countries almost without notice) we sailed to Ille Tintamarre and played on the beach. Some of the others on the beach introduced us to a strange custom, the cliffs are made of a reddish clay and we all had a “spa” treatment. We looked pretty funny all covered in mud, but it was a lot of fun. Grand Casse was our next stop, a small beach town on the French side, on Tuesday nights they close the street to cars and the restaurants and shops spill onto the street. A drum band paraded with a large variety of dancers. Our friends on Migo (www.migo.ca) I’m sure have posted many pictures of both the street festival and the mud bath adventures. We rented cars and took a tour of the island, the highlight of which was the beach bar at the end of the runway, where you can lie on your back in the sand and have large planes fly right over top of you, so close it feels like you could reach out and touch them. All too soon it was time for Granny to take that long lonely plane ride back home, early the next morning we loaded into the rental car and drove across the island to the Airport. After a tearful so long it was off to the grocery store to refill the pantry, and the cooler and a few more boat chores. It is now Monday April 28 (Happy Birthday Vance!) and we are getting ready to move along to St Bart’s and then St Kitts and Nevis. We must get moving to customs and check out, as well as find internet to post this blog. Cheers from us until we find internet again, the crew of High Five.

BVI To St Maarten

Happy birthday Janine. April 14th marks 41 years old for our intrepid Admiral, mother and wife!! It seems like just yesterday………. Unfortunately for Janine and Granny (who is in for another visit) we took a marina in Roadtown, Tortola for the 13, 14 and 15th. This meant working. Cleaning, fixing, laundry, grocery shopping and stowing away all the stuff. We also got our boom sorted out once and for all, as well as buying new house batteries for the boat. True to form on the 14th itself it poured rain all afternoon (as it almost always does on Janine’s birthday),but at least we were quite sure it wouldn’t hail! It was a very busy day without much time for birthday revelries. We had a birthday dinner in the restaurant at the marina with Granny, Rennie, and Denny. It was a nice dinner but we were all very tired. With Granny aboard and all our chores done, it was time to start heading east again. We have been in the BVI’s for nearly a month. These are a very beautiful group of islands and despite the large number of boats (think Ganges on August long weekend) and that everything out of the main towns is overpriced “No I will not pay $12 for a hot dog!” We have really enjoyed ourselves here. Snorkeling and diving in these crystal clear waters is truly amazing. We have also been able to meet up with family and friends (see Sue and Steve’s post). Although you could probably spend a lifetime here and not see it all, it was time to move on.In preparation for our passage to St Martin we spent 2 nights in Gorda sound at the eastern end of the Bvi. The Bitter End Yacht Club is a five star resort that welcomes charterers, cruisers, and their families to their facilities. The mooring balls are only $30 a night. On our previous visits the boys really wanted to sail one of the Hobie Cats the club had to rent. Up steps Granny “ Oh I’ll rent one!” Yippee !! Dad and Granny got the first ride. Zipping across the bay at full speed, water spraying everywhere, was lots of fun. Our friends and us all got a chance to sail. Thanks again Granny! There was a photographer out in a dinghy taking pictures of the fun www.yachtshotsbvi.com is their website and if you search April17, and I think the subheader is “watersports fun” you can see the pictures. We left Gorda sound and the BVI on the afternoon of the 18th and by dark we were well on our way to St Maartin. Again it was a motorsail into the wind with lumpy seas. Not very exciting, or comfortable but in the morning we were able to anchor in the lagoon at St Martin. The crew, along with friends had a great breakfast of Ham and cheese Croissants, Pain au chocolate, Café Latte, and other such luxuries. After checking out the Dutch side of the island ( you can pass freely between the 2 countries almost without notice) we sailed to Ille Tintamarre and played on the beach. Some of the others on the beach introduced us to a strange custom, the cliffs are made of a reddish clay and we all had a “spa” treatment. We looked pretty funny all covered in mud, but it was a lot of fun. Grand Casse was our next stop, a small beach town on the French side, on Tuesday nights they close the street to cars and the restaurants and shops spill onto the street. A drum band paraded with a large variety of dancers. Our friends on Migo (www.migo.ca) I’m sure have posted many pictures of both the street festival and the mud bath adventures. We rented cars and took a tour of the island, the highlight of which was the beach bar at the end of the runway, where you can lie on your back in the sand and have large planes fly right over top of you, so close it feels like you could reach out and touch them. All too soon it was time for Granny to take that long lonely plane ride back home, early the next morning we loaded into the rental car and drove across the island to the Airport. After a tearful so long it was off to the grocery store to refill the pantry, and the cooler and a few more boat chores. It is now Monday April 28 (Happy Birthday Vance!) and we are getting ready to move along to St Bart’s and then St Kitts and Nevis. We must get moving to customs and check out, as well as find internet to post this blog. Cheers from us until we find internet again, the crew of High Five.

