Things that go Bump in the Night

Why is it that you can sit on a mooring ball or the anchor all day, in gusty, bumpy conditions but it is 3 a.m. when things go wonky?

There we were, securely tied up to a mooring ball in Lameshur Bay and for some reason at the appointed hour I awoke - something just wasn't right. I knew I wouldn't go back to sleep without checking things out so up I got.

Here's what a park mooring looks like, we tie up to the painter at the top end of the mooring with two lines.

The wind had been gusting through the anchorage but now was mysteriously quiet. There had been a different noise but it was now gone, but I knew just what it was. The wind had been rattling some clips on our helm seat and this can only happen if the wind is coming from behind the boat.


How could this be? We're on a mooring which means the bow of the boat swings around the mooring and always points to wind. As I ventured out into the cockpit, the now whispering wind sailed in across he boat and straight in the aft-facing door I had just opened. Another clue, the darkened hills around us were locked in position relative to the boat, normally there's some type of movement. Something was definitely wrong!


The half-moon lit my way as I started my tour round the boat. Good things I noted: we were still in the middle of the bay and not close to shore, the boat was still rocking gently so we were not aground, we were still in the same position we had been in for the last couple of days so we must still be attached to the mooring. Then I realized I couldn't see the mooring in front of us and our mooring lines immediately disappeared off the bow, under the middle of the boat and slightly over to the starboard side of the boat. Finally, looking over the starboard side I found the mooring ball, solidly locked against our hull.

The odd thing was that although we often will circle or ride up on a mooring, it usually resolves itself after loudly announcing the situation with a series of bangs on the hulls, by swinging away with wind or current. I have never seen it locked so solidly, or quietly, against the hull. Similarly, we can usually help the situation along by giving a tug on the mooring lines, but this time our lines were not budging.

Ok, this situation needed two brains to sort it out so I woke up Henry.

We went through it all again and came to the conclusion the Mowzer had somehow passed over the painter line with the starboard hull and the line was now locked in behind our keel. We are a catamaran so we have a little keel that only goes 3'10" under the water and for some reason the park uses moorings with quite a long painter.

Once we figured out the problem we quickly realized that no amount of manipulation on the lines was going to release enough tension to get the painter released. Adding to the concern was the fact that our keels are "sacrificial", meaning that they're designed to fall off the boat in the case of a hard grounding. With the painter line flexing hard sideways around the keel we certainly didn't want to risk it pulling away if the wind came back up in the next three hours before daylight.

Time to break out the mega-candle spotlight and with the half-moon helping by providing moonshine on the water from the perfect angle, with some trepidation we released our mooring lines in the dark. Careful not to lose sight of our target we swung back around to head into wind, Henry motored up and we did a perfect mooring pickup in the dark - it's hard to hold a large flashlight, a boat hook and two mooring lines all at once. Phew!

Now properly settled once more on our mooring we could return to our slumbers, once the adrenaline had cleared of course.

This morning, our mooring is still sitting just exactly where it should be, looking oh so innocent. What plots and schemes is it coming up with now?

 

Hangin' Out

We keep getting ready to head into the BVI but we've been in a bit of a social whirl for the last few weeks. We received word that Dave (on Banyan) would be celebrating a birthday in Maho Bay, so off we took ourselves to the North Shore. On the appointed weekend a good number of crews convened and the birthday celebration, including painkillers on the beach and a competitive round of bocce ball ensued.

Maho was picture perfect for a birthday celebration. Cheers Dave!

After a few days of lounging on the beach we were in need of some more "leg-stretching", so we headed off with Banyan back to the south side. First stop was an overnight in Hansen Bay followed by a visit to Salt Pond and a hike up to Ram Head. We even fit in another visit to the 'grotto' on Drunk Bay.

Mowzer & Banyan rolling in the swell of Salt Pond.

Alex & Dave checked out the cobblestone anchorage as the wind attempted to blow us off the cliffs.

Henry say, "Yep, it's a long way down".

Beauty and the beast.

Right behind Salt Pond Bay is (surprise, surprise) a salt pond. The hike to Drunk Bay takes you right around the salt pond and this time I took more note of the pond itself. The tell-tale smell that gets in the back of your nose is typical of all salt ponds, the red colour is from an algae that grows in the pond, and the bird life is quite different in this protected area compared to the rugged seashore.

The red colour was as intense as any of the blues we see in the ocean.

This little wading bird stood on the rock bobbing his head at us...

... And then he was gone.

