Day 5- Trellis Bay to Leverick Bay

Today we got up early and snorkeled Monkey Point, Guana Island. We saw a squad of squid and lots of jellies. We also saw a sea turtle as we grabbed the mooring ball. We also saw spot fin butterfly fish, trumpet fish, parrot fish, blue tang, and other reef fish. 

After monkey point, we sailed to the Baths, Virgin Gorda. We hiked to the top and had lunch up there. They had a freshwater pool and it was so nice to swim there and to be able to just stand in the water and not have to keep swimming just to stay in place. The Baths are a collection of massive boulders leaning against each other that you can crawl through and find various caves, caverns, and beaches. 

We sailed around Virgin Gorda from the Baths to Leverick Bay. We motor sailed because we were slightly behind schedule. 

We moored in Leverick Bay around 6. We are getting fresh water tomorrow- we have about 1/3 of the water left which is pretty good! When we were here last time (about 11 years ago), they had a big party going on at the marina with guys on stilts and everything. It’s pretty quiet tonight so I’m not sure if they don’t do that anymore or if it’s a different night...

Day 4- Great Harbour to Trellis Bay, Beef Island

Today, we slept in a bit then headed to the Wreck of the RMS Rhone to snorkel. We saw sea turtles and there was a barracuda under our boat 😳 

After snorkeling, we put up the sails and headed to Trellis Bay. Grant and Dad took the dinghy out to look at the boats that were beached after Irma. There is one boat that was carried about 1/3 of the way up the mountain! 

We had a pretty low key night. After dinner, we went to throw the excess food in the ocean, and there were three large fish right under the boat. We think they’re either blacktip reef sharks or remoras but were not sure. We threw the few grains of rice we had at them and watched them swim for a bit. They were really close to the surface, probably about 5-10 feet under the boat. 

Day 3- TheBight to Great Harbour, Peter Island

Mom was up at 6 am and was thrilled that we have an electric coffee maker- this was where we dropped the coffee maker on day 1 of the last trip! It is extremely important to keep the coffee maker onboard as there’s no Walmart anywhere nearby!

We went snorkeling at The Caves, which are the inspiration for Treasure Island by Robert Lewis Stevenson. Sadly, the reef is about half dead. The fish were interesting, but it is much less vibrant than it was previously. We then dinghied back to Wavelength and motored to The Indians. We were so close to the coral- there were times when if you used your arms to swim, you would have hit it. The current was also trying to push us into the rocks. We survived though! There was a lot of fan coral and schools of fish. We saw sea urchins, brain coral, damsel fish, parrot fish, Sargent majors, French grunts, lots of yellow tail snapper, and black tangs (Dory’s cousins). 

We then swam back to the boat and motored to Great Harbor in Peter Island to the William Thornton. The Willy T was a staple for the last 35 years until it was blown away in the hurricane. The old William Thornton now sits on beach at the Bight and according to news articles, will soon be sold for parts to pay for the new restaurant. We had drinks and dinner there and watched people flip/jump/dive off the top deck. They did more tricks as they drank more- it was pretty entertaining to watch!

We’re back on Wavelength now and are playing cards. Well probably crash early as we had a long day! Mom and I are super fried but everybody got a decent amount of sun today. Thank god we bought sunscreen yesterday! I only wish we had the aloe that the TSA confiscated...

Day 2- Tortola to the Bight

Today, we got our boat, Wavelength. She is a Bavaria nautitich 40 ft catamaran. During hurricane Irma, It was blown around in the storm, demasted, and the Hull was cracked. They hauled her out of the water in October and completely redid her. 

We went to breakfast around 10 and met a nice guy from Australia who was having breakfast with his wife and two young boys. We asked him about the procedures for tipping the waitstaff and started talking to him about the hurricane and the damage it did. Turns out, they left Australia and moved here about 7 years ago. They were evacuated on one of the last flights out- they had to have the private company plane come get them so they could leave. Their house was largely untouched, but they still had to leave Tortola for 6 months to rebuild and have the roads cleared enough for them to get home. 

