Our wave of
visitors seems to have interfered with my writing
schedule. The lack of wind, cloudy skies, and
teaching of school have afforded me a good
opportunity to catch up this morning. After a
week in Simpson Bay, St. Maarten, an unforeseen
schedule change, and some fruitless searching, we
are moored in one of our favorite spots, the Bitter
End on Virgin Gorda, poised and ready for whatever
opportunities the gods may grant us!
Our passage to St.
Maarten was a long motor, but our fishing success
made up for it! We landed this beauty after
throwing back a couple of mackerel, a small tuna and
a barracuda.
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This spectacular Dorado
put up a good fight but unlike sport fishermen, I
use nice heavy tackle so it isn't as much about the
fight as it is about stocking the freezer.
This fish has already provided several fantastic
meals and we still have plenty left for many more.
It was a two hour process to clean and store the
meat. Luckily it isn't every day you catch a fish
this size! It was quite a rush.
Dropping the anchor in Simpson Bay just after
sunset, I hear a call from shore, "Yo, Christy!"
It was our friend Cody who came down with his family
for a week of fun in the sun. He, his wife
Dana and three kids, Wyatt (5), Lydia (3) and Clay
(2) had rented an apartment at the Pelican Resort
complex with Cody's parents. This arrangement
worked out perfectly for all of us. The
Cramers had plenty of room and places for the kids
to escape to when it was nap time, and we had the
use of the resort's pool and laundry facility.
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Arriving on Saturday, we secured an anchor spot up
close to the hotel. It turns out that the
annual Heineken Regatta was scheduled for the next
weekend and the anchorage soon became packed with
race boats and spectator boats alike. The
three days of official racing were preceded by the
Commodore's Cup on Thursday. We piled five
adults into our little dinghy and puttered out to
watch the leeward mark roundings just half a mile
from our anchorage.
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Dana had never watched
sailboat races and her enthusiasm for the excursion
infected us all.
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As former racers
ourselves, watching the crews in action on the boats
and celebrating around town made us a little
nostalgic for that earlier and younger life.
As we listened to the music blaring into the wee
hours from the beach at the head of the bay, reality
quickly replaced nostalgia as we dozed off at ten
o'clock, despite the racket.
Our favorite experience with our vacationing friends
was the day trip we took on Zia. Carting all
the kids and parents and gear needed for a
successful day on the boat required two dinghy trips
and many hands. Successfully ensconced aboard,
we hoisted the anchor with our sights on Orient Bay,
around the east side of the island. Although
there are a couple of protected anchorages once
there, we quickly realized the folly of risking the
upwind trip to the windward side of the island with
three little ones in 25 to 30 knots of wind and
bumpy seas. No worries, man. After a
quick conference, we turned around and headed
towards Grand Case on the west coast. We would
still have an upwind leg but it would be in the lee
of the island so the seas were bound to be more
gentle.
Wyatt loved helping Joe steer the
boat.
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Lydia suffered the most
from the motion of the ocean but rallied immediately
once we dropped the hook for lunch.
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Little Clay, not quite
talking yet but extremely verbal, was amazingly good
at contributing to the conversation.
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It was really remarkable to watch the
kids as they all got to know each other and as they
worked out the hierarchy amongst themselves.
Cassie and Juliana proved themselves to be very
eager and capable babysitters, although a bit of
additional adult supervision was necessary on the
boat. They aren't often the oldest kids in the
group and I was proud to see them hang and play with
the young ones with no complaints. Actually, I
think they enjoyed their roles as boss and
supervisor.
With the Cramers due to leave St. Maarten on
Saturday, and our next guest, Jean, arriving in St.
Thomas 110 miles away on Saturday as well, we
decided an overnight sail departing Friday night
would be the best plan. Unfortunately, the
gods had a different agenda in mind. The
forecast called for no wind on Thursday and 25 to 35
knots and seas building up to 16 feet starting on
Friday morning. Sure enough, we woke up to the
howl of the wind through the rigging. We
agonized over our dilemma, balancing our commitment
to meet Jean with the prospect of pounding into
nasty weather for 12 or 14 hours. Not seeing
much choice, we took in our paperwork and checked
out of the country. We got many comments and
funny looks whenever someone found out we were
planning on heading to St. Thomas that night.
