British and U.S. Virgin Islands
On January 10th, we left St. Martins for the BVI’s
where we stayed in Virgin Gorda,( Limerick
Bay), for 2 days and then moved on to pick up a mooring
near Saba Rock. We then dinghied to Bitter End and decided to walk/’climb’ a trail which seemed endless and
kept going higher and higher and became rockier and rockier. Finally, exhausted, we found a bench at the
very top and stopped to rest our weary selves when suddenly, three men appeared
and to our surprise had been trudging up behind us. After a bit of introduction, I was shocked to
find that one of the men was from Howard County, a mere 5 miles from where I
live. Another example of the small world
we live in.
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| View from "Mountain" in Virgin Gorda |
Next stop was in Marina Cay where we enjoyed Painkiller’s at
Pussers and a terrific dinner at the resort there. For the rest of the week, we explored those
areas that we missed on the way South and on prior trips. For
the remainder of the week, we visited some of our favorite BVI places as Cooper
Island. Then we headed to Trellis Bay, explored the area and finding nothing
interesting, went on to pick up a mooring at Cane Garden Bay on the north side
of Tortola.
To Cliff’s delight, we found a distillery that touted a rum called
“Panty Remover” and other assorted blends.
Cliff hired a taxi to take us to Mountain View Restaurant where we met the
owner and just one other couple who were enjoying dinner. Cliff remembered the
restaurant from years ago as having a magnificent view of the Cane Garden Bay
but alas, things change. The restaurant view was cluttered by overgrown mountain growth and the restaurant had seen better days
Our next anchorage was at Norman’s Bite and finally on to
Sofer’s hole to check out of the
country and on to Cruz Bay, St. John’s
to check into the USVI. Our plan was to go to Crown Bay Marina in
Charlotte Amelie to pick up our friend Rick and explore more of the Virgin
Islands with him. First stop was St.
Thomas where we took Rick to climb the 100 steps, and, so help me, I swear that
we saw the same Iguana at the top that so happily posed for a photo on our last
visit.
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| St, Thomas (photo by Rick Glasby) |
Turns out that Rick had never been to the BVI’s so, we set off to explore them once again. This
time we headed for Jost Van Dyke so that Rick could have the incredible experience
of a
visit to Foxy’s. Then to Norman
Island where they both enjoyed snorkeling the caves, and on to Sofers Hole, to
have dinner at Pussers.
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| Back to BVI;s with Rick (photo by R. Glasby) |
The next day, we took off for St. John’s. We picked up a mooring in Mayo Bay and enjoyed snorkeling and swimming and dinghied to Cinnamon bay so Rick could see where he had been on a prior visit long ago.
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| Rick & Cliff Posing (USVI's) |
Puerto Rico, Spanish Virgins
We Left for
Culebra in early February. Having
stopped there on the way down, we looked forward to another visit. This time, we found a nice little restaurant
on the canal called Mamasita’s and while dining, I saw an iguana swimming in
the canal. Wow, what a shocker! Who knew
they could swim!!!
The next day,
we were underway for Vieques where we anchored in Ancenada Honda. It was a very quiet anchorage with only three
other boats. Two days were spent there
with heavy rainfall and it afforded a great opportunity to relax, read, and
catch-up on the boat ‘to do’ list.
After that,
we went on to Porto Fero, a bay noted to be luminescent.The anchorage was very
quiet with only two other boats and in an effort to prove that the cruise guide
was correct, just after sundown, Cliff jumped in the bay and as I am witness,
was entirely glowing!!!!
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| Cliff Glowing (Really!!!!) |
We stayed two days in Esperanza. Found a restaurant called El Bonito which was
owned by a really nice lady and her husband, the cook. The town is really cute
and one of the highlights is to watch the young men riding horses bareback throughout
the town, on the beach and actually taking them swimming in the water.
The next two
days were spent at anchorage in Porto Patillas and Bahia Jobos where we
dinghied around the bay but didn’t go ashore.
