Category: adventures

September 28, 2014

Cruising BVI: Peter Island

June 15th: Father’s Day 2014

What a perfect place to spend Father’s day! Although we are technically on Peter Island every day, this was our first time visiting the REAL Peter Island. With not many anchorages to choose from, we tucked into the less popular Little Harbour in an effort to distance ourselves from the giant fields of mooring balls and charter boats.

Almost no breeze enhanced the peacefulness of this quiet little bay where everything lay still. The lush hills reflected down into the green water.

We went for a swim and set off to explore.

Setting foot on Peter Island makes it official! We have arrived!

The water wasn’t as clear as we thought it would be, though it was cleaner than most bays and felt extremely refreshing. Just a few little fish shared their home with us that day since there wasn’t anywhere for them to hide on the East side of the bay.

We swam back to the boat and grabbed the paddle boards to explore a bit further.

A small structure sat at the shoreline. Inside, it was clearly built to be an outhouse some time ago. Behind the structure was a stairway leading up the hill. Peter and I pulled the iSUPs up on shore and began climbing, wearing only our thin water booties we had brought to help protect our feet from anything dangerous we might encounter.

The stairway took us about half way up the hillside where it looked like we had come to a dead end. Just then, Peter noticed a faint trail in the dirt that was carved out underneath a clearing in the branches. We kept climbing.

At the top of the hill we discovered an old deserted house. Grafitti covered the walls and roofing materials lay scattered on the ground. We took a quick look around and got out of there before the mosquitos could find us.

Back on the boat, we showered off, made some dinner and had a lovely evening relaxing and looking at up at the stars as we cuddled with Betsy and Gunner to celebrate Father’s Day. One he’ll never forget, we’re sure.

The next morning the resident barracuda came by the boat to introduce himself. They always look scarier up close.

Later in the morning we took our snorkel gear and paddle boards over to the Southwest side of the anchorage to see if the reefs were livelier, and that they were. Our underwater phone case wasn’t sealing properly that day so unfortunately the pictures didn’t turn out. We did see a few tarpon and just as we got back to the boat we saw a huge turtle swim away from her nest. Attached to her back was a remora, who also made the picture.

We had a beautiful time on Peter Island, but The Baths were calling our name. Next up: Photos from the famous Baths on Virgin Gorda!

We’re currently exploring the Grenadines as we wait out the rest of Hurricane season in the Southern end of the Caribbean. Send us a message…we’d love to hear from you!

September 12, 2014

Cruising BVI: Spelunking at The Bight

The Bight was our next stop after leaving Tortola. An anchorage that’s also home to the famous Willy T’s floating bar. Peter and I skipped the bar scene shenanigans but took the opportunity to visit the three caves located just a quick paddle to the West.

Only accessed by water, it proved to be another fun adventure that we were lucky to experience. Norman Island is said to have inspired the writing found in Treasure Island with tales of pirates, hidden bays and shipwrecks.

By taking the paddle boards, we got a little exercise on the way over to the caves and we didn’t have to bother with dropping the dinghy. We only planned on staying one night at Norman Island before continuing our island hop East so we preferred to leave the dinghy and motor secured on deck.

Our Tower iSUP’s also allowed us to explore these caves without having to SWIM into the dark unknown. Peter is practically a fish and has no fear so it didn’t matter much to him if we were snorkeling or paddling. If you’re like me, swimming at night or in water too murky to see around you is a sure-fire way to get the heebie-jeebies! There’s just something unnerving about DARK water. Even worse, dark water in a dark cave! I was shocked at just how dark it really got when we got way in there.

On the way home, the wind had picked up considerably and the current coming around the point made it quite challenging to remain standing. We had been forewarned about the current there but chose to take the challenge anyway. Paddling back around the point to The Bight is only recommended at slack tide, or be prepared for a serious workout!

Stay tuned for more adventures from BVI! We’re currently in Grenada waiting out the rest of Hurricane Season :) Leave us a comment, we’d love to hear from you!

September 9, 2014

Cruising BVI: Surprises at Sopers Hole

Soper’s Hole is a quaint little Marina tucked inside the West End of Tortola. It is also a regular ferry stop between USVI and BVI. We brought Mom and Bean to the ferry dock where they caught a ride back to the airport on St. Thomas during the first week of June.