It took us a couple of hours before it occurred to
Joe that Jean might be able to fly to St. Maarten
instead. I jumped on the case and quickly
found a flight for under a hundred dollars that got
him to Princess Juliana Airport at 8:30pm.
The inherent unpredictability of the weather has
forced us to become very flexible in our plans.
Unfortunately, the lessons we have learned aren't so
easily explained to our non-sailor guests.
Most people like to have firm vacation plans which
generally include minor details such as definitive arrival
and departure city information. Well, luckily
Jean is a sailor himself, and hangs out with sailors
and totally understood our predicament. Within
an hour a ticket for an additional flight was
purchased and we were saved from the uncomfortable
and potentially damaging overnight sail. Whew!
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The mutually agreed upon primary goal of Jean's
visit to Zia was the pursuit of kite boarding.
Jean had come sailing on Zia with us in August 2005
when his brother Francois and his family were
vacationing aboard in Wood's Hole and Nantucket.
He also joined us for my big birthday celebration in
Boston later the same month. After that, we
stayed in email and facebook contact. It
didn't take long for us to start hatching a plan for
a "Kite Camp Vacation." He would supply the
gear and the expertise and we would contribute the
platform and accommodations.
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Optimism ran strong on Zia. Since high winds
were the primary factor in our schedule change, we
were sure to get some good kiting in on St. Martin.
Around the east side of the island there is a large
cove called Orient Bay. Several websites
talked about it as a prime kiting location and the
breeze seemed perfect. The only drawback, upon
closer observation, were the six foot rollers
crashing onshore. Not to be deterred, we found
a place to safely land the dinghy, right by the
"naturist" section of the long, curving beach.
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We hauled all our gear a
mile down the beach to a spot with few people so we
could set up and launch the kite. We even set up the
kite. Then we started looking at the reality
of the situation without the lenses of desire
fogging up the scene. There were serious six
foot swells breaking just off the beach. The
wind was not really strong or steady enough to get
the kite up and keep a rider going through this kind
of surf. Not to mention the fact that two out
of three of us were beginners.
Hey, it was a beautiful day for a walk down the
beach. The scenery was, ehm, interesting, and
we found a wonderful bakery with delicious fresh
baguette for lunch and scrumptious éclairs for
desert. The kiting, our primary objective,
wasn't happening, and we could complain about it if
we wanted to, but we all thought it was better to enjoy
the positive aspects of the day. After lunch we
hauled up the anchor and moved over to the other
side of the bay, behind Ile Pinel. The girls
took the kayak ashore and the adults soon followed.
There was a sweet little beach with hammocks and
palm trees, a quaint, very French beach bar, and
some great little hikes to the top of the hill
overlooking the bay and surrounding ocean.
But, we couldn't ignore the prime directive for
long. With kiting friends in Virgin Gorda, at
the Bitter End Yacht Club, we set sail after dinner
in pursuit of that perfect kiting location. It
gets complicated, you see. We need to have Zia
close by. The wind needs to be steady and over
15 knots. The surrounding terrain needs to be
large enough to allow for a long downwind run and a
way to get back upwind. When you first learn
to kite, you spend a lot of time in the water with
the kite pulling you downwind. Even when you
manage to get up on the board for a ride, it takes a
little practice to learn how to drive the board and
the kite upwind. We have the benefit of a
dinghy so we can approach kite boarding as a "caddy
sport." Start out as far upwind as you can,
ride, drag, and flail your way downwind as far as
you can, and then hop up onto the dinghy with the
kite and ride it back upwind to start over.
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Joe and I had in fact taken a couple of kite
boarding lessons here at the Bitter End in late
2005. We knew there was a great bay called
Eustatia Sound which could potentially provide the
perfect venue. To top it all off, the kids had
friends here. The Bitter End is a luxury
resort with swimming pool, beach, playgrounds, Hobie
cats, and lots of kids and kid friendly adults.
It is important to make sure the kids are happy and
not resentful of us taking so much time to do
something just for the adults. We felt sure it
wouldn't be a problem here at the Bitter End.
Now, we just have to wait for some decent wind...
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