Lately, and maybe because we’ve resurrected our activity on the blog, people (in the US) have been asking “When are you coming home?”.

The word “home” really strikes a chord with me when they ask that.

Where, exactly, is HOME? 

Ok, I know they mean Annapolis when they ask.  We still own a house there (still rented, thank goodness).  Many of our dear friends and a good chunk of our family is there (the rest of our family is in Massachusetts & California).   We lived there for 10 years before embarking on this adventure.  There is a lot there that would be easy to fall back into for sure (somedays I really crave that dishwasher & washing machine).

But “home”?

We’ve been aboard Demeter for more than 2 years now.  95% of our worldly possessions are aboard this floating vessel that has less than 500sf of living space for the 4 of us (best guess, for my real estate/property mangement peeps).

And a quick shout of thanks to those of your holding the other 5% of our possessions.

We sleep, eat, love, argue, cook, clean, lounge, teach, cry, laugh, & celebrate, here.  Just like you do in  your home – the traditional word for the 4 walls that you live inside.

Home for us is Demeter.  Mobile, floating, cozy, sometimes messy, sometimes feeling small, but always feeling like home.

So for those of you wondering “when are we coming home”…..I totally appreciate the sentiment, but we ARE home.  We may one day live in the US again (never say never), but being together, living in our cozy Demeter, wherever she may be docked or anchored, we ARE home.

and P.S. – we still have Annapolis on the transom 🙂

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For the past two years Ted & I have homeschooled Max & Anya using the Calvert Homeschooling Program.  It worked really well for us given the structure it provided that neither of us felt capable of generating ourselves.  As many of you know, the initial plan, back in early 2012 was for Ted to teach both kids, but it became apparent quickly that was going to be tough,so I began to work with Anya while Ted worked with Max.
While we were cruising, most mornings were spent on school, and afternoons were spent enjoying wherever we happened to be, with breaks for passage days or visitors.  This past year, while Ted was working, he managed to continue teaching Max from his office while I worked with Anya on Demeter, but it was a much tougher year.

Distractions abounded for both kids, we had a fair amount of visitors (no regrets there!!) which took time away from school, and for a variety or reasons, the school year dragged much further into the summer than anyone wanted.

In addition, Anya and I really struggled this past year.  Whether it was a mother/daughter thing, a girl thing, an age thing, a personality thing, or (most likely) a combination of all of the above, it created a lot of battles & frustrations for both of us. Eventually Ted and I decided that this wasn’t working well for anyone and decided that homeschooling wasn’t for her.

The options on Tortola are public school, Montessori, St. George’s or Cedar International School.  Montessori, St. Georges & Cedar, while attractive on many levels, are both outside of our price range, so we applied for local school.  Yup, gotta apply. There was really only 1 local school that made sense, one within walking distance with the best reputation of all the elementary schools.  She got accepted and is now attending 4th Grade at Ebenezer Thomas Primary School.

On day 1 she was up bright and early. The uniform was a big hurdle for my fashionista, she’s still scheming on how she can add her own flair to it without stepping beyone the strict guidelines…

Anya will have to relearn the Lords Prayer (she knew this back from her days at St. Martin’s Lutheran School, but ahem, we haven’t kept up with it) as well as the BVI National Anthem (“God Save The Queen“) AND the BVI National Song (I have no idea what it is called, but you can listen to the 1st verse here – I think she has to learn at least 2 verses, based on what was sung at orientation!)  This was her first full week fo school and so far so good.  She seems to be doing well and enjoying herself, making new friends etc (no surprise there!).

We decided to continue to homeschool Max this year; it works well for him.  But we decided to “upgrade” to Calvert’s ATS service, which gives him access to a teacher, has a teacher grading all his exams & papers and providing feedback.  It also gives us a transcript at the end of the year.  Unbenknownst to us, he had to “test in” to the program, so it took a bit longer than we planned to be able to order his books, but they shipped and arrived quickly in St. John and earlier this week we took Demeter over to St. John and, sadly for Max, picked up the BIG box and have started school.

Ted and I will tag team teaching him this year.  Max has a lofty goal of completing all 160 lessons by New Years.  I think we’ll be lucky if he’s done by Easter, so we shall see!

We are slavedrivers. Max started in on Math on the trip back to Nanny Cay from St. John!

No, not that one, sillies!  The Indian Ocean? No, thanks! Not on my bucket list!

This weekend we got out on D for the 3rd weekend in a row (woohoo!) and ended up – for the first time – circumnavigating Tortola! You’d think we’d have done this sooner, but no…this was the first time.  And first time we’ve really spend much time on the north side of the island in D.

We left on Friday afternoon and sailed in great breeze for a bit before turning into Great Harbor, Peter Island.  We’ve got our own special spot up in the southeast corner that seems to be always reserved for us. We get great breeze, a great view and – bonus – great wifi.  After a swim and a quick sail of the T27, it was an early night.

Not at Great Habor, but here is Ted sailing Max’s T27, a remote control sailboat Max named “Swift”.

Saturday morning – rise & shine to the splashing sounds of hungry fish & hungrier pelicans! Then off to Virgin Gorda for a visit to The Baths.  We hadn’t been there in quite a while and it was a treat to have it virtually to ourselves save for a few others wandering through, but not enough to destroy the sense of solitude as the kids played in the tidal pools & climbed boulders and Ted snorkeled through shallow reefs. We didn’t take the camera, as we swam in to the beach from the mooring, but here’s an idea of what The Baths are about in case you aren’t familiar. It really is spectacular, and 100% more so when you have it to yourselves as can happen off season.  During high season (ie: winter months), it becomes a bit of a parade and is not nearly so enjoyable, although still impressive.