Cruising the BVI's with the Minielly's

Hi, it's Sue and we've just returned from spending 12 amazing days cruising the British Virgin Islands with Gary, Janine and the boys. Gary asked me to download some photos as communication connections are very slow and difficult to access these days, and they've not been successful in uploading much lately due to technical issues. I said I'd be happy to take on the assignment of Guest Recorder/Reporter upon my return to the world of high speed 'everything', and isn't that the truth -- after enjoying twelve days of slowwwwww, I must say it's a bit of a shock to get back to the world of alarm clocks, cell phones, schedules, deadlines etc. etc. which is a major contrast to life on the boat where the days events and activities were planned each morning, sitting on deck with a coffee, looking at the waves, weather and every conversation started with, "Well, where are we going today?" It actually took us three days to discover that the only clock onboard was out by two hours (due to being accidentally readjusted during the Pirate Takeover and Treasure Hunt, but that's another story...)

Here's a photo of the crew of the SV High Five, taken on April 12th.

Bradley, Tavish and Richard have all grown at least 4 inches taller, it seems. Everyone is a golden brown, in spite of the 30 SPF sunscreen. Clothing choices consist of sunglasses and swim shorts/suits which makes it much quicker when going for a swim, snorkel, swinging from the halyard (what a blast!!) or diving off the front of the boat.

We spent a good deal of time playing in the water; the snorkelling was amazing. We had the opportunity one afternoon to swim with a sea turtle, who was not bothered by 7 people following behind, over and under him as he lead us around the cove. That same afternoon we swam with fish that looked like salmon (sorry I can't remember their name; where's Richard when I need him!!) and were approx. 4-5 feet long, which was a little awkward at first until we realized that they didn't care about us either. Then there was the day we snorkelled over top of the stingray for a while-- snorkelling in the BVI's is truly like swimming in the tropical fish tanks at the aquarium with no boundaries. You can see to the bottom of the ocean at 50 feet the water is so clear!

Live entertainment at Happy Hour!

I am also pleased to report that the boys are working very diligently on their schoolwork each day (right boys???!!!)

Oops, that's better!!

We met up with Gary's sister Nancy, Bob,Catherine and Alex for a few days. We also had a chance to meet some of the wonderful new friends the Minielly's have made along the way from SV's Salt and Light, Losloper and Migo.

Anyway, enough chat from me, but suffice to say that we had an unforgettable time cruising the BVI's with our dear friends. They are all healthy and happy together in paradise and most definitely having the time of their lives!

The end of another beautiful day in paradise!

Thanks for all the wonderful memories,

S&S

Cruising the BVI's with the Minielly's

Hi, it's Sue and we've just returned from spending 12 amazing days cruising the British Virgin Islands with Gary, Janine and the boys. Gary asked me to download some photos as communication connections are very slow and difficult to access these days, and they've not been successful in uploading much lately due to technical issues. I said I'd be happy to take on the assignment of Guest Recorder/Reporter upon my return to the world of high speed 'everything', and isn't that the truth -- after enjoying twelve days of slowwwwww, I must say it's a bit of a shock to get back to the world of alarm clocks, cell phones, schedules, deadlines etc. etc. which is a major contrast to life on the boat where the days events and activities were planned each morning, sitting on deck with a coffee, looking at the waves, weather and every conversation started with, "Well, where are we going today?" It actually took us three days to discover that the only clock onboard was out by two hours (due to being accidentally readjusted during the Pirate Takeover and Treasure Hunt, but that's another story...)

Here's a photo of the crew of the SV High Five, taken on April 12th.

Bradley, Tavish and Richard have all grown at least 4 inches taller, it seems. Everyone is a golden brown, in spite of the 30 SPF sunscreen. Clothing choices consist of sunglasses and swim shorts/suits which makes it much quicker when going for a swim, snorkel, swinging from the halyard (what a blast!!) or diving off the front of the boat.

We spent a good deal of time playing in the water; the snorkelling was amazing. We had the opportunity one afternoon to swim with a sea turtle, who was not bothered by 7 people following behind, over and under him as he lead us around the cove. That same afternoon we swam with fish that looked like salmon (sorry I can't remember their name; where's Richard when I need him!!) and were approx. 4-5 feet long, which was a little awkward at first until we realized that they didn't care about us either. Then there was the day we snorkelled over top of the stingray for a while-- snorkelling in the BVI's is truly like swimming in the tropical fish tanks at the aquarium with no boundaries. You can see to the bottom of the ocean at 50 feet the water is so clear!

Live entertainment at Happy Hour!

I am also pleased to report that the boys are working very diligently on their schoolwork each day (right boys???!!!)

Oops, that's better!!

