He drove down to check on the boat this morning and got to Kemah around 3:00pm. He met up with some of our boat neighbors, and they waded out to the boats to see what the damage was. Cannibal was in GREAT shape! The worst damage to the boat was a surface scratch from a neighbors boat bumping ours. None of our mooring lines broke, and he can’t find any damage. Praise God!!!

Bad news: the piers in the marina are totally gone, and there is floating debris everywhere. He said there is part of the dock stuck under our bow and he is going to try to move that out before the tide goes down. Unfortunately, some of the other boats in the marina did not fare so well… some broke loose, some were sunk, some of the pilings broke which caused the boats tied to them to slam around a bunch.

Looks like it we’ll be getting new piers—–someday! I’m just extremely thankful to God for sparing our home.

Oh, I should back up a minute and tell you what Foxy’s is. Foxy is an islander who owns a bar that caters to mariners on the island of Jost Van Dyke. He’s famous in the BVI’s; in fact, there is a rum with his name on it. Actually, it may be a beer, but that’s not important. He’s a “don’t worry, be happy” kind of guy, who also does calypso music/reggae or something like that.

Back to the boat regatta. The boy’s and John got to help crew Raindancer during two of the races on Sunday. There are some professional photos you can view at: www.yachtshotsbvi.com click on “view photos;” choose “Foxy’s wooden boat regatta” and then scroll down until you see Raindancer 1,2&3. There are lots of cool pictures of the boat and my boys (and man).

On Friday night, before the regatta began, the race committee passed out the schedules and routes… so we had to go visit Foxy’s and the little bity town. The Toucans were there with us as well. Mary (mom from Toucan) and I were walking around looking for the place where Foxy was having his boat built. A very large island man asked if we “ladies were looking for a good time.” So we told him that we were actually looking for Foxy’s boat. He said, “Oh, it’s back here, I’ll show you.” So we followed him. Along the way, he asked if we were married. We said yes, so he clarified if we were both married, and if we were sure. We said, “Oh yeah, we’re 3 kids each, married.” That seemed to clear things up for him. After a long walk back behind the open air bar, we found where the boat barn was. It was rather large, but it was on the other side of yard that could have had stickers. Being barefooted, neither of us wanted to go.

Foxy’s bar is open air, and they have a buffet (reservations only, and way at $28/plate, us families didn’t indulge). Pretty much everyone in the anchorage was at the bar. It was an interesting evening. The Toucans got ice cream cones for $3 a scoop, while we walked the dirt road. All of our kids played chase in the dark. There were lots of large hammocks strung between the trees on the shore, so we all lounged in them. I take that back. The kids don’t lounge. They used them as swinging devices; the girls would sit in them, and the boys would see how long and hard it took to make one of them fly out or throw up. Luckily, neither happened, but an islander guy told them the hammocks were for relaxing, not playing, so they came back over to where we were using the hammocks properly.

We had a very entertaining time watching the charter boats try to anchor. Most of them would charge in to the anchorage waaaay too fast, then throw it in reverse, drop the anchor, realize that they would be on top of another boat when they let out chain, pull the anchor up, drive around (way too fast) to find another spot… some boats took an hour to anchor. John enjoyed that alot.

After the boat Regatta, we headed off toward St. John—I think it was the Monday after Labor Day. We saw a neat little beach on a small island, Sandy Cay, so we decided to go check it out. There was a reef close by and the snorkeling was ok. John saw a nurse shark, but it was up in some rocks and wouldn’t come out. Pretty beach, though. We spent the night.

Next stop, St. John, which is largely a US National park. We grab a mooring ball in Leinster Bay for $15. There was a tiny little island by the mooring field that had some wonderful snorkeling. We saw tons of cool fish, and octopus, stingray, lobster, some pretty coral. It was amazing. We swam over from the boat to the island and the water where the boat was moored was really deep, like 40 ft or something. It was creepy swimming, especially since we earlier saw a couple of dolphins mating, and later some sucker fish that like sharks. I’m sure if there were sharks, that they were just nurse sharks, but still. It was creepy to me!

While at Leinster Bay, we toured an old sugar mill plantation, Annaburg Sugar Mill. It was pretty cool. There was a lady baking bread in the original cook house over the original stove. It tasted just like the bread I make. (Yeah, that’s right–I make bread. Not only that, I make pizza dough, and cinnamon rolls. I can’t believe it, either!)