Quick lunch aboard and then a downwind sail around the eastern end of Tortola and along the northern coast to our next stop – Cane Garden Bay.

view of Cane Garden Bay from Demeter’s cockpit

 

We timed it perfectly.  Our good friend Brian was hosting a birthday party for his lovely girlfriend Shakti so we grabbed a mooring ball and made it ashore with perfect timing.  A quick drink, back to the boat for dinner aboard, then back ashore for more celebration.  Young Master Duff (Rayne) stayed overnight with us and shared his Big Block of Chocolate (OMG!) and in the morning the kids jumped overboard to make friends with a baracuda or two that was teasing them.

“Barry” hanging out under the dinghy.

 The morning also greeted us with the wonderful news of a new baby, Evangeline Agnes Leitch, who we can’t wait to meet in person (her Proud Papa was critical crew on our sail south from Annapolis to the BVI in 2012).

Around lunchtime on Sunday we said goodbye to CGB and motored (no breeze – normal for this time of year, but unusual this season) back around to Nanny Cay, completing our 1st Tortola navigation.  But that wasn’t the end of the weekend! No sooner was Demeter tied up when we began untiying lines to an IC24 and the Reshetiloffs headed out for another sail…..this time over to Norman Island for a quick drink with our friend Kevin.  This time, however, Max & Anya captained & Ted and I were merely crew.  Each of them drove admirably only handing the tiller over to Ted for docking maneuvers.  

Anya rocking the helm!

Anya gets ready to drive

Max’s turn at the helm

The forecasted rain managed to hold off all day and we made it home dry and ready for supper!

Tomorrow’s adventure: Anya’s 1st day of school on Tortola (in a local school!)

 

There you have it.  It’s mid March and already I’m pretty sure we win the Understatement Of The Year Award!

OK, we admit it, we’ve been lousy at keeping up this blog for the last few months.  No excuses. No looking back.  We’ll just bring you up to date with some highlights since our last post and do our darnest to get better at this.  (You have our friends on s/v Saralane to thank for this – the nudges to  update our blog have been starting to get painful LOL!)

August 2013

When we last updated, Ted had just got his captains license and we were hanging out in St. John awaiting approval of Ted’s work permit.  We did some jumping around, but mostly stayed in Coral Bay, where we’ve all made some good friends.

The work permit process was…….shall we say, tedious.  trips to and from St. Thomas for medical exams (including stool samples, TB tests and syphilis tests <- of all crazy things!).  Ted got the call that the paperwork was ready and went to Tortola solo to get everything approved and finalized, which turned into a 4 day stay (he got to Immigration on a Thursday, they took his paperwork and said “great, come back on Tuesday” because their Carnival was starting).  Luckily he had anticipated at least an overnight and had brought a clean pair of underwear!  The whole process from start to finish was agonizingly slow, often confusing, many times ridiculous (syphilis but not HIV? really?), expensive (everyone needed to get paid, including BVI doctors – $100 to “approve” the medical paperwork we submitted x 4 of us!) and almost surreal, but finally we were all legal residents – Ted with a work permit and Claudia & the kids as dependents (which basically prohibits Claudia from seeking work for 1 year, lest she take a job from a “belonger” <- term for those born here).

August also brought Anya’s 8th birthday, celebrated on the beach with friends from Coral Bay and Tortola

The downtime gave us opportunity to get some boat work done

and get caught up on some sewing too.

September 2013

We started homeschooling back up, much to the chagrin of Max and Anya.  We’ve managed to keep the routine of Max working with Ted (going with him into the office at 7am-ish) and Anya and Claudia working together on Demeter.  5th and 3rd grades this year!

Once again, school books arrived in big boxes and were delivered via dock cart! These are a few of Anya’s 3rd grade books.

October 2013

The highlight this month was a visit from Ted’s parents!  They are going strong and we had a great visit with them, highlighted by a fabulous sail over to Peter Island and then out past Norman Island that got Ted’s dad whispering to the waves just like he always did.

Swimming in Little Harbor – Peter Island

Ted’s Dad enjoyed sailing for the first time in about 10 years!

November 2013

Another set of visitors blessed us this month! This time it was our wonderful friends, the Parramore Family (sans corgi Joey & the mare Finley).  Once again, one week was not long enough, but we were able to enjoy a few nights out with them (they chartered a boat and we tagged along behind for the weekend), swimming, snorkeling, diving & general hilarity.

BFF!

Happy Happy Happy!

A shore excursion at Peter Island

Thanksgiving was spent with our friends Brian, Shakti, and Paul & Monica aboard s/v Moonshadow (who we’d met while cruising last year and reconnected with again when they sailed down with the Caribbean 1500).  It was a fun evening with a delicious home cooked meal which included turkey & pumpkin pie!

Shakti & Brian – our Thanksgiving dinner hosts.

Also in November, Claudia picked up a few days work as the aforementioned Caribbean 1500 boats started to arrive in Nanny Cay from Portsmouth VA.  It was great fun working with friends Andy Schell & Mia Kaarlson and even more fun being the one to hand salty sailors rum punches as they ended their epic journeys.  We were able to make many new friends among them who we continue to stay in touch with!

December 2013

The visitors keep on rolling! This month it was Claudia’s parents in for a week, then joined by her brother Eric & nephew Alex for the week of Christmas.  The kids all had a blast together.  We got all of them out sailing too – taking them to our favorite anchorage – Little Harbor, Peter Island to enjoy the next to nothingness that is there.

