self-portrait in the present sea: the lost years May 8, 2007 through April 17, 2009

St. Thomas: WordPress journal has vanished forever

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:30:20 -0500

Moving slowly this morning. Didn’t sleep well last night.
I raised anchor at 9:30 yesterday morning, turned off the engine a few minutes later, and had a pleasant sail back here, anchoring by 11:00 a.m.
Rowed ashore with a sack of laundry to drop off. Had a bagel with turkey and swiss cheese for lunch while using the Internet at Bad Ass Coffee. Had an email from Yahoo Small Business trying to assist with my problem logging into my WordPress journal, but still no success.
Last evening I opened iWeb and found that the newest version has many improvements and changes that make writing and posting journal entries easier. It provides more flexibility than WordPress and gives me greater control. If a new entry uploads properly when I go ashore, I am going to move the journal back to the main site, even if I can ever get back into the WordPress location. It would be nice to post the change and redirection link there so people won’t wonder what has happened to me. If I can’t hopefully they will eventually check the main site.
My laundry may not be ready until this afternoon. I don’t feel up to rowing in twice so will wait. There are still a few things I would like to get here, primarily a solar panel. The man who was supposed to sell me one has not yet returned from his Easter week off. I can get something suitable, but over-priced at Budget Marine, a local chandlery. While I would like to see what the other man has to offer, I’m not going to wait much longer.

(The next chronological entry can be found here.

Christmas Cove: swimming

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:27:54 -0500

It is almost sunset, but I have been driven below. The sunset cruise boat arrived a few minutes ago and anchored even closer to me than the night before. The captain looked over at me and shrugged. I was sitting with a rum and tonic, listening to Loreena Mckennit. Their music is not loud, but they are so close that it obscured Loreena, so I gave up.
I polished bits of stainless on deck--stanchions, shrouds, turnbuckles, blocks, the backstay adjuster, and the Monitor. Put two more coats of oil on the tiller and one on the cabin sole. And went in the water to clean THE HAWKE OF TUONELA’s bottom.
I took my underwater camera with me just to see what it would come up with. I found it almost impossible to see anything in the screen on the back. Truly this is point and shoot. It did take photos and still works after immersion. Got one rather impressionistic view of the boat’s underbody and a couple of shots that show the prop and rudder clearly.
I cleaned most of the gooseneck barnacles off in Antigua, but there were a few I didn’t get then. They were no longer there. I wonder if fish have nibbled them off while I was anchored at Charlotte Amalie.
More boats here today. Almost thirty, including a Coast Guard ship anchored in the other half of the bay. Pretty nice duty.
While I was in the water three teenagers almost killed me by running their dinghy at full speed through the anchorage. When they saw me, they yelled, “Sorry.” A hell of an ending that would have been to my life: children and an outboard doing what all the oceans of the world couldn’t.
I go back to Charlotte Amalie tomorrow. I fear that if I don’t, the sunset boat will tie up alongside tomorrow night.

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When at 7:00 p.m. I turned on my masthead anchor light and stuck my head out the companionway to be certain it was on, I found that it was and that the stern of the sunset cruise boat was five feet from our bow.
I walked forward and asked a man, who was sitting with a woman there, if he was the captain. I did not need to raise my voice to be heard.
He replied that he was not.
I asked if he would get the captain for me.
He shouted down into the cabin, “Toby, there’s some guy on deck who wants to talk to you.”
A plump young man came up from the cabin where presumably he had been entertaining guests dining at the captain’s table.
I said, “You are way too close.”
I also said some other things, in a conversational way.
To his credit he said, “I’m sorry, sir.” and raised anchor and left.

Christmas Cove, Great St. James Island: powered

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:24:44 -0500

I powered here this morning, raising the anchor at Charlotte Amalie at 7:15 and lowering the anchor here at 9:00.
I had to wait for a cruise ship to dock before I could leave, and saw another preparing to enter the harbor a half hour later.
My hopes to get the five miles east before the wind came up were not realized. It was already blowing 15 to 16 knots, and until the last mile, the farther I went the more exposed to the chop THE HAWKE OF TUONELA was. Lots of spray coming over the bow, and although not much of it was reaching the cockpit, I raised the dodger again. As usual I had lowered it for better visibility in harbor.
Despite repeatedly increasing the engine’s rpms, the 3’ chop often slowed us to knots.
Just as I was approaching Christmas Cove a 70’ sloop powered past me and anchored where I wanted to go. There is plenty of room, so I was able to find another place. He has already left. Perhaps anchored for breakfast. I am tempted to move, but in 32’ of water and with 100’ of chain out, it is probably more trouble than it’s worth.
The cove is divided into two parts by a rock, where there is excellent snorkeling. About ten boats are anchored in each half of the cove.
Smoother here. I need to oil the tiller, shift the Monitor control lines, check the bottom and prop, and spread some sealant on suspected leaks.
Might as well get started.

