Crimson Kathryn and her crew

It was another amazing day out on the water between Culebra and the British Virgin Islands. We were up early and on the move from our anchorage at 7 am. We were trying very hard to time our arrival at Current Cut for around 11 am. The cut is between St. Thomas and Great St. James Islands (USVI) and we were trying to hit an ebb tide so we could have the current flowing with us! With little wind and no waves, we were able to reach the cut with a wonderful ebb current that boosted our speed into the mid 7 kts range.

The terrain of the USVIs and the BVIs is beautiful. It’s very hilly with lush vegetation. I was very surprised by the amount of urbanization on St. Thomas – not much space left, even way up in the hills!! St. John Island seemed less populated but still had housing way up to the tops of the hills. Both were very picturesque!

We arrived at our destination – Soper’s Hole, Tortola, BVIs around 1 pm. We could tell from a distance that the harbour was very busy so we were prepared to have some fun finding a spot to anchor (we’ve done George Town anchoring so we felt prepared!!). We weren’t prepared for a harbour that was over 70ft deep!! How exactly do you anchor in that depth? We do have 250ft of chain plus a rope line but do you really want to trust that you’re secured in a harbour full of boats!! We quickly decided to pick up a mooring ball. That was a challenge – no wind all day and as we tried to pick up that ball, the wind piped up to 12 kts off to the side which really made things interesting. Unfortunately the line from the mooring ball (called a pennant) had many little barnacles on it and Mark cut his hand on them. He had to drop the pennant and we went around for a second go at it. No problems the second time (although it was a struggle with wind and a sore hand) and we were secured by 1:30pm. Mark went off to customs and immigration (crew is not allowed to leave the boat) and got us cleared in!! Now we’re in the BVIs for a few weeks!!

It was a glorious Saturday, Nov. 15th morning for Crimson Kathryn and her faithful crew!! We were up relatively early (a little before 7 am), had breakfast and started our pre-departure checklist. I always look after the breakfast dishes and securing down below (closing portlights, hatches, putting electronics away etc) and Mark does all the engine checks (which had already been done earlier this week). Instead, Mark went up to the office to return our passes and to let them know we were leaving. Our friend John helped us get off the dock and we were on our way by 8:30 am.

The weather was perfect – sunny, light wind from south east and fairly calm seas. The only negative of the start to our short passage today was all the power boats heading out of the marina for a Saturday jaunt! It was a continuous stream of them leaving before us and after us. It didn’t take long before we were far enough from the marina that the power boat wakes were not a problem.

We had a very easy motorsail to Culebra (about 25nm) and are now anchored in a bay called Puerto del Manglar. This must be a popular anchorage for Puerto Ricans because when we arrived there were about 15 power boats all anchored in the same spot. We chose to anchor across the bay from them – they will probably leave around dinner time so we’ll be out of their way!

This has been a great day – got off the dock; had a nice motor sail; and then had a lovely swim to cool off!! The water was wonderful! Tomorrow we want to be underway by 7am to make the roughly 35nm to Soper’s Hole (on Tortola), BVIs. Should be another great day! Cheers!!

That should be the motto for every sailor!! Each boat job seems simple on the surface but the reality is usually quite different. And so went some of our jobs over the past few days. FYI all of these jobs had a happy, successful ending but the journey was something else!

Let’s start with the infamous bilge pump switches. We’ve had issues with the switches that turn on our bilge pumps (they empty water out of the bilge – a rather important item on a boat) so one switch needed to be replaced. As well, Mark replaced the high water alarm to a better digital version. All was going well with installing the new switch and alarm until Mark got to the wiring of the alarm. The digital alarm had one more wire than the old one so he needed a third wire which (surprisingly) we didn’t have onboard. So off to the on-site marine store (which is extremely well stocked!). With wire in hand, Mark made the new connection and brought it forward. That sounds simple but to get that one wire from the aft head under the floor, it had to go through the engine room and the little cupboard ahead of the engine room. To get at the spot in the cupboard where the wire entered, the cupboard had to be emptied!! Connecting this new additional wire became a bit of a nightmare because all the wiring for that alarm had to be changed. It was a bit of a struggle but eventually we had two functioning bilge pump switches and a new high water alarm!!

