Its Official!! We have a new home!

Team Sandpiper Update

Last And Final

26 May 2009

Anchored Cruz Bay

St John Island, U.S. Virgin Islands

USA!

18'19.9N/64'47.7W

 

Its Official!! After four years traveling over 28,000 nautical miles, 30 countries and 5 continents on a near circumnavigation, Team Sandpiper has found their new home!!! We signed the papers on Saturday morning with Captain Ben and Romeo (a whippet/pitbull mix), his agent B.J., Arthur the lawyer and with one simple signature we have taken ownership of the charter boat Sadie Sea.To celebrate we loaded up the Sadie Sea this morning with Captain Ben and a boat load of friends and took Sadie over to St Thomas for 'bottomless' Bloody Marys and Mimosas at breakfast keeping Sadie tied up in a marina. After copious drinks and many toasts to the end of Captain Ben's tenure aboard Sadie and Team Sandpiper's new beginning, it was a short run back home. With a wave and blow of the horn Captain Ben departed with a tear in his eye and Amy and I took Sadie back to her mooring for the first time by ourselves.

We have a busy week ahead already with just about every day booked for trips and we are looking forward to this new chapter in our adventures. We have been busy these last weeks trying to get all the paperwork associated with running a business processed and it has been a bit challenging since this is our first time at owning a business. There are tons of paperwork that must be filed and people to pay. I have my 100 ton USCG Captains License that I received just before we departed California in 2005 and it is required to drive the Sadie Sea as she carries a max load of 37 passengers in U.S Waters, and 12 passengers on international voyages (BVI's).

A new requirement for any personnel working in a U.S. port is to carry a Transportation Workers Identity Card. I went over to St Thomas and filled out all the forms and had my picture taken, then paid $150.00 and am now just waiting for them to contact me once they get my new card processed.

We have formed a corporation that Sadie Sea will be listed under for tax purposes, and now have applied for approval from the Lt. Governors Office for permission to use the trade name 'Sadie Sea Charters'.

I have turned in a background check to the St John police department that must be approved before we can obtain our Virgin Islands business license. There is quite a process to this whole procedure and with everyone on island time it takes a bit of time. One great thing about St John is the town of Cruz Bay is so small all the offices we need to go to are just blocks from each other.

With the sale of Sadie Sea to us along with the boat we also took ownership of Sadie Sea's mailbox, cell phone, dinghy and outboard, website, and of all things a Jeep! After 4 years we will have to learn to drive again, and on the left side of the road! St John has grown on us quite quickly and has a real sense of community. People are quite friendly and after just a short amount of time we have met most of the island. There are no rescue services on the island and all land and sea rescues are done by volunteers. Even the U.S. Coast Guard will not respond to a distress call from St John. There are no garbage trucks for picking up trash. So large dumpsters are placed around the island that everybody puts their refuse in for free. There are no mail trucks and anyone who wants to get mail has to have a P.O. Box in town.

While sitting at one of the many open bars it is common to see chickens running about and large iguanas on the prowl. On the Coral Bay side of the island wild donkeys stroll thru town and stand out on business' decks overnight. 

For some reason there are many people on the island with the same name. So everyone gets a one word description added to their names. For example; There is "80's' Matt" who is a great bartender at JJ's bar and has turned out to be a friend of ours. There is "Jew Matt" who well, is Jewish. And there is "Maintenance Matt" who does maintenance in rental houses. Flights to the Caribbean are quite cheap right now and we expect to see you here soon!! Team Sandpiper/Team Sadie Sea Tom and Amy P.S. Here's out new contact info;

(340)514-0778

SadieSeaCharters@gmail.com

P.O. Box 459, St. John,VI 00831

Welcome the Sadie Sea!

Team Sandpiper Update 26 May 2009 Anchored Cruz Bay St John Island U.S. Virgin Islands USA! 18'19.9N/64'47.7W

It is finally here, May 26, 2009 (Happy 45th Birthday Sister Janice!!). The end to our countdown and the revealing of our big announcement. We have received several emails and a few comments on the blog from our loyal followers speculating what the news could be. A few of our favorites have been, "Are you having a baby?" or "What bar did you buy?". Thanks for the laughs, but the answer is NO to both of these.

Crazy enough, we have decided to purchase another boat. Not just any boat, but the USVI famous Sadie Sea. She's a shiny red 40' Lindsey Trawler with shaded seating downstairs and a sunny upper deck. Mechanically she is a lot less complicated than the 'Piper so we feel confident the work can be done between the two of us. The business side of the boat is where the challenge will arise for us seeing as how neither of us have any experience in running a small business. Since the boat has been in operation for years on island, it is somewhat of a household name and legend that we plan on carrying on for several years to come.

