Back in the USVI!

Photos:
1. Morning in Bahia Salinas del Sur with rusting tanks and trucks on the hill.
2. Lara's normal fishing pose.
3. A large island (Cayo Conejo) guarding yet another deserted anchorage on Vieques.

Back in the Virgin Islands! While we certainly enjoyed the adventure of sailing to Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands, we are glad to be back in the US/B Virgin Islands where the weather is a LOT calmer and the water is about 4° warmer.

On our last night in Vieques we stayed in a deserted bay on the east end of the island. This is the part that was a Naval bombing range until a couple of years ago. There are still wrecked tanks and trucks on the hillsides that were obviously targets. The coral is also in pretty bad shape (high explosives will do that). When we snorkeled at Blue Tang Beach we actually saw a number of craters in the bottom of the bay. It made us a little nervous about anchoring! As far as we could tell we were the only boat and the only human beings there. I was beginning to feel as though I was in an episode of “LOST” with the overgrown vegetation and tanks and trucks from the 1950’s. Creepy.

Actually, it was getting a bit spooky for us. We had not seen anyone else for a few days. NO ONE. NO boats, not people in these huge bays – miles of shoreline and no one but good old Jim and Lara. The mosquitoes were almost welcome company.

We were keeping a close eye on the weather reports and it looked like Monday (Dec. 11th) was going to be the “window” we were waiting for. Typically, we would have gone into the beach bar and chatted with the local sailors to gain a sense from those familiar with the area and the weather. Unfortunately there were no beach bars and the “locals” either had scales or feathers (or were busily sucking our blood).

Just to make sure of Plan A (actually, we had Plans B through Q mapped out as well…), we called a couple of local charter captains to make sure we weren’t being reckless. To quote one of them, “it sounds like you’re in over your heads”…Inspiring but not helpful. That comment prompted us to call our old friend (the SunSail provided Captain from our first week, who gave us his number), Captain Neil. The satellite phone sure came in handy once again (although the wind howling in the mouth piece made it difficult as well as trying to the antenna pointed to southern sky with the boat spinning around the anchor).

Captain Neil suggested that we button up the boat, hoist the mainsail in the safety of the harbor and make a run for it! If the boat is getting beat up too terribly he recommended that we have alternate harbors planned (hence Plans B through Q).

Lara was quite a bit more nervous than I about this. She kept muttering the phrase “Pray without ceasing…” to which I responded “Be anxious for nothing…” I’m not sure either one of us convinced the other! I am fairly sure that she did not sleep very much that night. The big bags under her eyes were a clue. We should have added some Valium to the medication kit!

When the morning dawned, the weather looked tolerable (10-15kt winds with 5-6’ seas). We were just pulling up the anchor, at a little before 7am, when we heard a car horn beeping on the beach (this is the beach with the no trespassing signs and where we had not seen a soul). Standing next to the car was a guy in slacks and a golf shirt (we thought he might be one of the “Others”) with a radio in his hand and leaning in the window to honk the horn at us. It was so out of place that it was a little weird.

I told Lara to stop hauling in the anchor (this is one of her many duties when getting underway) and I jumped in the dinghy to motor over to shore and find out what he wanted. I kept the motor running and made sure I was a safe distance from him, as I half expected him to tell me that I needed to stay and push a little button every 108 minutes…

When I got close enough he told me that the entire eastern end of the island was being “restricted” since they were getting ready to start explosive operations (clearing unexploded ordnance from the old bombing days). I told him that we were actually just leaving and he thanked me and we went our separate ways. Once we got out to sea we could look back and see a number of other trucks scattered around the hills (obviously part of the clearing operation). The process to clear the old bombing range will take many years and it will never be safe enough for development so it will probably always be a wildlife preserve.

Once we got around the eastern end of the island we encountered the only rough seas of the day. The swells from the Caribbean were coming in from one direction and meeting the swells from the Atlantic (another direction) and the wind swell (yet another direction). According to the weather report, the seas were “confused.” There was no rhythm to the large waves as they came from all kinds of directions.

Once we got far enough north to be out of the Caribbean swell and with the winds being fairly constant, we finally turned off the motor and sailed the last several hours into St. Thomas. It was glorious! We were grateful and Lara concluded her prayer vigil. The entire trip took us about 8 hours.

As soon as we anchored, Lara fell into an exhausted heap and slept for a few hours.

As we worked on this blog, Lara thought our first efforts were not entertaining enough. I had to tell her (from long personal experience) that near death experiences are rarely “funny.” It may take a few more days for us recall that night before the big passage fondly.

Tomorrow we are going to do laundry, re-fuel and re-water the boat and start working back to the British Virgin Islands. I’m still looking for that first edible fish…I may have to break down and force Lara to cook one of the dozens of Kingfish I’ve been catching…