ASSAULT ON A BATTERY

As I usually do during the winter I check up on BIANKA almost on a weekly basis. The warm winter this year encourages me to do that even more. So it while I was on board earlier this week I fired up the Dual Pro Four charger to check on how balanced the battery bank was. I notice that the most negative battery in the string was not charging like the other three. It was not getting over 12.9 volts. The next day I went back on board and cleaned the battery and charger contacts and the situation was the same. This is the first issue with the batteries I've had in almost five years since converting to electric propulsion. So I can't complain. Tomorrow I plan to head back down with another external charger and see if it is an issue with the Dual Pro charger or if the battery is really at fault.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF BUCKET LIST

Buckets of rain

Buckets of tears

Got all them buckets coming out of my ears

Buckets of moonbeams in my hand

You got all the love honey baby

I can stand.

                                                                                              -Bob Dylan

 

Well, Capt. Mikes sojourn to the U.S. and Spanish Virgin Islands is over and it's time to get back on board and do what needs to be done. Most of the boats in BIANKA's harbor are pulled and winterized and that means it's time for Capt. Mike to check and renew BIANKA's stock of buckets. Buckets are useful things on board a boat.

The above photo shows the collection I carry on board BIANKA. 

On the left is the ubiquitous five gallon bucket. I have several of these on board. One holds much of my diving gear, another is located on the starboard quarter and holds fresh water for rinse downs after a swim. They can also be useful in making a bird diverter.  Another is located in the Captains cabin where it serves as a small hassock/seat and holds extra canned provisions under it's lid. They stack easily and I am delighted when I find one floating in BIANKA's path while underway or on a beach combing walk.  I will always pick them up and find a use for them on board.

The middle bucket was an emergency purchase made from a Mattituck hardware store when the Wilcox Critterdon head had one of it's all to frequent breakdowns. Since I changed to a LAVAC head it has not had to be put into service but. remains on board just in case.

The bucket on the right is also one of my favorites because it is free! Capt. Mike thinks free is good especially when dealing with a boat's needs. I usually make these buckets from recycled anti freeze containers which in the fall are found in the boatyard by the hundreds:

Cutting off the top of an gallon jug makes for an excellent bucket with many useful purposes. NOTE: The top can also be used as a funnel. Punch a hole on each side and fit some 1/4" line with a figure eight knot on each end and you have a handle. Attach another lanyard to the handle and it becomes a very useful wash bucket in the cockpit. One that will last for years.

I also have a few around that I use to put tools and parts in when I work on projects down below. The bucket keeps everything in one spot and not rolling around the hull when working.  Because the sides are very flexible they make great bailing buckets for the dingy or bilge too! Even if it does not last years (most of mine do) you can't beat the price and it's easy enough to make another one. Better still you are keeping another piece of plastic out of a landfill. I know it may be just (wait for it) "a drop in the bucket"  but, every little bit helps the environment and since it is useful on board the boat too that's not a bad thing!



CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART FOUR: CULEBRA

"I mixed a drink and went out on the balcony to sit down. The town still looked deserted. Far out on the horizon I could see the neighboring island of Culebra, and from somewhere in that direction came the shuddering thump of explosions. I recalled Sanderson telling me that Culebra was an aerial

bombing range for the U.S. Navy. Once it had been a magic place, but no longer."

-Hunter S. Thompson, THE RUM DIARY 

Hard to believe that this peaceful little island was used for target practice by the U.S. military but, it was for many years. I had heard about the demonstrations against the practice on nearby Vieques but, had never heard about Culebra. The practice started in 1939 in preparation for World War II. It seems the topography of the island and it's beaches were excellent training grounds for the invasion of the Pacific Islands by U.S. forces. By 1971 the people of Culebra had had enough and started protesting. In 1975 operations were switched to Vieques.

Culebra to my mind has once again become a magical place and one that I hope to get back to soon hopefully with BIANKA. The magic on our second morning started for me as I awoke a little before dawn and witnessed a real nice sunrise to start the day:

Capt. Billy and Pat went into town looking to provision up with some ingredients for salads. Being an arid island most produce comes in by ferry from the Puerto Rico mainland. Though there was some mechanical problem with the ferry and it did not operate the previous day. Things were a little up in the air and the island suffered an economic hit because the Puerto Ricans from the mainland were not able to get the Culebra for the weekend as they usually did.  So the island was pretty quiet even though it was a holiday weekend.  We decided to take a  two hour tour around the island with one of the local taxi drivers. He took us up into the hills where we enjoyed some real nice vistas:

and traveled down to the other side of the island to visit some of the lovely beaches including Flamingo Beach. Which is just as pretty from the air:

as it is from the shore:

The next morning the magic continued as just before breakfast a beautiful rainbow seemed to emanate from the middle of the harbor:

Since this harbor was a known hangout for pirate ships it was very easy to assume that some pots of gold plunder might be located on the bottom of the harbor at the end of the rainbow.

