Saturday Jan 17th 2009 7:33 am AST Joyce just left for the start of her Padi Dive Instructor course. For the next 10 days she will be putting in 10 + hr days to pass the course. She has been studying hard for the last few weeks. There is enough course material onboard to bring the waterline down a few inches. For the next few days I am going to rest up and see if I can get my back hips and shoulders happy after the Battery Olympics last week. I might have saved some $$$$ over the years, but it has taken a toll on the old body. I have a list of boat chores, but they will be lost for a few days.
We had dinner over at Phil's boat Thur night, We planned out the next 4-5 months. We will be buddy boating down the islands to Grenada, where Phil will sail over to Trinidad while we get hauled in Grenada. We will then meet in Margarita. Joyce plans on using Joanna and I as her 1st students. We both need a refresher course before diving on a regular basis. We will meet up with Joanna and Phil in the VI's right before Joyce flys back to Ft Lauderdale for her final exams. That is all for now,,,back to doing nothing...Capt Paul
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Battery Olympics
Sunday Jan 11 8:30 am AST It has been a busy 4-5 days. We left St Croix Tue AM for Vieques in the Spanish Virgins. This group of islands between St Thomas and Puerto Rico are rarely seen by most. They are an easy sail from any of the Virgins but getting back to St Thomas is a nasty motor into the 15-20 knt trade winds. I was here 15 yrs ago before fuel was 3-4 dollars a gallon. Now even the Puerto Rican's think twice before motoring over...except the weekends. Our 1st anchorage on the south coast was a beautiful spot behind a small island.
The beach was to die for..and only 3 other boats.
If this was in the BVI's we would have shared this spot with 50 damn charter boats and would be up all night fending them off as their anchor dragged. So the BVI's are off my cruising destinations and the Spanish Virgins are in.
The purpouse of our trip over was to replace 2-3 of our batteries that we have replaced back in October...free from Sam's Club. Back in 06 I needed a new set of batteries...either the cheap way...$950 at Sam's for a dozen deep cycle marine batteries or bite the bullet and go for the $2,500 Rolls priemum batteries.I had gone the Sam's route. 12 months later they were starting to fail...and damn Sams gave me a new set FREE under the 1 yr warranty. Last January on our way back from the Keys, we replaced them again under protest but under warranty. The flunkies in the tire and battery Dept hooked up this fancy battery tester and informed me that they were fine. I explained to them the only way to test a battery was with a hydrometer, which tests the specific gravith of the battery acid. Well they didn't have one so we walked next door to the Walmart , bought one for .88 cents and proceded to show the manager how to test a battery. $21.50 later we hauled our 12 new batteries back to the boat. If you followed last yrs cruise, you will remember my discovery of equaliztion of batteries. This where one slightly overcharges the battery to burn off the sulfate on the plates. Without equalization one can kill a set of batteries in a few months. Since we are going to be out of the US for 2 yrs I had decided to kill our new set by not equalizing them last fall. After the boat show we returned to Baltimore for our last provisioning and to get a new set under warranty. No problem ...Sam's was more than happy to replace them. We had called around to all the Sam's in Baltimore to find one with 12 of the proper size. To save my back..and well Joyces too, we had Troy do the heavy lifting. Back to the persent..... I had noticed while Joyce was back in the US skiing, I had noticed that even with equalization this set was loosing capicity. Looking back to Baltimore I remember that several of the batteries were old,...they put a sticker indicating the date of manufacture. 3 or 4 were 10 months old. My thought that these were bad an pulling the whole set down. On the way to Vieques we had equalized and checked each of the 144 cells with the hydrometer. Damn even after equalization all had some bad cells. So now we are asking Sam's for another dozen batteries 3 months after the last set. We check into the marina..$ 110 bucks a night and start calling the various Sam's in Puerto Rico. They speak spanish here...remember how we have to have everything in english and spanish in the US. Pisses me off that these residents of the US are not required to learn and speak our language and that our "government" cows down to them. Let me let you on to a little secret...there are no English signs, few people speak English, and Puerto Rico is part of the US. Where is our wonderful government now...well Joyce's Spanish was enough to find out that they had only 8 of the required 12 and that we would have to go to 2 stores to get all 12. It took us all day to get the dozen new batteries. In the US, all Sams have Energizer batteries, down here they have Interstate, a better(I hope) and $21 bucks more...so down $240 dollars we head back to the boat, tip the dock boy $20 bucks to get the batteries from the car to the cart to the boat and most of the way down below. This still requires Joyce and I to move these; way over my lifting limit into the box and down on my hands and knees to position them.
