Thursday, February 9th - Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVI

       

Zia has been out of the water since Monday.  Luckily, we have discovered no major problems lurking under her waterline.  Although today is nice and sunny, we have had two days of lots of rain, so the work hasn't progressed as quickly as we would have liked.  Basically, nothing was done until yesterday morning, at about 6am, when it had been dry enough for long enough to get the first coat of paint applied.  It continued to rain on and off for the rest of the day but at some point they managed to get a second coat on.  Today they are buffing and waxing the topsides or the hull above the waterline.  She already looks great and we are hoping to "get splashed" by about 4pm. 
 
Living on the boat out of the water is very strange.  We did manage to have our first few meals here onboard, but once they started work on the boat we had to stop doing dishes so that came to a quick end.  All of the water from our sinks gets pumped overboard so we didn't want it dribbling down the sides of the boat where they had just cleaned in preparation for the paint and wax.  We also have not been able to use the heads.  Although we do have holding tanks and could pump the waste into them, both of our toilets use sea water to flush.  They have some really nice marina bathrooms and showers that are a bit of a hike, and another one that is not at all fancy but serviceable and much closer.  In the middle of the night, we have a bucket.  The trick is to wake up and empty it before the boatyard starts swarming with workers who probably know exactly what the liquid is that you are dumping.  Who ever said boating life was glamorous?
 
We definitely picked the right place to haul out.  The facility is great.  The boatyard is run very efficiently and courteously.  It is kept clean and tidy, at least as much as possible for a boatyard.  In addition to all the benefits of dealing with a well managed business, we are enjoying the many amenities available to us.  There is a resort hotel with a pool that is at our disposal.  They have a nice little beach that faces south to Saint John, right on the channel with nice clean water.  There are two restaurants with good food at reasonable prices.  Half a dozen of the smaller charter companies are based here so they also have laundry service, a grocery store, a dive shop, a business center, and numerous other boutiques.  I can't think of a better place to be stuck out of the water, especially when it is raining so much.  I'm not sure we would be having any more fun if we were in the water in this weather. 
 
Our friends on Cenou were already out of the water and had been here since last Thursday by the time we arrived.  Jaimie was sitting, waiting to get hauled out when we pulled up and somehow jumped the line in front of them.  They stuck our boat on blocks right next to Cenou and Jaimie right in front of us.  It was almost like being rafted up together! 
Rike volunteered to cook up the frozen fish that wouldn't keep from my freezer and hosted a dinner party for all of us.  It had been a month since we had seen Jaimie and at least a couple of weeks since we parted ways with Cenou in the Leeward Islands, so we swapped stories of our adventures.  We also spoke of our future plans, which would bring all of us to the Bahamas at some point this spring.  John and Po had always planned on returning to Annapolis by April, and have since found a buyer for their boat.  They are delivering her in the Bahamas in March.  They are thrilled and already thinking about their next boat.  Cenou has company coming to meet them in St. Thomas at the end of the month, so they won't be making the trek north until next month sometime. 
 
We've gotten 8 days of school in already this month!  We passed the halfway point on the 7th with Test Lesson 80.  Cassie had some trouble with the road map portion of the geography test, but otherwise did very well on everything.  Juliana has finished the first grade math course and will now attempt to complete the entire second grade math in the last half of the year so she can be studying at the same level in all the subjects.  We had skipped the rest of first grade based on her advanced reading ability (she is currently reading the 6th Harry Potter book, having finished the other five already) but wanted to make sure she covered all the math concepts from the missed year.  She is doing very well in all subjects, although exhibits a bit of an attitude at times, when it comes time to exercise her brain a little to grasp a new concept. 
 
The boat is getting lifted right now so I have to finish up and head back to help with the lines.  Hope all is well with all of you!
 
Love,
Christy, Joe, Cassie, and Juliana
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Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind enough to host the website on his server.
 
   

 
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