The last day on the Island Bear

We were delighted to find ourselves docked right next to NEXUS another Nordhavn trawler at Village Cay marina (The marina was our safe harbor from the chaos of the previous day).

The NEXUS is the trawler that we had admired in Great Harbor earlier in the week.

The owners, Larry and DeeDee Biggs, are charming and gracious cruisers from Florida who have been out for a year. They are traveling with their 4-year-old daughter, Isabella (who is being home schooled). They insisted that we come aboard for a detailed tour of their boat. This invitation made the previous day’s peril seem worthwhile as it “blew” us into making their acquaintance.

Their boat is spectacular (all the conveniences of an upscale home along with lots of back up systems). Even though it is only 47’ long, it felt as big as our AZ house after living in this 36’ sailboat for the past 6 weeks! They have a watermaker and they use as much water in a day as we did the entire time we were on the Island Bear! Larry mentioned that he filled many a water tank for thirsty sailboats over the past year.

They have a great web site (http://www.nexus47.com/) where they have a log of their experiences and a lot of details about their boat. Meanwhile, they are on their way to Florida and provisioning for a trip through the Panama Canal and up to Alaska. They promised to look us up when they are in Phoenix in April and we made plans to meet them in the Baja Peninsula in March.

Then it was back out to the wind and waves for the final run into Maya Cove. Along the way, we saw another very large sea turtle sunning himself among the swells.

MJ enjoyed the trip stationed at the very front of the boat experiencing the fun of a “roller coaster/log flume ride.” Emily was trying to gain the last bits toward the “perfect tan” and was precariously positioned under the mainsail having to shift from one side of the boat to the other (following the heel of the boat) and even had to hook her toes on the lifeline during some of the tacks.

Once we docked, it was a short process (you can’t fit a lot of stuff in a 36’ boat) to empty the boat, clean it up, turn it in, and to relocate our bags up three flights to our hotel room.

It actually was a bit difficult to sleep. We kept expecting that the bed would rock gently (or violently - as so often happened on the boat!). Lara found the air conditioning loud, too cold and just plain distracting. Finally, she opened the balcony door hoping that the breeze would help her make the transition to sleeping on land. This only drew her up from the bed and back to the docks.

She walked barefoot back down to the docks and tried to soak up the sights, sounds and smells of the Ocean, the dock and the boats – burning this adventure to memory.

This experience (we can’t call it a vacation as there was too much work involved) was all we hoped it would be and would not have traded a single moment of our adventure.

Final Tally

Miles Traveled: Just over 500
Diesel Fuel Consumed: 51 gallons
Potable Water Consumed: 180 gallons
Propane Tanks Exhausted: 1
Drinking Water Consumed (purchased as 1 gallon containers): 49
Bottles of Sun Tan Lotion: 6
Grocery Bill: $420
Repairs: Replaced Water Pump, Bilge Pump, VHF antenna, front fresh water tank, hatch leaks, dinghy
Weight Loss: Jim 22 lbs, Lara - One dress size
Books Read: Jim and Lara – Stopped counting after 20
MJ and Emily– More than 10
Dinners eaten on shore while underway: 3
Islands Visited: Tortola, Norman, Jost Van Dyke, Salt, Guana, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Marina Cay, Beef, Cooper, St Johns, St. Thomas, Great St. James, Buck, Saba, Culebra, Culebrita, Vieques, San Felipe, Puerto Rico

Marriages Strengthened: 1 (Priceless!)