Since my last post, a lot has happened.  All good, or at least, mostly good.  We have toured old forts, found great provisioning, had some boat work done, almost lost the dinghy to the sea, checked out some iguanas, swam with a few totally breezy sea turtles, ate some delightful cuisine and watched the Dallas Cowboys implode at their first playoff game (they lost bigtime).  Oh, and we visited four islands and three countries.  Yeesh, I need a nap.

​Yes, all of that happened but, still, the most important was what happened earlier this week, on Tuesday to be specific.  At least it was important to us.
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You see, Tuesday was a weird one.  We had an appointment for Ocean at Critters, Cats & Canines Vet Hospital in St. Thomas.  Ocean is fine but we needed to see a Vet to get a new International Health Certificate for her.  Getting dog health certificates is just a regular task in our life nowadays but what was important was how the day unfolded.  If anyone is out there that wants to know what cruising down here is like, well, this might be the “Coles notes” version for you.

First, this is our experience.  It isn’t “the” experience.  That is lesson one.  Cruising is about being a snowflake.  How it is for us will certainly not be exactly how it is for you.

Second, weather is king but we all pretend, once in awhile, that we carry the crown.  We started the day with a secure and safe (and free) mooring at Christmas Cove.  The easterly tradewinds were sporty (up to 28 knots) and, rightly so, the waves and swell were equally animated, although more southeasterly.   The kicker? We needed to be a mere 2 nautical miles to our west in Brenner Bay in order to have a short dinghy ride into shore for Ocean’s appointment.  Sorry, did you hear that?  Yes, we had a schedule.  Never good.  Ever. In this particular instance we were moving our precious Wild Horses to a lee shore in shallow waters with almost 30 knots of wind, and worse, 7 feet of swell banging at our boat’s hull. Getting ready to set our anchor, we fell steeply from being “uncomfortable” into dangerous territory with our lee shore so close behind us. We knew it and spent an extra 45 minutes ensuring that our anchor was set (it was set – thank you double oversized Rocna!).

Third, cruising is precarious. At that anchorage, Mike, Ocean and I had to board our severely bouncing dinghy.  It was a feat that had me yelling “move people, this is not a drill!” as both Mike and then Ocean had to manage around swells that horribly slapped the dinghy against our stern, alternatively creating violent waterspouts and dangerous boarding gaps.  We then tolerated a salty (meaning we got soaked) 5 minute ride to protected waters.  Returning back, we were faced with the same problem.  A misguided step and someone could have been injured or in the drink.  Not good.

Weighing anchor wasn’t much better.  We were struggling against the wind and swell.  I was at the bow (untethered, sorry, not my finest decision-making moment) holding on like it was a bucking bronco.  Okay, a little poetic license here, but it was pretty bouncy and unsettling!  The key for me was that at the moment that our anchor was released, Mike needed to be in control at the helm.  We were that close to shore.  Yuck.
 
Spoiler alert: We are fine.  We bounced our way back to Christmas Cove, picked up our favourite mooring and got two beers stat.  Then we chatted about what went wrong.  A schedule, mistaking “close by” with “easy”, and swells that were worse than forecasted.

The precariousness of sailing is real. From one moment to the next, you are not entirely sure that something won’t break down, that your sail will go smoothly or that you will find the tools/parts/provisions that you need when you next land your boat. But that uncertainty is worth it to us to have long walks on unspoiled beaches, to explore different cultures, to meet so many wonderful people, to enjoy beautiful sunsets and to be rocked gently to sleep with the waves lapping against the shoreline. Yes, the delightfulness of this lifestyle is just as real and, thankfully, more moments of our days are filled with that.
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Today we arrived in Puerto Rico, after spending the last seven days in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI).  We plan to spend a few weeks here while we await a good weather window to transit the Mona Passage on our way to the Dominican Republic.

We had arrived in St. Thomas, USVI last Saturday and we were ready to explore. The very next morning (Sunday), we left our first anchorage on the far eastern shore of St. Thomas and headed for Charlotte Amalie, a very busy harbour that welcomes cruisers, local boaters and is also a port of call for many big cruise ships.  We anchored just off the cruise ship dock, which happened to be empty that night. This was a very rare day in Charlotte Amalie!  Instead of sharing the town with a thousand or so tourists, it would just be us, our buddy boats and a handful of other liveaboard cruisers.    

​What was up next on our agenda?  A tour around town and a lovely lunch with our boat buddies. We walked to the tourist area and picked up a few fun things like water shoes and a dog collar for Ocean.  

Although Charlotte Amalie was interesting, we were all craving a bit of remoteness and the chance to do some snorkelling.  Early on Monday morning, Wild Horses, Caretta and Indigo Lady weighed anchor and headed off for Christmas Cove.

The trip to our anchorage was a bit sportier than we had hoped for.  The wind was a few knots stronger than expected and right at our nose, so no sailing for us. Making things even more uncomfortable was the high waves and ocean swell. The forecast was for 1-foot seas and we were definitely getting 4-5 feet, right at our bow.  It was a one-hour hobby horse extravaganza.   
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Arriving at our anchorage, right off the coast of Great St. James Island, we knew it was all worthwhile.  Pretty sandy shorelines, lots of rock outcroppings for snorkelling and that bright blue clear water that we love so much. We were wowed.

