Last year at this time I reported on a one week cruise with Bennett and our two wives aboard his 40 ketch, On Eagles Wings, in the Virgin Islands. Well a whole year has rolled around but this time the wives were not with us. The rest of our complement, was Allie and Nick, married friends of Bennett with skills: He is a professional bartender and she a professional chef, and their friend Alex, terrifically inventive and handy, was the fifth person. These fellow crew members are in their 20s and strong, willing, fast learners and good workers.
Allie, Nick, Alex and Bennett--the first. morning
We had one lay day at Anegada, but otherwise made multiple stops, twelve in six days. (1) Marina Key for fuel. (2) The Baths for swimming and rock scrambling on the beach (you have to swim in or take a cab - no dinks allowed on the beach anymore) The next three photos show the beach we swam to at the north, rocks we scrambled under and the beach at the southern end of the scramble
(3) Spanishtown for groceries and lunch,
Roger, Nick, Bennett and Allie
where Allie was disappointed in her search for fresh fish but did persuade some big dudes with a cooler to give up one of their lobsters, for free -- our desert after the steaks;
Allie is a happy camper, but the lobster is not.
(4) the anchorage on the Southwest side of Prickly Pear Island, a new spot for me, in North Sound, Virgin Gorda, where we had lots of room between our only two neighbors -- a Dutch boat behind us and a French one in front of us.
(5) The anchorage off the beach, west of Pomato Point on the south west coast of Anegada. It is west of the harbor where I had always gone before and open without a marked channel. Here we rented small motor scooters -- top speed 35 mph.
We visited an unnamed beach on the north side near Lob Lolly where Lene and I had gone, and next day to Cow Wreck Beach, way to the west, a new favorite. We also had a bonfire on the beach near our boat, and finally did score some almost fresh (locally recently frozen) mahi mahi.
(6) Great Harbor on Jost van Dyke for fuel and water and for a five minute tour of Foxys. (7) Diamond Key at the far eastern end of Jost, as my third new place: we dined at Foxys Tabou, a less raucus outpost of the Foxy empire and took a small hike to The Bubble Bath,
Alex and Allie
where breakers send lots of foam into a small pool formed by boulders in a gap in the cliffy face of the island (Picture to be added). (8) White Bay, also on Jost, where we patronized both the very crowded Soggy Dollar Bar and the quieter Ivans No-Stress Bar, whose tender, Cas, let Nick mix our drinks. Then, after eleven tacks from Jost (via the passage between Great Thatch Key and St. Johns) we came to (9) The Bight in Norman Island where we took our first night-mooring since our starting point in Trellis Bay and dined at the lovely, newly constructed (after the fire) restaurant there.
Alex, Roger, Bennett, Allie and Nick
Next day began with snorkeling, first at the two most popular spots in the BVIs: (10)The Caves and then, nearby (11) The Indians.
Our final long reaching passage brought us to (12) Village Key Marina, in Roadtown, Tortola, which is On Eagles Wings home port and from which we departed by ferry the next morning after showers, and sushi at Origins, across from the ferry dock, which was quite good.
Bennett drove through the passage between Virgin Gorda and Mosquito Island, with a bit of six foot charted depth, which I have never done, and with ILENEs 5 8" draft, I will be unlikely to do. OEWs draft is only 49". But this was a nervous moment though it cut an hour off the trip outside Mosquito Island. I did a few boat improvement projects. The first was the repair of the mizzen sail, the smallest and least significant of the three sails of the ketch. It had a tear, about a foot long, parallel and near the seam at the leash (rear side) near the top. Without repair, the tear would have grown larger and larger, especially when sailing close to the wind in strong air. Sail tape alone had been tried and did not hold. I sewed back and forth through the sail tape on both sides ( to hold the two pieces next to each other and the sail itself. For this task I brought my sailors palm, (a leather strap around your hand with the business end of a thimble mounted in the palm. It is needed to apply the brute strength to force the needle through so many plies of tough material. The result does not look pretty (Frankensteins head?)
and the boats owners may elect to have the repair redone professionally with a sewing machine and laying flat rather than standing on the rocking deck and working face high through material that is hanging vertically, but it will hold. I also placed almost 100 whippings at both ends of the many lines that OEW has. It is true that many of the ends were holding together fairly well through the fusion in high heat of the plastic fibers of which the cores of the lines are made, but whipping adds a smart nautical look and is one of the few skills that I have, so I like to use it.
A word about our food: OEWs galley stove is an electric range, powered by her electric generator. The generator had gone bad and the owners were contemplating replacing this system with a propane stove. I suggested a much more simple solution, given the infrequency that meals are cooked aboard, consistent with the classic nature of the boat -- a modern low pressure two burner alcohol stove. In the meantime, we made coffee using the electric percolator,
Alex and Bennett making coffee
which the main engine could power.
Allie cooked our eggs, french toast, toast, fish, veggies and steaks on the small barbecue mounted on the stern, powered by small canisters of propane used by campers. Cooking in that condition in the dark was quite a challenge to which Allie rose. Her stove in daylight:
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