Another job you think would be quick and easy was replacing the batteries in our little flashlights. We remembered to remove the batteries for storage but unfortunately left the batteries in their little holders (3 AAA battery holder). Over our storage period, those holders became corroded. They needed to be cleaned with baking soda or another alkaline substance (which we didn’t have onboard). A quick shout out to our friend John and we were in business. He had baking soda but even better he had an electronics contact cleaner. Mark made a trip over to John’s boat and cleaned away! 2 out of the three flashlights are now as good as new.

Today’s major job also had its challenges. Our forward head (toilet) has not been working well (letting water back into the bowl and not flushing well). Mark has been putting this job off for a good reason – it’s yucky!! Again in order to get access to the hoses, the upper cabinet had to be emptied and the door removed. It’s a very small space so working in there was rough! After lots of dismantling, cleaning a d replacing of parts, Mark discovered that the hose leading to the thru-hull (out to the water) was blocked. Okay so now this job included the main cabin floor to access this hose. The table had to be cleared and put up. The carpet pulled and the floor hatch removed. Now the hose was removed and taken outside on the dock for a good beating (loosening all the built up calcium). Once everything was reconnected, the toilet worked like a charm!!

Lastly, the boat needed a bit of cleaning up after living aboard for almost 2 weeks. That should be an easy job but you know what it wasn’t as easy as it should have been! The navigation table is our junk drawer (both on top and inside) so it accumulates a lot of stuff. Finding homes for all this stuff can drive a person crazy! This boat is big but not big enough for all our stuff. All I can say is that the V-berth is filling up!!

Job challenges aside, life here has been good and we’ve managed to get lots done. We’ve even had time to test our new Starlink mini. The wifi here at the marina isn’t great so we set-up our Starlink in a temporary spot on the rail and have been using it for our wifi needs. It’s working great and will make it so much easier for us to get connected as we travel through all these island countries. We are getting very excited to be leaving the dock!! Saturday and Sunday are looking good for our Culebra/BVIs jump. We’ve planned a dinner out with John on Friday and then we’ll hit the high seas (well hopefully not too high 😁).

The must be done jobs are now on a list and we’re starting to move slightly quicker because we’re watching a calm weather window coming up this weekend (Nov. 15 – 16). If the weather holds, we will be able to leave the dock and start heading east! This past weekend was very chill . We did a few things – put away all our items from shopping, engine maintenance items, laundry and a few other items. But for the most part, we took it easy.

Today, Monday Nov, 10th, we’ve found a bit of energy. We asked John to help us hoist Mark to the top of the mizzen mast so that was the main job for this morning. Mark undid the wind generator so it’s spinning happily now and while he was up there, Mark replaced the old topping lift for the mizzen boom. That line supports the mizzen boom and it was getting pretty ratty. Lastly Mark checked the aft deck light (which hasn’t been working for a while) and found it was burnt out!! Need to buy a new bulb for that one!

This afternoon was spent cleaning, cutting and placing the new carpet for the main cabin. We found replacement carpet at Home Depot and it needed to be cut into 2 pieces to fit under our table and 2 chairs. It was loads of fun (not!!) trying to cut this stiff carpet inside the boat. Last time we did this we had the luxury of the Reynolds pier to work on – oh the space – and the old carpets to use as a template. This time it was measuring and cutting in place. I’m happy to say the carpet fits well and looks great!! Good for another few years!

I’ve forgotten to mention some of the noises we’ve been experiencing down here. As you may be aware, the US has increased their military presence in the Caribbean and we have definitely heard and noticed it here. There is an old naval base and airfield just south of us and we’ve been hearing (and occasionally seeing) F 35 fighter jets taking off from the base. It’s a bit unnerving to have all this military around but hopefully we won’t encounter them on the water!!