We met up with Gary's sister Nancy, Bob,Catherine and Alex for a few days. We also had a chance to meet some of the wonderful new friends the Minielly's have made along the way from SV's Salt and Light, Losloper and Migo.

Anyway, enough chat from me, but suffice to say that we had an unforgettable time cruising the BVI's with our dear friends. They are all healthy and happy together in paradise and most definitely having the time of their lives!

The end of another beautiful day in paradise!

Thanks for all the wonderful memories,

S&S

Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic

We took a trip on the local bus from Luperon to Santo Domingo on the South coast of the DR. Bus ride was an experience in itself. The rules of the road are different in the DR in that there aren't any. The bus is like an old Greyhound only they put benches in the aisle as well so 6 people sit across each row. Janine had the seat directly behind the maniacal driver looking out the front window. The trip was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with a twist --for the first hour we acted as the local school bus and stopped every quarter mile to pick up children as the occasional grandma with a live chicken. After this we got onto the highway where our speed excelarated and the lines on the road got fuzzy. The driver proceeded to pass cars down the middle of the highway, forcing the cars on BOTH sides of the road onto the shoulders where families on motorcycles (5 people per cycle) were travelling the wrong way against the traffic. It was mayhem!! After five scary, long hours we finally arrived, with quaking legs, in Santo Domingo. We took a taxi to the hotel we had heard about but when we got there it was a different hotel but it was clean and reasonable and they provided us with an extra bed so we stayed. We headed out to find dinner and were immediately approached by a local 'tour guide' who, after helping us find the hotel, took us to a local dominica restaurant where we sampled some of their local fare (beer). It was late by the time we finished dinner so we headed back to the hotel room and enjoyed some cable TV--what a luxury!!! We slept amazingly well, considering the hotel room did not rock and enjoyed long, warm showers in the morning. Clean and rested we set out to explore the city. It is very old with a lot of history involving Christopher Columbus. Again, we were approached by a tour guide who spoke english, french and spanish. He guided us through churches, forts, the old mansion of the dictator, a cigar factory and a few gift shops. After the tour, we took a taxi to the waterfront where the large hotels are located. It was expensive and 'touristy' there but gave us the opportunity to walk several miles back to the colonial district where our hotel was located. It seems no matter where you go we keep bumping into people we know -- Santo Domingo was no exception as we kept bumping into our cruising friends from Luperon throughout our stay. We stayed in Santo Domingo one more night and took the luxury bus back to Luperon as we could not face the local bus trip again. When we arrived back in Luperon we had a special surprise waiting for us -- Salt and Light and Wandering Dolphin had caught up to us at last!

Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic

We took a trip on the local bus from Luperon to Santo Domingo on the South coast of the DR. Bus ride was an experience in itself. The rules of the road are different in the DR in that there aren't any. The bus is like an old Greyhound only they put benches in the aisle as well so 6 people sit across each row. Janine had the seat directly behind the maniacal driver looking out the front window. The trip was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride with a twist --for the first hour we acted as the local school bus and stopped every quarter mile to pick up children as the occasional grandma with a live chicken. After this we got onto the highway where our speed excelarated and the lines on the road got fuzzy. The driver proceeded to pass cars down the middle of the highway, forcing the cars on BOTH sides of the road onto the shoulders where families on motorcycles (5 people per cycle) were travelling the wrong way against the traffic. It was mayhem!! After five scary, long hours we finally arrived, with quaking legs, in Santo Domingo. We took a taxi to the hotel we had heard about but when we got there it was a different hotel but it was clean and reasonable and they provided us with an extra bed so we stayed. We headed out to find dinner and were immediately approached by a local 'tour guide' who, after helping us find the hotel, took us to a local dominica restaurant where we sampled some of their local fare (beer). It was late by the time we finished dinner so we headed back to the hotel room and enjoyed some cable TV--what a luxury!!! We slept amazingly well, considering the hotel room did not rock and enjoyed long, warm showers in the morning. Clean and rested we set out to explore the city. It is very old with a lot of history involving Christopher Columbus. Again, we were approached by a tour guide who spoke english, french and spanish. He guided us through churches, forts, the old mansion of the dictator, a cigar factory and a few gift shops. After the tour, we took a taxi to the waterfront where the large hotels are located. It was expensive and 'touristy' there but gave us the opportunity to walk several miles back to the colonial district where our hotel was located. It seems no matter where you go we keep bumping into people we know -- Santo Domingo was no exception as we kept bumping into our cruising friends from Luperon throughout our stay. We stayed in Santo Domingo one more night and took the luxury bus back to Luperon as we could not face the local bus trip again. When we arrived back in Luperon we had a special surprise waiting for us -- Salt and Light and Wandering Dolphin had caught up to us at last!