It was a sad day filled with many tears. I didn’t want them to leave, and they didn’t want to go home. We are all grateful, however, that we had the opportunity to spend so much time together in paradise and it will be a trip remembered forever.

We pulled into the marina shortly after the ferry left to make some minor repairs, fill up our water and fuel tanks, and get a little rest. It amazes me more and more how lucky we are to be living this lifestyle. There’s nowhere we need to be at any particular time. We can stay up late watching movies on the laptop and sleep in as long as we want. There is always work to be done, but its on our schedule.

One morning Peter noticed a younger guy arriving at shore in his dinghy with a surfboard. He asked where he had just come from and we learned that just around the point is a surf spot called Apple Bay. It just so happened to be 3-5′ that day so Peter quickly grabbed the foam board off the deck and we hopped in our dinghy to go check it out.

Nothing spectacular, but Peter sure had fun checking out the local point break. He’s been itching for some big waves ever since we left San Diego. The conditions haven’t been right to break out one of his SIX epoxy boards in any of the places we’ve been so far. We’re hoping to find some good surf in Tobago or maybe even Barbados in the next few months!

Our next surprise was finding out that our slip was right next to some of the coolest guys we’ve met on our whole trip!

Tied up next to us was Indigo, a 61′ Fishing Charter boat owned and operated by Ocean Surfari out of USVI. The charter business is top notch and the crew members were incredibly friendly. Despite their busy preparations, we made fast friends with the crew talking about all-things-fishing into the late hours of the evening.

After all chores were done several days later, we had checked out of the Marina and prepared the boat for leaving. We had only intended on staying in Soper’s Hole for about a week but when we tried to leave, Peter discovered a major problem. We turned on the engine and Peter did a quick inspection in the engine room only to discover that our muffler had a significant leak. This was very discouraging since we thought our exhaust hose woes were behind us.

Realizing we were stuck, we let the Marina office know we would be there for at least a few more days. We picked up more shower tokens and a new WIFI password.

The Co-Founder of Ocean Surfari, Curt Richardson, happened to be visiting BVI with his family at the same time we were visiting Soper’s Hole Marina. His two sons, JC and Josh, arrived to stay aboard Indigo for a week and invited us out fishing with them several times. What a magnificent boat! Such a different feel to be out on the water on a boat like that after so many months of sailing around on our little boat that can only go 6 knots. Josh and JC are some of the kindest, most genuine, respectful, generous and fun people we have ever met. Despite the fact that we were stuck at the marina, we made some incredible memories that week!

Josh even hooked a 300lb shark on one of the fishing trips!

The enormous engines on Indigo made it easy for them to buzz over to the USVI to go lobster hunting. The guys returned with a monster catch…

We spent hours watching the bait fish swim by the bright Indigo-colored lights. Dozens of huge tarpon would circle around pushing the bait back and forth under the docks.

Mr. Richardson is also the Founder and Chairman of Otterbox. JC and Josh introduced us to one of their newest products – The Preserver. When Otterbox bought out Lifeproof, the technology was combined to create an unbelievably waterproof design. After sharing our Lifeproof success story and subsequent failures, we were thrilled to be able to sample these new cases that were so generously donated to our cause! The new Preserver case has allowed us to take some pretty great underwater pictures with our last remaining iPhone. We are looking forward to putting more Otterbox products to the test as we continue our adventures in the harsh marine environment.

During our stay in Soper’s Hole we took several trips over to St. John to experience some of the exceptional snorkeling on the North Coast. Watermelon Cay was one of our favorite spots and proved to be a great place to take some underwater photos with our new Otterbox iPhone cases!

Tarpon lurking in the distance…

After a bit of research, a new muffler was on order from Parts and Power on Tortola. When it arrived, Peter had to saw off the old exhaust hose to get the old muffler out. The old hose was completely disintegrated from the inside out. Apparently this is what 35 year old exhaust hose looks like… YUK!

Within an hour, we were back up and running good as new. We prepared the boat for leaving the dock and set off for Peter Island just in time for Fathers Day :)

Stay tuned for more adventures in the BVI’s! We are currently enjoying Island Time in Grenada while we wait out the rest of Hurricane Season. Leave us a comment, we would love to hear from you!!

