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American Spirit II - Day 449; We Leave Tobago Cays and Sail to Bequia Island; Tuesday, March 31, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 87; Breakfast Ashore, Herman Melville, Main Sheet Traveler Car Here, Fueled Boat, Got Butane and Pizza for Dinner; Monday, March 31, 2014. The reference to Herman Melville in the Subject line is that in 1842 he 'jumped ship' while in Nuku Hiva on a whaling vessel. For those that don't know, Melville wrote the classic Moby Dick. A movie by that name had the Captain played by Gregory Peck."

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Up at 4:18 AM. I stay up to watch the sunrise, hoping for a green flash. The sun rises at 6:04 AM above the clouds on the horizon; so no green flash. I see people on 3 other boats watching the sun rise, also. At 6:10 AM I go back to bed. Up for good at 7:25 AM.

I turn the generator on at 7:27 AM; and at 7:30 AM a turtle sticks its head out of the water for me to see. Joel gets up at 7:36 AM. I turn on the VHF radio and listen to the What's Up on Union Island' broadcast at 7:45 AM on VHF channel 68.

Breakfast is at 8:24 AM: 3 eggs; cut up sausage with cut up potato; and chilled pineapple slices. The wind is 15 knots, down from 20 yesterday. That will make snorkeling easier and with better visibility.

At 9:45 AM we take the dingy to Avocet and return Derry's camera to him. We had it in a dry bag from dinner last night for safekeeping. Then we're off to the beach, where we pull up the dingy onto the shore; then get in the water and enter the roped off 'turtle watch' area. I see two turtles; Joel see's 3. I video one swimming by me, then going up to the surface in the 6 foot deep water, twice to catch a breath; then it goes back down to the bottom to feed on sea grass. Its about 2 feet in diameter. I think its a 'leatherback' turtle. While back on the beach we chat with the Alpheratz crew and a family chattering a boat. They live in North Carolina and are originally from Brazil. A family of 5. They had anchored over our anchor line in Union Island.

We're back on the boat at 10:45 AM; and turn the generator on at 10:50 AM. I hop back in the water to take some underwater pictures of my December Cape Town new bottom paint job. The paint is peeling off; so I'll send the yard in Cape Town an email and picture showing them the bad state of the bottom job. I'm going to have to paint the bottom again when I get home. Maybe the yard in Cape Town will credit me some money back. At a minimum, though, the yard owner needs to know that the paint he recommended is not holding up too well.

We leave the mooring ball at 11:19 AM and see 2 turtles swim by as we do so. By 11:46 AM we're out of the anchorage, turn the engine off and are sailing with a full jib and mainsail. The wind is 11 knots and we're sailing at 6.7 knots thru the water and 6.1 knots over the land. Its a beautiful, sunny day.

At 12:02 PM we're sailing at 7.4 knots thru the water and 7.1 knots over the land. Because of the large amount of orange, evergreen like sea weed floating on the surface, we're forced to take the hydro generator out of the water as it keeps collecting sea weed on its shaft and propeller.

At 12:50 PM a charter catamaran named the 'Erimus UNA' is on a collision course with us. We're forced to change coarse to avoid a collision even though we have right-a-way.

At 1:58 PM the wind is 10 knots and we're sailing at 6.1 knots thru the water and 6.1 knots over the land.

At 2:25 PM we have another near collision with a gravel carrying small ship, which doesn't have AIS and doesn't answer their radio. We alter course to starboard to miss them by 80 yards.

At 3:15 PM we're outside Admiralty Bay and turn right 40 degrees. We have to roll up the jib and mainsail at this time. We motoring now. The bay is horseshoe shaped and surrounded by large hills or mountains. There are nice looking shops, restaurants and homes along the eastern shore and on the mountain slopes; and the front part of the bay is loaded with maybe a hundred sailing vessels. There are also some large ships in the bay. The town in the bay is called 'Port Elizabeth' and is the only town on the island. We grab a mooring ball belonging to Phat Shag, and he charges us 50 EC for the night to moor. I tell him we're interested in touring the island tomorrow and he said he'd get some tour information for us and see us at 10:00 AM tomorrow. Boingo Alive is moored near us; and the crew of Nexus drive by in their dingy (really a center console motor boat) to say hello.

Dinner at 5:45 PM is blackened thin sirloin steak cooked on the propane grill by chef Joel; homemade French fries cooked on the galley skillet by me; corn-on-the-cob; green beans; and garlic bread.

The sun sets at 6:13 AM but there is no green flash, even though there was a green hue around the sun and no clouds on the horizon obstructing our view.

After dinner we read in the cockpit; then Joel takes a shower and shaves. He only shaves after taking a shower. Go figure.

I'm in bed by 9:15 PM; with Joel following by 10:45 PM. A rarity, my going to bed first.

Brian Fox



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