1 June 1994 Norman Island to Caneel Bay, USVI
We motored across to the Indians and picked up a mooring. Brett and I went for a snorkel around the Indians. Brett swam through a tunnel and we saw a school of squid. We sailed to Soper’s Hole, picked up a mooring and Glenys went to clear out.
We sailed to Cruz Bay, St John and had to anchor outside in between two channels that ferries use. We went to clear in. I’ve been worried for days about our US Visas - both Glenys and I have indefinite, multiple entry visas in our old passports. The boys were on Glenys’ old passport, but we’ve all got new passports now. We’ve been told that the visas will be valid for us all even though they are in our old passports. Fortunately, they accepted the visas and cleared us in without any problems.
We bought some food and went to anchor off a beautiful beach in Caneel Bay. We did a bit of snorkelling while the boys headed for the beach on their body boards. A phenomenon of the Virgin Islands is the laughing gull which looks like a black headed gull. Flocks of them appear from nowhere if you throw out any food. They hover at the side of the boat catching bread and will actually take it from your hand.
2 June 1994 Caneel Bay to Great St James Island, USVI
The boys went to the beach first thing and I used up the remaining air in a tank practicing some diving skills. We motor-sailed over to Great St James Island and anchored in a very protected bay with good holding. We decided to spend the night here and so we had a lazy day.
I, of course, spent most of the day reading diving manuals. We went snorkelling on the south point of the island which was disappointing. The anchorages in the US Virgin Islands appear to be better than in the British Virgin Islands and there are no bloody buoys!
3 June 1994 Great St James Island to Charlotte Amalie Marina, USVI
We motor-sailed around to Charlotte Amalie and straight into the marina. It was a little fraught docking bows-to between pilings with a cross-wind, but we did quite well and didn’t bounce off anything. We sorted out the awning, ropes and assembled the gang plank, and went for a quick reconnoitre of the marina, hotel and surrounding district.
The hotel and marina looks well set up with a swimming pool, shops and restaurants. The surrounding district looks a bit grim with blocks of flats – the hotel staff say that we shouldn’t walk around at night and should use a taxi! I’m irrationally hacked off about this – we’ve been living in foreign countries for nearly two years and this is the first place where we’ve been apprehensive. Has it something to do with the American way of life and culture? Contempt and fear of people of a different racial background?
The best thing we’ve found so far is the supermarket – wow! We’ve not been in a really large supermarket for ages. We wandered around in a daze. We went to the swimming pool for a couple of hours and had a great time. Brett and Craig discovered chlorine and the effect that it has on your eyes! We’ve managed to survive for over 6 months without staying overnight in a marina. We are pretty used to being at anchor but it is nice to be able to just turn on the hose pipe and nip to the supermarket! Your convenience for only $18US per night!
4 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
I got a lift out to Bolongo Bay with Pam Balash, picked up our mail, paid out $1000 for the IDC Course and manuals and got a lift back to the marina, which was very nice of Pam. Glenys and the boys did school work in the morning and then retired to the pool.
I spent the afternoon wandering around town. The main town centre is very boring, catering for the cruise ships which come in each day. It was more interesting in the area around the marina, Woolworths, supermarkets, radio shack, etc. I bought a couple of things at Bargain Stores and joined the others at the pool. One of our mail envelopes is missing.
5 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
My 38th birthday, but no recognition for it because Glenys isn’t prepared and I’m starting my course tomorrow! My official birthday is going to be the 16 June which is the day following the Instructor exam and the day before Glenys goes to work on “Dabulamanzi”.
I spent the day repairing dinghies and bikes. I had to throw our big folding bike away because it would cost too much to repair it. Brett’s bike is just working but we will “dispose” of it ASAP because the decks are getting badly rust stained. We ran out of water and filled the tanks with water. “Oh, we’ve run out of water. Brett, could you just go and turn on the hosepipe” – great!
6 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
First day at Instructor’s Course - a day of lectures and course orientation. We worked from eight o’clock in the morning until six o’clock and then went home to prepare a theory lecture for tomorrow. I was dead tired when I got back to the boat. Glenys gave me a nice dinner after which I ignored everyone and worked until eleven o’clock to sort out this damned lecture – it’s only 10 minutes long. Glenys spent the day doing school work, tidying up and going to the pool (I think!)