Getting back to the calm weather window this weekend, it will allow us to head to Culebra on Saturday (about 25 nm east) where we’ll anchor overnight. The next day we’re hoping to make it all the way to the BVIs (another 45 nm) where we’ll clear into the country at Soper’s Hole. Fingers crossed the weather holds!!

Oh boy our Visa card is smokin hot after Friday’s shopping adventure. But before all that, Sundog (our friend John’s boat) was splashed on Thursday. In the heat of the day (around 2 pm), the travel lift brought Sundog down to the water. John’s boat is a bit smaller than ours – it’s a Catalina 36 – and it fit easily in the travel lift. Mark and I lent a hand to help John take his boat over to his slip which is 2 piers away from us. John did a great job getting his boat into a very narrow slip (if his boat was a foot wider it would have been interesting) and we had it nicely secured by about 3 pm.

We got going very early Friday morning trying to avoid a late shopping day. We had the car and were on the road by 8:30 am. We started our provisioning extravaganza with a visit to West Marina (a very popular marina store) and found the few items we needed (some rope and clips). That was probably our quickest stop!! From there we went to Home Depot (with a little visit to Starbucks – need that coffee for this kind of shopping), Walmart and Costco!! Our rental car was quite small so the packages really piled up!! It’s a good thing Mark and I were only shopping for 6 weeks (and John was only getting things for the next few weeks until his partner Sharron arrives) because we wouldn’t have had room for much more.

After Costco we went on a hunt for some aged rum. Puerto Rico doesn’t have many liquor stores because you can buy most alcohol in the grocery stores. We tried at 2 places that said they were “liquor stores” but they were more like bars where you could buy a bottle (if they had it). We ended up stopping at a grocery store that had a good selection of rums and bought one from Panama and a local Puerto Rican bottle.

The car was so full we decided to go back to the marina and unload. We certainly appreciated the golf cart dock service for this provisioning run!! We had one golf cart and 2 trailers to get all our goodies back to our 2 boats!! We quickly moved our stuff onboard, put away freezer items and went back out to the local grocery store to continue our shopping. By the time we were all done (3 grocery stores later), it was 6pm!!!! Our original plan was to celebrate with dinner out at a Mexican restaurant in Fajardo but we were all so tired (and hungry) that we just went to our on-site restaurant! It was a great meal to end a very successful shopping day. And now that visa needs a break!!

It’s always great to be back onboard while floating at the dock. The familiar motion of the boat swaying with a bit of surge coming in from the marina entrance is comforting (and really helps you fall asleep!!). We still have jobs to do but we’re tackling them at a much slowly pace!

So far Mark and I have put up all 3 sails and moved the dinghy from the bow to its place at the stern. That process was very interesting. We’re in a narrow slip with power boats on each side. There was no way to lower the dinghy into the water at the bow and easily move it back. So Mark came up with a plan – we lowered the dinghy as usual (off the bow) and as I pulled it back to the stern, Mark tilted the far side of the dinghy up towards our boat. It awkwardly slid between our boat and the slip post! I sure wish I could have videoed the whole thing but I had my hands full!!

Mark has also been tinkering with the freezer. After initially getting it running on the weekend, it hasn’t been working properly. It took a bit of trial and error, adding more coolant and then releasing some to get the perfect amount. Now both fridge and freezer are working well.

I know you all probably don’t want to hear this but the heat down here is a killer!! The sun is very strong and there’s high humidity so we can only spend an hour or so outside before we need to hide inside our incredibly well air-conditioned boat. It really zaps your energy so our jobs are taking a bit more time. It would be great to open the boat up and give it a good airing out but there’s no way I’m turning off the air-con at this point. We’ll soon be off the dock and getting lots of fresh (hot) air inside.

Our friend John has been working away on his boat – much longer days than we were doing when we were still on the hard. John leaves here around 8am and usually gets back after 5pm. That’s a long time to be working in this heat. His launch day is Thursday so jobs must get done!! We’ve been having some nice meals together and chit chatting about our boats and all kinds of things at night. It’s been fun having John aboard.

