While we were waiting at EIS to board our plane back to SJU on March 8, at the end (sob!) of our bareboat charter, one of the guys waiting said, “Last week, it was the Christmas winds that they didn’t have last Christmas.” Now, I don’t know if that was strictly true, but I’ll take it as the title for this trip report, “Christmas in March” (and even that’s off by a day, since the big winds started on 2/29). (Part I of this report was titled: Report: Carrying enough/too much/not enough stuff).)
Executive summary:
Two nights in Old San Juan, then 11 nights on board, 4 on moorings, 6 on the hook, last night back at Sunsail base. Despite the winds, we had only one night of “rock and roll”; other nights, the wind howled but the boat motion was negligible. (Compliments to Beneteau: there was never any sound at night, even in the highest winds, from the running or standing rigging or any of the in-mast lines or wiring! Incredible!) V-berth flooded after 2nd day of pounding to windward, was unusable for one night. Three nights, we were only boat in our location, another night, two other boats, two other nights, about six or seven other boats. Sailed 7 days, motored 3, spent 1 day on land (by taxi from Leverick Bay to Baths, etc.). Stopped twice for water, once for fuel. The head holding tank worked well, and we always remembered to use it when we weren’t in open water and always remembered to pump it out when we were.
Visited most of the “biggies”: Indians, Caves, Baths, Foxy’s. Great snorkeling at Indians, Benures Bay, George Dog. Lost in the storm: snorkeling in Eustacia Sound – used up the day in unexpected motoring, and the Sound itself was reported untenable for dinghying or snorkeling. Good land walks north of Foxy’s Taboo, around Sandy Cay, and to Honeymoon Beach on Mosquito Island. Had enjoyable meals ashore at Marina Cay, Corsairs in Great Harbour, JVD (special bonus: we were the only customers, so Reuben Chinnery played just for us), and Calamaya at Maya Cove. “Interesting” meal of “local food” prepared by a North Sound VG schoolteacher. (Ordered by phone the day before and delivered to us at the appointed time at the Leverick Bay taxi stand.)
Rescued a guy who had cast off before starting his dinghy motor, did a radio relay for disabled boat which couldn’t contact Sunsail base directly, rescued our own other couple who thought they could kayak upwind on a one-person kayak, rescued ourselves when we wrapped the dinghy painter around the prop, and were rescued by another bareboater when I flipped our dinghy on its side in a surf beaching. Our other couple abandoned ship twice to sleep ashore after sleep-impaired nights on the boat. Returned to Sunsail with three of four fenders, one of two boathooks, and a chopped dinghy painter. (Reported all, so far no additional charges.)
Day-by-day:
Tue/Wed 2/24-25: Wife and I had never visited San Juan, so decided this time to spend an afternoon and a day in Old San Juan. Stayed at Hotel Milano at east end of Forteleza Street, where there are lots of restaurants. Hotel has clean, small rooms with zero charm and okay bathrooms for $125/night (even smaller rooms with zero windows as well as zero charm for $85). Included continental breakfast featured white bread toast, choice of apple or grape Kraft jelly packets, Kellogg cereals – best thought of as fuel for the body, rather than as a meal - but served in attractive rooftop restaurant with outdoor patio. We enjoyed wandering the old city, getting a feel for it, and visiting the forts – Fort San Cristóbal and El Morro – and mostly staying out of museums and stores. Coming from wintery Boston, we particularly enjoyed dining outside at night.
Thu 2/26: 8am! flight to EIS got us to Sunsail about 9:15am, with all luggage and with the other couple who joined us for the charter. Our Oceanis 321, “Avast Behind” (unfortunately, no joke), was scheduled to be ready at noon, but was already waiting for us. Chart briefing at 9:30, boat briefing somewhere in the blur of the morning, Bobby’s order a little late and the breads were missing, poor selections of produce at the (now closed) Ample Hamper. As first time bareboaters, we took our time doing our own boat check, and there were a number of items that had to be dealt with. (More about our Sunsail base experience and our lack of 100% happiness some other time.) By the time boat and Bobby’s were straightened out, and a break for lunch, we were off at mid-afternoon, about as I had hoped.
As we motored out the Maya Cove channel, dinghy safely tucked at the stern, I discussed with the crew the beginners’ #1 error, wrapping the dinghy painter around the prop, and we all agreed that we would be especially vigilant to avoid that.