Culebra has just about everything a cruising sailor might need especially those who don't need the nightlife of a San Juan or St. Thomas or some of the British Virgin Islands. There is a grocery store and a farmers market with a fellow who comes over by ferry one day a week. There will soon be two places where one can get fuel. But, a lot depends on whether the ferries are running. So one needs to be aware that schedules and supplies do not always coincide.  But, there are a few bars where one can go to mingle with other cruisers. Including one appropriately named The Dingy Dock:

A restaurant and bar with a great waterfront view. You can easily tell when it's happy hour by all the dingies tied up to the dock:

There is a convenient cut across the island with a lift bridge that is opened once a year to make sure it is working. It's height and water pipe prevent most cruising boats from using the cut.

It is however convenient to take a dingy to the other side of the island to visit some of the very beautiful snorkeling and dive sites around Culebra. Which is why we came here in the first place. Here are some videos I took with my GoPro camera snorkeling some of the reefs off of Culebra:

Though the videos do not really do justice to how nice most of the reefs around the island really are. Our original plans called for us to stop at Culebra and then head off to Vieques and finally sail the the Puerto Rico mainland and getting off the boat at Farado. But, once we got to Culebra the feel of the place and beauty of the reefs made us decide to just stay here for the rest of the charter. Culebra is certainly a place I will want to come back to.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART THREE: HEADING TO CULEBRA

It's been many years since I was in Charlotte Amalie harbor St. Thomas. We picked up a charter here on a 44 foot monohull back in the 1980's named Valkerie and another time when we had a weeks vacation on board one of the Windstar cruise ships in the 90's.

We left the St. John area bound for St. Thomas in late afternoon with a favoring trade wind and tied up to a mooring for the night near the old Navy submarine base area in St. Thomas. The area now houses a marina and some cruise ship docks. The shoreline nearby was littered with the wrecks of boats whose owners failed to reason with the Hurricane season and other storms:

The next morning we dropped off the mooring and headed out West Gregerie Channel for Culebra:

We passed Sail Rock. A uniquely shape geological form that is said to have fooled many pirates to appear to be a ship under sail.

They would sometimes fire a warning shot at it. The sound of which would echo off the rock surface and make it sound like return fire. Only when they got closer would they see that it was only a rock and not another ship to be plundered.

Things were moving along nicely as OPUS towed the twenty foot dingy:



We were breezing along when all of a sudden there was a crash at the stern. The dingy had crashed into the boarding ladder and smashed it up pretty good:

Well that's sailing! You are cruising along fine and then something happens not always in a positive direction. Capt. Billy scrambled and was able to save the bottom half of the ladder but, were were never able to quite get it back into shape to use. After about three hours we were in the channel heading into Ensenada Honda Culebra's major harbor:

 After we cleared the reef at the entrance we turned to port and picked up a mooring in Ensenada Dikity.

There were a few boats already there when we arrived:

Including this boat which seemed to have something missing:

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART FOUR Click here.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART TWO: ST. JOHNS...

After getting settled on board we were soon off heading toward St. Johns, motoring into to the trade winds.

We passed this discolored rock shoreline:

It is said this site was used for the Hollywood movie Guns of Navarone filmed in the early 1960's. They supposedly blew it up for the explosive climatic scene. Though I could not find any official confirmation that this was true.

Continuing on past St. Thomas we first stopped at Christmas Cove on Great St. James Island:

We jumped in for a snorkel around Fish Island and saw a ray, spotted eel and two turtles among the other fish on the reef around Fish Island. Not a bad way to start. Then it was off to Mingo Cay for lunch and another snorkel. Then another stop at a small cove between Lovongo Cay and Congo Cay where Captain Billy said we were lucky as the conditions here often made this stop impossible.

 But, the winds were cooperating and we took advantage of another wonderful snorkel. We then headed out past Carval Rock:

We motored on heading for the nights anchorage.  Occasionally reminded by the ruins on shore of the history of the area:

Like this sugar cane processing building on the former Annaberg Plantation:

Which was a good reminder that since we were in the islands of rum that some sun downer drinks are soon to be had after we anchored for the day. The nights anchorage was just off Waterlemon Cay in Leinster Bay.

All the moorings were taken so we dropped the hook and were enjoying some boat drinks. When we heard someone call out to Capt. Billy "Why you salty dog!" Turns out it was musician and sailor Michael Beans:


Billy asked what he was doing here? Beans said he got kicked out of the British Virgin Islands. You know there has to be a good story there. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the details in the time he sailed by.

The next morning we hoisted anchor around 9:30 am and motored past Beans anchored boat. Beans being a true musician was still not awake so we sailed on.

Our next stop was Cinnamon Bay.

Time for another snorkel.