We did a hike at Sage Mountain (high point, Tortola) that was exceptionally muddy.

This years Christmas tree was am upgrade from last years. 100% homemade with ornament contributions from the kids & Oma & Grandpa!

The boys also had a blast riding the waves as they crashed in between the boulders at The Baths on Virgin Gorda.

Max and Alex with their catch – Little Harbor, Peter Island

And right before they arrived, we got access to a vehicle! It belongs to CYM, but thus far we’ve had access to it on weekends and for whatever errands we need, so that’s given us a bit of a new lease on life 🙂

January 2014 

We spent a relatively quiet New Years Eve here at Nanny Cay and have settled into 2014.  Ted continues to work hard, and unfortunately it’s taking its toll on his back/siatic nerve again.  The last few weeks he’s been hobbling around, trying to work through the pain and rest when he can (which is not nearly as much as he should).  He’s been getting medical help and we’re hoping that things start healing soon.

One weekend we went to St. Thomas with Brian, Shakti and Rayne for a regatta at the St. Thomas Yacht Club.  We rode over in style (its all relative, right?) on a catamaran that Brian has use of this season and stayed aboard at the yacht club dock.  While Rayne and Max went out and kicked buttowski in their respective fleets (2nd places for both of them!!), the rest of us did what BVI people normally do in STT – shop!  Home Depot, KMart (THE place the shop for us down here) and PriceMart (akin to Sam’s Club or Costco) benefited from our excursion.  We also were able to have a too brief get together with Claudia’s cousin Roy & his fiance, Theresa who happened to be in St. Thomas for vacation.

Sunrise on the way to St. Thomas (yes, we got an early start that morning so we could make it to the yacht club in time for the skippers meeting – plus we had to stop in St. John to clear customs on the way!)

While waiting to clear customs on the way home, the kids had a huge waterfight off the back to the two team catamarans – hilarious!

We spent a day as support crew for Brian as he and a team of 2 others did a paddle board relay race from Trellis Bay (Tortola) to White Bay (Jost van Dyke) – a total of  14 miles.  We ran the support boat, kept track of time and helped with getting paddlers in/out of the water.  The event ended at the famous Soggy Dollar bar and the highlight (for Ted and Max) was meeting Jimmy Spithill who was there participating in the event with his Oracle teammate Shannon Falconne.

February 2014

February included a lot of work for Ted as owners came and went and came back again, but we managed a weekend to Coral Bay in St. John, which is always a wonderful escape for us.

With my friends Reina and Colleen – mid way through my favorite hike – St. John

Mail pickup in Coral Bay!

Christmas in Feb!

Another highlight this month was a surprise (for Anya) visit to Ft. Lauderdale to visit with her BFF, Julia.  It was a great 4 day weekend just playing and enjoying time with her friends that she’s missed so much since we left.  And Bonus: I got to spend time with her awesome mom, Lisa, who I love to bits!!

We also did some boat chores (they never end) this month.

Starting the wiring for the planned A/C.

Boat chore: Cleaning all the floorboards.

March 2014

Yup – More weekends in paradise.  This time we discovered a new favorite anchorage, South Sound in Virgin Gorda.  The entrance is a narrow cut between a long reef that opens into a huge anchorage that we had completely to ourselves.  The kids (including Ted) all played with a borrowed Zup board and we all enjoyed the solitude.

Demeter enjoying South Sound, Virgin Gorda

Conch shells galore – both on the shore and in the water.

Grandpa Pelican oversees his domain

Ted on Zup.

Local. South Sound Virgin Gorda

Max zupping

Just now we are in Great Harbor Peter Island, for a quick night out of the marina.  We had a gorgeous sail last night with a nearly full moon.  It’s funny – we used to sail so much at night in Annapolis and down here we haven’t done it in a long time.  Last night it was perfect breeze and NO other boat out.

local fisherman casting a hand net. Great Harbor, Peter Island

Anya tries to check out the cabins in a cruise ship passing us by

Nearly full moon during out sail last night.

Gorgeous sunset.

In other big news this month, we’ve booked tickets to visit Annapolis for 2 weeks in May.  The occasion is a friends wedding, but we are super excited to see everyone,  but know that the visit will go by far to quickly…

In any event – this is our update – we will do are darndest to post more frequently from here in the BVI!

We spent a rolly week anchored in Red Hook St Thomas as the harbor was convenient to Ted getting to Captains School each morning at 8am, but as soon as the exam was finished we weighed anchor and headed west in search of peaceful harbors. Red Hook is a busy ferry dock with service to St John and other locations in the Virgins, so ferries come and all day and most of the night leaving their wake to anchorage.  We were keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Chantal who was scheduled to pass to the south of us with uncertain impact so we first took a look at the lagoon on St Thomas.  This area is extremely well protected but unfortunately, like many anchorages in the USVI, it is choked with boats in various stages of disrepair. Allow me to digress on my observations of harbors in the USVI.