One still has to play the battery jigsaw puzzle to get them all in the box. Then hook up all the cables without touching an odd post ore wiring them backwards....in Europe red is + while black is -, just the opposite of the US...damn FRENCH. by 8 pm we had them all hooked up and on the charger for a nights charge and equalization. My back was already in protest. We were up (painfully for me, this was going to be a percocet momenet...well for the next few days for sure) early to make 1 last run to the market, get propane( while we had the car...2 tanks ..heavy) and turn the car in. Since it was the weekend ...Enterprise was closed and I had to take the Jeep back to some fancy hotel up on the hill..that took an hr and a half. We finally headed for Vieques to meet up with Phil my Britt friend. He had left Ft Lauderdale 10 days earlier and was having a nasty motor into 10-20 knots all the way down from the States. We Anchored in Sun Bay on Viegues and waited for Phil in this beautiful bay with only 7-8 other boats
Phil didn't arrive till 3am...and with the wind down to 10 knots decided to keep motoring on to St Thomas 27 miles to the east. He called at 9:30 AM saying he wad banging into 15+ knots doing 3- 3 1/2 knots. We hoisted the hook and headed to St Thomas.The wind shifted and we were able to motorsail between 5-6.5 knots ariving and getting the hook down before Phil made it into the anchorage
.They (Phil and his crew) came over for fajhites and Rum. Lots of rum..for my back pain...
A fun time was had by all..The last time I saw Phil down here on his boat was the spring of 05.
His new bride arrives Wed to cruise the Islands with us for the next 6 months. While cruising, one never says gooodbye..only till we see you again at some other anchorage.Welcome back Phil and Joanna.
The beach was to die for..and only 3 other boats.If this was in the BVI's we would have shared this spot with 50 damn charter boats and would be up all night fending them off as their anchor dragged. So the BVI's are off my cruising destinations and the Spanish Virgins are in.The purpouse of our trip over was to replace 2-3 of our batteries that we have replaced back in October...free from Sam's Club. Back in 06 I needed a new set of batteries...either the cheap way...$950 at Sam's for a dozen deep cycle marine batteries or bite the bullet and go for the $2,500 Rolls priemum batteries.I had gone the Sam's route. 12 months later they were starting to fail...and damn Sams gave me a new set FREE under the 1 yr warranty. Last January on our way back from the Keys, we replaced them again under protest but under warranty. The flunkies in the tire and battery Dept hooked up this fancy battery tester and informed me that they were fine. I explained to them the only way to test a battery was with a hydrometer, which tests the specific gravith of the battery acid. Well they didn't have one so we walked next door to the Walmart , bought one for .88 cents and proceded to show the manager how to test a battery. $21.50 later we hauled our 12 new batteries back to the boat. If you followed last yrs cruise, you will remember my discovery of equaliztion of batteries. This where one slightly overcharges the battery to burn off the sulfate on the plates. Without equalization one can kill a set of batteries in a few months. Since we are going to be out of the US for 2 yrs I had decided to kill our new set by not equalizing them last fall. After the boat show we returned to Baltimore for our last provisioning and to get a new set under warranty. No problem ...Sam's was more than happy to replace them. We had called around to all the Sam's in Baltimore to find one with 12 of the proper size. To save my back..and well Joyces too, we had Troy do the heavy lifting. Back to the persent..... I had noticed while Joyce was back in the US skiing, I had noticed that even with equalization this set was loosing capicity. Looking back to Baltimore I remember that several of the batteries were old,...they put a sticker indicating the date of manufacture. 