For those of you that know what AIS is, we are turning the on AIS and checking it out for the trip today. If this works, you should be able to track us at sites like MarineTraffic.com searching for the vessel TOOLOOSE. That’s all one word, if you search for two words it returns a different vessel.
Puerto Rico to Key West
I have received a last minute chance to crew on a 45′ sailboat from Puerto Rico to Key West next week, This looks like a ~1400nm journey. Soooooo, I’m heading south to Puerto Rico early Monday morning! Hopefully, this leg of the delivery will take ~6-10 dans and have me back in Austin by mid December!
Here’s the vessel that I’ll be on,
https://islandpacket45forsale.com/
And here’s my GPS tracking page if you want to follow me. I’ll pass along the AIS information when I receive it. https://tracks.SailRipple.com
I’ll also update this blog during the trip whenever I can
Fair Winds!
Day 11 – On our way home!
Our return was a pleasantly uneventful trip with minor inconveniences. The ferry was a little delayed, but we were still able to make it through customs with plenty of time to make our flights home. Both of the Miami legs (MIA>AUS and MIA>DFW) were delayed by about 30 minutes. That put me back in Austin shortly after 11:00pm. After picking up the luggage, I was back aboard Ripple around 1am.
Another successful SailRipple adventure is in the books!
Day -10 Lots of sailing, the wreck of the Willy T, more sailing and back to the base.
The first part of the day was filled with some great sailing on our way over to the Wreck of the Willy T in Kay Bay on Peter Island. This is another treat set in place by Beyond the Sea specifically as a treat for SCUBA divers. One of my earlier crew called it an amusement park for SCUBA divers! After the dive we got our sailing on with some nice 20-30kt winds in the Sir Francis Drake Channel. In the evening we found our way over to the Sushi Bar for a very affordable meal and finished our 2022 BVI adventure with the obligatory painkiller at Pussers Bar.
Day 9 – The Wreck of the Rhone, a night dive at the Caves and the Willy T
Always a wonderful dive, the Wreck of the RMS Rhone never disappoints. There were some delightful, unexpected surprises this time. At the beginning of the dive, on our way to the wreck, I was lucky enough to find a basket starfish wrapped up in coral for the day. At night, these unfold into almost a foot diameter net and filter feed for the evenings. We visited all 3 sections of the Rhone and were inspected by a ~5-6′ nurse shark. What a wonderful treat for Pam on her FIRST dive trip! We had intended to do a night dive at the Sandy Ledges, but ½ of the mooring balls were out of service so we did our night dive at the Caves instead. After returning to the boat, we cleaned up and took the dinghy over to the Willy T for some fantastic Tuna and more drinks than we really needed!
Day 8 – Necker Island and Virgin Gorda
Today was our day to visit Necker Island with Gumptions Nature Adventure. Necker Island is a private island owned by Sir Richard Branson that charges over $100k per night with a 3 night minimum for a reservation, our Nature Adventure was a considerable amount less than that! As always, Gumption (Allington Creque) provided us with an exceptional experience on the island showing us flora and fauna including baby endangered tortoise and lemurs!!! Following the Necker Experience, we returned to Leverick Bay and rented a car to explore Virgin Gorda. The highlight of the tour was lunch/drinks at Hog Heaven with a fantastic view of the entire North Sound!
Day 7 – The Baths, more sailing, the Kodiak Queen, and dinner at Leverick Bay
We woke up early at Spanish Town and made our way directly to the Baths in hopes if beating the crowds. Even though there were already 6 vessels on hand when we arrived, they were pleasantly uncrowded. Next we traveled north to the Kodiak Queen, the first vessel cleaned up and sunk for SCUBA divers in the BVI by Beyond the Sea. This was followed up by another wonderful meal at Leverick Bay.
Day 6 – Lobster Omelets, Sandy Spit, more great sailing, and Shark Planes
That sums up our day today! Tipsy Shark cooked up another unbelievable breakfast of lobster omelets for us. Then we weighed anchor and motored over to Sandy Spit, a tiny delightful little sandy Island with six palm trees on it. It took me no more than 10 minutes to walk all the way around the island, another one of my favorite spots here in the BVI. We had a nice little sail from there over to Great Dog and I surprised the crew with a dive on the shark planes. This is some underwater artwork that was installed a few years ago by a group called Beyond The Reef. We’re now cooking up dinner at a mooring ball outside of Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda.
Day 5 – Jost Van Dyke
Our anchorage at JVD was about 26nm sw of Anegada making for a wonderful 4-hour sail to Great Harbor. The mooring field was full so we had to drop an anchor for the evening. We started with Painkillers at the Soggy Dollar, then stopped at the Tipsy Shark where they once again provided a memorable meal! Of course a visit to Foxy’s was the after dinner hot spot, I think we all slept well that night.
Day 4 – Anegada
After a late morning, we took the dinghy to Sunchaser SCUBA for our tank refills, and did a little shopping and provisioning at the Bitter End. Then we departed on our northward journey to Anegada where we had a magnificent dinner at the Lobster Trap! There was also a visit to the wonky dog for drinks and other entertainment. The northbound sail towards Annegada is always cathartic for me because when we leave Virgin Gorda there’s nothing to see in front of us, we’re basically sailing off to the end of the world, it’s wonderful!