Algal Bloom!

So here in the BVI the water temp has gone up about 5 degrees and the algae is everywhere! I've never been diving in water this murky (one reason I don't dive in NYC), but we took the plunge and much to my delight there was a thermocline at about 60' depth and the temp dropped at least 5 or 6 degrees, and the water cleared up! The colors were still very green because the light had to filter through all that algae, but at least we could see the wrecks as an overcast cloud of greenish brown algae hung above us. Oh, and there was this 7' reef shark checking us out:

Michael Beans at Marina Cay

One of our favorite people in the BVIs is Michael Beans, but he is so much more than a one-man pirate band who hosts Happy Arrrrr! at Robb and Rodie White's old house on top of Marina Cay.

Beans is also a humanitarian philathropist, as he donates his time and efforts to help the people of Isle La Vache, Haiti (who helped him a long, long time ago). Currently he is raising money to build them a new school. While at the same time he entertains us every Mon - Thu with pirate songs, quick humor, conch-shell-blowing contests, free rum, and the best way to spend the two hours between 5:30 and 7:30 pm!

We always have a great time, and everyone we have brought up the hill has enjoyed it as well, young and old!

For more information about Beans and his charity, visit his website at http://www.beansmusic.com/. This last photo is the beautiful sunrise over Virgin Gorda with Marina Cay and Beans' ferrocement ketch in the foreground.

Girls just want to have lunch

A couple of amazing, delicious, healthy lunches! Yesterday we had Tara's famous grilled eggplant sandwiches, with fresh greens, local tomatos, grilled onion, and a lemon aioli on fresh foccacia bread. The eggplants were sliced thick and then salted with sea salt and allowed to sweat for 15 minutes or so. They were then rinsed and brushed olive oil mixed with chopped herbs before grilling for about 7 minutes on a side.

A closer look, before being served with a side of slaw and sliced fresh pineapple.

Today we had a caribbean chicken salad with diced mango, celery, and green and black grapes in a light mayo dressing.

It was delicious!

So I have to admit, Sasha is much better at blogging than I am. But what I lack in online time I've been making up for in cleaning, organizing, and healthy cooking. On our week off Sasha and I kept busy with small projects and a couple large ones, too. Here I am emptying out the starboard hole. We've been using it as the "I don't know where else to put this" storage. Not any more!! We cleaned everything out and took a fresh inventory. I have to admit, I love my non conventional pantry. Mo mother has a step stool to reach the top shelves, I have a ladder to reach the bottom!


Lets play a little game of I Spy. Can you find 1) an orange, 2) a lemon, 3) a Caroline, 4) a grapefruit? We finally have a solution for all those people out there who forgot to clean their grill for the past 2 years. If heavy duty oven cleaner is no mach for your cooked on food and layers of rust-- USE A POWER SANDER! Then email the supplier and check on your ten year warranty. No really, the power sander worked well. The grate is now smooth rust. Sasha finished up the job wth lots of oil and a little heat to season the metal. We'll see how it works.
Here's a trick I learned in an old cruiser's book. To keep produce fresh longer rinse everything in a 10:1 water/ bleach mix. It is just one more step between buying and storing, but I can really tell a difference, especially in the tomatoes and avocados.
Tofu, round one. I'm trying to like this stuff. I enjoy it at thai restraunts, but I've never been brave enough to try on my own. If you dredge it in flour, then fry it, and finish it off with lots of fresh made peanut sauce... it's actually prett tasty.

Beef Island

Current Location: The Lagoon, St. Thomas
Lat/Lon: 18°18.8' N 64°52.1' W
Air Temp: 83°F Sea Temp: 81°F
Weather: Clear

Well we are here in the USVI getting ready for charter. The internet is much more cumbersome to use here since we have to go back to dialing up through the cell phone. At least it works, albeit slowly, so no photos today!

However I want to share a link to an update on the Beef Island court case, the BVI’s first environmental suit. They are trying to stop the huge development slated for the Beef Island mangroves that I had mentioned earlier.

Meanwhile... sailing in Boston

Beautiful new sails on the MIT Sailing boats, but what's that hard white stuff all over the water?

Little Harbor, Peter Island

Current Location: Little Harbor, Peter Island
Lat/Lon: 18°21.3' N 64°36.1' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Clear

Little Harbor is where many crews go on their time off. Getting there is easy, leave Road Harbor and head south.

Anchoring is easy too, drop the hook in 25' of water over sand, back down to the shore, and tie the stern to a rock to keep from swinging.

Beautiful sunsets too!

New Bridle Shackles

For some reason, the shackles holding the bridle to the boat were not stainless steel, so they rusted into a ball of, well, rust.

So I borrowed an angle grinder (thanks Bliss) and got to work.

Sparks flew and I still have all 10 fingers.

Beautiful!

Now I need to replace the lines as they are not only rust-stained but also worn where they chafe.

Keeping Your Fingers!