3 or 4 were 10 months old. My thought that these were bad an pulling the whole set down. On the way to Vieques we had equalized and checked each of the 144 cells with the hydrometer. Damn even after equalization all had some bad cells. So now we are asking Sam's for another dozen batteries 3 months after the last set. We check into the marina..$ 110 bucks a night and start calling the various Sam's in Puerto Rico. They speak spanish here...remember how we have to have everything in english and spanish in the US. Pisses me off that these residents of the US are not required to learn and speak our language and that our "government" cows down to them. Let me let you on to a little secret...there are no English signs, few people speak English, and Puerto Rico is part of the US. Where is our wonderful government now...well Joyce's Spanish was enough to find out that they had only 8 of the required 12 and that we would have to go to 2 stores to get all 12. It took us all day to get the dozen new batteries. In the US, all Sams have Energizer batteries, down here they have Interstate, a better(I hope) and $21 bucks more...so down $240 dollars we head back to the boat, tip the dock boy $20 bucks to get the batteries from the car to the cart to the boat and most of the way down below. This still requires Joyce and I to move these; way over my lifting limit into the box and down on my hands and knees to position them.
One still has to play the battery jigsaw puzzle to get them all in the box. Then hook up all the cables without touching an odd post ore wiring them backwards....in Europe red is + while black is -, just the opposite of the US...damn FRENCH. by 8 pm we had them all hooked up and on the charger for a nights charge and equalization. My back was already in protest. We were up (painfully for me, this was going to be a percocet momenet...well for the next few days for sure) early to make 1 last run to the market, get propane( while we had the car...2 tanks ..heavy) and turn the car in. Since it was the weekend ...Enterprise was closed and I had to take the Jeep back to some fancy hotel up on the hill..that took an hr and a half. We finally headed for Vieques to meet up with Phil my Britt friend. He had left Ft Lauderdale 10 days earlier and was having a nasty motor into 10-20 knots all the way down from the States. We Anchored in Sun Bay on Viegues and waited for Phil in this beautiful bay with only 7-8 other boatsPhil didn't arrive till 3am...and with the wind down to 10 knots decided to keep motoring on to St Thomas 27 miles to the east. He called at 9:30 AM saying he wad banging into 15+ knots doing 3- 3 1/2 knots. We hoisted the hook and headed to St Thomas.The wind shifted and we were able to motorsail between 5-6.5 knots ariving and getting the hook down before Phil made it into the anchorage.They (Phil and his crew) came over for fajhites and Rum. Lots of rum..for my back pain...A fun time was had by all..The last time I saw Phil down here on his boat was the spring of 05. His new bride arrives Wed to cruise the Islands with us for the next 6 months. While cruising, one never says gooodbye..only till we see you again at some other anchorage.Welcome back Phil and Joanna.Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Puerto Rico
Just a quick note...we are sailing to PR this morning. We met with my instructor late yesterday...and from now until the end of January, I will be studying when I'm not diving! We will be back in St Croix (and have internet for sure) on the 16th for my formal classes! And speaking of diving...I haven't been able to get many pictures from under the water recently...so I've somewhat taken to enjoying what is above...
Just thought I'd share a few clouds over St Croix...
And the sunrise as we were sailing into St Croix....
Just thought I'd share a few clouds over St Croix...
And the sunrise as we were sailing into St Croix....Saturday, January 3, 2009
An Up To Date...
lle Fourchue from Colombier Bay...St Bart's...St Martin can be seen in the far distance.
From Colombier Bay, St Barts....a rainbow ....
lle Fourchue...masts in the middle where the protected anchorage is.
This is where we are (were)....Gustavia Harbor, St Barthelemy, French West Indies. 
And these are the only planes that can land on the dinky airport on the other side of the hill! So there are maybe 15-20 flights a day in and out!