As I mentioned in earlier posts we consistently meet new people all over down here and, as anywhere else I suppose, folks run the spectrum of humanity. On one end you have families like ours who have sailed from all over the world to find a better place to raise their children and are either settled in to the Virgin Islands or are working for a spell to refill their cruising kitty. We have met wonderful families from all over Europe and the Americas all with really cool stories and many have become close friends. On the other end of the spectrum you have folks who washed ashore here 20 years ago on some small boat with wild dreams of sailing the world only to find they weren’t able to escape the lure of the bottle. They  are continuing a subsistence lifestyle living on social security on their now dismasted and entirely rotten carcass of a boat. These folks, while diehard drunks, are largely benign and don’t bother anyone although they do serve as a reminder of what life can become down here. People have been coming to the USVI for decades in search of paradise and unfortunately for many, it has not worked out. The problem for the rest of us however is many of their boats are left behind. Beautiful harbors all over the USVI are clogged with abandoned derelict boats making some of them dangerous to anchor in due to the underwater hazards awaiting ones ground tackle. The struggle for the local community is how to get rid of the boats. It’s very costly to remove them and, this being US territory, there is a host of “regulations” to deal with so, like many things in mainland America, nothing ever gets done.  Down here there is however a “natural” solution, commonly referred to as a hurricane!

As we poked around the lagoon on St Thomas looking for a spot to hide out and weather Chantal we discovered that it was dead low tide and even though the tidal range down here is very slight it meant the further reaches of the lagoon were not going to be accessible.  The latest guidance on Chantal didn’t have us terribly alarmed as they weren’t calling for winds much over 40kts and the storm was moving very quickly but, it being our first brush with tropical weather, we were apprehensive.  Looking at the weather models and the direction of forecast winds we decided to head to Water Island and Honeymoon Bay as it was well protected from all but the west and southwest.  We hunkered down there and stripped the boat of all excess windage. This involves taking the sails off mizzen, main, and genoa. Removing the bimini and lowering the solar panels. Adding chafe gear to our anchor rode and preparing additional anchors. It was a full day of work and a silly mistake had us lose our genoa halyard from the mast but, at the end of the day we were pretty well battened down. As it turned out we never got a single drop of rain and the winds never blew over 10kts! We were thankful nonetheless and it was a good exercise for us all. The following day I went to the top of the mast and reinstalled the genoa halyard and we put the boat back together.

Extra chafe protection around our lines.

Sails stowed on the port side in preparation for what turned out to be a quiet night…better than the alternative!

Having finished the course for my captains’ license I discovered that passing the exam was the easy part in getting the license. Like most things US, there is a mountain of bureaucracy in between demonstrating one’s ability to responsibly execute an action and being “duly permitted” to execute said action.  I’m still working on completing the little details before I can actually file my application for the license. At this stage I am waiting on the TSA to complete their “threat assessment” on me so they can issue a Transportation Workers Identity Card, or TWIC. With any luck in a few more weeks I’ll have all the t’s crossed and i’s dotted and be ready to file, oh and pay the $150 application fee. Did I mention that each T to be crossed typically involves giving someone $100 or more.  At any rate at least with the license we can fall back on using Demeter for charters down here if like.  [Update: TWIC card has been issued and is in handJ]

After Chantal passed we decided to head east to our favorite island in the USVI; St John. Most of St. John is designated as park land and there are dozens of great hiking trails. We also use a mail spot in St John to receive packages and forwarded mail. Our wifi antenna had suffered from water intrusion so we ordered a replacement. We have used an outfit in Florida called Islandtime PC. Bob Stewart the owner is a cruiser himself and he designs and builds custom computers for boats that run on 12 volts and have very efficient hardware and monitors. He sells these custom computers at a really low cost too. Bob not only has given us great deals on his wifi equipment he has also been our personal tech support guy willing to take calls from all over the Caribbean at just about any time. He’s helped us out of many IT jams and when its time, I fully intend to buy a new boat computer from him. So with our wifi antenna back up we are once again able to pick up free internet just about anywhere we anchor. This makes Skype and our new friend FaceTime the easy way to stay in touch with family and friends.

One of many treasures the kids find along the way.

St. John has many gorgeous anchorages and many of them have moorings provided by the park service so you don’t have to anchor. The use of moorings prevents damage to the sea floor and allows the grasses which the sea turtles are so fond of to flourish on the bottom.  St John is also steeped in history having been operated by the Dutch for sugar production for many years. Except for the scattered ruins here and there, little evidence remains of the once immense plantations that existed on the island. Hiking through shaded forests one often encounters large stone walls in the middle of nowhere, remnants of old slave quarters and ruins of estate houses that the jungle has since reclaimed. Life aboard does not often allow the regular opportunity for exercise, so Claudia and I have been trying to make an effort at getting ashore and hiking regularly.  It being summertime in the tropics we try to hike in the mornings when possible. Our last hike was the Reef Bay trail which is about 3 miles in either direction and has just over 900 feet of elevation change.   Claudia has gotten out more frequently (2-3 times a week) for 4 mile hikes with a new friend and occasionally the kids tag along.  Here is a link to the St. John Trail Map – The trail we regularly do from Coral Bay is the Johnny Horn Trail to the Brown Bay Trail.

Along the Reef Bay trail – can you see the petroglyphs in the picture?

Ruins of a village along the Reef Bay Trail

More ruins – Reef Bay Trail

The kids are awesome hikers – this is on the Brown Bay trail

On the Brown Bay trail we often take a short break at , well, Brown Bay. On this trip there were a few dozen conch in the tidal pools.

Huge century plant on the Brown Bay trail

You know it’s a small world when you run into a guy on the Reef Bay trail who turns out to live about 2 blocks from your old house and went to HS with Ted’s brother. And then see him again at the local watering hole and find out that his son was taught by your sister in law!

One thing I was not expecting was the difference in summer weather here versus summer in Annapolis. The temperature climbs to the high 80’s most days with lows in the high 70’s most nights. What is absent however is the oppressive humidity that plagues the East Coast. I was expecting high heat and tropical humidity but instead we often experience large dry air masses which come across the Atlantic from Africa. Many of these dry air masses are filled with dust from the Sahara which sometimes causes me to sneeze and have allergy like symptoms. Most nights we sleep with a sheet and most days the heat even ashore is tolerable. All in all I am still very much in love with the climate here!