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Sunset. This is a very nice place. I’m glad I came.
An evening trip boat came in and anchored almost on top of me. There are too many people aboard for them to spend the night. and except for voices and laughter, they are quiet. I wouldn’t want to operate such a boat, but seeing the sunset from a boat is an experience worth having.
I put several coats of oil on the tiller, the companionway trim, and one on the cabin sole. Changed the Monitor control lines. Spread sealant hopefully. And looked at fish.
The water temperature is 79ºF/26º/C, which is perfect.
I swam a couple of hundred yards to the rocks dividing the cove. Saw a stingray being chased by a fish along the way. Saw many fish around the rocks, but not as colorful as I expected. I circumnavigated the rocks, swimming across water only a foot deep on the landward side.
These are rocks, not coral. One boat is anchored only a few yards off them. Much closer than I would want to be.
Saw the ray again in about the same location on my way back to THE HAWKE OF TUONELA.
Checked out HAWKE’s bottom when I returned. In good shape, though there is some slime and a couple of gooseneck barnacles I will scrape off tomorrow.
On deck for my evening drink I saw a cruise ship emerge from Charlotte Amalie. Almost as tall as the headland. Glad I’m not there.
I’ve anchored here a couple of times before. Once I painted RESURGAM’s deck. And I recall, in the days of sextants, taking a sight which resulted in a perfect line of position that came right into the cove.
Christmas Cove reminds me of Paradise Cove in the Bay of Islands. Great St. James Island is not inhabited, has rounded hills and is covered with low trees and bush similar to those at Paradise Cove. However, when you look west from Paradise Cove you see other unspoiled islands; from Christmas Cove you look a few hundred yards to the east end of St. Thomas and some unattractive condominiums.
Architects have a lot of ugly buildings to answer for. They would say that they can only design what their clients will build. If so, a defect of the art.
I write what I want to want and am pleased if some people enjoy reading it, but I don’t write to please clients. Perhaps that is why Carol makes more in one year than I have in a lifetime of writing.

St. Thomsas: WordPress failure

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:22:23 -0500

3:30 p.m. on an afternoon now sunny, after clouds and a rain shower just after I returned to the boat at noon.
I had noticed that the plug on the remaining electrical panel is cracked. I think one of the riggers stepped on it. Replaced it. Also pulled the dinghy on deck and scrubbed the bottom. Just slime and a few brine shrimp. Unless tomorrow morning brings something unexpected, I’m going to raise anchor and power to a good snorkeling anchorage at Great St. James Island. And did my exercises.
I am the most physical man in this anchorage. But despite rowing almost a mile a day, and more some. Walking. Carrying loads from the supermarket. Hauling and lifting jerry cans of water. And doing 150 push-ups. My body is not what it used to be and is showing its age. Disappointing.

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Very loud music from some club or restaurant ashore the past two nights, lasting until midnight. I am .4 of a nautical mile, almost a half of a regular mile, from land, yet even with all the hatches closed, I could still hear the noise and feel the vibrations of the beat. Combine that with power boat wakes and dinghies locked so close to the dinghy dock that others can’t reach it to tie up, and this place is not known for courtesy.

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Yesterday when I went to post a journal entry, WordPress refused to recognize my identity or password. I hoped it was a temporary glitch, but I was again unable to post today.
There appears to be no way to contact WordPress and their only support are online articles and forums. I tried some of the suggestions from these without success. Then emailed Yahoo Small Business which hosts my site and provides the choice of using WordPress for a blog. I expect that they will eventually tell me the problem is WordPress’s, not theirs.
I can’t even get in to post an explanation or provide a link to another location where I can continue the journal.

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The supermarket was open yesterday. I carried bags of stuff back to the boat then and today.
I really only need odds and ends. Really don’t need any more provisions before Panama.
A man who sells solar panels was supposed to get back to me, but has gone away sailing for a few days. I don’t know when he is due back. It looks as though I may be here until sometime next week, which would still put me in Panama by the end of the month.

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Odd not to have a cruise ship departing to watch with my evening drink.
I was listening to the Dubliners on the cockpit speakers and when it ended I didn’t start more music, but listened to the wind and the water rippling, a distant airplane, and the wheeling gulls. Took some photos of them, but haven’t uploaded them yet to see if any are any good. Probably more than a hundred in this cacophony.