You only realize how much you need every little finger you own... when they are in danger. On our way up to Anegada this week we were trolling as we usually are and instead of catching tuna (our favorite little snack!) we caught two BARRACUDA! This is the only fish in the sea that scares the poo out of yours truly, and now we had one ON THE BOAT. Needless to say, I was still scared. Sasha, on the other hand, posed for pictures then knelt down on the thing to keep it from sliding around and got our lure back. (thank goodness for boys)

The other popular way to endanger your little fingers?? Finger food of course :) We've been doing spring rolls on the boat ever since our friend Nancy mentioned it. They are a great way to clean out the veg shelf -- and they're within the healthy diet!


We do the rolls as a create your own and we've not met a guest who has not loved it!

Anegada Sunset & Moonrise

Current Location: Pomato Pt., Anegada
Lat/Lon: 18°43.5' N 64°23.1' W
Air Temp: 80°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Clear



Have I mentioned how much I love our new, fast, always-on internet connection?

First post from Anegada

Two pictures today: First up is the nifty handholds I made. These dangling knots, called a Monkey's Fist, not only provide a good handhold, they also prevent people from whacking their heads on the overhangs from which they hang!
One guest referred to them constantly as "Monkey's Balls", without even realizing how funny she sounded or why we were all laughing at her.

The most wonderful thing onboard is Tara's cooking. One might think that week after week I might get tired of it, but quite the opposite! Tara continues to astound me with her beautiful, delicious, and healthy gourmet cuisine. Check out this tortellini pasta salad with local organic tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and prosciutto in a fresh herb "green goodness" sauce, and imported Italian grissini:The observant reader might also notice the new tableware.

Real sailboats have no engines

Amanda, arguably the fastest wooden ketch under 40', at anchor in Road Harbor, before she sailed out for Antigua to race and perhaps lay proof to that claim. One reason she is so fast is she has no engine.
Capt. Kevin has taken her up and down the island chain from Venezuela up to Florida countless times, using only his 5HP dinghy engine to assist in docking. He uses a 2kw inverter generator to charge the lighting battery, and between the two he ends up buying about a gallon of gas a month! Amanda is in beautiful shape, and incidentally is also for sale.

Hypnautic, sitting pretty at the dock in Village Cay:

Brethren Pirates

Video here.

Some Photos

Current Location: Cooper Saddle
Lat/Lon: 18°22.5' N 64°30.6' W
Air Temp: 78°F Sea Temp: 77°F
Weather: Partly Cloudy

Beautiful sunset last night, although some of the best clouds are seen looking away from the sun:

We saw some of the BVI Spring Regatta on our sail today, but the best boat must have been Formula 40' performance catamaran SOMA out of St. John, who added "Will Sail 4 Beer" to their mainsail:
We gave our pirate flag to our last guests and replaced it with a new "Brethren Pirates of Red Hook" flag. The Brethren Pirates are a dinner theater troupe in the USVI. Check it out:

And of course, be sure to pick up some Hypnautic booty at our web store!

Swag and Booty

Be sure to check out our new "Swag and Booty" Online store. More items to be added... when we have time to design more-- if you have design suggestions please let us know :)

www.cafepress.com/hypnautic

(There is also a link on the right side of this page just under our official site link!

Hypnautic = H E A L T H Y!!

Hahah, Sasha and I have begun to notice how nicely my cooking is sticking to our bones. Oops. So we're on a bit of a diet these days. We tried my standby Cereal diet, but that left us hungry (and usually hungry = cranky). We abandoned that idea, ohh, about three days in. Instead we've decided to put the whole boat on a diet :) A few weeks ago a top piece of the cooler blew overboard and we were unable to recover it. So we got a new cooler-- one that is a little longer. Because of the added space there we were able to free up space in the refrigerators and pack them up with more greens and salad makings (yeah!). These are our baby steps away from rice and other starches and towards more fresh foods every day! Oh yeah, and I'm moving towards using whole wheat in my baking rather than just white flour-- so far we've done proper boiled bagels (just for sasha), and pizza dough!

Daze off!

Current Location: Road Harbor, Tortola
Lat/Lon: 18°25.5' N 64°36.9' W
Air Temp: 82°F Sea Temp: 80°F
Weather: Clear

So we have a few days off and don't want to pay to sit at the dock but didn't feel like going to some pristine, secluded, virgin anchorage. So we decided to sit in the middle of Road Harbor and watch the world go by:


We have a couple of friends who live on an old wooden ketch in the harbor when they are not running a private charter boat. They had been working for a big charter company when we met them and they gave us a lot of good advice as we were starting in the industry (mostly: "don't work here"). Rafted up to their boat is a beautiful black wooden schooner When and If, which used to be General Patton's yacht. She is very YAR:


Just outside the jetty are a couple of cruise ships. Wow these things are big. They were testing their anchor earlier this morning. They carry 12 cord of anchor chain, at least 1000 feet of rode. Each shackle must be a foot or two long.


Across the harbor is that big charter company I mentioned earlier. They just built a brand-new reception area with several restaurants, a spa, expanded hotel, etc. The place is empty. Looks like most of their fleet is sitting at the dock, rafted up several boats deep:


Many of these boats have been abandoned by their owners and the banks are simply storing them for lack of anything else to do with them. If you are looking to buy a boat, this summer might be the time!