The map below shows the nature reserve areas...and yes, the map is in French. Some say that visiting the French West Indies...is just like, well just like visiting France...even down to the 220v. So just for a moment...I will give you my "aside"...my observations...about visiting "France". When in St Martin, we took a taxi from the French side to the airport (to get my luggage) and the taxi driver (who was an islander AND French) told us that the "French" were notorious for wanting something for nothing. He told us this after a gentleman flagged him down...the taxi driver pulled over and the gentleman proceeded to tell him in French why he should have a ride and not pay the taxi driver anything. Another taxi ride was a shared taxi with a French gentleman...yes, they do know...they do have the best pastries in the world...and they are very proud of that...even the French West Indies. I was VERY impressed with one taxi driver when in a traffic jam (which are constant in Merigot) he turned the radio on to a talk channel - and the talk channel was about the POLITICS of the island...THAT was pretty cool...I enjoyed listening to what struggles they are having (one of which is illegal immigration and one is with their health care system and the illegals taxing their system)! When I was in the airport in line at customs and immigration...a French couple were behind me. They were speaking in English about how awful the French work ethic and therefore their customer service was...perhaps that is why they live and work in Korea...AND why they were vacationing on the Dutch side. And, then to St Barts - there just doesn't seem "to be a clue" with those locals that we came into contact with (the bartender - see below, the grocery store checkout persons, the retail clerks) ...nor do they seem to care...I found it very interesting...but enough of that...and now my "aside" aside...on to more of St Barts.....
We went into town and took a walk...I wanted to walk to the other side of the little inlet/anchorage area to see the dive shop.
We got around to the end of the inlet and Paul's hips had had enough from the very bumpy dingy ride (too many tenders from too many boats making too many trips into town)...so he stopped and had a few beers...one of his least favorite things to do!!! He asked the bartender about the New Year's Eve Regatta Race that we had read about the previous day in a beautiful, very well done tourist magazine, and he did not know anything about it...then he said...maybe it was New Years Day.... 
Anyway, I went for a walk to see what I could find...
up the hill...
down the hill...got some pictures...
From the top of the hill...Saba in the background....back to Paul...and back to the boat...
This is not looking into the city of Gustavia at night...but looking out into the harbor anchorage...a floating city of its own...
We had to eat here one afternoon...famous from Jimmy Buffet and Cheeseburger stuff...
New Years Eve day morning...we waited in the cockpit all morning watching a few dingys bring crew out for the New Years Eve Regatta...but it turned out to be a non-event...
at least as far as we were concerned. Perhaps it was a timed event only as there was no rush for the starting line...and...no "hoopla" when they returned...there were only 6 sailboats that participated.
The magazine that we read had really made it out to be a grand event....
Of course I did enjoy getting some pictures of the sailboats in the "race"...as they sailed through the anchored boats and then tacked back out...
Beautiful boats (not the 100 footers the magazine had said would be racing but there were 65-75 footers)....but...perhaps that was why the bartender didn't know anything???? Not worth the hype we gave it (or the hype that the magazine gave it)!! We did enjoy the fireworks at midnight New Years Eve at St Barts...set off from the fort above town...and then all of the horns...every boat has a horn that sounds different...and that went on for half an hour or so! On the first we relaxed...and on the second...went into St Barts...
in the morning for one last baguette run (two) before heading out in the afternoon. Wind on the stern...so we sailed wing and wing...very rolly (neither of us slept well when not on "watch")...and a bit too fast...so this morning we had to slow down so we would arrive at St Croix in the morning daylight because of the reefs surrounding the island. 
We fueled up and watered up (I'm sure Paul will blog on the watermaker later) and are now anchored off of the main downtown area of Christiansted.
We are "gleening" internet from a local hotel (thank you very much) and
THIS is our seven o'clock wake up call! I have called my PADI Scuba IDC (Instructor Development Course) instructor and we will be meeting with her on Monday evening making sure I have everything I need when we return on the 16th of January for my 7 days of intense training!!! I'm excited but nervous!! Tentative plans: Tuesday sail to St Johns - Lamshur Bay to clean the bottom...then to St Thomas late Wednesday or Thursday to meet up with some friends. Although even these tentative plans...are, well, tentative as this morning we are considering cleaning the bottom here in Christiansted...then heading to Puerto Rico so we can go to Sam's (yes, the same Sam's Club that are in the U.S.) so Paul can exchange some batteries...and maybe meeting friends there as he needs batteries too...so stay tuned...
