Monday February 14th, 2000

Arrived. The ladies were pleased with the boat. Had dinner. Had a birthday/new boat party with champagne. Went to bed. -DWH

Tuesday February 15th, 2000

Sailing! Sailed to Cooper Island. It was crowded at the mooring field, so we just sailed by and headed to Salt Island. Grabbed a mooring, and then went skin diving. We saw a monster anchor (approx.. 15 ft. in length from 40 ft), sea turtles, and lots of fish. Then back to Maya Cove for the night. -DWH

Wednesday February 16th, 2000

Shopped for food and a dingy. Got food but no luck finding a dingy that we like and could afford.-DWH

Thursday February 17th, 2000

Sailed from Maya Cove down the Sir Fransis Drake Channel and around The West End, Tortola to Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke.

Tried several times to set the anchor (35lb CQR). It would hold in reverse, but upon visual inspection we could see that it was not set properly. It was usually just stuck on a rock. Eventually it got dark making visual inspection impossible, so we put out one, checked it in reverse, and then put out the other anchor (smaller Danforth style) as a safety measure. -DWH

Friday February 18th, 2000

We sailed from Jost Van Dyke to Trellis Bay, Tortola. We left around 10am and arrived around 4:30. The sail was beautiful. We hit one storm, and it rained pretty hard for 10 or 15 minutes. We had two whale sightings just as we were entering the bay. Jo says they were "way cool". We saw them blow and flip their tails. Amazingly anchoring was much easier on a sand bottom. Laurie jumped in with her mask to check it. -SLC

Dave made pasta for dinner. I made fried egg plant. After dinner we went to the Loose Mongoose for several drinks. -SLC

Saturday February 19th, 2000

Pretty lazy day. Stayed anchored at Trellis Bay. Boys are fixing a few small things on the boat I've been knitting a little. We bought ingredients for pizza. Dave and I took a tour through the mooring field in the dingy (we are renting a dingy from the marina at Maya Cove) to check out the other boats. -SLC

Sunday February 20th, 2000

Lazy day. Partied at the Loose Mongoose. -DWH

Monday February 21st, 2000

We left Trellis Bay at 9:30am. We had an uneventful and beautiful sail to Virgin Gorda. We arrived around 2pm. We found a nice anchorage in Virgin Gorda Sound. Dave and I took the dingy to find fish - nothing. Jo and Laurie made corn bread and beans and rice for dinner. Excellent! The sun is just going down. -DWH

Tuesday February 22nd, 2000

Left Virgin Gorda Sound and headed for "the Baths". When we saw that there were two cruise ships there we decided to go to "the Dogs" instead. Tried to start the engines but could not get the port one to turn over. Returned to Trellis Bay to figure it out. I got it to start, but the tach isn't working. A light bulb worked as our volt meter for troubleshooting the starting problem, but is not helping with the tach. -DWH

Wednesday February 23rd, 2000

Got a multimeter from John and Heather, friends who we met at the Goose. Fixed the tach. Hung out in Trellis Bay. -DWH

Thursday February 24th, 2000

No wind. Got up before sunrise and motored to the Baths. We got there before the rush. We took a hike. The Baths are a bunch of large boulders and rock formations carved out by thousands of years of water erosion. Lots of people started showing up. We did a little skin diving and then left by 11am. Motored 5 hours to Jost Van Dyke. -DWH

Friday February 25th, 2000

Wind clocked around to East on anchorage. Woke up with Dave trying to adjust anchors.

Went to town to find food. No luck so we decided to head to Tortola for groceries. Cane Garden Bay was our first destination. Gave up after tacking up wind for an hour due to a forecast of building northern swells. (Cane Garden Bay anchorage is not good when there is a northern swell) Sailed around to Sopers Hole but no place to anchor. Moorings only. Sailed to Road Town. Same problem - mooring pins in all the good anchor spots. Finally gave up after 1 hour and tied up to a pin. Paid $20. Got groceries at Bobby's and had fish and chips at The Pub. Life is good. Looks like we are going to call it an early one tonight. -JR

Saturday February 26th, 2000

Checked engine fluid levels (hours = 951.5). Port engine at middle of range. Port transmission at middle of range. Starboard engine at 1/4 of range. Starboard transmission at top of range.

Sailed to White Bay on Peter Island. Went swimming, but boat swinging and anchor dragging. Headed for the Bight on Norman Island - absolutely packed with anchored boats. Many people anchored with very little scope. Also idiots racing around amongst anchored boats, dingys, and people swimming looking for the perfect spot to anchor. This is crazy.

Sailed back to Road Town and dropped anchor near empty mooring pins. -DWH

Sunday February 27th, 2000

Sailed out between Salt Island and Peter Island to try the Sea Anchor that we got from Greg "Action" Jackson. Boat likes being 90 degrees to the wind. We will have to continue working on this. Sailed back to Maya Cove. -DWH

Monday February 28th, 2000

Working on boat in Maya Cove. - DWH

Tuesday February 29th, 2000

Back to Wisconsin. - DWH