Next we visited Peter Island. We found a very calm little harbor, aptly named Little Harbor. The water is very deep, except right by shore. We had to drop the anchor so close to shore that if we swung we could run aground. We tied the stern up to an old abandoned cement pier. It was awesome. The water was clear and it was so calm. There were several other catamarans, mostly charter boats, but it was so nice that we didn’t care. Although, when we first arrived, a charter boat named Viking Dream was next to us and they were the noisiest people ever. The charter company must give them little viking helmets when they get the boat because they all had them on while in the water having their own olympic games, adults with beer (which apparantly was a feat in itself-how to keep the beef afloat). Thankfully, they left early the next morning and we had peace and quiet. We stayed there for several days, and even then it was hard to leave.

On to Virgin Gorda and the Virgin Baths. This is by far the favorite place for everyone onboard. John and the kids said the snorkeling was amazing. There were also rocks to hike/climb on, and some of the rocks formed little pools (baths?). They had a blast!

After a night there (actually in Spanish Town because you can’t stay overnight at the baths), we left to head back to Culebra. We had heard that Magan’s Beach was beautiful, so we went there. It is rated by National Geographic as one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world. Perhaps they mean public beach parks, because we’ve seen some that are way better, but you have to have a boat to get to them. It was pretty, though. The facilities are really what make it nice. There is plenty of shade, picnic tables, a concession stand and bar, a gift shop, lifeguards (sometimes), water toy rental… it’s pretty nice. The cruise ship passengers go there from Charlotte Amallie (St. Thomas), so it’s crowded when the cruise ships are in.

Now we are back in Culebra. John just went into town (Dewey) to see if the sail has arrived. I must say, none of us has much hope of it being here. Hopefully, it is here.

What’s the plan from here? Well, it’s time to go home-wherever that is. The plan is to go to Fajardo on mainland Puerto RIco and spend a night or two in a very cheap marina. Fajardo is a great place to get marine supplies and food, so we will provision for the trip home. Then head to Great Inagua, Bahamas; stop off at some islands between Florida and Cuba; catch our breath in the Florida Keys; then (drum roll, please) cross the Gulf of Mexico-gulp! We will head for Texas and tie up Cannibal in the cheapest marina we can find. The boys are planning to attend youth camp with Victory, so we hope to be back by the 23rd of June.

That sums up our experience at Foxy’s and the BVI’s, and the USVI’s, and our plans. I’m not sure how much I will get to post from now til we get home, so I thought I would put all in now. Hope you are all enjoying your summers, and we look forward to seeing lots of you soon!!

We were waiting around in Culebra for a new used mainsail that John bought online. Hopefully, he will write a post about blowing out our main… anyway. He paid for 2 day air fedex shipping, but when we went into town to pick it up we discovered that it would be another 8 days before it got here. Apparantly, when you select 2 day shipping for Puerto Rico, it’s because it costs more to ship it here, but it doesn’t mean it arrives in 2 days. It’s really “ground” speed at “air” price. So, instead of hanging around Culebra any longer, we decided to head for the Virgin Islands. We could see St. Thomas in the distance, and the temptation was too great.

We will stay here a day or two, then head to St. John for a couple of days, then possibly hit some of the nearby BVI’s. After that, the sail should have arrived and we’ll go back to Culebra to pick it up. Then, home (wherever that will be).

We’ve had BBQ’s on a little island a couple of times with several other boats here.

We are planning to day trip over to Culebrita tomorrow where there is a lighthouse and baths–jacuzzi-like swimming holes.

John found Otto (our “pet” the auto pilot) some new belts and they arrived two days ago, so we’re happy about that. He got 4 so we would have plenty of spares!

We’re feeling like it might be time to head home soon, so John and I are going to have to sit down and map out a plan for the virgin islands, then figure out which way to go to get home. It’s all downwind sailing from here, so we’re all looking forward to some easy sailing–no more windward ho!!!

Hasta la vista, baby!

Every other boat we know of: “We just saw whales breach”; “They’re all around us”; “They’re leaping just to our port side”; “We spotted them jumping out of the water at the south end of the island”; “We saw them coming out of the channel at Salt Cay”..

Cannibal:

You read it right—-NOTHING!

We look.

We’re armed with binoculars.

We have the camera ready, yet nothing.

Kalida sees whales; Toucan sees whales (twice); Pau Hana sees whales; Cannibal –sees no whales.

What’s the deal? This is mating season… this is their mating & calving thoroughfare. They’re out there leaping and playing. Why don’t they want US to see them (must be said with a pathetic, self-pitying pout)?

I have seen the bottom of our boat while out snorkeling. It is big and black and could be mistaken for a whale (if you’re a lower life form–work with me). Perhaps, the whales are more intelligent than they let on, and can leap out (only when we’re not looking, of course) and read the name of our boat; but, since they are not as intelligent as humans, they don’t know that we aren’t another whale, and we aren’t going to eat them, so they are afraid of us–avoiding us at all costs.

That is the only logical explanation because there is no reason why we shouldn’t have seen them (said with an angry, self-pitying stomp of the foot, two year old tantrum flair)!