From Colombier Bay, St Barts....a rainbow .... lle Fourchue...masts in the middle where the protected anchorage is.This is where we are (were)....Gustavia Harbor, St Barthelemy, French West Indies. And these are the only planes that can land on the dinky airport on the other side of the hill! So there are maybe 15-20 flights a day in and out!The map below shows the nature reserve areas...and yes, the map is in French. Some say that visiting the French West Indies...is just like, well just like visiting France...even down to the 220v. So just for a moment...I will give you my "aside"...my observations...about visiting "France". When in St Martin, we took a taxi from the French side to the airport (to get my luggage) and the taxi driver (who was an islander AND French) told us that the "French" were notorious for wanting something for nothing. He told us this after a gentleman flagged him down...the taxi driver pulled over and the gentleman proceeded to tell him in French why he should have a ride and not pay the taxi driver anything. Another taxi ride was a shared taxi with a French gentleman...yes, they do know...they do have the best pastries in the world...and they are very proud of that...even the French West Indies. I was VERY impressed with one taxi driver when in a traffic jam (which are constant in Merigot) he turned the radio on to a talk channel - and the talk channel was about the POLITICS of the island...THAT was pretty cool...I enjoyed listening to what struggles they are having (one of which is illegal immigration and one is with their health care system and the illegals taxing their system)! When I was in the airport in line at customs and immigration...a French couple were behind me. They were speaking in English about how awful the French work ethic and therefore their customer service was...perhaps that is why they live and work in Korea...AND why they were vacationing on the Dutch side. And, then to St Barts - there just doesn't seem "to be a clue" with those locals that we came into contact with (the bartender - see below, the grocery store checkout persons, the retail clerks) ...nor do they seem to care...I found it very interesting...but enough of that...and now my "aside" aside...on to more of St Barts.....
We went into town and took a walk...I wanted to walk to the other side of the little inlet/anchorage area to see the dive shop.We got around to the end of the inlet and Paul's hips had had enough from the very bumpy dingy ride (too many tenders from too many boats making too many trips into town)...so he stopped and had a few beers...one of his least favorite things to do!!! He asked the bartender about the New Year's Eve Regatta Race that we had read about the previous day in a beautiful, very well done tourist magazine, and he did not know anything about it...then he said...maybe it was New Years Day.... Anyway, I went for a walk to see what I could find...up the hill...down the hill...got some pictures...From the top of the hill...Saba in the background....back to Paul...and back to the boat...We had to eat here one afternoon...famous from Jimmy Buffet and Cheeseburger stuff...New Years Eve day morning...we waited in the cockpit all morning watching a few dingys bring crew out for the New Years Eve Regatta...but it turned out to be a non-event...at least as far as we were concerned. Perhaps it was a timed event only as there was no rush for the starting line...and...no "hoopla" when they returned...there were only 6 sailboats that participated. The magazine that we read had really made it out to be a grand event....Of course I did enjoy getting some pictures of the sailboats in the "race"...as they sailed through the anchored boats and then tacked back out...Beautiful boats (not the 100 footers the magazine had said would be racing but there were 65-75 footers)....but...perhaps that was why the bartender didn't know anything???? Not worth the hype we gave it (or the hype that the magazine gave it)!! We did enjoy the fireworks at midnight New Years Eve at St Barts...set off from the fort above town...and then all of the horns...every boat has a horn that sounds different...and that went on for half an hour or so! On the first we relaxed...and on the second...went into St Barts... in the morning for one last baguette run (two) before heading out in the afternoon. Wind on the stern...so we sailed wing and wing...very rolly (neither of us slept well when not on "watch")...and a bit too fast...so this morning we had to slow down so we would arrive at St Croix in the morning daylight because