This was not a great spot for snorkeling compared to some of the others we saw. So I played around with Capt. Mikes homemade GoPro camera snorkeling handle rig to get some other shots like this:


My snorkeling camera handle worked out real well with my Go Pro camera on this trip. I'll post about how I made it in a future post.

Back on board we noticed something was drifting toward the boat. As it got closer we were able to identify it:

Obviously a very "board" woman. Just another example of some of the things you can see from a boat. There was a discussion about how far we should let her drift out into the Windward Passage before we we would need to rescue her. Happily, she woke up not to long afterward and paddled her self back into the beach. After lunch and an obligatory afternoon nap we headed for Little St. James island and snorkeled some ledges there. Afterwards we headed back to Charlotte Amalie harbor for the night. In the morning we head toward the Spanish Virgin Islands.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARDS PART THREE Click here!

A Note of Thanks.

Sometime earlier today The BIANKA BLOG LOG passed one hundred thousand page views. I want thank all who at one time or another tied up to this blog over the years.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART ONE

Well, it's that time of year when Capt. Mike's companion needs her winter vacation. BIANKA is laid up for the winter and the winter winds are starting to blow colder and colder. Lucky for Captain Mike she is partial to chartering a crewed multi hull sailboats and heading some place warm for some sun, snorkeling and and occasional dive. Capt. Mike knows enough to get along you have to go along. So go along I did.  While our trip to the Maldives last year was certainly one of our top trips, unless a winning lottery ticket comes our way that will remain just a very pleasant lifetime memory. For this years trip we decided to explore some old and new places in the Leeward Islands much closer to home. Starting in the U.S. Virgin Islands and then heading toward the Spanish Virgin Islands of Culebra and Vieques before embarking on Puerto Rico at Farado. At least that was the plan.

We started our trip flying to the island of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

“By the way, maybe you can tell me some other hotels in town. The bartender says this one’s full.” He laughed. “Nope, not an empty room on the island.” “Damn,” I said. “Why worry?” he replied. “Sleep on the beach. Lots of people do—better than most hotels.” “Where?” I said. “Are there any close to town?” “Sure,” he replied, “but they’ll all be full. Your best bet is Lindbergh Beach, out by the airport. It’s the nicest.”- Hunter S. Thompson, THE RUM DIARY

I'm not sure about sleeping on the beach but, we did get a room at one of the two places to stay on Lindberg Beach and yes it is a nice beach.

Lindberg Bay was renamed for Charles Lindberg who flew to St. Thomas on January 31 1928 after his successful nonstop flight across the Atlantic.

Lindberg Bay was formally known as Mosquito Bay. But, happily it did not live up to it's previous name while we were there for two days.

Trading the city for a tropical dream

And if you meet anyone who's asking for me

Tell all you meet they can reach me

Right down on the beach

St. Thomas way

                                                                Sonny Rollins

After our relaxing stay it was a quick five minute taxi ride  to Charlotte Amalie  to meet the boat we had booked through Paradise Connections charters.

Captain Billy Pratt picked us up at the Crown Bay Marina and took us out to OPUS a 50 foot Piver  designed trimaran built in 1986 that would be our home for the next ten days.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS PART TWO Click here

FREE DIVER BLACKOUT

I'm an open water certified SCUBA diver. I've read the books, taken the course passed my dive tests and have had my PADI Dive card since 1985. SCUBA diving is fun but, it is also dangerous. You can drown easily if you get careless. A few weeks ago Bob at BOAT BITS had a post about free diving blackouts. Where people have passed out and some have died just free diving with a snorkel and a mask and fins. Since I'll be diving and snorkeling in the Spanish Virgin Islands sometime this winter it  certainly got my attention and you should be aware of it too:

BETWEEN HOME AND COMFORT ZONES

There are things I can do now that I could not do when I was younger. Then there are things I won't do now that I could do when I was younger. Somewhere between those two thoughts is my comfort zone. That zone is different for each person and that zone has changing parameters, at least for me. Others don't find out what theirs is until they have shoved off.  I find for me there is a certain ebb and flow in my plans and desires at times. Then there is this fellow who decided the time was right to act on his plan:

Between Home: Odyssey of an unusual sea bandit - OFFICIAL TRAILER from Jack Rath on Vimeo.

This documentary when it comes out might be worth a look for sailors and others with a "dream" of just sailing off someday. It seems to be cross between inspirational journey and a reality check and that is not a bad thing.

WINTERLUDE 2012

I went down to check on the boat recently. It's that time of year that I call the winterlude period after the waltzing Bob Dylan tune of the same name. This year was a rather mild winterlude compared to the winterludes of 2011 and 2010 and even 2009.  So I'm not complaining.  I spent several hours just hanging out an enjoying the unusual winter warmth. I even set up my new GoPro camera and tried a little time lapse shooting from my cockpit view as the tide ran out:

 You know after seeing this video I made sure the camera was Seagull proofed before I started shooting. All in all not a bad way to spend part of winters day.