Stay tuned, and for Pete’s sake… PRAY—it’s not for my benefit (grin), it’s for the children. I want them to have the experience of seeing a real live whale out in the real live ocean with their very own eyes. You may all anxiously await the post that declares, “Thar she blows!”

Early Sunday morning, we headed toward Chub Cay. We didn’t get too far by sail, so we ran most of the way on engine power. Chub Cay was a full day away, so we would have had to spend the night out again if we hadn’t used the engine (iron wind). We spotted land around 3:30pm. It would take another hour and half to get to it. Chub Cay is a tiny island that is on the south side of the The Berry Islands in Central Bahamas.  Just to the south of us is Nassau (many of you have probably been there if you’ve taken a cruise ship). Nassau is the most populated place in the Bahamas. Last night our waiter said that there are probably 300,000 people living in the Bahamas, and 220,000 of them live in Nassau (don’t quote me on the numbers-but you get the idea). Very crowded in Nassau-and we won’t be going there.

After being anchored out in Key West for a month in a very rocky-rolly place, I was ready for some stability and begged John to let us stay in the Marina. We have a cruising guide from 2006 that said the rates were $1.35 per foot. That’s pretty cheap, so he agreed and phoned us in a reservation. The cruising guide mentioned that there were plans for the marina to undergo some improvements, and that they had just installed new concrete floating docks. That should have tipped me off, but no!

We got here and were immediately impressed! This place is awesome! There is nothing here except for the marina and an airport for the very rich people who are members to fly into their very expensive villas or boats. A group of investors from Florida sunk a bunch of money into this place and have made it beautiful—which means they tripled the prices. Once Coco (the dockmaster) took us to the slip and showed us the registration bldg, we headed off to pay (planning to stay a few days). We got all of the paperwork, which included prices, and discovered that the fee is now $3.50 per foot! Yikes. We’ll be leaving tomorrow to anchor out, but while we’re here, we plan to live like the rich and famous.

The pool is beautiful, and it overlooks the private beach. There are lots of adorable houses being built as part of the master development plan. It’s very nice. This is my idea of vacation. Except for the fact that there aren’t any stores here, I could live here. I will have to wait until my son gets his own plane and pilot’s license so he can fly me into my luxury home. Sigh.

Tomorrow we plan to do some beach-combing. There is a beach here that is supposed to have the best shelling around. Having never met a shell I could live without, we are most likely going to run out of places to put shells (grin). I’m gonna be a happy girl!

Coco came by to take John to the Customs office, so we might not see him for a while. The kids just got up and are wishing they didn’t have to do school today so they can lounge in the pool. Since it’s very difficult to write in the cabin while we’re underway, they didn’t do any school Thur or Friday, so it’s catch up time!

That’s all for now…and probably for a while. We only have internet access right now because we are in this marina, and one of the many benefits is “free” internet, included in the $3.50/ft price tag!! ha ha.

“How did that happen,” you ask? Well, we were in Galveston for about way too long and the kids and I decided that if we were STILL in Galveston for Christmas, we would all mutiny against our Captain and make plans of our own.

We have a very tiny crack in the gooseneck where the boom attaches to the mast, so we need to get that welded before we go offshore. A friend of ours in Victoria knows someone who welds boats, but he was in Palacios. The plan was to go back to Palacios to have that welded. We left Galveston Wednesday morning and headed for Palacios. On the way, John called the welder and discovered that he was out of town for Christmas and wouldn’t be back until after the first of the year. I almost strangled John for not calling and finding this info out sooner, but I realized that at least we weren’t in Galveston!

God really loves John a lot…He covered his mess up. We tied the boat up in Palacios at a city marina (much cheaper than the other marina we were at last time). John’s friend was kind enough to offer to check on the boat for us every day while we drove up to OKC for the week. Our other wonderful friends in Victoria who loaned us the car last time, loaned it to us again which meant we didn’t have to rent a car!!! How sweet is that? We drove up Sunday, and we will be here until Saturday am.

The kids have been having a great time hanging out with their cousins—playing lots of video games. We’ve been enjoying our visit with John’s parents and his brother and sister and their families. We hope to see lots more people at church tonight (Wed) and perhaps squeeze in a play day with our doggie (Buddy).

John has been able to get several spare parts for the boat, which means that as soon as the welder is able to fix the crack, we will be able to head to Dominican Republic via Key West & Turks & Caicos, and warmer climate. (It’s snowing in OKC right now.) He hopes to have the ministry website up and running before we get back to the boat since we have great internet service here. We’ll see what happens.

We didn’t send cards out this year, so this is your official Votaw Christmas greeting. We pray that you all have a wonderful year, we certainly plan to.