of the reefs surrounding the island. We fueled up and watered up (I'm sure Paul will blog on the watermaker later) and are now anchored off of the main downtown area of Christiansted. We are "gleening" internet from a local hotel (thank you very much) andTHIS is our seven o'clock wake up call! I have called my PADI Scuba IDC (Instructor Development Course) instructor and we will be meeting with her on Monday evening making sure I have everything I need when we return on the 16th of January for my 7 days of intense training!!! I'm excited but nervous!! Tentative plans: Tuesday sail to St Johns - Lamshur Bay to clean the bottom...then to St Thomas late Wednesday or Thursday to meet up with some friends. Although even these tentative plans...are, well, tentative as this morning we are considering cleaning the bottom here in Christiansted...then heading to Puerto Rico so we can go to Sam's (yes, the same Sam's Club that are in the U.S.) so Paul can exchange some batteries...and maybe meeting friends there as he needs batteries too...so stay tuned...St Barts
Tue Dec 30th 2008 St Barts 11:13 am We left Marigot Saturday morning with a weather forcast of the winds dropping under 15 knots for the 1st time since Joyce came home. Our intention was to sail around the island to Orient Bay (nudie Beach) to dive on the bottom and check the bow thruster seal leak. As we cleared the breakwater we were hit with 25-30 with gusts over 35. Damn....we motor-sailed.... till we made the turn at the north of the island and sailed into the bay. Waves of 10-12ft were breaking on the reef on both sides of the entrance...way too bumpy at both anchorages so we set sail for El Fourche an extinct volcano where you can anchor in the cone, the front protecting you from the wind and waves. This is now a nature park, they have moorings down, but all were taken so we sailed on to Colombier Bay on St Bart. We motored in past the moored boats close to the beach where the roll was minimal. Monday morning we equalized the batteries a little and did 2 loads of laundry. After lunch we motored around the point toward the entrance to the harbor of Gustavia. To my surprise there were a hundred or so boats many mega yachts both power and sail.
Seems St Barts is famous for its New Years Eve Regatta...and I thought Jost van Dyke in the BVI's was the place to be on New Years.
All the rich and famous must be here...
Here is one ship with 2 helos..bow and stern...
Check out this schooner...a tri.
Have never seen something like this.
We call this the Russian Spy ship.
We dinked in after 2pm......$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ everywhere.
We dodged a few rain squalls, checked out the town , bought dinner...french baguette, brie, salami and wine and went back to the boat. Once the sun went down, on came the anchor light and spreader lights on the big sailboats. Seems when your mast is X feet tall, one must display a red light rather than white....so the airplanes don't hit you. I think we counted 7 or 8 red mast lights on one side alone, one with 6 spreaders. The St Barts race takes place tomorrow morning. It's for boats over 100 feet. The record time around the island is just over 1 1/2 hrs. That is moving....hopefully we will get some pics. There is no internet out here in the anchorage so we will have to go in and find an internet cafe...Happy New Year.
Seems St Barts is famous for its New Years Eve Regatta...and I thought Jost van Dyke in the BVI's was the place to be on New Years.
All the rich and famous must be here...
Here is one ship with 2 helos..bow and stern...
Check out this schooner...a tri.
Have never seen something like this.
We call this the Russian Spy ship.
We dinked in after 2pm......$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ everywhere.
We dodged a few rain squalls, checked out the town , bought dinner...french baguette, brie, salami and wine and went back to the boat. Once the sun went down, on came the anchor light and spreader lights on the big sailboats. Seems when your mast is X feet tall, one must display a red light rather than white....so the airplanes don't hit you. I think we counted 7 or 8 red mast lights on one side alone, one with 6 spreaders. The St Barts race takes place tomorrow morning. It's for boats over 100 feet. The record time around the island is just over 1 1/2 hrs. That is moving....hopefully we will get some pics. There is no internet out here in the anchorage so we will have to go in and find an internet cafe...Happy New Year.
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