7 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
My first lecture went OK. We did more course work and spent a couple of hours in the pool doing skills and skill instruction. Tonight’s homework was another theory lecture plus a pool session preparation. Glenys did school work and wandered around the shops – no pool (gasp!) I bought a new pair of fins today because I’ve discovered that we have to do an 800 yard snorkel swim in 17 minutes or less.
8 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Lectures on PADI standards. I did a theory lecture (which was good) and a pool class session (which was OK.) Glenys had a school work and pool day. I’m starting to get the hang of what’s required for the exam and I’m not half as tired as day 1!
9 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Theory, theory, presentation, theory. Eric and I did the 800 yard snorkel swim at lunchtime and managed to do it in 15 minutes – that was hard work but manageable! Glenys and the boys went on the Atlantis submarine today. Pam works there and gave us a ticket to get cheap rates – it was still $45US, but they had a great time.
10 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
We had a four hour pool session in the morning followed by theory presentations and then class work on the Advanced Open Water Course. I stayed in the evening to do a First Aid Course, which Pam kindly agreed to do for me and Zeno because our CPR was over two years old.
11 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
These eleven o’clock bedtimes and six o’clock mornings are killing me. All of the others in the class are weary too! We spent four hours in the pool in the morning, followed by a dive on the Cartenser wreck to do a navigation dive. We then did a couple of hours of physics and home by six o’clock – it’s a miracle? I still ended up messing about until eleven o’clock reading and preparing a couple of Open Water Classes.
12 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Day 7 of the course - only two sleeps to the exam – am I ready? (Not yet!). In the morning, we had a lecture all about standards for the Open Water Course and I started to realise the tremendous responsibility a diving instructor has for the safety of students. We did two dives - teaching one open water skill each and practised “controlling” a Controlled Emergency Swimming Ascent – total chaos. We did some more theory in the afternoon. The Open Water part of the exam is the most worrying – screw up and that’s a fail – no retake.
13 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Final day of the IDC. We did two dives off Coki Beach in the morning. I had to do mask clear and controlled emergency swimming ascent both of which went well. We did rescue practice which seemed fairly straight forward. We did some more theory in the afternoon and went through a standards and procedures test which I didn’t do too well on, but that’s an open book exam. I had a nice dinner, a beer and went to bed at half past nine.
14 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
I felt good first thing in the morning. We had a welcome session with the examiner, Arch Archibald, first thing in the morning. Our group went straight into the written exams – I got 100% on all of the theory exams and 97% on the standards and procedures open book exam. We then did the 800 yard swim and I did it in 14:32, well within the 17 minutes. I was the quickest out of the whole lot until one guy had to do it again because he had a cramp on the first attempt – he swam it in 14:05, which is to be expected I suppose!
We then went on to the confined water presentations, and I scored 4.0 out of 5. We had to do a skill evaluation circuit where we had to demonstrate 3 skills - hover, mask replace and AAS breathing. These had to be done to demonstration quality and I’m afraid I scored 4, 3 and 3 out of 5 simply because I hadn’t thought about it!
I got a lift off Rich Courtney and we went to Bridget Gardner’s flat to eat a takeaway and prepare our Academic Teaching Presentations. I had to do “Breathing Air at Depth” lecture which I didn’t do until half past ten, but scored 4.1 out of 5 which I was quite pleased about. Back to the marina to prepare my two open water presentations for the next day and collapsed in bed at half past one! Glenys told me that the alternator doesn’t work, but I can’t do anything about it!
15 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Up at six o’clock and off to Coki Beach. We did our unconscious, non-breathing diver rescue – I did a very good one. We then did our Open Water Presentations. I had Regulator Recovery and Stationary Buddy Breathing and scored 4.2 and 4.0 out of 5. We went back to the dive centre and had a debriefing and a little presentation ceremony at about two o’clock. Bill had laid on beer and a barbeque, so we all got a little tipsy. The “Passing Out” party broke up at five o’clock, so I went back home to find that Gareth had arrived.
We had a TV dinner on “Dabulamanzi”. I’m absolutely shattered but it’s been a great 10 days. Three people failed out of 20. Rob and Zeno from our group both failed their theory exams. Zeno had the strength of character to complete the IE but Rob freaked out and didn’t show up on Day 2. The total cost of the course was just under £1000, but well worth the money just for the experience.