So we’ve been hanging out here in Coral Bay on St John for the last few weeks while getting through hopefully the last bit of paperwork and forms related to immigration and work permit for the BVI. We’ve made some new friends, the kids have had sleep overs with local kids, and we’ve really been enjoying the community here. We went out a few times sailing heading out to the deep water that lies between St John and St Croix with the hopes of catching some good fish but haven’t had much luck yet. We are hoping that next week Ted will complete his BVI immigration and work permitting process and we will make plans to head back to Tortola. We are waiting on approval by the BVI Ministry of Education to home-school our kids for next year. Once we have that, Claudia and the kids immigration clearances should be complete allowing them to take the medical exams and tests remaining for their applications. With any luck our next post will be from Tortola with us settled in and working once again.

The kids have made great friends in Coral Bay – they have a ton of fun together!

The very well used, often crowded, dinghy dock in Coral Bay.

[Note: this blog post is more than a tad overdue but we finally have a connection that we can post pics through….. more soon!]

First of all, we really need to apologize for not doing a better job at keeping you all updated is a t actively writing on the blog. The pace of cruising life for us has changed in some regards over the past 2 months in that we have not been actively island hopping through the Caribbean chain quite like we were over the winter.

Some of the day to day things we’ve done include Claudia giving Ted a haircut for the first time with some borrowed clippers. I won’t quit my day job (ha!) but it was good enough that he went out in public!

However while our traveling pace may have slowed some, the days are still full of activity and we have not yet achieved the slow pace of life we thought this lifestyle would bring. For starters the kids are still both working on school lessons most days of the week. They are closing in on the end of the school year and the countdown to the last lesson has them pushing for double lesson days. A double lesson day typically has us doing school from 9am till about 4pm.  As of this posting, Max has 11 lessons left and Anya has 8.  Summer vacation has never been so anticipated by all of us! [Update: They are D.O.N.E.!]

Max has just finished competing in his biggest Optimist regatta to date, the International Optimist Regatta at St. Thomas Yacht Club. Formerly  the Scotiabank Regatta, this year it drew 115 kids from all over the Eastern Caribbean, Cayman Islands, Nicaragua, and of course the continental US, with many kids from California. Max was proud to carry the SSA (Severn Sailing Association – our old racing club in Annapolis) flag during the Parade of Nations at the regatta opening event.  Leading up to the event we had been doing some practicing, but Max has reached a point in his sailing where Dad is no longer the coach he needs. Unfortunately, we have realized that for Max there are only so many hats that Dad can wear and we have decided to limit them to teacher and father.

Max proudly displays his green fleet medal with a new friend.

It’s always fun to go into yacht clubs and see the Severn Sailing Association burgee hanging up!

Our near term plans have us returning to the BVI sometime around the end of July. We have decided to remain in the Caribbean through hurricane season as Ted has accepted a position with a yacht management company in Tortola. Presently we are in the US Virgin Islands while we wait for the work permit process to run its course. In order to legally work in the British Virgin Islands one has to have a work permit. The permitting process is rather arduous and while we have ours filed and are hopeful it will be processed there are no guarantees. If we are not successful with the permit we will likely be looking for a window to sail back to Annapolis, but that’s our last ditch plan. We have found the climate, culture, people, and sailing here to be nothing short of amazing. At nearly every turn we are meeting exceptional people who embrace life and have diverse backgrounds. Nearly everyone has an amazing story to tell. The cruise we took this winter down the chain to Grenada was far too rushed and we left so many islands unexplored. On the trip back north we made the decision to pursue work in the BVI if we could find it to allow us to remain in this island paradise indefinitely. The BVI offers so much for us as a family with many other kids Max and Anya have quickly made lasting friendships. Being based in Tortola means access to one of the best Optimist sailing programs in the world and first rate coaching for Max. A private school on the island following the IB curriculum offers a host of resources to our kids without being actively enrolled. There are sports teams and a number of extracurricular clubs the kids can participate in. The position I have accepted, assuming the permitting process works out, will allow us to keep Demeter in a convenient location. This location is also an ideal place for family and friends to come visit us. The separation from family has been a big challenge for all of us, but Claudia and I feel strongly that the BVI and the Caribbean in general is a much better place to raise children than the US.  We have all adjusted to a life that does not include TV, malls, traffic, or winter. The children we do meet here are very well mannered and seem to have a much better grasp on life than those we left in the States. We breathe much easier down here not having to listen to constant barrage of bad news, tabloid politics, and eroding culture that seems all to rampant in the US.

So just what have we been up to lately? Well, we left the BVI at the end of May when our tourist visas expired and we sailed west to St. John in the USVI. After a few lovely days in the Cruz Bay area we sailed a bit further west to Christmas Cove in St. Thomas. Ted is going to take an accelerated course to obtain his US Coast Guard Captain’s License during the first week of July in Red Hook so we were scoping out places to stay on the boat for that week. The course runs from 8am till 5pm for 8 straight days.  Christmas Cove is also adjacent to the St. Thomas Yacht Club where Max would be sailing so we wanted to become familiar with the place before it was overrun with regatta kids and their parents. When registering for the regatta Ted was looking into ways to lower the entry fee and discovered they were looking for a Race Officer to run the Green fleet sailors. Green fleet is the group Max sails in and with Ted being a US Sailing Certified Race Officer it made a perfect fit. Both of us ran the 33 boat Green fleet and had a great time over the 3 days of racing, running a total of 18 races. The club was well organized and had us missing our home club Severn Sailing Association although we found the SSA burgee proudly pinned in the clubs collection.  In addition, Claudia discovered that the Regatta organizer when to the same (very) small high school that she attended and they knew people in common – love that small world stuff!