After breakfast, we went to the pool for a bit then went to checkout the boat. Jalon, the maintenance guy, met us on board. He left and said he’d “be right back.” Three hours later he shows up- we must be on island time! We did the walkthrough and charter briefing. Finally, we headed out of the harbor around 3.30 (it was supposed to be noon).

We sailed to the Bight at Norman Island, the former home of the Willy T. We had 18-20 knots of wind. We topped out at 8.2 knots. We had one reef in the sail and also reefed the jib. We had a brief rain shower. We were a little rusty picking up a mooring ball, but we did alright! It was really windy too and hard to maneuver the boat. 

Once we were stationary (or as stationary as you could be on a boat), lindsay started making her infamous 6-4-4s for Mom and Dad. We polished off the first bottle of rum- don’t worry, it’s very cheap here! 

We had chicken tacos for dinner then stayed up talking for a few hours- til about 11:30, which is really late when a sailor’s midnight is 9 pm and the sun rises at 5. There’s nothing quite like sleeping with a constant breeze and rocking boat- it’ll knock you right out!

Day 1- Atlanta to Tortola

Welcome back! Today we flew to the Caribbean for our next sailing trip. We left the house in Atlanta at 6:30 am. We were on track to be 90 minutes early for our flight until we hit traffics that set us back an hour. 

We got to the parking spot at 8- we were supposed to board at 8.20 and the flight was scheduled to take off at 9. We took took the shuttle from the parking lot to the airport and got there about 8.20. We then had less than 40 minutes for all five of us to get through security. 

Unfortunately, we had three different security clearances: Dad and Lindsay had Clear, Mom and Grant had TSA pre check, and I had... nothing. So we split into our separate lines with the understanding that whoever made it on the plane was going sailing and if you didn’t... we’ll, that sounds like a YP (you problem). 

Lindsay and Dad got on board first. Grant, Mom, and I all made it through security at the same time. We boarded the plane at 8:50- a little too close for comfort! The flight went well and 3.5 short hours later, we landed in St Thomas in the USVI. We met the taxi driver and took off to the port to get the ferry to Tortola (BVI). Just in case we weren’t sure we landed in the correct place, the first sign we saw after deplaning advertised free rum samples if you rented a car. 

The water was a little rough while on the ferry. We saw over a dozen boats washed ashore and left after hurricane Irma. The owners of these boats can’t afford to pull them out of the water so they have no choice but to leave them them. Maritime law states that if you are able to salvage a boat, then you own it. It only costs a few thousand dollars in crane fees and the complete refurbishment of the boat!

The local people are still trying to recover from the storms nine months ago. Most houses we saw don’t have roofs. Cars look like they’ve been in horrific accidents. Our taxi driver said it took 6 months for the cables to be fixed so he could have electricity back in his home. 

We made it to the hotel and walked around a bit. We are staying just for the night at the hotel in Nanny Cay. We saw our boat, Wavelength, in the harbor took. She becomes ours for the week tomorrow at noonish- we’re on island time though so you never know!

Our WiFi is very spotty so please be patient with me! I will update the blog as often as possible 🙂

Day 30: Antigua to Atlanta - Home

We left Antigua and headed home on Saturday.  I have to say I COULDN'T WAIT to sleep in my own bed!!!  My grandparents met us at the international arrivals terminal in the airport and I think they may have been more excited than we were to be home (my grandmother just about jumped the rope to take a picture of us coming out with all of our luggage)!

No question, we are all happy to be home.  However, all of us had an amazing time on this trip and I, for one, am surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  I could easily spend a few weeks in my own bed, restock on books, check in with a few friends, update songs on my i-touch, and head back out there for a few more weeks.  All of us feel that way.  All in all, Raindrops was a great boat and we were sad to leave her tied up at the marina so that we could head home to Atlanta.