Sails up as soon as possible, with a pleasant breeze on the beam, we were off to Buttonwood Bay in Great Harbour, Peter Island. Since this would be the first time the other couple had ever slept on a sailboat, I thought it would be best to pick up one of Cyril Romney’s mooring balls for the night, to keep things simple and sure. Fellow who kayaked by to collect mooring fee (and who did issue a proper receipt) assured me that Mr. Romney was a really nice guy who I would enjoy meeting. I said nothing against CR.
The three of us aboard who were drinkers tucked into Sunsail’s complimentary bottle of Pusser’s Rum and bottled Painkiller mix. Even over ice, with fresh nutmeg grated on top, we agreed that it was an evil mixture and were glad to switch to a bottle of wine with dinner aboard.
Fri, 2/27: Relaxed start to day, with some snorkeling near the boat, then sailed off to Indians. Moorings all taken. We sailed around, waiting for a mooring to open up, but the first one was “stolen” by a more-maneuverable powerboat. After that, we motored around, waiting for a mooring.
Noticed a fellow casting off his dinghy from a moored cat before starting the engine, thought that wasn’t a wise thing to do. After a couple more of our circles around the moorings, noticed him still trying to start the motor, drifting off in the direction of Flanagan Island. Took him in tow. He still couldn’t start his motor, borrowed our dink to pick up his crew of “tired divers” from the Indians, then we unscrambled the dinghies, he left, and we took his mooring. Wrong kind! It was for divers, but we took a chance, stayed on it, and nobody shouted us away. We easily swam from the mooring to Indians and back, didn’t understand the other boat’s need for a dinghy.
Great snorkeling! We took our time snorkeling, but left before lunch because other boats were circling around and we didn’t want to be piggy. It was already well after lunchtime, though, so we tried the “heaving-to” trick and had a relaxed meal between the Indians and Flanagan, with the boat slowly moving north and west. We were probably across the line into US waters by the end of lunch, but the Coast Guard didn’t catch us.
Then a leisurely sail to tranquil Benures Bay, Norman Island, where we anchored, the last of about 7 or 8 boats there. We had another of the frozen dinners we had brought from home, preceded by snacks and gin & tonics and washed down with another bottle of Bobby’s wine (for the second night in a row, with a dry and crumbly cork – wine still okay, but I wonder about how Bobby’s stores its wines).
We were securely anchored, but the wind was so light that our boat and all the others just wandered around on their more-than-adequate scopes. The “100 feet” anchor alarm on my GPS kept going off; I had to reset it to the next step, 250 feet. There was some concern that boats might, slowly and gently, bump into each other in the night, but it didn’t happen. Even though there was no wind, there also weren’t any bugs, and the temperature dropped off just enough so that sleeping below, even without our breeze-boosters set up, was comfortable.
Just before bed, after everyone else had turned in, I had a quick “sailor” shower in the head. (Even in daytime, weather really wasn’t warm enough to encourage bathing off the stern with salt-water soap, so we never worked that into our routine.) After the shower, I turned on the shower sump drain pump, which hummed and chugged nicely, but water didn’t go away. Open the sump, put my finger on the outlet – there, the pump sucks the water into the outlet – but then pushes the water right back into the sump. Not good. Find the pump under the galley sink, but don’t see any obvious problem or solution. Can’t leave 2 inches of water in the head for others to stumble into, so there I am, making one of our empty gallon water jugs into a bailing bucket and bailing the sump into the sink before I can go to bed.
Sat, 2/28: The evening before, our first mate had scouted out the reefs in Benures and recommended snorkeling on the one nearest to our boat, at the eastern tip of the bay, rather than the area across the bay recommended in the cruising guide. (He actually found them to be about the same, so why not go for the nearest?) After breakfast, into the water we went, and it was wonderful. A bit patchy, but lots of healthy corals, lots of colorful fish, great variety of both, and extending over a wide area. World class, I thought.
First thing in the morning I had called Sunsail on VHF about our shower sump problem, and just after our snorkeling Cliff shows up in the repair launch, tries this and that but eventually replaces the old pump with a new one, which works fine.
Between snorkeling and boat fix, and with our intentional lack of “hurry up and go”, we don’t pull up the hook and sail off to the Caves until after lunch. No problem with finding a mooring there, and we “did” the caves. Our group had varying reactions – some thought they were great, some (me included) weren’t impressed – but I’m glad that we went there and can cross it off the list. Late afternoon by the time we finish there, so it’s back to Benures we go, where we anchor in almost the same place as the night before, with about the same number of other boats. Peace and tranquility and another home-cooked meal on board.
(Calm before the storm - good place to stop. More later.)
David