St. Thomas: working

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 10:19:46 -0500

Watched a good movie last night, THE PUBLIC EYE, in which Joe Pesci plays a free-lance news photographer in New York during WWII and Barbara Hershey a nightclub owner whose recently deceased husband was involved with the Mafia in a wartime gasoline rationing card scam. Very well acted, directed and written.
(I’ve just looked up the movie online and find that it was a commercial failure when released in 1992. I certainly had never heard of it before.)

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A cruise ship is in port, but I can’t read its name from this angle. I’ve come to think that the ships I passed at night during the sail from Antigua were cruise ships loitering to make landfalls at dawn at their next island.
I’ve already finished today’s work on the article. I write first drafts first thing in the morning and missed yesterday because of wanting to go ashore early to get the freeze dry food. Once the first draft is done, I rewrite at any time of day, including after having to deal with the world. Today being Easter I don’t know if the supermarket will be open. I’ll row in after a while anyway to get water and use the Internet.
I need to oil the cabin sole and tiller, and try to cure a few leaks with sealant on deck. Was thinking of changing the engine oil, but checked back in this journal and found that I did it in Durban, and the engine hasn’t been used more than twenty or thirty hours since then. Also remembered that the small hand pump I use to extract the old oil failed then, and I’ve yet to replace it. Need to make one more trip to a chandlery before I leave.

St. Thomas: freeze dried

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:17:15 -0500

Hot, sunny afternoon. Few clouds and little wind.
I’ve rowed in twice today.
The first trip was early to get my freeze dry food. I took a cab up and had him wait for me. The driver was an old man, perhaps even older than I, who is from Antigua. I recognized the Antigua flag he was flying from his radio aerial.
The boxes were there. Both Campmor and the U.S. Postal Service are to be commended. I think Campmor only charged me a flat rate of $9.95 for shipping, and the priority mail rate for two big and heavy cardboard boxes must have been considerably more than that. I’m sure they still made a profit on what was a $522 order.
I rowed the boxes to the boat and repacked the ten different meals into three bags, each of which holds 35 dinners. I’ll mix them with the monthly bags of New Zealand freeze dry I still have aboard.
It was only 11:00 a.m. when I finished, so I rowed in with a bag of trash, including the cardboard boxes, where I gave the not too bright girl at Yacht Haven Reception $5 for disposal. This is another of their local monopolies, though I know most yachties circumvent it. I told her the bag was just outside the door. When I passed by two hours later it was still there.
I found a Chinese restaurant and had a fairly decent lunch of Mongolian Chicken, then walked to the Pueblo supermarket and spent $216, mostly on cans of chicken, tuna and salmon. I now have three months of lunches aboard.
I’ll probably buy some more provisions here because the store is so close, but Panama has in the past also been a good place to provision, as well as the best in the world for duty free alcohol. The next decent supermarket beyond Panama is two months away in Tahiti.
Lots of power boats moving around today at excessive speed. I was almost swamped by wakes several times. Slowing to five knots in an anchorage is not a local custom.

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Sunset. I’ve just come below, after finishing the last half of a bottle of chardonnay on deck will watching ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS depart. First half yesterday.
It is probably just as well that I don’t have a gun on the boat, although after the incident with the pirates off Java last year I wised for one, because if I did I would have shot a fool riding a jet sky around the harbor all afternoon. Surely riding a jet ski is a capital offense.

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Speaking of pirates, Bad Ass Coffee has a television tuned to CNN, and that the 50th or so ship taken by pirates this year happens to be American makes all the difference--to Americans. The story fills the news. I am just not that tribal. I have great sympathy and empathy with the American captain being held in a life boat, but no more than for any of the other captains and crews captured by Somalian pirates this year.
In the past governments did not endure pirates. England cleared them from the sea I am presently sailing, and many other parts of the world. The United States Marine Corps Hymn includes a line about “the shores of Tripoli”, which refers to an attack on pirates in the Mediterranean. Yet present governments, with the exception of France, lack the will and nerve to do what better men have done in the past.
I had hopes for Barack Obama, but they are fading. Good speeches aren’t enough.

St. Thomas: Good Friday

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:14:34 -0500

Noon and I’m back on the boat with some good news. The online tracking number for my packages shows that they arrived in St. Thomas yesterday. I was told that the post office is not open today, but will be tomorrow.
Partially because it is Good Friday and many businesses are closed and partially because no cruise ship is in port, it was very quiet ashore today.
Obviously I went to Bad Ass Coffee, and then to the supermarket, which was open, where I picked up five more containers of Quaker Oats, and a few other small items, including yogurt for lunch. I haven’t had much appetite and haven’t bothered to eat ashore, as I did almost every day in Antigua. I also went through the hassle of extracting a jerry can of water from Yacht Haven. I could probably also put a jerry can of diesel in the tank, but may wait until Panama.