16 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Up at half past six – it will take a few days to break the habit! I sorted out a priority “to do list” first thing and then wired up the 110V circuit, so that I could put the battery charger on. By one o’clock, I’d discovered that the alternator was burnt out, our battery charger has stopped working and 3 out of the 4 domestic batteries are dodgy. I’ve found a local guy to look at the alternator and God knows what to do with the rest!
I went out to Bolongo Bay, spent $1050 on dive gear and had a 2 hour session with the equipment repair guy. We went for a drink on “Filia” who turned up today. What a day!
17 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Bit of a hangover today. I went to see about the alternator – he is going to get the stator rewound and I should get it back Monday or Tuesday. I dug out out our petrol generator to try to recover two of the dodgy batteries. Bungy from “Shivara” lent me a small battery charger. I reckon that I will only have to buy one new battery. We went to “Dabulamanzi” for a barbeque with Margaret from “Filia” even though it was raining.
18 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Glenys left on “Dabulamanzi” for a week as a ship’s cook. I swapped all of the batteries around and managed to recharge all but one. The boys and I went to Wendy’s for lunch and then dinghyed over to the submarine base to have a quick look around. I went to the supermarket, bought some food for dinner and then discovered that Glenys has taken all of her cookbooks with her! I made a chilli which I thought was well improvised.
19 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Big tidy up today. I “reassembled” the workshop and made a simple frame to attach 4 air tanks to the granny rail. We went to the pool for an hour and the boys helped Margaret to walk her dog. We all went to “Filia” for dinner which was very nice of Margaret.
20 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
Hangover today – it’s all Margaret’s fault. I went and bought a new battery and found that the alternator will be ready tomorrow. I rang Bill at Bolongo Bay and he said that he would sell me some Open Water Manuals and Discover Scuba cards. We started to go round in the dinghy, but the swell was too bad, so I left the boys with Margaret and caught a taxi. I bought a load of stuff and left $175 of Open Water Manuals behind. Stacy and Steve kindly brought them out to me.
21 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina
I got the alternator and fitted it. It seems to work well. I ran around all day sorting out the boat so that we can go tomorrow. Brett and Craig painted the anchor chain for me. Craig painted the gaps between the marks, and I had to finish it off but it kept them busy for an hour. Brett agreed to throw away his bike and he bravely did it himself! We had a Kentucky Fried Chicken dinner.
22 June 1994 Charlotte Amalie Marina to Norman Island, BVI
Ollie helped me get the boat out of the berth and onto the fuel dock to fill up with fuel. We motored around to Soper’s Hole to clear in and then went across to Norman Island. The log packed up as soon as we left Charlotte Amalie. It showed 10 knots and the log reading was clicking really fast, so I disconnected the impellor cable. I left the ignition on while we were at the fuel dock and the temperature gauge is oscillating now. It never rains but what it pours!
I was real slick picking up the mooring in Soper’s Hole and the boys helped me anchor by steering the boat. When I snorkelled down to check the anchor, I found a conch shell with two small cardinal fish and a baby octopus – I took it back to the boat but the octopus wouldn’t come out! Brett managed to water ski backwards on his body board today. It’s great to be at anchor again. “Dabulamanzi” turned up at sunset and Gareth let Glenys stay overnight on Glencora – after she had served dinner of course!
23 June 1994 Norman Island
We went to “The Caves” to do a bit of snorkelling with Glenys, Gareth and their guests. I made my diving sign in the afternoon which took about 5 hours. We had leftovers from “Dabulamanzi” for dinner.
24 June 1994 Norman Island
I did two days’ worth of washing up and then cleared the cockpit drains. In the afternoon, I just went down to look at the log impellor and I was so disgusted with the coral garden on the bottom of the boat that I spent 3 hours cleaning the bottom. I spent 2 hours with a snorkel scraping the top 2 feet and then 1 hour with a tank scraping about 1/3 of the rest – I’ll have to finish it tomorrow!
25 June 1994 Norman Island to Cane Garden Bay, BVI
Some people on a charter boat kindly brought over their left over food and drink because they were dropping the boat off today. We had a short but pleasant trip to Cane Garden Bay and anchored in good holding sand. It seems to be a very pleasant anchorage. We had lunch and then I spent 2 hours scraping the bottom of the boat. It is very time consuming doing the area around the propellor, skeg and rudder. I found a small crab living among the growth!