Being together on the sailboat for a month was an amazing experience that none of us will ever forget.  Grant, Lindsay and I went from not really having a clue how to sail to being able to hoist the sail on our own and pick up a mooring ball or drop anchor in a bay independently.  We went from being a little nervous about traveling to foreign countries to being able to jump into the dinghy upon arriving at a French island and going ashore (without our parents) to get a pain chocolat.  We sailed through two pretty serious storms and we all overcame our fears by dealing with the huge waves, reefing sails in a rain storm, and being 30 nautical miles off shore and out of sight of any land.  We had studied our knots before leaving Atlanta, but now any of us could tie a bowline blindfolded.  We've chartered sailboats as a family before, but this was the first time we kids were expected to help sail, navigate, anchor, communicate, provision, and help take care of all that must be done while living at sea.

We all grew in our own ways.  I for one went from feeling like I wanted to puke every minute to finding my favorite spot on the boat under the mainsail and riding through the big waves or taking the helm and holding our course.  And I mastered the laundromat (in a foreign country) which certainly means that I can handle laundry when I head off to college.  Grant went from not knowing the difference between a jib sheet and a main sheet (whoops - big difference) to being able to hoist the sail, reef the sail and furl the jib totally solo.  Lindsay went from being completely freaked out to even get in the water at Stingray City to diving under the water with her snorkel gear to follow sea turtles and pick up starfish...not to mention being able to drive the dinghy by herself.

Mom and Dad were experienced sailors, but they had never sailed for a month like this before. Mom went from being a little nervous about communicating over the VHF to calling the Basseterre Marina and coordinating our arrival completely in French (well, at least it sounded enough like French that they got the idea).  And she was really freaked out about reefing while underway until she reefed the sail in 25 knots of wind in a major storm on our way to Guadeloupe (and she learned not to try that in a storm again!).

Dad knew about this stuff coming into the trip - - but even he became a better sailor and more knowledgeable about boating.  Dad went from knowing enough about basic boat maintenance to changing the impeller on the starboard engine -- I guess that's something a lot of boat owners wouldn't even attempt on their own, we later discovered.  And more importantly, he went from always trying to maintain our fast, demanding schedule to chilling out a bit, slowing down and spending more time in each port so we could really experience and enjoy it (I think that happened when we finally got to Pigeon Island, Guadeloupe and decided just to stay put for a few days).

The best thing about our trip was the people.  We learned so much from them.  Both the people on the boats that we met who live aboard their sailboats and homeschool from there and the people we met who live on the islands.  From the live-aboard boaters, we learned that people can have very different lives and school experiences than we do - not everybody grows up going to big public schools with a million different activities, taking crazy challenging AP classes, and worrying about SAT prep.  Yet they still aspire to go to great colleges and pursue laudable professions when they graduate.  They are just going about it all in a different way than we are.  They had such strong family bonds and really enjoyed being together.

And from the natives that we met in the countries - it was really incredible to hear about how proud they are of their heritage and their nations.  George, Percy, Neil, Eugene and Titus were fantastic and we would not have really developed an understanding of the culture without meeting and hanging out with them.   And the two high school boys that we met who were so thrilled to practice their English by talking to us and so excited that we were Americans.  But I think I loved meeting the little boy in Customs in Barbuda the best.

I know that this was the trip of a lifetime and we probably may never have another family trip where the five of us get away for a whole month.  Even if Mom and Dad could get away for that long, Grant, Lindsay and I are so involved in school and activities that I can't imagine we will be able to pull this off again.  But, I'm really glad that we were able to make this happen this year.

I'm not really sure who is reading this blog.  We did the blog to keep some people from panicking while we were away just sort of as a way of checking in (for my grandparents, mainly) and for those who couldn't imagine spending a month living on a boat.  In the end I think it will be a good way to preserve our memories as we can go back to the first few days and re-live it all over again.

Anyway, whoever you are, thanks for following along.

That's all for now...

Standing by on 06.
Raindrops.

Day 28: Antigua - our last sail day :(

Happy 4th of July!!!  It is strange to be in a country where no one celebrates the 4th.  To them it is just another day.  We are hoping to catch fireworks on the TV tonight.