This time in the grotto, we found an anatomically correct mermaid.

And a dinosaur dog?

The winds have been blowing pretty relentlessly for the last few weeks and one particular morning I noticed our flag at the back of the boat had tied itself up in knots. Time to change out our colours and look a little more respectable.

Off with the old, faded with tattered stitching and frayed corners.

On with the new - looks much better.

Dave and Alex have introduced us to a new game of Wizard so we have enjoyed our evenings battling it out over a deck of cards. Henry happily took his first game last night but I, as with most card games, am still on the learning curve. Not to be outdone, we dragged Dave & Alex over to Lameshur Bay and up to the top of Bordeaux Mountain. "Sure Dave, we're almost at the top," became the mantra, but we did get to enjoy the view and a cold smoothie once we'd climbed up the Reef Trail to the Centerline Road.

A yummy mango smoothie with a good dollop of whipped cream - did we earn it on the hike today? You bet we did!

Now, we bid adieu to Banyan and we turn our sights onto the wind predictions for the next couple of weeks. There has been talk of a moderation in the winds on Monday/Tuesday for making the eastward hop to St. Martin but to be honest I just don't see it right now. We're going to keep our eye on that little patch of blue that is poking its head up around the 20th and hope that it stays in the forecast for us. That looks like a much more comfortable way to travel 80 miles dead to wind.

Fauna & Flora

Not sure why, but back in high school I absolutely detested biology. It wasn't dissecting the frogs or the smell of formaldehyde that bothered me, nor the memorization of classes and families, I just never found the subject very appealing. Now, I'm wishing I had paid so much more attention!

From Lameshur Bay we set off early in the morning on one of our longest hikes yet: Lameshur Bay trail over the saddle west to the Reef Bay trail, climbed north to the top of STJ to the Centerline Road, west along the road on the ridge to the L'Esperance Road (trail) and then all the way south and east back to Reef Bay, where we picked up the Lameshur Bay trail once more for a total of 10 miles and elevations of 1100'. In the process we passed through a variety of microclimates from lush, green growth in the protected guts to arid (parched) southerly exposures. We sure were glad to have studies the topo map carefully so we had a quick ascent in the relative cool of the morning with the longer, more drawn out descent as the sun reached it's hottest.

Surveying the Reef Bay gut and the hill we're going to walk around.

Having been on some of these trails before I decided to try to focus on the small creatures and plants that can easily escape the eye. I really need a field guide for some of these.

Gungaloo, a type of millipede - we usually see them curled up in a protective circle but this one was trying to get across the trail.

Geckos skitter through the bush all around us - hadn't seen one with such iridescent markings before.

Teyer Palm - the only native palm on St. John.

The massive Silk Cotton tree at this corner is hard to miss. It has huge buttress roots as well.

Pinguin or False Pineapple: this was the only one we saw in flower and apparently the fruit is edible.

Among these ruins were Turpentine Trees, also known as Tourist Trees for their red, peeling skin.

Although the vines and thorny stuff has been cleared from this old great house, the trees and other greenery still remain. I suspect that nature reclaims these sites very quickly without park service maintenance.

Back behind the Sieben Estate ruins we found the only Baobob tree on the island, the seed most likely having been brought from Africa on a slave ship.

Now for more arid slopes covered with Pinguin. Definitely a big ouch if you stumble here.

And now into a cactus field. The little suckers in the ground are vicious to get out if one sticks to you (speaking from experience here - oops)

Ok, quiz time - what is this? One I don't know and isn't in my guide book.

Another sharpie - Snake Tongue, or more curiously named Mother-In-Law Tongue.

Our reward, a dip is awaiting us in the cool refreshing waters of Lameshur Bay.

On Thursday we were quite surprised to be hailed on the radio by friends from back home at the Nepean Sailing Club. Doug and Cherry were in the BVI and would like to catch up with us, and never shy to enjoy a get-together we were thrilled when they made their way around to Lameshur. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures, not even of Pinot their adorable teacup Yorkie, but we were much too busy catching up on all the goings on and adventures of Mowzer and Moma Cal.

Sadly, they were headed back to Puerto Rico and our destination lies in the other direction so we parted ways and we once again rounded the island to the north shore, this time to meet up with Dave and Alex on Banyan. Birthday celebrations are on order for the weekend and it appears that there will be quite a gathering. Lots of new folks to meet, many of which have been, and will be back, in Grenada this season.