August 20, 2014

A quiet anchorage and a slice of heaven

May 27th we sailed over to a little anchorage between Little Jost Van Dyke and Sandy Spit. It’s a popular spot for charter boats but not many stay over night. We had the place all to ourselves in the morning and evening hours…

We snorkeled near the reefs in the crystal clear water spending the day in paradise. It was only a short walk around the whole island. The cool Caribbean Breeze felt so refreshing after our swim.

Yes, this place is real. Our little slice of heaven. Would you like to go?

Peter decided we should go on a romantic walk down the beach. And what did we find?

A coconut of course! Another sign we are exactly where we are supposed to be :)

Fragments of coral were scattered all over this tiny little island. Picture perfect and very secluded. It’s a magical feeling when you have an island all to yourself!

I think the best part of Bean’s trip was getting to cuddle with Gunner again :)

Next stop? Cane Garden Bay, Tortola!

Stay tuned for more pictures during our stay in BVI!

We are currently working on boat projects and blog posts in Grenada for the remainder of Hurricane Season. If you’re in the Secret Harbor neighborhood, come say HI :)

August 17, 2014

I Wish I Was There Tonight… On Jost Van Dyke

In the evening hours of May 24th, Peter, my Mom and I sat in the cockpit watching the planes come in over St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We had anchored in Brewer’s Bay, just a short distance from the airport near Charlotte Amalie. The next afternoon my Grandmother was scheduled to arrive to spend a little over a week with us on Mary Christine.

By this time, Mom was beside herself with excitement to finally be back in the Virgin Islands. Her last visit was in 2006 when she left her heart and a piece of her soul on Jost Van Dyke. Jeanne, my Grandmother and Mom’s Mom, had never traveled this far before and was thrilled to earn her very first passport stamp! With three generations aboard, it would surely be a trip to remember.

My 31st birthday was May 26th and what better way to celebrate than to spend it on Jost Van Dyke with family?!! After picking up Bean at the airport, we immediately set sail for an overnight stop in Hawksnest Bay, St. John. (I couldn’t say Jeanne when I was little and now everyone calls her Bean. The name has stuck through all these years!) The morning of my birthday we sailed north to Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke. It was a gorgeous sail with perfect winds. The Virgin Islands are truly spectactular – unlike anything we’ve seen on our journey so far. The way the islands are nestled together, it makes for some pretty perfect cruising grounds.

With little room to anchor, we picked up a mooring ball toward the back of the mooring field. All four of us could hear Kenny Chesney singing a little song called Somewhere In The Sun inside our heads,

“Oh I wish I was there tonight on Jost Van Dyke
Sipping on some Foxy’s Firewater rum
Or kickin’ back with Ivan
With all my friends down in the islands
Wouldn’t take much for me to up and run
To another life somewhere in the sun”

We made dinner reservations at Foxy’s for later that night. Luckily, it was a Monday and fairly quiet. Foxy’s can definitely get rowdy!

Dinner was outstanding and the ambiance was perfect. Just a quiet night with a little Caribbean Breeze… My kind of birthday!! :)

Tuesday 5.27 we took a short dinghy ride over to White Bay, BVI. Mom was absolutely GLOWING!!! Happiness was spilling out of her like I’ve never seen before. The second she got in the water, it was as if she was HOME. I felt like she was welcoming us to the place where she belongs… Can you feel it too?

Kickin’ back with Ivan…

Enjoy these photos of Ivan’s White Bay Campground and Stress Free Bar before it was torn down this summer. This famous beach bar is currently being rebuilt due to foundation damage from a rain storm 10 years ago! Rumor has it, Ivan’s will be back up and running this November, just in time for our return to JVD!! While most of the memories will be put back up, we’re sure Ivan will need lots of help with new decorations of seashells, t-shirts and autographs from all his visitors.

What’s your favorite spot in the Virgin Islands???

Stay tuned for lots more photos of the time we spent in BVI! We are currently relaxing down in Grenada for the remainder of Hurricane Season. If you’re near Mt. Hartman Bay/Secret Harbor, come say hi!!!