26 June 1994 Cane Garden Bay
I spent another 2 hours finishing off the bottom. It took me 6½ hours and 3 air tanks to do it. I must remember never to scrub anyone else’s hull! “Dabulamanzi” arrived at midday and we went there for lunch. It looks like their guests are going to come again for the second week of November and may want to do a diving course.
I’ve discovered that the log impellor problem something to do with electrical “noise” from the alternator – I tried connecting a suppressor across it with no success. We all went to “Dabulamanzi” for a barbeque. Glenys got paid $500 for her week on “Dabulamanzi”, but it sounds like she earned it. Craig was playing on “Dabulamanzi” and managed to fall in, fully clothed. He swam to the dinghy at the back, crying as he swam. He was very embarrassed and wouldn’t come out of the dinghy for ages.
27 June 1994 Cane Garden Bay to St Martin
I did a few jobs first thing and then we motored over to the Baths for a last rendezvous with Gareth. Glenys and Gareth went to the Marina to buy a bit of food and clear out while the boys swam to the beach. We dismantled the dinghy and sorted the boat out, then left at half past four. Gareth followed about an hour later.
It was very unpleasant. We could only point to 140° instead of 120° and the sea was a bit rough. After about an hour we felt rough too! Glenys managed to put a pizza in the oven but I’m afraid that it didn’t get eaten until about eight o’clock by which time it had gone cold. Gareth passed us at about nine o’clock just as a big squall hit us with 30+ knot winds. I was of course in bed and had to get up to check it out. Gareth passed us about ½ mile downwind which surprised me as I expected him to be pointing higher than us. Perhaps we are pointing too high!
28 June 1994 Cane Garden Bay to St Martin
A very unpleasant night. By midnight we were about 17 miles south of our rhumb line and I’d given up on the idea of going to St Martin. Gary’s new watch and my dive computer could wait for next time! During my off watch (2-5), I felt a few drips on me and woke at three o’clock feeling cold. I pulled a blanket over me and woke at five o’clock feeling cold and sweaty. At this point, I realised that the starboard saloon hatch was leaking and I (and my bedding) was wet!
At eight o’clock, we decided to make for Statia and tacked to go north a bit. Two hours later, we tacked again going SE as we had decided to carry on for another night to Guadeloupe. That was when we heard something heavy thumping ……. Glenys eventually tracked it down to the rudder moving up and down about ¼ inch – PANIC! Was the shoe at the bottom of the skeg falling off? Would we lose the rudder?
We decided to head for St Martin to check it out. We then had 5 uncomfortable hours waiting while we sailed there. As soon as we anchored in Simpson Bay, I dived over the side and had a look. It appears that we have lost a nylon/Teflon spacer from the rudder stock which is allowing the rudder to move up and down. It doesn’t seem to be an immediate problem, so I’ll wait until we get hauled out before doing anything about it. We went into the lagoon in the evening.
29 June 1994 Simpson Bay Lagoon
Lots of running about buying things - watch for Gary, dive computer, fins for Glenys and Brett, game gear for Craig’s birthday, food, etc. Glenys sent a fax to Lloyds cancelling her credit card (and mine) because the mail from Carol hadn’t arrived in St Thomas. Guy and Marie and Tom from “Sahara Blue” came for a beer.
30 June 1994 Simpson Bay Lagoon to St Barts
I tried to get a weather forecast first thing in the morning with no success. It was windy all night and is gusting ESE 25 knots. We ‘ummed and ahhed’ for ages and then decided to “just” go to St Barts. What a good decision! It was three hours of hell motoring straight up wind into 3 metre seas, but it was great when we arrived in Anse De Columbier and jumped into the clear, calm water. Brett and Glenys tried out their new fins and I played with my new dive computer. The instructions for the dive computer are only in French, so Glenys and I spent an hour trying to translate the manual – life’s never easy!
I finally got a weather forecast at 1800hrs from Radio Antilles on 930 kHz. The guy talks so fast that I was glad I recorded it. Anyway, the weather is very unsettled and we expect ESE 20-25 knots tomorrow and for the next few days. It looks like we will be doing day-sailing from island to island until the weather gets better.
Glenys’ mum, Ceris, arrives in 7 days and we’ve still got about 350 miles to go! Glenys discovered that the steering wheel is giving out electric shocks when the engine is running. I suspect that the alternator has some kind of fault on it and is causing the engine and steering to be live. It doesn’t appear to be a problem (except for us getting mild shocks!) so I suppose I’ll wait until we get to Grenada.