Now, on a mooring ball in Maho Bay, we took an early morning walk to stretch out our legs (mine were definitely a little sore from our previous hike). My favourite part of this walk was walking with a ray for the whole length of the beach. He was only about four feet away from me in about two feet of water and you can see the length of the beach in this first pic. Pretty cool way to start the day!

Early morning beach walk before it became crowded with Easter weekend visitors. Time for some fishing.

Moving on to new hunting grounds.

My beach walk companion. Very cool!

Finally, just to pay tribute to this amazing book that we bought many years ago at the St. Thomas airport on a whim. It has become our constant companion on St. John.

A great guide not just to the trails, but what you see along the way.

St. John Circumnavigation

After sitting in Lameshur Bay for five days, no matter how delightful, it was time to move on.

First stop, to pick up mail was back at Cruz Bay at the west end of the island, so off we went timing our arrival there for lunch. As is so often the case, it took us two visits to the post office for them to find our general delivery shipment and they still managed to miss one package that we now know was there, but no worries, we also visited the market for some fresh provisions and then treated ourselves to the ooey-gooey goodness of half-price burgers at Across The Street. The name refers to the fact that they are across the street from Woody's, another well-known Cruz Bay establishment, not surprisingly run by the same people.

The delightful waterfront by the ferry dock in Cruz Bay.

My view from the table looking down to the ferry dock. This place is so wonderfully laid back after St. Thomas, but is still a busy little place.

Pre-burger libations a yummy on both fronts.

Watchful of our three-hour time limit for anchoring in the tiny little harbour, we headed off mid-afternoon to make our way round the north shore to Leinster Bay and to meet up with Blue Blaze and Freedom. That evening we had the best sunset we've seen in quite a while, and I think just about everyone from here to Florida and possibly north of that were posting pictures. It was pretty spectacular! Here's my little contribution.

Since we'd basically come all the way around St. John to sit in the north shore, just about opposite of where we'd been on the south shore, the next morning we set off on a hike back to the south shore. Just a little bit crazy, but once again the views both north and south were spectacular, with the colours in the morning sunshine making it all worth the effort to get ourselves up the hills.

By the way, I know in this first picture that I'm sitting under a Manchioneel tree and if it were raining I definitely wouldn't be there and nor would the dingy. For those not familiar, the Manchioneel tree has some very nasty properties including sap that can give you burns like acid (even rain dripping off the leaves can be irritating), and fruit that when one of Chris Columbus' sailors ate one proved fatal and have therefore earned the rather obvious name of "death apple".

Our hike often begins with beaching the dinghy, getting the sand off our feet and hoping that our shoes are still dry when we set out.

Love the trails of St. John, but you certainly have to keep an eye on your step to protect for rolled ankles.

First stop Brown Bay, looking north to Tortola in the BVI. Yes, it really is that close!

Really hard to make out but if you look closely, do you see the bear in the tree, looking right back at you? This is actually a huge insect nest.

We reached the end if the trail on the road down by Coral Bay, and proceeded to climb up this hill...

When we got to the first crest and saw that we had to go back down to sea level and then back up this next hill, I mutinied! We still had to climb back over another hill like this to get back to the boat.

Another fabulous view up the Drake Channel with Tortola on the left.

At the top of Windy Hill sit the remains of the Murphy Estate house, later a reform school. From up here Mr. Murphy could keep an eye in his massive estate at Annaberg.

Here's the view from the house... And the anchorage with Mowzer second from the left.

And just below us was Waterlemon Cay, with some really great snorkeling.

Although the sights of the north shore are stunning, it was a tad too busy for our likes so we picked up once again and made our way around to Hurricane Hole at the southeast end of the island. It was here that we debated with ourselves where to spend the night, but once we found that Rick & Christine on de Life were to be in Hansen Bay that night, we made a quick decision to go in and join them. Although the holding was difficult to find, on our third drop of the anchor we settled in for a good evening.

This morning we headed once more for Lameshur Bay which would complete our circumnavigation of the island. However, not before joining Rick & Christine once more, with some St. Johnian friends of theirs, for mimosas and lots of good tales of life on the island, which included rescuing donkeys, adventures on the safari bus and the joys of sketchy post office delivery.

Mimosas on de Life - what a great way to start the day!

Now we're back in Lameshur and hoping to meet up with some friends from the Nepean Sailing Club back in Ottawa. And, Blue Blaze and Freedom are also here so it should be a fun evening. This may be the quiet side of St. John, but for us it's been anything but!