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Yesterday I walked the half mile or so around the shore to the downtown shops of Charlotte Amalie. The only point of interest, an old fort, is closed for stabilization and restoration. The rest consists of duty free and trinket shops catering to cruise ship passengers, and the two street town was full of them. I have found a duty free bargain in the shops near Yacht Haven, which have 1 liter bottles of 10 year Laphroaig for 39.95. Laphroaig is not really a tropical drink, but last evening was cool down enough so I was able to force down a glass or two.

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If I do get my freeze dry food tomorrow, I could be out of here in a few days or a week at most; but I’m starting to run too far ahead of schedule and am going to have to linger somewhere along the way or make a mid-winter passage to New Zealand.

St. Thomas: a cacophony of gulls

Thu, 9 Apr 2009 10:10:50 -0500

I realized that this is Easter weekend and that Christmas Cove will be jammed, so remained here and began writing an article about the passage from South Africa. Maybe I’ll go snorkeling next week. Or maybe not until Moorea.
Today’s ship is EXPLORER OF THE SEAS, and it too is unfortunately directly upwind of us.
Other than the smell of ship’s exhaust and maybe a few people and inconveniences ashore, I like Charlotte Amalie more than on past visits. The harbor is cleaner. There are fewer derelict boats. The streetlights are amber, and when they come on at night, they light the hillsides like a Christmas tree.
The people ashore are a mixed bag. About half are friendly, and about half are not. This is not race based, but common to tourist based economies. Smiles that are bought are not genuine.
The most unhelpful person here is a woman who works at Yacht Haven Grande reception. I am uncertain whether she is malicious or just stupid, so charitably will assume the latter. The problem is that Yacht Haven has a monopoly on some essential resources, such as water. There is no other place to get it in this part of the harbor except at their fuel dock.
Most of the boats are first timers from the United States or Canada. Most don’t have any plans beyond remaining in the Caribbean. I overheard two couples in Bad Ass Coffee talking about waiting for a weather window to head south. I can’t imagine what that could be. Yesterday the high was 85 and the low 75. The trade wind blew from the southeast at 12-15 knots. Today is the same. So will be tomorrow. And the day after. The next change in the weather will be the start of hurricane season in June, but I doubt they are planning to ride the leading edge of a hurricane, which in this hemisphere will have wind from the north.

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There are many unusual collective nouns for groups of animals or birds. These include a shrewdness of apes. A congress of baboons. A sleuth of bears. A bask of crocodiles. A thunder of hippos. An ascension of larks. And a parliament of owls. Although no one seems to have suggested it, surely a group of seagulls should be a cacophony of gulls. About forty are flying around squawking in the distance. They have not attempted to return to homestead THE HAWKE OF TUONELA. But I have seen them on empty Yacht Haven docks and on other unoccupied boats; and they usually are flapping high overhead at sunset.
My appreciation for sea birds does not extend to sea gulls, who are flying rats. These are Bonaparte gulls, named because their black head feathers resemble the tri-corner hat worn by the upstart Emperor, who deserted his armies at least twice, in Egypt and Russia, to save his plump derriere. Gulls thrive because like us, they are aggressive, breed easily, and will eat anything.

St. Thomas: rigged again

Tue, 7 Apr 2009 10:07:40 -0500

Listened to North Carolina’s easy win last night. Woke to screeching sea gulls this morning. Yesterday I saw twenty or thirty sitting on a boat near the shore. For some reason they decided to come to THE HAWKE OF TUONELA at first light this morning. Had they done so amicably, I would not have known, but they argued about seating in the cockpit and on the dinghy, which got me out of bed in time to chase them off before they made too much of a mess.

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The cabin is cluttered with roach traps. The pack I bought included twelve and I’ve put them all out. In all corners of the cabin sole and on shelves in the galley.
Since leaving Durban I’ve only seen three roaches--about one every three weeks. I killed two, but one did get away. Hopefully I now have more traps than roaches. Hopefully I now have no roaches at all.

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Only 6:30 a.m. One cruise ship is docking and another is lingering outside the harbor entrance waiting its turn.

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Evening. The INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA smells.
She ended up being the middle of three cruise ships in port today. Ahead of her was CARNIVAL LIBERTY and astern the NORWEGIAN DAWN, which inexplicably sports a painting of the Stature of Liberty on its beam.
THE HAWKE OF TUONELA was directly downwind of INDEPENDENCE OF THE SEA and fumes from one of her stacks blew down on us all day. I’m glad she is gone.

