Once we reached the top of the hill from Benures Bay, we turned left and headed towards Money Bay.  Apparently, treasure was actually found here and the bay became the inspiration for the book, Treasure Island.  We were the only people walking in the area and had the bay all to ourselves.  It was a beautiful, crescent-shaped bay with smoothed rocks for a beach.  There was also a rock jetty that protected the bay.  It was a beautiful area and a great reward for making the effort to hike through the overgrown trail. 

When we walk in the Caribbean islands, I am always amazed to see hermit crabs well away from the sea. Often, they are high up mountainsides. I finally looked hermit crabs up and it turns out that this is a Land Hermit Crab. They are often found in forested areas in the Caribbean. However, they lay their eggs in the sea. They are scavengers and eat fruit, nuts, vegetables, grains, and meat.

On our first full day in Benures Bay we took our dinghy to shore and pulled it up on the rocky beach.  The rocks were smoothed out by the sun and the water, so it wasn’t hard to walk on.  We had put our tennis shoes in the dry bag so that we could hike on the island.  As we started up the hill, we found that the path had overgrown a lot from last year.  Steve walked ahead of me and as he did so, he stirred up hundreds of pale-yellow butterflies that fluttered all around.  Luckily, I was behind him and was able to snap some pictures of this magical path. 

Once we got to the top of the hill, the path was more cleared, at least in some places.

Finally, we were under way.  We put the jib up and motor-sailed to Benures Bay, which is a quiet bay on Norman Island in the BVI’s.  We stayed in this bay last spring, so we were familiar with it.  The sail over was perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed being out on the water again.  This season we picked up a mooring ball close to shore, which was fabulous.  The water was a beautiful turquoise color and very clear.  When snorkeling we could easily see the sandy bottom.  Unfortunately, there were not many fish in the bay, but it was nice to get into the warm water.  We did have schools of goatfish swimming under our boat.  And, when looking through the escape hatch under our stairs, I saw something big swim past – most likely a tarpon but I couldn’t see it clearly enough.

1/6/24

We were successfully launched in the water yesterday (January 5, 2024) and are now in a slip in the Nanny Cay marina on Tortola. We continue to put the boat back together. The anchor is now attached and the jib is installed. (We still need to install the sail.) While in the marina, we have access to power and electricity so I’ve been working on cleaning the stainless steel (which requires water). Starlink is installed and working, which we definitely appreciate because we can use the internet. We’ll stay in the marina a couple of more days as we continue to reassemble the boat.

1/4/24 – Nanny Cay, Tortola, BVIs

We started the new year out by arriving in the BVIs and seeing our boat. It is great to be back! Splash day is Friday, January 5, 2024 and we have a lot to do before then to put the boat back together. The pictures below are what the boat looks like after two and a half days of cleaning and organizing. Before leaving we seal as much as possible in plastic bags to protect against mold and mildew. I also spray the entire interior of the cabin down with a mixture of vinegar and water to protect against mold and mildew. Cushions are put on their sides so that as much air can circulate around them as possible. We have been lucky. All of the preparation before leaving the boat on the hard has enabled us to return to a relatively clean boat and we rarely find that mildew has grown while we were away.

Arriving back home at the end of April meant that the house wasn’t frozen anymore.  So, Steve was able to get the heat and water turned on relatively quickly. 

Steve spent quite a bit of time preparing the house to freeze before we departed in December.  His efforts paid off, as everything worked when we returned.  Now our focus is on preparing for our next adventures.

We don’t stay on the boat once it is in the boatyard.  Here at Nanny Cay, we decided to try an Air B & B that was a five-minute walk from the boatyard.  It was a one-bedroom apartment with a full kitchen and family room.  And, it had a washer and dryer which was much appreciated because we had about ten loads of laundry to do.  The internet worked well too (better than the internet at Nanny Cay).  Every morning, starting around 3a, we were serenaded by roosters.  We think their internal clocks were off. 

Unfortunately, the apartment only had a room air conditioner in the bedroom.  So, it was a challenge being in the apartment during the day, as it was quite hot. 

The last two days in Tortola we rented a car.  This enabled us to transport a lot of our baggage off of the boat much more easily than if we had schlepped it to the apartment on foot.  We decided to take one afternoon off to drive around the island a little bit.  We found a large supermarket where we can provision the boat in December, which is great news.  And, we found the hardware store so that Steve can stock up on supplies.  Our car was a little challenged when going up hills.  Steve would have the pedal pushed to the floor and we were not sure that the car would make it up the hills.  Finally, we figured out that if we turned the air conditioning off, the car had a little more power.  We were not going to win any races with the car, but at least we felt a little more confident that it would make it up the hills.

On April 28, we dropped our car off at the airport and flew home.  Actually, we spent the night in San Juan, PR before catching an early-morning flight to Boston.  It had been another great sailing season! 

Today is “Haul Out” day.  We have worked hard for the last couple of days getting the boat ready as best as we could before going up on the hard.  It is always amazing to me to see the boat hanging in the travel lift because of its sheer size and weight. 

The crew here at Nanny Cay were awesome! 

They knew exactly what they were doing and did a fantastic job positioning our yacht on the stands.  Our “parking spot” during hurricane season is along the fence.  It is the row closest to the sea.  So, we enjoyed a breeze while we finished prepping the boat to be in storage until we return in December.

One afternoon we took a walk to Sea Cow Bay.  Steve was looking for a business that could notarize some documents for our boat permit.  The walk was along a busy road that, quite frankly, was a little smelly.  I don’t know if the smell is always there or if it was just because of the Sargassum.  Anyways, we found the office and then returned to Nanny Cay.