After a few days in Christmas Cove we headed further west to Water Island which is just off the main town on St. Thomas, Charlotte Amalie. Water Island has an anchorage called Honeymoon Bay which is super convenient to all Charlotte Amalie, but without the noise and traffic. It was a great anchorage with a beach on which the kids made new friends once again!  We also discovered easy access to grocery, marine supplies, and laundry all via the $1 busses that run through town. While in St Thomas we picked up a USVI SIMcard for the cell phone to make calling the US cheaper. After a few days in Honeymoon Bay we decided to sail further west to the Spanish Virgin Islands. We had been meaning to cruise there and figure now we would have some time. There is a lot to see with the main islands of Vieques, Culebra, and Culebrita and we also were interested in Puerto Rico, but given our limited amount of time we decided to focus on Culebra. We had a great downwind sail to Ensenada Honda on Culebra and after a few days there we decided to take a ferry to Puerto Rico instead of sailing the 20ish miles downwind followed by another 20 upwind back. There is a ferry to the town of Fajardo on the east coast of Puerto Rico that only costs $2.00 each way. It was a no brainer. In Fajardo we rented a car and drove an hour and a half to Old San Juan. The trip was a real culture shock for all of us. After 7 months of cruising we were suddenly in a car barreling down a 4 lane freeway at 70 mph! Large billboards screamed out on both sides of the highway, fast food restaurants, shopping malls, it was sensory overload for all of us. We found Old San Juan to be an amazing town filled with history, culture, great food and beautiful architecture. Many of the buildings date to the 1500’s and the city is filled with historic sites like Casa Blanca; the family home of Juan Ponce De Leon. We spent a full day exploring the sites, old forts, and wandering the beautiful cobbled streets. In the evening we stayed in a hotel on the 9^th floor and the kids got to watch a few of their old favorite TV shows. We were all excited to take a bath in the hotel tub, a luxury with limitless water we don’t have on the boat.  Alas, there was no drain plug for the tub so it would have to be showers, but at least we could let the hot water run as long as we wanted! Anya is so accustomed to life on Demeter though that she promptly turned the water off once she had gotten wet and began to wash up just like aboard. Claudia reminded her she could let the water run as long as she wanted though. After a nice dinner we all hit the beds for our first night sleep ashore as a family since July 3^rd 2012.

There are amazing statues everywhere in Old San Juan. This one is outside of the Children’s Museum.

Also outside of the Children’s Museum, but I also spotted it’s twin elsewhere in the city.

Old buildings everywhere, with heavy Spanish influence.

The buildings are often painted beautiful bright colors. It makes you feel happy just looking at them.

Another cool statue. Lots of religious influence here too.

Along a portion of the wall that used to fully surround Old San Juan.

At the City Gate – the only one still existing in the wall.

The approach to El Morro, one of two large forts in Old San Juan

Sentries out of uniform.

Muscles Anya on the fort wall.

In the garden at the Ponce de Leon family house, Casa Blanca.

The kitchen at Casa Blanca

Unlike in US tourist attractions, we were allowed to wander at will. We found this room, unlit on the second floor. It had no furniture in it, just these amazing wall murals. Crazy deLeon family ancestral art?

In between the beautifully painted buildings in Old San Juan you come across near ruins like this one….but note the paintings on the bottom of the wall…

The following day we headed east out of San Juan to the El Yunque National Rainforest. This is the only US National Forest that is a rainforest and the US Park Service has done an amazing job with the park. We explored a fascinating visitor’s center before heading deep into the parks interior. There are many great hikes to do and numerous waterfalls to explore. We spent the day hiking and swimming in the many falls. In the afternoon we drove back to Fajardo to catch the 7pm ferry. With some time to kill we discovered a very “local” restaurant for dinner. One of the nice things we had found in Puerto Rico is that while everyone speaks Spanish and most signs are in Spanish, English is also everywhere. We were able to live like the gringos we are with no trouble. This particular restaurant however was different. It was a bit off the beaten path and in what looked to be an old house that was converted to a restaurant. The host made us very welcome and advised they were having a Father’s Day Special that included life music! We had a great meal of roast pork (well, not Claudia) and were treated to a uniquely local experience.  The ferry took us back to Culebra where Demeter was safely waiting for us.

A cute little anole (which you see EVERYWHERE) who was nice enough to pose for me.

An amazing view in El Yunque

One of many gorgeous waterfalls

This waterfall is just off the side of the road….no need to hike.

Ted & Max playing in one of the smaller falls along the trail.

Nice, eh?

The following day we sailed to Culebrita – a smaller island near Culebrita –  with some hopes of exploring but the weather had begun to deteriorate with the approach of a tropical wave. We opted to sail back to St. Tomas the following day to avoid the worst of the weather and leave time for some errands we needed to run prior to Max’s regatta. Max did a great job racing in tough conditions with winds 15-20kts every day. Green fleet sailed a total of 18 races over 3 days and after the regatta was over we were all ready for some relaxation. We have since been sitting in Christmas Cove waiting out another tropical wave and focusing on schoolwork. We have a few more days before Teds course starts and we hope to spend the weekend in St. John picking up some mail and exploring a few anchorages.

We will try to be more diligent about blog posts as well!