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Jay and Tyler, from Island Rigging, appeared in their launch early in the afternoon. Tyler went up the mast, found the anemometer frozen and apparently in need of a new bearing--no surprise, but this really is an expensive piece of expletive deleted; he checked the entire rig and found nothing wrong, except for the baby stay, which he lowered, and he and Jay powered off with promises to return tomorrow.
However they were back less than two hours later with the new stay. Tyler went up the mast, found that he had the wrong size clevis pin. I found a suitable one in my spares. Jay taped it to the flag halyard and sent it up. And THE HAWKE OF TUONELA is again properly rigged.
Jay said what every other rigger has said, a broken lower diagonal shroud is usually due to misalignment, but mine isn’t. So who knows.

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I have had the feeling that I am not on top of things: that things are on top of me. Maybe that has been due to my cold, which is now over.
Since arriving here I have taken care of my three most important concerns: my skin; the babystay; and placed the freeze dry food order. And I have located everything else I need. I am a month ahead of schedule. So maybe things are under control, after all, and I can go five miles east to Christmas Cove at Great St. James Island and snorkel.

St. Thomas: looking for a rigger again

Mon, 6 Apr 2009 10:05:36 -0500

Evening. Waiting for the NCAA basketball championship game radio broadcast to start.
Rode the local truck/buses to a chandlery at the east end of the island today, where I bought a new pick-up stick for my mooring in Opua.
Then rode west to another chandlery and to Island Rigging, who may come to the boat tomorrow afternoon to replace the babystay and check the rig. Not guaranteed.
Sunny and hot today. Three cruise ships in port. Two at the dock here and one over near the riggers west of Charlotte Amalie. Wouldn’t even have known that one was there if I hadn’t gone that way.
Also found a place to get laundry done.
One of the chandleries has a solar panel that would replace the one that failed, but is overpriced. May have to buy it anyway.
Basketball game about to begin.

St. Thomsas: cruise ships

Sun, 5 Apr 2009 10:03:20 -0500

A cruise chip, THE ADVENTURE OF THE SEAS, did come in yesterday morning. I first heard the odd sound of its bow and stern thrusters. It is a big ship and I am impressed how its captain docked it without use of tugs. He also provided entertainment for my sunset drink on deck when he left. He docks as I do: slowly.
Around 10:00 a.m. I rowed ashore, stopping to speak to some people on a boat from Astoria, Oregon, on the way in. When I asked about getting propane tanks filled, they said that they were getting theirs filled that day and would gladly take mine along, so I rowed back to THE HAWKE OF TUONELA, gave them the tank, and they brought it back filled in the afternoon. That tank was last filled in Darwin last June. With both tanks full, I think I have enough propane until New Zealand.
As it happened I reached the dinghy dock at the same time as another dinghy with a man from Whangarei, New Zealand, who is homesick and was glad to talk to someone who knows and admires his country. He has a boat that he doubts is up to sailing there with his wife and young son and doesn’t know whether to put it up for sale or try to sail.
I used the Internet at a Yacht Haven Grande shop, Bad Ass Coffee--the true name--a Starbucks imitator. I had fruit juice and placed an order for $522 of freeze dry food, which represents 115 meals. With the more than 100 I already have aboard, when it arrives, my dinners are assured for the rest of the voyage.
Cruise ship passengers were wandering through the duty free shops. I went into one and bought a new Pentax W60 waterproof camera to replace the one that went missing in Durban. ‘Duty Free’ here was, as is often the case, a false gimmick. While online I priced the camera at Amazon and could have bought it there for $70 less than I paid here ‘duty free.‘ However I’m here, not there.
My previous Pentax was a W20. In the succeeding generations the megapixels have gone up to 10; the camera can be used deeper underwater, which is not my primary concern--I want a second camera I can use on deck in spray and carry around easily ashore in a pocket; and it is smaller. I wish I had had it in Antigua, where I never took my Nikon ashore because it was difficult enough to keep the laptop dry while rowing in. In Antigua I passed each day the prettiest small sailing dinghy I have ever seen. It is about 10’ long, narrow, wood, double ended, with little freeboard, and has a white hull with a pale yellow stripe at the gunnel. I never saw it under sail, but if it were in the Bay of Islands, I’d buy it in a minute.
I slept well last night. My cold is running its course and may be improving. Bought more Contact tablets after having lunch of a Mahi Mahi salad ashore yesterday. Even with the cruise ship in port, it cost less than something similar in Antigua.
Clouds thickened over the hills yesterday afternoon and we had two showers that caused me briefly to shut the hatches
Time for a second cup of coffee. Not sure yet what I’m going to do today.

