Waiting for a Weather Window

Not a bad place to be stuck waiting

Saturday 1-18-14

Cheers Mates.  Yes, as you can tell by the accent in my greeting, we are still in the BVI's.  North Sound to be specific.  We were rushing about Thursday morning trying to get ready to depart that afternoon for Sint Maarten.  There are things that we have to do prior to a passage that just can't be done until right before we leave....and we put off doing others and thus the rushing.  Then we started getting conflicting weather information so we decided to wait and not depart on Thursday.  It looks like Sunday is our next weather window.  We plan to depart mid day for Sint Maarten.  In the mean time, North Sound is a pretty good place to be waiting.  We are getting some boat chores accomplished as well as some snorkeling (check out the kewl cannon's below) and socializing with fellow Salty Dawgs, locals and other yachties.

Cannons just on the reef just off Saba Rock - North Sound Virgin Gorda BVI's

So kewl

*Some of our pre-departure To Do's are:  disassemble and store the kayak, tape forward three hatches with gray tape (day of departure so we keep the breeze as long as we can), attach the staysail, stow everything securely below (this takes awhile), removed and stow dinghy motor on the rail, remove and stow dinghy gas tank in the bow, raise dinghy on arch and strap it down securely (only to have to re-secure it again once we are underway for awhile - argh), secure jerry cans, secure jacklines, get out our passage gear (harnesses, headlamps) etc......For short islands passages, we are going to try the dinghy on the arch (it's normal spot) vs deflating it and stowing it on deck.  This will allow us to get underway faster and launch the dinghy quicker when we make landfall.