We have a much longer update to post but the wifi is temporarily kaput aboard and I can’t get it to post right now, so standby on that.
But meanwhile, from my phone ashore, we just wanted to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July! This holiday marks an anniversary for us – it was a year ago that we found ourselves aboard and decided it was time to go back to the house and grab the cutlery – we had officially moved onto the Good Ship Demeter!!
It’s been and amazing and incredible year and we haven’t suffered from the close quarters (not much, anyway!). Demeter has been a wonderfully comfortable and safe home – more adventure aboard her no doubt awaits us.
So enjoy your holiday and Thank You for the support you have all given us this past year!
More soon, when we get the wifi back up!

Just in case you thought that it was nothing but sunshine, cool breezes and stunning sunsets down here, I want to let you know that…well it’s mostly like that, but recently we’ve had some rain! Several big downpours in fact. Last night it poured buckets and it lasted through the morning.
Of course, Ted was helping with a boat delivery to St. Thomas today so we had to get dressed in foulies and take him ashore in the dinghy during the rainstorm.
But the real kicker: this week we finally decided to drop our rain catcher off at the sail loft for a reinforcement patch that it needs. So for all the times we set up the rain catcher and caught nothing but sunshine, this week we listen to the downpours and think about the water just running through the scuppers instead of into our water tanks. Thanks, Murphy!

It’s been a bit since we’ve updated this and really, there’s not much of an excuse, but this is just a quick post to give you an idea of what we’ve been up to (sorry, no pics right now because I just want to get this out to ya).

So, we got back to the BVI with Greg & Kathy.  Enjoyed a couple of quiet nights in our favorite anchorage on Peter Island and then said goodbye to them in Tortola.

Back in mid-February, I (Claudia) twisted my knee on one of our amazing hikes on Dominica and since then it’d been swelling after walking around a lot or sometimes even after just a day of up and down the companionway a bunch of times.  Enough was enough and I went and saw a doctor here on Tortola and the good news is that I can report today that I feel like it’s nearly 100% back to normal.

On the other hand, Ted had the misfortune of a bad sneeze about a week ago which threw his back out and then started causing intense leg pain.  He spent the weekend pretty much laying down as anything else was uncomfortable (even sitting to eat a meal was torturous).  Two doctors visits later, a herniated disc diagnosis, some pain meds and he seems to be on the mend finally and is walking around at least (albeit with a bit of a limp still).  Getting old stinks.  But at least that happened while we were in Tortola, where there is decent medical care, friends, etc., and not someplace where we would have battled with a language barrier to try and get him some help, or on a passage (yikes!).

Before the Big Sneeze, Ted took Demeter with Max, our friend Brian and his son Rayne (who was on our trip south from Annapolis) over to St. Croix for the weekend for an Opti regatta.  It was SUPER windy (30-40kts) with rough seas on their trip over and for the first time, they had a wave crash over the aft quarter and FILL the cockpit with water.  Max says the tackle box was floating!  It was a 2 day regatta and the kids sailed in Big Breeze.  Max sailed Green Fleet on the inside (more protected) course, but was still battling more wind than we normally see on the Chesapeake.  He took a few breaks from the action when it was too much, but kudos to him, he kept getting back out there and sailing.  And they made up for it on the way back with a nice mahi mahi catch that fed 7 of us for dinner!

Anya and I stayed behind for the weekend and stayed at Nanny Cay (a marina/resort in Tortola: www.nannycay.com)  on Brian’s boat, Happy Times.  We just relaxed, went to the pool, caught up on “checkpoints” for school (on line questions after each lesson to review) and went to the movies.  Not quite as exciting, but definitely not stressful.

In other news, it appears that Ted has a job here in the BVI and will start tentatively August 1st (it takes a while for work permits, immigration paperwork, etc).  Don’t want to jinx anything so I’ll refrain from details, but it will put us in a place that’s super for the kids and safe for the boat in hurricane season.

That give us a few more months to bum around, as it where, and I think that after Ted’s herniated disc is healed some more we want to see some more of the USVI (we did love St. John and a week there wasn’t enough) and then head a bit further north to the Spanish Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.  I promise posts about all that will come with photos.

In the meantime, we are laying low, working on school with the kids (they have both now passed the Lesson 100 hurdle), getting in some Opti sailing for Max (he’s got a regatta this weekend at Nanny Cay), making some new friends, saying goodbye to those headed back to the US for the summer or further down island, and catching up on some reading.

Love to you all!

 

Earlier shot of landfall off Guadeloupe

The Admiral keeps everyone in line.