Oh, and the pizza!  Incredible!!  Huh?  Well, let me back up a bit.
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First, you have to know that we are pizza-loving people to the extreme. Actually, that is a massive understatement.  We are pizza-fanatics!  Back home, during our land life, we would have pizza at least once a week. And we love all kinds of pizza – New York style, deep dish, artisan, homemade.  Truly, we rarely meet a pizza we don’t like.  Since leaving Canada last September, we have devoured many a pizza.  For us, cruising is eating pizza in exotic locations! 😉

​Second, we love new, unique and interesting stuff. I mean, that is part of the reason why we are living on our boat!  And, when those two loves come together in one place?  Well, you get The Pizza Pi, a real-life floating pizza boat!  Right in our anchorage!  Oh my!  Later than evening the motley crews of Wild Horses, Caretta and Indigo Lady enjoyed a fun evening of pizza, beer and “guess that tune” (supplied by Barry’s uber-eclectic playlist) aboard Indigo Lady.  Lots of laughs and full bellies!

​We finished off our time at Christmas Cove catching up on boat chores and letting Ocean get in some much-needed time swimming off the boat.  Also, on the agenda was getting Ocean to the nearby veterinarian at Canines, Cats and Critters.  She needed a booster for a few of her vaccinations and also to get an up-to-date international Health certificate for our trip to St. Martin.  It looks like a weather widow may be opening up early next week to make the 93 nm hop further south to our first French island so we want to be ready.  

But before we head to St. Martin, we have one more island in the USVI to explore – beautiful St. John.  We weighed anchor this morning and made the short trip over there for the weekend. More exploring ahead!!😊

Yes, we keep moving along!  See where we are today by clicking the link below!

We arrived at the island of Culebra last Monday and loved it immediately. It is beautifully green with perfect sandy beaches littering the coastlines. The coral reefs around this island are known to be some of the healthiest in the area so our plan was to start the day outside of the main town and get snorkeling. 

But, small glitch in our plan. Mike had tweaked his back earlier in the morning, just before we weighed anchor. Ugh. He could move around but it was limited.  Snorkeling would have to wait. So, onto Plan B!  Our buddy boats went on to the chosen snorkeling site while Wild Horses continued for another hour to the main town’s huge lagoon. Here Mike could rest and our buddies would catch up to us the next day. Perfect!
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Downtown Culebra is very walkable, with lots of restaurants, cafes, and stores. Even a really great gelato cart with beautifully served gelato.  Passion fruit and cherry with a twist of coconut.  Yum!

Our boat buddies arrived the next day and we quickly made plans for exploring Culebra, visiting the nearby smaller island of Culebrita and also for doing some snorkelling and diving in the area. Mike’s back was healed and we were ready to have some fun. Our friends Dave and Lisa on Indigo Lady offered to play chauffeur for our three-boat play dates (Wild Horses, Caretta and Indigo Lady).  Awesome! Indigo Lady is a beautiful boat. Dave and Lisa purchased it as a sailing catamaran several years ago but quickly converted it to be solar electric powered.  It does not disappoint!  On the few days we were on the boat, it was moved entirely on solar.  Incredible!  You can see more about the conversion of Indigo Lady here.

​Our first adventure was to take Indigo Lady to Culebrita. This island is home to incredible walking trails, beautiful natural baths and, oh my gosh, also to a hoard of bees! Thousands of them to be exact. The area is suffering from a lack of rain so these poor bees were looking for any and all sources of fresh water. For those that know our pup Ocean, well, this is a problem. She loves to eat bees.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  She actively hunts them down.  Now, with hoards of them in the picture, it was just too much for her and she did get the bitter end of a few of them.  Getting stung didn’t deter her though! With a swollen nose and jowl, she kept right at it. For the rest of us, the bees weren’t an issue.  They only wanted the fresh water and we had beers in hand (and not water) so they left us alone!

​On Thursday, we rented golf carts so we could see more of the island of Culebra. Caretta and Indigo Lady climbed into one cart and Wild Horses took the other.  It was an awesome day of touring the island, including an incredible day at Flamenco Beach, one of the world's most beautiful; beaches.  

​Friday we continued the adventure!  We set off on Indigo Lady once again and headed around the north west shore of Culebra to explore one of the many island dive sites. Dave and Lisa launched their Hookah dive system (surfaced supplied air system), Andrea and Barry jumped in with their dive tanks, and Mike and I slipped below the waterline with our snorkel masks and fins.  And Ocean you ask?  Well, she did her exploring in her birthday suit with just a simple life jacket on.  Four ways into the water and we were all plenty happy with it all!

​Whew, what a jam-packed three days of exploring the Spanish Virgin Islands!! But all good things must come to an end, but only so you can enjoy other good things!  And that is exactly what we did.  On Saturday we all weighed anchor and headed off to St. Thomas in the USVI (United States Virgin Islands).  We will explore the islands of St. Thomas and St. John as we look for a good weather window for heading to St. Martin.  More fun awaits us! 😊

Want to find out which island we are exploring today? Click the link below!