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Today we have SERENADE OF THE SEAS. Someone is showing a lack of imagination. While not as big as yesterday’s ADVENTURE, I still count at least a dozen levels above the waterline. And it did dwarf the biggest megayacht at Yacht Haven Grande, which is a mere 310’, or slightly larger than an American football field.
I finagled my way through the security gate onto the fuel dock at Yacht Haven Grande--the name is so pretentious I can’t resist repeating it--and filled two jerry cans with water for $2. The small hand trolley that inserts into my new airline carryon backpack again proved to be useful in my ferrying rather than carrying the water back to the dinghy dock. It is saving my back a lot of grief. A very well spent $50. I’ll take a photo of it sometime.
After Interneting and lunch ashore during a brief rain shower, I rowed back out where I’ve done some boat chores, including cleaning the head locker, which had not been done for too long.
Tomorrow I’ll seek out a rigger and a chandlery.

St. Thomas: sorting out

Sat, 4 Apr 2009 10:00:15 -0500

Morning. A sea plane has just taken off, which they do occasionally from the west side of the harbor.
I had to stop writing last night because I have a cold and was exhausted.
This is the second cold I’ve had this year. I had one when I flew from Chicago to Durban in January. But my last before that was years ago. Still had some Contact tablets on board from the January episode. Took two and got to sleep for a while. Don’t know yet if I have enough energy to row ashore today.

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The Customs form I had to complete when clearing out of Antigua asked about various equipment on the boat, as did the form while clearing in, presumably to prevent people from selling things there, although no one ever checked. It asked about GPS units and engines, including outboards, in which space I put “none.”
The Customs man saw that and asked, “You don’t have a dinghy on your boat?”
I replied that I had a dinghy.
He said, “Oh, it has an inboard engine.”
I replied that it had no engine, that I row. Apparently I was the first such person he had ever met.

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Charlotte Amalie is an oval surrounded by high hills, perhaps a volcano that has fallen down on the south side to form an entrance. It reminds me of Pago-Pago in American Samoa in the South Pacific, except that it is not as rainy--Pago-Pago is the location of Somerset Maugham’s short story, “Rain”--and is filled with light, where Pago-Pago is dark and brooding.
One or two hurricanes have hit St. Thomas since I was last here in the late 1980s and they cleaned the place out. A former marina, Yacht Haven, nick-named Rat Haven, was destroyed and rebuilt as Yacht Haven Grande, a complex of long concrete piers catering to megayachts, and an upscale shoreside development of residences and shops.
I had intended to walk to the main hospital, which is up a nearby hill, when I saw a doctor’s office in one of Yacht Haven Grande’s buildings, went in to ask about a dermatologist, was greeted by an enthusiastic receptionist and seen almost immediately by a doctor who seemed competent, scraped the growth on my leg, froze it with liquid nitrogen and said he did not believe I had any reason to be concerned for the rest of my voyage, if ever. So one of the problems I thought might be difficult was easy. Some others, such as getting water, that I thought would be easy, aren’t.
Yacht Haven Grande charges .20 cents a gallon for water. I will gladly pay that, but their fuel dock where it is available is scaled for megayachts and so high that I can barely reach it standing up in the dinghy. I’m going to have to carry jerry cans back to the nearby dingy dock or possibly take THE HAWKE OF TUONELA alongside.
There are in fact public dinghy docks at each end of the Yacht Haven complex, just outside the security gates, and ashore near one of them is the Customs office, where clearing in was very easy. I had to see only one official and fill out only two forms. Boats larger than THE HAWKE OF TUONELA also have to get permission from the Port Authority. I don’t know what the cut off point is. I was cleared in five minutes.
A young man, presumably a paid captain, with a German accent was clearing in at the same time. I asked which boat was his, and he replied, “The white one.” I looked out at a wall of white boats. Right.
I walked out the gates to a new complex of shops beside the cruise ship berth. None were in port that day and none yet today.
I found several food shops and further up the hill a giant supermarket.
I have still to solve the Internet, laundry, propane, a chandlery, and find another rigger. The one in Antigua said that a strand is broken on what is known as the babystay. Not all boats even have them. It helps prevent the mast from pumping fore and aft, but is not immediately critical to keeping it up.
The next most important thing, after having my skin looked at, is to get my order in over the Internet for freeze dry food. Campmor, the compony I buy from in the U.S., ships here by mail, so I’m looking at probably a couple of weeks. From people on other boats at anchor I’ve learned of a coffee shop with wi-fi, so if I do get ashore--and I am feeling a little better the longer I’m up--I will place the order today.

Charlotte Amalie Harbor, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands: first night

Fri, 3 Apr 2009 09:54:35 -0500

Evening. I’ve been here just over 24 hours and have solved one of my more pressing problems, but not some fundamentals.
The pressing problem was a growth on my leg that I thought might be skin cancer.

Passage: Antigua to US Virgin Islands

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 09:20:13 -0500

The passage log is here.