We spent a few days in Falmouth Harbor Antigua catching up on school and laundry then headed around to the northwestern corner of the island to Jolly Harbor to prep for the passage to St Barts. There is a great supermarket in Jolly Harbor but unfortunately the prices are not so super. With a good forecast for downwind sailing we left just before dawn at 0530. The trip ended up in a fabulous sail wing on wing with preventers on the main and mizzen and the spinnaker pole holding out the jib. Along the way we caught our second largest Mahi Mahi using the lure I made myself following the advice of a Dominican fisherman. We rounded the southern tip of St Barts and had to motor in the windless lee of Gustavia harbor. The harbor was packed with super yachts all staged for the famous Bucket Regatta. Huge graceful J yachts Velsheda, Rainbow, and Hanuan anchored off the shore with other giants such as the Maltese Falcon. We kept the island of Ile Forchue as an alternative anchorage but were fortunate to find an open mooring in Anse de Columbier. Just as we rounded the point to enter the bay our friends on the cat Cascadura hailed us on the radio. They were headed to the same anchorage so after we tied up the kids met on the beach for some fun. We made the 78 mile sail in 13.5hrs at an average speed of just under 6kts which is great for Demeter sailing dead downwind in only about 15kts of true wind. From Anse de Columbier we headed over to St. Martin with plans to catch the 1430 bridge on the French side of the lagoon. The pleasant morning quickly deteriorated into a cool cloudy day. As we began the short 15 mile trip rain started to fall and the visibility quickly was reduced to about 500 yards. The breeze was favorable so we were able to sail but the poor visibility meant a constant lookout was required. With only a few days left before the start of the Bucket there was a lot of boat traffic coming from St Martin to St Barts. Max held vigil over the navigation computer watching the AIS from a dry sea below decks. He relayed to me target info such as CPA (closest point of approach) and time to CPA. We find AIS very helpful in these waters for spotting commercial and large private yachts. Its popularity is gaining use with more boats our size as well. Of course at the peak of a particularly cold deluge of driving rain the drag on our fishing rod sprang to life and the resounding call of “FISH ON!!” was heard. I reeled in what was to be our first Jack. I believe it was a Horse Eyed Jack, a reef fish, so we threw him back as we try to avoid eating reef fish for fear of ciguatera poisoning. Jacks may be okay to eat I just don’t know enough about them to risk it. The rest of the trip was spent dodging mega yachts and other pleasure craft and once in the lee of St Martin the wind died and the sun made its way out. We caught the bridge and settled into the calm familiarity of the Simpson Bay Lagoon. After clearing customs we got some school work done and cleaned up the boat a bit to prepare for our guests. Cascadura arrived a few days later and a rather wild evening was spent ashore involving fish bowls of margaritas. I will not attempt any further description of that evening but rest assured the participants felt the impact the following day.

Beach at end of runway in St. Martin

Max’s 10th birthday was celebrated in St Martin and much fun was had. We found a barge anchored in Simpson Bay called the Playstation that was covered with slides and swings and all sorts of water park activities. A few hours of fun spent there followed by an evening ashore with kid’s movies. Family guests arrived the next day and after a few days of errand running and Easter weekend we left the lagoon for a wild bash to windward to Ile Forchue. The sea was up with a nasty 5-7 foot short period swell and 25-30kts headwinds. We short tacked our way up and finally into the lee of Ile Forchue for a nice swim and a quiet night. After a morning of school we headed ashore for some hiking and exploring. After lunch we set sail back to St Martin to anchor in Marigot Bay in preparation of the passage to the BVI. We left the following morning at 0500 and exactly 12 hours later we were anchored off Prickly Pear Island near Virgin Gorda. No luck fishing but a great 80 mile passage with an average speed of 6.5kts. The following morning we cleared customs into the BVI at the new facility at Gun Creek in North Sound Virgin Gorda. A very easy process and much cheaper than our prior entry at Sopers Hole. We spent another day in North Sound catching up on school and enjoying a few pain killers at the Saba Rock Resort. We also caught up with cruiser friends Skip and Madeline onboard Saralane. At night we dinghied over to Leverick Bay for the Friday night Moko Jumbie dancers.

Cows Wreck Beach Anegada

Cows Wreck Beach Anegada

Uncle Greg and Aunt Kathy on Cows Wreck Beach Anegada

Max catching some sunset rays

The following day we had a great short sail over to Anegada where unfortunately the sea took our trolling rod, see prior post. Two wonderful days spent in Anegada beach combing and snorkeling. Some excellent sunset photos we will try and get up soon. After Anegada we sailed to Salt Island with a lunch stopover at Great Dog. Brother Greg and I had a great but short dive at Great Dog. With the new housing and lens filter for the Go Pro camera my underwater photography is starting to improve. After dark we headed ashore to have a fire and hermit crab races. A great evening ashore with the whole island to ourselves. The following morning we headed over to Road Town for provisions and scuba fills then back across to Peter Island to our BVI favorite Little Harbor. Anchored in the blissfully calm Little Harbor we got school work caught up and attended to some boat maintenance cleaning the bottom and polishing stainless steel. We also caught up with our friends Dave and Margaret onboard Highland Fling. While fishing in Little Harbor my brother was able to land two tasty Mutton Snappers. Also miraculously when reeling in his line for the last time a beautiful brand new trolling rod and reel were somehow tied to his line! Hikers call this sort of thing “trail magic” and we were thankful that with a little help from Uncle Greg the sea giveth! After two days in Peter Island we headed to the Indians for a lunch stop and dive.

This was an awesome 1hr dive in 30-60 feet of water with great viz. Photos coming soon. After lunch and our dive we motored the short way into the Bight on Norman Island. With the dinghy in the water we headed around to the famous caves of Norman Island and a great snorkel. When back aboard I noticed a familiar boat entering the harbor and it turned out to be our friends Jim and Connie onboard Plane to Sea. Happy hour ashore with friends catching up made for a really nice evening. Leaving Norman Island it was time to head to Trellis Bay as our family guests Greg and Kathy needed to catch their flight home from Beef Island. Anchored now in Trellis Bay we have managed to clean up the boat a bit and most importantly file our 2012 Federal and State Income Taxes. We’re expecting a nice refund this year which given our unemployed status will be most welcome. Our plans forward are uncertain. I am going to make a push to find a good job in the BVI or USVI. If I am successful we will change the insurance on the boat and look to put down roots here in the Virgin Islands. We really don’t want to make the long trip back north for the summer but we do need to start putting some money back in the cruising kitty. If I’m not able to land a good job here then we will likely pick up some additional crew and make the passage back north to Annapolis to look for summer work. Stay Tuned!