On Feb. 13th
we were back in Ponce at the Ponce Yacht and Fishing Club. There we rented a car, did a WALMART, Home
Depot and Grocery Store run. Our slip
was to put it mildly, a Rocking one
caused by a really bad surge inside the marina waters
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| Square in Mayaguez |
On our visit
while heading south, we missed visiting the city of Mayaquez and decided that
since we had rented a car, we would take a road trip to visit that area of
Puerto Rico. We made a reservation at
the “Howard Johnson’s” Downtown Hotel (yep, you read it rightJ) which was located in central
Mayaguez. The hotel was near the main
square that has a statue of Christopher Columbus, surrounded by Greek Maidens.
(no one seems to know why!). We also
went to the zoo, complete with roaring lions, peacocks roaming everywhere and
which proved to be very special and very well done.
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| Cliff strolling the Zoo with a peacock |
After visiting there, we realized that
Mayaguez is a lovely little city and should not be overlooked.
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| Zebra at the Zoo |
On Feb 20th
we left Ponce for Gilligan’s island and again visited via dinghy the very
pretty resort in the next bay called Copa Marina Beach where we had both lunch
and dinner. We then visited Puerto
Rico’s only winery for tasting, lunch and a tour but weren’t charged for the
tour because the guide could not speak English!
Next stop, an
overnight in Boqueron where we prepared to take off for the Dominican Republic
in the morning.
Dominican Republic
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| Cliff and his bike! |
We Arrived in
Cab Cana in early March. We found this
area to be beautiful complete with hi rise condo’s, restaurants, but alas, the
boat slip was a large distance away from the showers.
So, we decided to pull out the folding bikes
and utilize them to explore the area as well as ride to the showers. Unfortunately, after riding 3 or 4 miles,
Cliff noticed that the spokes were broken on his bike and there was no way to
fix it. So, Cliff made use of the one good bike and road to the airport (2
miles away) to rent a car.
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| Cab Cana |
The next day,
we toured the area and had dinner at beach restaurant in Eden Roc Resort situated
in a movie like setting overlooking the ocean.
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| Jean and Cliff at the Eden Roc Resort |
We declared
the next day, Sunday to be beach day. So
we headed to another gorgeous beach where we luxuriated in comfortable beach
chaises and were served wine, drinks and lunch by a truly likeable beachside
waiter. Later that day, we cooked aboard
and had my famous fresh pineapple shrimp for dinner.
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| Beach in Cap Cana |
On Monday, we
packed our bags, closed up the boat and headed for Santa Domingo. There, we stayed at a Boutique Hotel Europa
for 2 days. Took a guided walking tour
of historic buildings, a jewelry making store, the ruins of 16th
century hospital, and had a free breakfast on the roof of our hotel. We dined out for
dinner on the square in front of Chris Columbus’ son’s home.
It was an Italian place and the food was
terrific. The one setback was that Cliff
had to move the rental car each morning and night because the hotel had no parking.
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| Home of Christopher Columbus' son |
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| Santa Domingo in the rain |
On Tuesday,
we went to the Aquarium, and took a guided tour by motor train in the formal
Santa Domingo gardens…
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| Aquarium, Santa Domingo |
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| Jean posing on bridge in Japanese Garden, Santa Domingo |
Getting from place to place in the rental car was
overwhelming as traffic from numerous scooters, cycles, and cars were coming at
you from every direction. We found the roads so confusing that we kept crossing
a bridge (several of them) trying to get to where we wanted to be.
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| One of many Santa Domingo Bridges |
Finally, we found the monument in shape of a
huge cross dedicated to Chris Columbus, and which contained his remains…
Interestingly,
we were surprised to find that several
countries donated money to build it and it was truly impressive. The lights at top reflect a cross in the sky
at night seen from airplanes.