We had to have the boat in by noon today.  But first we had to clear back into customs and refill fuel and water.  We picked up a mooring buoy right outside of customs that was right next to our friends from Switzerland (the ones with little Nino).  They saw us coming in and took a ton of pictures of us grabbing the mooring ball and waving to them from our boat.  They gave us the pictures,  so I will have to try to post them later once we get home (I can't do it from mom's phone).  At least we did a pretty good job - I must say it was our best one yet.  The harbor guys must maintain these moorings really well, because even the mooring line was wrapped nicely on the top off the ball to keep it out of the water so it doesn't get all cruddy in the salt water.

Mom and Dad had to clear customs, immigration and port authority for the last time.  It always takes seemingly forever.  We hung out on the boat and talked to Nino on Four Winds about race cars over the VHF.  He is so cute and still switches between French and English mud sentence.  I wish I had learned a second language at that age - pretty cool.

After customs we headed to the fuel dock.  Things always get a bit stressful around here when we are under a time crunch - at this point it was about 11:50 and the fuel dock closes at 12.  Somebody had pulled up their little dinghy along side the big dock, so we had to hover and wait for them before we could pull up.  The cross winds were a bit crazy and Dad was not about to screw up docking right in front of the charter guys.  He has become a great driver using the two engines and we just waited until the dinghy and another sailboat pulled out.  We had the lines and fenders ready and arrived at the dock pretty much looking like pros, if I might say so myself.  Other people on other boats were staring at us as Grant, Lindsay and I tied the lines, fixed the fenders and tossed the fuel guys the lines as we pulled in gracefully.  I think they were supposed to see kids doing all of that by ourselves. 

Eugene was there to meet us as the fuel dock.  He drove Raindrops back to her slip which was a good thing because that looked pretty complicated to me.  He has barking out instructions like tie a bowline on each of the dock lines, get a spring line ready, move the fenders to the starboard side....and I think he was pretty impressed when the three of us did all of that and Mom and Dad just kind of stood by and smiled.  I think they were pretty proud of all of us.

Eugene thanked Dad profusely for being so competent mechanically.  I think he was so grateful that Dad was able to do things like fix the engine impeller, fix the jib roller furling and rewire the electrical panel - gosh after saying all of that, who wouldn't be!

The charter company people Jackie and Al were happy to see us return safely and told us it felt like eons ago that we left.  We decided we felt like it's been about two weeks not four.  Another charter boat came in having been out for 5 days - it was a group of 4 men and they just couldn't believe that we had really been out for a month. One guy actually asked Mom if we did laundry and how we packed for that long.  She joked and told him no one has laundry facilities anywhere so we had to pack tons of stuff, then explained she was kidding and that we had packed for about a week and then did laundry - he was pretty clueless.  Of course people outside of the US do laundry, too.

It is starting to feel like we've been gone longer when we start thinking about friends and family that we miss at home.  Dad had arranged for a little golf cart for us to use tonight.  It was a cute little blue amped up golf cart with enough seats for all of us.  Mom, Linz and I made several trips to get our luggage to our little villa where we will stay tonight (the same one we were in before we got the boat).   The first thing we did when we got to the condo was make ice cubes and turn on the AC!!!  Simple things are so exciting now!

We invited our friends to the villa for a drink and then went for pizza.  The villa is on the edge of the harbor, so it was pretty cool that they could just arrive by dinghy.  We found the Macy's New York fireworks on tv.  Mom was so tired and so excited to sleep in a real bed that she went to bed early, but the rest of us managed to stay up for at least a little of it.  Wondering what happened with the guy who flew a drone onto the fireworks...we haven't been able to find out what happened with that yet. 

Our Internet connection is really spotty here so hoping to get this posted before we leave.  We will post more pictures and hopefully video to our blog when we get home.

Thanks for following along!

Here are the pictures of us picking up a mooring ball in Jolly Harbor...