Antigua: rigged and leaving

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:13:02 -0500

Enough rain after sunset for me to have to close all the hatches for the night. Cool enough to be comfortable sleeping with them closed. Some clouds this morning. It may be raining out to sea south of the harbor entrance. May get wet rowing in later to try to find the rigger.

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Late afternoon. Rigger and assistant on beach on time. Rowed them out, where they did their work; noticed a broken strand on the babystay, which is not essential and can wait until the Virgin Islands; rowed them; walked across to English Harbor, where I had lunch while waiting for officials to be in their offices; when they finally were, I cleared and will leave tomorrow.

Antigua: Falmouth Harbor and the super rich

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 09:10:18 -0500

Perfect temperature in the early morning. 74ºF/23ºC feels pleasantly cool, but that is about as hot as it ever gets in New Zealand. Even the afternoons have not been too hot here, cooled by the trade winds.
Falmouth Harbor is a rough oval, a half mile north/south and a mile east/west, with a wide entrance in the southwest. Hills covered with low vegetation surround the harbor. The island is dry enough so that some of that vegetation is cactus. Small houses and a few resorts dot the hillsides, some of which remain bare. There are no tall buildings. Three marinas with long concrete docks to accommodate megayachts are in the harbor: one in the southeast; one east; one north. The eastern half of the harbor is filled with rental moorings.
There are hundreds of boats here, and the scene is dominated by megayachts. I don’t ever recall being in a harbor with so many big boats. A young Englishman stopped by THE HAWKE OF TUONELA the other afternoon to express his admiration for the way she looks. She is almost the smallest boat here. I asked what boat he was on and he said he is a a crew member on a big Swan. We had to ask which one. There are three Swan 70+s anchored together not far from us, and literally countless others scattered about. In most harbors they would dominate. Here they are backdrop.
The super rich and I share a preference for dark hulls. Black is most common, but a midnight blue is also in vogue. A dark blue sloop, perhaps a J class, went past two days ago. 140’ or so overall with a needle sharp bow with an overhang of 30 or 40 feet, she stood out from the crowd and was as elegant a way to spend an obscene amount of money as I have ever seen.
Another standout is a black hulled power vessel modeled after those of the early days of steam. She has a funnel that I assume is decorative rather than functional and two stubby masts on which she does not set sails and is bigger than many ferry boats. In the water beneath her clipper bow and vestigial bowsprit, sits a small tender, also black hulled, elegant, and costing far more I’m sure than THE HAWKE OF TUONELA.
Ashore you don’t see the owners of these craft, but the crews.
Antigua Race Week, the biggest sailing event in the Caribbean, starts in four weeks and is preceded by a week long classic yacht rally. The harbor and dinghy dock are crowded now. I can’t imagine what it will be like here then.
The entrance to English Harbor is a mile east of that to Falmouth, but where Falmouth opens out to the east, English Harbor wends a serpentine way west, and the two are separated by only a narrow neck of land. You can walk from one to the other in five minutes.
The buildings of the old Royal Navy dockyard at English Harbor have been restored, converted into restaurants, hotels, and shops, and the whole are made a park named after Lord Nelson, who as I have mentioned served there early in his career.
While Falmouth is easy to sail in and out of, English harbor is not. The narrow harbor curves back on itself and became the location of the dockyard because those curves make it an excellent hurricane hole. I expect that the ships of the Royal Navy were towed in by their crews rowing the ship’s boats. No problem when you have several hundred men who you pay a pittance and can flog if they don’t obey commands.
Prices here are high. Tourist and megayacht high. I’ve mentioned $50 tubes of putty that should cost $10. Lunch at the Sea Breeze runs $25 for an ice tea and a sandwich, though the wireless Internet is free. I fondly remember a whole meal at the Point Yacht Club in Durban for less than $5, including a beer. A copy of the Nautical Almanac, which should cost $20, is priced at $60.
I’m not a tourist and I don’t have a megayacht.
I’m neutral about Antigua. This is a fine harbor and a pretty anchorage. It is convenient, if pricey. The weather has been nice. But I want to pay whatever outrageous fee is charged for my new shroud and be on my way.

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A cloud show this evening, with lines of rain on the north side of the harbor that barely touched us on the south, and out to sea. Much better having an evening drink while watching the sun set over the ocean or island hills than while watching the evening news on television.
Two sailboats were racing the sunset to the harbor entrance. When they arrived I saw that the bigger one was about 90’ and the ‘small’ one about 60’. This is that kind of place.
I exchanged emails with the rigger today. He is off island. Maybe I will get my shroud tomorrow, but I am not counting on it.
After a week of eating ashore, I grew tired of it and returned to passage food. In fact I would like to return to a passage, but the Virgin Islands are only 200 miles away and that isn’t enough.
Did my full exercise routine this afternoon for the first time since January. Trimming sails, raising anchors and rowing use slightly different muscles than push-ups, but I was able to do the full routine without too much strain. I was asked about this by someone who has only recently been following this journal. Because my back sometimes bothers me, I’ve modified my routine over the years. Now it is 150 push-ups and crunches in sets of 70-40-40; 250 knee bends in sets of 60-40-150; and 100 side leg raises on each leg. Preceded by some stretching exercises.
Although there is still ample room, and all the other boats anchored here are spaced a reasonable distance apart, some fool in a 50’ sloop has anchored almost on top of me.