So today is Nov. 4th. We’ve rented another car (one day rental) for Friday. The day after John’s boat goes in the water, we’ll do another shopping trip into San Juan. This time we’ll go to Costco and stock up on larger quantities of items. Time to make a list and start thinking about provisioning for the next 6 weeks or so.

It’s been a very busy 3 days but now we can slow down a bit and catch our breath! On Thursday we kept up our pre launch pace and managed to complete all but a few minor jobs. Mark finished the installation of the chain plates for the drogue and I finished putting stuff away. It was another hot day so we spent time in the air-conditioned office getting info about our slip assignment and launch details and then we had a longer than usual lunch in some more air conditioning!!

Friday was a crazy busy day!! We were all up early, had breakfast and packed up the car with all our items. We made a quick stop at Walmart and were at the boat around 9 am. We did our last few jobs (dock lines and fenders put in place, ladder removed, etc). At 10:20 am (they were early – good thing we were ready) the travel lift and trailer arrived at our boat. They have an interesting storage system here. In order to fit as many boats as possible, they use the lift to get boats into the yard and then a remote controlled trailer to slide the boats into place with just a few inches between the boats.

When we were hauled out in April, we were the only boat in our area so no trailer was used. Watching the whole process for the first time was very interesting. Using a controller hung around his neck, the trailer operator maneuvered the trailer into position and slowly guided it under the boat. As the trailer went under, the stands holding Crimson Kathryn in place were removed!! By the time the trailer was fully in place, the boat was being held in place by 1 stand at the bow and 2 at the very stern – normal its 9 – 10 stands. The workers moved very sturdy supports into place and those supports held CK in place. The trailer also had supports that went under the keel so the boat was completed secure on it. They had a bit of a challenge moving us out the our spot because of all the mud. The front wheels of the trailer had difficulty finding traction at first and spun wildly before grabbing hold. Once we were on solid ground, the trailer moved us into position and the travel lift picked us up. The rest of the launch process was easy and we were in the water and getting the engine running by about 11:30 or so. John came onboard to help with our dock lines. We made a brief stop at the fuel dock and then headed to our slip (#889). Mark steered us in perfectly and we were secured by 12:30pm!

First job once we were settled was to get the air-conditioning running. John left to go back to his boat and we grabbed the laundry and headed over to the little market/restaurant to have some lunch. We were back at the lovely air conditioned boat later in the afternoon and discovered our fridge and freezer were not cooling – not great because we had food in the fridge!! Mark found some of the water cooling lines were clogged so he blew them out and things seemed to improve. Mark, John and I decided to have dinner out at the on-site restaurant (not the market/restaurant) and we enjoyed a fun Halloween night out.

We had big plans for Saturday which included getting a new one day rental car and returning the first rental car back to the San Juan Airport. Our plan was to do grocery shopping for the week and do a bunch of boat shopping all in San Juan. We wanted to get an early start but our refrigeration units had other plans. Neither were cooling!!! So Mark went back to work on them after breakfast. John left us to go get the new rental car (which is right on-site here) and I cleaned up from breakfast. About a hour later, Mark had solved our problem – both units needed more coolant. They were cooling like a charm as we headed to the 2 cars to drive into San Juan. It was a big shopping day and a very busy one and we didn’t get back to the boat until after 7pm! Long productive day!

The last 2 days (Tuesday and Wednesday) have been a whirlwind of activities. Our launch is scheduled for Friday (Halloween) at 10:30am so we must have all the out of the water jobs done before that time. Nothing like an imminent deadline to make you work hard!!

Tuesday morning we made a few shopping stops before heading to the boat (looking for items we needed for the day). Mark spent the day scrapping barnacles off the bottom of the boat, cleaning the 2 bronze plates on the hull, changing zincs and cleaning and spraying the propeller with an anti-fouling paint to help protect it from ocean growth (I’m sure there are more jobs). I spent the day waterproofing the enclosure top (called a bimini), washing and organizing the aft cabin, and setting up the cockpit.