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| Monument to Christopher Columbus |
We took off
on Wednesday for Santiago…On the way, we couldn’t find our way out of Santa
Domingo. The GPS Dominican Republic map
that I bought on line as not so good…We ended up crossing the same river again
several times. Jean was in the back seat and
made eye contact (something we found out to late never to do) with two
policemen on a motorcycle. Cliff was in
the fast lane and next thing we know, the policeman told us to pullover. The guy on the back came to the car and asked
for Cliff’s ID in broken English. Cliff
pulled out his driver’s license and the guy took it and went back to the other
officer on the bike. Next, he brought a cell phone back showing $2,000 (pesos) on the screen. We all looked at the number and Cliff said…”No”….I, then, asked for the officer’s id and he didn’t appear
to understand. Then he went back to the
cycle.and this time came back with the sum $1500 on the iPhone…Cliff said “No”.
Then Jean and I chimed in and said take us to the police station. They started
to take us through a dirt road that had lots of pot holes in it, then thought
better of it. Next they told us to turn around and follow them. We did but then the officers stopped us again
and this time came to my side (passenger) of the car as I was pulling out my cell phone. This time his phone showed $500 pesos. Cliff said “No”, as I started to call 911,
asked him again for his id while simultaneously putting my hand out for Cliff’s license. Surprisingly, he
gave it to me and got back on the cycle and drove off.
In retrospect, three of
us played back the event for an hour.
One, two cops on bike…not likely, two, we should have snapped a picture with iPhone
immediately, three, never should have shown or handed license without first
seeing id. Four…now have something to
talk about for years to come!!!!
We finally
found Santiago and stopped for lunch at TGIF Fridays. Ok not so Caribbean but
sometimes got to do what you got to do!
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| The rapids at Jarmia Resort |
Afterwards,
we headed to the resident fort and we were not so impressed. Against the guide book, the traffic still
proved to be horrific and we decided to scratch Santiago and head for a resort
that Cliff found nearby in the mountains.
Jarmia which was breathtakingly beautiful with a restaurant that
overlooked a wonderful river with strong rapids complete with the constant
rushing sound. Our room overlooked the
pool and hot tub which called to us to step in and relax our weary bodies.
On Friday, we
took a different route and drove over the mountains thus by-passing Santa Domingo. The scenery
was beautiful and we actually accidently drove by the Don Rhon distillery and
believe it or not, Cliff thought we didn’t have time to stop.
We arrived in
Punt Cuna and had dinner in a “Zen” restaurant before driving back to the boat in Cap
Cana. On Saturday, we hung out on the
boat tired from our excursion and Cliff cooked Coq au vin for dinner which impressed
Jean to no end.
Saturday, we
drove back to Bavero, checked out their mall for shopping and took Jean to an
Italian restaurant at Fisherman’s resort.
There, we found ourselves caught in the rain, and decided to have an
after dinner drink at a “tastefully decorated”) gaudy style night club. Jean
was ecstatic over the fact that we were treated as exclusive customers by the
staff (course, we were the only customers) in Cab Cana’s version of a Las Vegas
night club.
The next day, we sadly drove Jean back to the airport and then chilled
for the remainder of the day.
On Tuesday
morning, we took off for Puerto Bahia (Samana), an 11 hour overnight trip. We arrived at 8:30 am to check into the
marina but the staff had not yet arrived so we waited 45 minutes to finally
dock the boat. There, we stayed for 3
nights at the marina resort, revisiting restaurants, relaxing and exploring the
area.
Our next stop was another night sail to Ocean
World where we planned to spend the night and check out of the Dominican
Republic and again set sail for an overnight to Turks and Caicos.
Turks and Caicos
Since we
docked only one night and didn’t explore this area on the way south, we thought
we would stay at the same marina for a couple of days, rent a car and
explore. Puzzled over the name of the
area, I googled it to find that Turks and Caicos means a chain of islands. The beaches on Provenciales were magnificent.
There was strong wind that blew sand over everything but that combined with the
turquoise blue sea was amazing. We
ventured to Grace Bay and found it quite built up, (Ocean City like) with
resorts, shopping and numerous restaurants. And definitely the touristy place
to be.