Antigua: insurance and change

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 09:05:37 -0500

7:00 a.m. but I’ve been up for three hours. Had to row Carol ashore to catch an early flight. We had arranged for Alex, the same driver I used to go to the airport to met her flight, to meet us at the dinghy landing at 5:00 a.m. He seemed reliable and was.

Fortunately the wind was light and the row easy.
Carol returns to Chicago, where it is below freezing and snowing.
Yesterday afternoon I rowed us in to the small white sand beach off which we and about a dozen other transient boats are anchored. I don’t spend much time on beaches any more and it was pleasant to walk on the sand at water’s edge and feel the surge wash over our feet.
Carol swam there. I waited until we were back at the boat and snorkeled to check out the bottom.
I had already cleaned a host of goose-neck barnacles from near and mostly above the waterline from the dinghy. There were some still on the hull deeper down, but the bottom was remarkably clean. A little weed is starting to grow in a few places, but no hard growth; and the prop and shaft, which were coated by the painter who works out of the boat yard in Opua with some unknown to me substance, are clean. Although I did pay a diver to clean the bottom in Durban and I don’t know what he removed, this is remarkable after a year and 15,000 miles. I’ll probably dive again and remove the few remaining goose-necks before I sail to the Virgin Islands; but it wouldn’t matter if I waited. From the way THE HAWKE OF TUONELA was sailing I knew the bottom must be fairly clean. Barring the unexpected, this will be a circumnavigation without a haul-out.
On one of our trips ashore this week I took a jerry can and brought back 4 ½ gallons of diesel. That was enough to replace what I used in the 6,000 miles from South Africa and top up the tank.
I also spent some time on the Internet checking out the British and U.S. Virgin Islands at Jimmy Cornell’s useful www.noonsite.com. At least something good has come from the ARC.
I found that the BVI have recently added a number of fees for cruising boats. They aren’t excessive, but they are obnoxious; so I’m going to go directly to the U.S. Virgin Islands. I need to buy some boat equipment, including a replacement solar panel; order freeze dry food from the U.S., and see a doctor about a possible skin cancer. I have had such before. And I know I am repeating myself, but take care of your skin, particularly if you are young. I didn’t.
I also happened to see on Noonsite that all yachts in Europe are now required to have insurance. I wasn’t going to sail there, but doubt if I could. I have liability insurance in New Zealand, which costs about $200 a year and is required to go into marinas, something I don’t much do; but no one wants to insure a 30 year old boat, a single-hander, or all waters. Insurance is part of the entire failed economic system that I abhor and opted out of years ago. The idea that I have to have permission from an insurance company is antithetical to the freedom that sailing means to me.
Sunny with a little less wind so far this morning. I’m at a bit of a loss with Carol’s absence even after so brief a visit. Not sure what I’m going to do today. Very much hope the rigger gives me my shroud on Tuesday, so I can be on my way.

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Just after sunset.
A fine day, with only trade wind clouds.
I rowed ashore before noon to have lunch, Internet, and get some water.
My larger water tank nominally holds 35.5 gallons. Air can get trapped in the tank and reduce that, but it lasted for the entire passage from South Africa to here.
My smaller tank holds 22.5 gallons. In my week here I have used the remnant of the bigger tank, all the smaller tank, and emptied the two five gallon jerry cans I have aboard. True that Carol was here part of the time. The increase came mostly shaving and fresh water showers every day and washing dishes in fresh rather than salt water. Still a striking difference.
I showered in late afternoon, then sat on deck with a gin and tonic--actually two--and watched the sunset. I love being on the water. Watching the changing light, the deepening shadows on the clouds, the birds hunting, feeling the wind against my skin, feeling the motion of the boat. Those of you who live ashore may have the illusion of stability. If you are in California or Japan or a good many other places, the Earth disabuses you of that illusion from time to time. Parmenides said change is not possible. That was a logical construct. Heraclitus said everything is change, you can’t step into the same river twice. Heraclitus was right. Everything is change and motion. Those of us who live on water feel that every moment.
I can’t say it too often: being on a boat, being on the water, brings a smile to my face and joy to my heart.