We headed straight to the boat on Wednesday (Oct. 29) and got to work quickly. We had a heat warning so we wanted to get as much done in the morning as we could. Mark started working on outdoor jobs and I went to work on the galley (kitchen) and the aft head. Lots of stuff to put away but at least the boat was fairly clean so the wash-up went really smoothly (and quickly). By lunch we were both hot and tired!! We met up with John and had lunch at the on-site market/restaurant and relaxed in the air conditioning!!

After lunch Mark started his last out of the water job – attaching chain plates for our drogue – it’s like a water parachute that is deployed at the stern if you get into some serious weather. I went to work on the V-berth – emptying it, washing it and setting it up for John. I got halfway through the job and I went back into the main cabin to rest (while the area dried). It felt so cool in the main cabin that I figured the temperature had dropped. Nope! It was 33 degrees in the cabin so it must have been close to 40 in the V-berth! That’s way too not for me!! Even with the heat, I completed all my before launch jobs and Mark is very close to being done with his jobs.

Thursday will be our last full day out of the water! I’m really looking forward to being at the dock – no more ladders to climb to get onboard and we can run the air conditioning!! Can’t wait!

The start of our 2025 – 26 sailing season began with a very different journey; a bus, a plane and lastly a car. Mark spent a bit of time reorganizing our garage so that our car could be stored inside for the winter. It was a snug fit but it looked very cozy in the garage (for the first time!). We left Kingston at 12:30pm on Saturday, Oct. 25th and took a Megabus to Pearson Airport in Toronto. We got dropped off at terminal 1 around 4:30pm and we took a hotel shuttle to the Quality Inn. Our Sunday, Oct. 26th flight left at 6:10 am so we had to be at the airport by 3:30am. It made loads of sense to stay at a hotel with a free shuttle which got us to the airport by 3:30am (it was early!!).

As you can imagine, terminal 1 was fairly quiet at that time of the morning but terminal 3 was in full swing (good thing we left from terminal 1). We had a very easy baggage drop-off (we’d already checked in online), security screening and US immigration so we were relaxing with a coffee and breakfast before 5 am. We travelled with United Airlines with 1 stop – Toronto to Houston and then Houston to San Juan PR (not the most direct route but it worked). Both our flights were good and our 2 checked bags arrived with us in San Juan. After a long day of travelling, we picked up our rental car and drove the roughly 1 hour to Fajardo. I forgot to mention that we had company on our journey south. John Hodgson (Sundog), who lives with Sharron in Ottawa, came down on the same flights and we’re sharing the car and the rental unit with him. We’re staying at the home of our boat concierge Sam (he has 2 rental units that he will rent out to some of his clients).

Okay we were expecting the heat (because Mark has been watching the Fajardo weather for awhile) but holy cow it was a bit of a shock at first! It’s super humid here (lots of rain!!) and we were stilled wearing our fallish clothes from home. We were all much better dressed for the weather when we left for the boatyard at 8am Monday, Oct. 27th. It’s always a bit stressful when you get to the boat for the first time each season. You never know what you will find (think back to the fall after Covid – YIKES). This season was no exception but am I super happy to say that our boat was beautiful!!! The deck and cockpit weren’t super dirty and the interior was absolutely amazing!! Sam ran a dehumidifier every 2 weeks at the beginning of the storage season and then moved to once a week during the more humid part of the season. There was very little mold and it looked great. It was definitely worth paying someone to go onboard and take care of the boat.

The first day onboard is usually a bit hectic. It’s sometimes hard to even know where to start but with the boat being in such good condition, it made our first day quite easy. We washed the deck and cockpit and were able to put the enclosure back up all before lunch. After lunch Mark worked on cleaning the cockpit floor and I got the main cabin washed and set-up a bit. All in all it was a great start to the season. We only have 3 more days to get all the out of the water jobs done because we are splashing on Friday at 10:30am. Lots to do over the next few days, including setting up the V-berth for John (who will be staying with us until his boat gets launched on Nov. 4th).