I started the diesel electric coffee maker at 07:30.
For breakfast, I made some bacon/egg breakfast wraps.
Nice sunny day with some clouds and storm cells in the distance.
We left the ball around 9am.
We motored out of the channel, then hoisted the double reefed main and full jib.
Wind was still 15-20 knots from the NE.
Broad reach to our destination Spanish Town (wind angle 135 degrees).
You can see where we raised the sails:
We turned the motors off, and were clipping along around 6 knots pretty comfortably.
Walter noticed that an indicator light kept coming on at the helm station.
This light indicated when the bilge pump is coming on.
Hmmm, did we have a leak?
I went below and checked the hulls during my daily holding tank dump.
Nothing.
When I lifted the starboard engine hatch, there was oil sprayed all over the engine compartment.
The oil fill cap had come off, and there was oil in the bilge.
I guess during the pounding yesterday, it shook loose.
This is what was making the bilge pump come on.
I cleaned up most of the mess with paper towels.
I checked the oil level, and it was only down to the lower line of the indicator.
Couldn't find the cap, and it was a little wavy to be crawling around in the engine compartment.
As we got closer to SpanishTown to the lee of Virgin Gorda, the waves calmed down, and I found the oil cap, added some oil, and cleaned up what I could. No issues with the motor.
The engine compartment will need an extensive cleaning by Conch for the next charter.
As we neared Virgin Gorda, a 100ft blue hulled monohull passed in front of us as they were hoisting an huge asymmetric spinnaker. Beautiful boat, sorry I didn't get a picture of it.
A couple miles later, we watched them gybe the spinnaker and head back towards SpanishTown.
Man they were flying along!
A storm cell came though and we watch them disappear into it.
A while later, they emerged out the other side sans spinnaker.
Very consistent winds, it was an easy sail.
We sailed the entire way.
Trip Odometer: 10.30 mikes
Moving Average: 5.4 knots
Max Speed: 10.9 knots
Moving Time: 03:24:00
We went right to the fuel dock at the marina there.
We filled up with water (150 gal $20)
We filed up diesel 6.5 gal starboard and 2.0 gal port.
The generator runs off the starboard tank.
Walter did a great job manouvering the boat with the help/direction of the marina crew.
We moved Firebolt over to a slip for the afternoon (cost us $20).
The fuel dock is right by "ACTIVE", and you can see the slip we took by the wall.
Every trip the BVI should include a visit to The Baths.
Normally, we have anchored out by them, and dingyed in for the adventure.
However, they don't allow dingys on the beach anymore: you have to moor out on a ball and swim in
Two of our crew had injuries:
Hans broken a bone in his hand a week before the trip and was wearing a wrist brace.
Don injured his hand maybe in Sint Maarten and was wearing a splint.
So both of them couldn't risk getting in/out of the dingy.
Plus the NE winds we have had meant that there was 4-6ft swells coming through there.
We decided to take a taxi from SpanishTown to The Baths.
It was neat to see the town and the country side.
The taxi cost us $6 each return.
Well worth it.
The Baths are a magical place and is a must stop when in the BVI.
Local companies offer boat rides to here from the cruise ships.
A guy I play hockey with went the USVI (St Thomas), and went on a day trip The Baths.
Interesting that you have to pay to go into the Baths National Park.
Because we are cruising, we had to have a cruising permit, which gave us free entry to the park.
Interesting that you have to pay to go into the Baths National Park.
Because we are cruising, we had to have a cruising permit, which gave us free entry to the park.
We all had a drink at the bar in the bay, then headed back to the taxi.
We had the taxi stop at the local RiteWay market for us to pickup some fresh food and wine.
At around 15:30, we loaded back in Firebolt and cast off; destination Peter Island.
Winds had dropped down to 10 knots, and we needed to cover the 12+ miles to Peter Island to anchor before dark. So we just motor sailed with the main up.
We arrived in Little Harbour on Peter Island at 18:00.
Trip Odometer: 13.50 miles
Moving Average: 6.0 knots
Max Speed: 11.7 knots
Moving Time: 02:15:00
As a crew, we had never anchored a 48ft catamaran before.
Individually, we have all anchored our respective boats HUNDREDS of times.
In Little Harbour, you pretty much have to use two anchors:
One to the middle of the bay (main anchor)
One tied off to shore (2ndary anchor).
This way you control the swing of the boat and many more boats can pack into the harbour without the risk of touching each on when the wind shifts.
We did great job anchoring:
...the first time!
We anchored close to the "Little" above.
However, we were too far away from the north shore to run a line to shore (not enough line).
Plus our main anchor was crossing the another chain of another boat that was there.
We hauled the anchor up, and dropped it again close to the "Town" above.
Hans and I loaded the 2ndary anchor and 200ft of rode into the dingy and headed to shore
We anchored close to the "Little" above.
However, we were too far away from the north shore to run a line to shore (not enough line).
Plus our main anchor was crossing the another chain of another boat that was there.
We hauled the anchor up, and dropped it again close to the "Town" above.
Hans and I loaded the 2ndary anchor and 200ft of rode into the dingy and headed to shore
:
We went close to shore and deployed the anchor:
We then dingyed back to the boat with the rode.
We were pleased with our efforts, BUT we had drifted too close to the next boat.
Back in the dingy to retrieve the 2ndary anchor, and up with the primary anchor.
We dropped the anchor for the last time at the "Spanish" above.
We were far enough out, that we didn't have to bother with the 2ndary anchor.
We would not swing into anyone.
It took us over an hour to properly anchor the boat.
At 20:00 we had a really nice pasta shrimp salad for dinner.
Twas a long day, a great day!
 |
| SPLASH of the anchor deploying |
We were pleased with our efforts, BUT we had drifted too close to the next boat.
Back in the dingy to retrieve the 2ndary anchor, and up with the primary anchor.
We dropped the anchor for the last time at the "Spanish" above.
We were far enough out, that we didn't have to bother with the 2ndary anchor.
We would not swing into anyone.
 |
| That blue hulled boat is the 100 footer we saw sailing earlier |
It took us over an hour to properly anchor the boat.
At 20:00 we had a really nice pasta shrimp salad for dinner.
Twas a long day, a great day!
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