Back in St Thomas

05 Tuesday Apr 2016

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Eric looking aft and enjoying his perch as we sail towards Jost van Dyke.

5 Apr 2015, The Far Reach, Anchored Elepahnt Bay, St Thomas, USVI — We departed the North Sound on 15 March and sailed down to the baths were once again we picked up a mooring for a few hours and enjoys swimming off the boat in the clear blue tinted water.  Afterwards we sailed north about a mile and anchored over night off Spanish Town.  Next day, we weighted anchor about 0830 and had a fine sail running east downwind in the Drake Channel then reaching north through the Thatch Cut to Jost van Dyke.

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Granuaile

01 Tuesday Mar 2016

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Granuaile is a steel Wylo 35′ gaffer built by Richard Wylie

The Far Reach, Anchored, Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, BVI–1 Mar 2016

Yesterday, we rented a car and drove the length and width of Tortola. Though I have been to many places in the world, Tortola probably has the steepest, most twisty, and narrowest roads I have ever driven. Lots of fun. It’s even more interesting as the roads are often not marked and the map we were provided was one of those cartoon maps. I wouldn’t I have wanted it any other way.

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Reunited!

26 Friday Feb 2016

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The Far Reach, Anchored, Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, BVI–26 Feb 2016

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Hooray! My family finally arrived a couple weeks ago. It’s terrific to have us all together after being separated for almost three months! We spent some time in St Thomas getting everyone settled in to life on the Far Reach. The kids have been working on dinghy handling, snorkeling, and sailing skills. They had no trouble restarting homeschool just where they left off a few days before. It a lot of fun to sit on the bridge deck and watch them down through the companionway at the saloon table working through their lessons.

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St Thomas, USVI

06 Wednesday Jan 2016

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The Far Reach, Anchored, Elephant Bay, St Thomas, USVI–6 Jan 2016

Click clack. Click clack. I woke up about 0400 to a sound I could not immediately identify. “What is that?” “Ah, it’s the sound of a mooring ball banging against the hull of the Far Reach.” There was little wind so the ball was trying to occupy the same space as our hull. I got up and used the boat hook to push it off.   The pendant with the pick-up buoy was on one side of the boat and the mooring ball on the other. Back to bed. When I finally got up Tricia had the coffee going and was standing at the foot of the companionway looking out over the bridge deck and across the stern of the Far Reach taking in the lovely tropical panorama.

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Working Up the Drake Channel, BVI

04 Monday Jan 2016

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The Far Reach making her way up the Drake Channel.

4 Jan 2016–The Far Reach, Anchored, Dead Man’s Bay, Peter Island, BVI–At 1045, 3 January, we departed Cane Garden Bay under single reefed main and stays’l. Prior to departure we topped off our water tanks by ferrying 18 gallons of water from the small marina back to the boat. We also found a small reef to snorkel the day before only 100 yards from where we anchored. I think the kids will enjoy swimming there.

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Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

02 Saturday Jan 2016

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The Far Reach anchored in beautiful Cane Garden Bay.

2 Jan 2016, The Far Reach, Anchored Cane Garden Bay, Tortola, BVI–We departed Jost van Duke this morning and beat up-wind (of course!) under a reefed main, working jib and stays’l to Cane Garden Bay on the west side of Tortola. The indications are the winds will slacken a bit to about 15-20 kts and it was a pretty comfortable, though short, sail.

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