Annaberg Sugar Mill, St. John

The Annaberg Sugar Mill on St. John is a ruin designed and built exclusively for the production of raw cane sugar and its two valuable byproducts, rum and molasses. It was built between 1797 and 1805. In the beginning we were dependent on Asian and Mediterranean cane growers, but on Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the West Indies in 1493, he brought sugar cane to the tropical Americas.


Boiling House


Structures mixed with coral, shell and rock.

May 13, 2010

Coral Bay, St. John

Donkeys, Donkeys, Donkeys!
Driving these roads on St. John has been fun. Your first run out is a crash course in defensive driving! Donkeys, goats, sheep, chicken, pigs and cows, OH MY! Everything is free range here and alot of it!


Cinnamon Bay beach is one of the many along the NW side of St. John.
We are beach hopping this week to find our favorite spot!


Lounging at the beach


Cinnamon Bay Beach, St John

New Digs

We are in the upper left apartment. There is a great view of the harbor on other side and we can see down into the courtyard of the outdoor restaurant I work at the bottom of the hill from the entryway!


One bedroom with loft. Cute and bigger than our boat!

Screened in entryway...

Harolds Way Apt 1, Coral Bay, St. John, USVI

US Virgin Islands, St. John

As hard as it was to leave the crystal clear waters and friendly people of the Bahamas, St. John turned out to be another beautiful place in its own right. The elevation changes and the lush greens of the vegetation here were stark differences from the flat, arid terrain of the Bahamas. Another big difference is the water. The Bahamas was shallow, on average the depths ranged from 7-20 feet with 100 ft of visibility with water temps averaging around 75-78 degrees. Here in the Virgin Islands the depths range from 20-80 ft with visibility around 20-30 ft (off the beaches of St. John) and water temps average around 82-83 degrees this time of year.

Change is always good and the girls were excited to see their grandparents Meme and Grampie Whitney. Fortunately we will have a few weeks with them before they fly back to their home in Maine. We are excited to have them with us. They have been very helpful introducing us to the locals and showing us around the islands. They have been coming here for the past 21 years staying both on land and on sea. With the help of their connections here we hope to find some work to replenish our sailing kitty and to meet some of the local families.

Views of Coral Bay, St. John

Waiting for flight to St. John. US Virgin Islands, "Here We Come!"

Arrived May 11th

Replenishing the "Sailing Kitty"

On Water Taxi saying goodbye "for now" to Hook. On to the US Virgin Islands to replenish the kitty!

View of Hook in Hurricane Hole #3

Hook decommissioned for the summer at the Kevalli House, Exuma Bahamas

May 10, 2010

Bahamas to US Virgin Islands

Long Island, Bahamas

Long Island was a refreshing day sail from Georgetown. After the craziness of Regatta week we were ready to find a remote island to spend some "quiet time!"
We traveled with s/v Altona, s/v Lily Mae, and s/v Seawalk to Callabash Bay, Long Island. Callabash was a beautiful bay with lovely beaches and great snorkling sites we could do from just a short dinghy ride from Hooks anchor. We also pooled resources and rented 2 vans to get to Dean's Blue Hole!
We had just missed the World Free Dive Competition by a few days but we were able to see the winner being interviewed right at the edge of the hole by ESPN. Pretty neat!
Long Island proved to be a great stop and a nice place to say goodbye to good friends.




View from atop a church steeple on Long Island.

We gave the Blue Hole a try! Steve dove 30 feet, Emma dove 20 feet and Maddie dove 6 feet!

Watch out William, you've got competition!

World Record Freediver William Trubridge. 318 ft, 2 legs, 1 breath (3,2,1)! He had no flippers, no air tank, no help...William held his breath for over 4 minutes to complete this incredible dive.

The water approaching the hole is only 1-2 ft deep and then it immediately drops to 623 ft!

Amazing!

Famous Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island

Dean's Blue Hole is the deepest blue hole in the world. 623 ft deep!

Always hoping to see a "green flash"! Still haven't yet...

Maddie falling asleep on the boom while watching the sunset.

Just hanging out....

Wake boarding with the girls boogy boards!

Snorkling with friends.

Emma and Madelines new found sport of Body Surfing!

Michelle, Steve, Sjerge, Isabelle, Wendy, Ralph and Terry

Good friends from s/v Lily Mae, Seawalk and Altona

Callabash Bay, Long Island

Our new dinghy. We traded the inflatable RIB for this Walker Bay dinghy in Georgetown. It was a good trade. We made a few bucks and we finally have a dinghy we can lift up ourselves to the deck when underway.

Long Island, Bahamas

"Out Islands"

Georgetown, Exuma

We made it! Georgetown, Exuma.
We were hoping to make it here in time for the Family Island Regatta and we did!
The stop here was quite a milestone in our trip. We've talked about it for so long.

Besides the regatta we also had made plans to meet up with the adventure photographer Jen Edney. She was commissioned by Coastal Living Magazine to come and photograph us to capture "life on the hook" with a young family. Jen was wonderful with the kids and we had fun while she was with us. She was a great sport dealing with our limited space for 5 days! Kudos to you Jen!

It was nice to be here in Georgetown for an extended period of time as we were able to meet some amazing long and short term cruising families. The beaches and snorkling were superb and the temps were in the mid 70's to low 80's. Wonderful.

We were able to take part in beach baby showers, birthday parties, hiking outings, volleyball games, sting ray feeding, snorkling, scuba diving, spear fishing and pot luck dinners. Georgetown is a very social place! If you have a pulse and a smile you are welcome!


Friends Bruce, Sjerge, and JP.

Beach games

We were always told there would be kids in Georgetown. They weren't kidding!

This group of cruising kids are from all over the globe.

Race Medals

Hang On!

Steve "hiking out on the pry" to help balance the boat. These are 20-23 ft sailboats with 41 ft masts and 3000 lbs of lead keel to balance!

And they are off!

Here they go raising sails!

Starting line up. The boats actually drop their anchors on the start line and when the starting gun goes off, they haul up 50 ft of anchor rode while raising sails!

Steve crewing on a "B" class boat called "Six Sisters" on Day 1 of the races.

The girls and I in our "chase boat"! Thanks to our friend and driver Kevin from s/v Fur Ellise.

(Steve's in the blue shirt in the background)

Pictures from the Regatta on race days...

Old and new friends from Maine. Bruce and Art. Both have been coming to Georgetown for the regatta for years. We of course met them on separate occasions but they already knew each other!

Hairdo's! More lovely Bahamian hairdo's!

Crowd gathering for the Family Island Regatta parade

Rake n' Scrape Music at Eddy's Edgewater, Georgetown

Get your dancing shoes on!

Trail floor on hike on Stocking Island

View from the top of Stocking Island

Jen Edney

Adventure Photographer Jen Edney with the girls after spending a fun week on board Hook taking pics for Coastal Living Magazine.

Georgetown public library

Steve to the rescue again! Run-away dinghy...

Another one of Maddie's "special spots" she created.

Sleeping in the cockpit

Emma under Queens Dock on Hamburger Beach, Stocking Island

Conch horn blowing practice for sunset ritual

Emailing downtown at J&K Productions. $5/day for internet and $0.15/min for phone calls. Not bad since it is $4/min with our cell phone from here! Yikes!

Volleyball Beach, Stocking Island

Girls leaving their "mark" at the Chat & Chill on Volleyball Beach, Georgetown.

Regatta Park waterfront in Georgetown. Vendors working hard at constructing their food/beverage shacks for the Family Island Regatta week.

Georgetown, Bahamas

Exuma