However,
Cliff and I lucked out since the marina manager called for a rental car for us
which turned out to be in an entirely different area of the island called
Turtle Bay, where the locals live. Turns
out that the restaurants and general area were much more interesting and less
expensive. We found a great IGA super
market that had an abundance of fruits and veggies that really surprised us
with the quality, variety and moderate costs.
The locals were very friendly and the area really had an ocean town atmosphere.
On March 29th,
we braced ourselves for a 40 hour trip to Georgetown, Bahamas thus ending our
Caribbean adventure.
Bahamas: Exumas, Georgetown
The seas
were choppy and tough going the last few hours of the trip where we sought out an anchorage in
Georgetown Harbor near Stocking Island. Once rested, we set out to check in to
the Bahamas and walk around town. We
found that the local Peace and Honey resort was having a barbeque that evening
so we signed up. We noted that most of
the cruisers that we knew had already left for home so, we found ourselves
basically alone with less than half the usual population in the anchorage.
However, when we went to the barbeque, we were surprised to run into our
Australian friends from Marigold Bay, St. Lucia. They invited us to a really good amateur jam
session the next day at the Chat and Chill beach bar. On the dinghy ride back,
we stopped to chat with a couple on an Island Packet 38 and ended up inviting
them to Navigator for sundowners and a nice chat. They were from Maine and this
was their first trip to the Bahamas via their sailboat. Couldn’t believe that we were considered the
experienced ones with so much cruising wisdom…Well, maybe Cliff, but me?????
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| Another beautiful sunset |
After that we
started heading home…We again stayed at Emerald Bay Marina noted for a free
laundry and great Pina Colada’s then on to Stocking Island under clear skies,
teal blue water and a great anchorage to have dinner on deck and watch an
amazing sunset. We left for Stocking Island under clear skies, found a great anchorage,
had wonderful dinner on deck and watched another beautiful sunset.
The next
night was spent in Black Point, Staniel Cay with same type evening with dinner
on deck .
Warderick
Wells was our next stop where we anchored out in the North field for 3 days
because of strong winds. This time was spent lazily reading and relaxing in
another beautiful anchorage.
On April 12th,
we set sail for Shroud Cay under mostly sunny skies and 15 knot winds which
made for a great sail for the entire trip. This was the first time in ages
that I had trouble picking up the mooring. …but finally got it and settled in
for the night.
Next day to Higbbourne
Cay Marina where we had a delightful dinner overlooking a beautiful bay . Getting there, the seas
were calm and the wind on the nose…no sailing for us this day.
Cliff and I
decided to revisit many of the places we had visited on the way South and also to see areas that I have not yet seen. We spent some time in Spanish
Wells, went to Hopetown where we bumped into Ben Fulton, a fellow SOS club member who was single
handing his boat, Loon. We visited Cliff's friends in Great Guana Cay…and later, Ben Fulton joined us for a
rendezvous in Marsh Harbor where we reunited with the Jib Room Bar and
Restaurant owned by a great family that has grown quite attached to Cliff over
the years.
We finally
arrived in the States, did another overnight to spend 10 fun filled days at
Rick’s (Glasby) home in Satellite Beach where I finally learned to Kayak. Then moved on
to St. Augustine for another joyful visit.
Soon after, we overnighted one more time to Charleston, and stopped to
see Fred and Ellen Baker, where we spent 3 days on their dock and enjoyed
terrific dinners, conversation and a guided tour of Charleston. After that stay, we started up the
ICW, again stopping on the border of North Carolina to again connect with
Cliff’s friend Lee Bragg and then to Portsmouth, Norfolk, Yorktown, Williamsburg
(rented another car) and after 20
months………………..We are home!!!
Well folks,
at this writing, we have actually arrived at Cliff’s dock in the Wry River and
alas, our incredible trip is nothing more than a memory.
Hope you have
enjoyed the blog and hope you too will go off on an adventure.
So long!
Kathy
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