The current owner, Captain Ben, has been nothing short of amazing to work with on this deal. The boat has been in his family for over 20 years and has always been operating as a charter. He's not only let us job shadow himself and his crew Kristi these last two weeks, he's been a great friend to us since day 1 of our arrival. We have shared several drinks and meals swapping sea stories and he's even let us use his shower!

The boat runs half and full day charters around the island taking in some of the beautiful beaches and crystal clear waters where the snorkeling in our opinion, is the best in the Caribbean. Since St. John is two-thirds Nation Park, one of the most popular tourist activities on island is hiking. The National Parks run a 'Reef Bay Hike' anywhere from 1 to 4 times a week with a maximum of 37 people down the 3 mile trail and the Sadie Sea is there to greet you at the end where we will run everyone back to Cruz Bay. This trip is so popular and with a 37 passenger limit there is constantly a waiting list during busy season. When you come to visit us be sure to book this St. John 'must do' well in advance.

She also does a lot of work with VIERS (Virgin Islands Environment Research Station). These are usually school groups of all ages, scout troops, and environmental enthusiast groups. They can book the boat for a half or full day charter where we take them to some of the great snorkel stops on island.

Today we helped with an Arawak trip, a 5 day kayak trip from the BVI's back to the USVI's. Sadie Sea was loaded up with kayak's and gear bags and off we went to West End, Tortola to check all passengers in to customs. Then just a few miles from there we drop them off on a sandy beach with their gear and guide on Peter Island, BVI, where they will camp and paddle thier way back to St. John with a few other stops in between.

It is definitely still a learning process for us seeing as how we don't know all the exciting history and secret spots just yet. But we have been busy picking Ben's brain on a daily basis. One lesson we have learned thru this process is 'island time' really does exist. We were hoping for today to be our first official start day. But 'island time' has pushed this back just a few days and we are now shooting for June 1st.

With us now busy being workin' folk, our blog posts won't be as often as previous. But we do plan to still keep it up and running. We also plan to put the Sandpiper back on the market. So if you are looking to buy the World Famous Sandpiper, she is available.

Be sure to check out the Sadie Sea website and start making your plans to come and visit us.

One Love Amy and Tom

Countdown: 1 days to go

1 day till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (tomorrow May 26th)

Countdown: 2 days to go

2 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 3 days to go

3 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 4 days to go

4 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 5 days to go

5 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 6 days to go

6 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 7 days to go

7 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 8 days to go

8 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 9 days to go

9 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!! (May 26th)

Countdown: 10 days to go

10 days till a major Sandpiper announcement!!!

Dragging our feet

Anchored in Cruz Bay
St John Island
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!

18'19.9N/64'47.7W

Hello All!! As mentioned in past entries during out stay here in St John/U.S. Virgin Islands, we have severely been dragging our feet in making our departure for Charleston, South Carolina in time to be stateside for hurricane season (start 01-June). We had planned to leave just last Wednesday morning for a 400nm run to the Turks & Caicos Islands, then run up the U.S. east coast from there.

But Tuesday night a MONUMENTAL decision was made affecting Sandpiper's plans. Stay tuned for a MAJOR announcement on this site to be released 26 May 2009!!!!!

11 Days and Counting!!!!!

Tom and Amy

Island Time

Anchored Coral Bay
St John Island
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!
18'20.1N/64'40.5W

1189nm to Charleston, SC

Well... it is Friday and our last update stated we would be making a decision if we should stay or go. But alas, no decision has been made yet. We are actively pursuing purchasing a small turn key charter business that has been in operation for the last 18 years. But we are running into several obstacles along the way.

With last week being Carnival in St. Thomas, many working folks were off to a slow beginning early this week. So Monday was a wash.

Tuesday our contact at the bank was in a meeting all day. And since we don't have a local phone it makes it a bit hard for any communications to happen. St. John doesn't have an internet cafe on the island. But it does have a small business named Connections where they have a few computers that are available for internet, a few phones for local calls, postal service, message taking, a great community bulletin board with job listings, and rental listings for the island. Connections has been Team Sandpiper's official office for the week.

This week we have had the true experience of 'island time'. With us trying to decide our future in less than a week, it is hard to get everyone else on the same page as us. The government building on St. Thomas said it would take over 2 weeks just to receive the charter business' old tax information.

We finally made a bit of progress yesterday when we were in contact with the bank and it wasn't the news we were hoping for. When we went in last week we walked out of the office feeling confident that this was all going to work out for us. But slowly we are loosing this confidence and talking more about getting our act together and making northbound tracks. 

This bums us out. We were trying for a small business loan called 'Patriot Express Small Business Loan', a business loan for military personal. We were hoping that the down payment on a small business loan would be less than a boat loan and would also have a lower finance rate. It turns out we still need 20% down and the finance rate is the same, so there is no real advantage. This mystifies us since we are not asking for that much money. How does anyone come up with 20% down for a larger loan for a first time business?

Since we are both keen on staying here in St John we are still trying to make all this work. Tom is busy making phone calls while I continue to use the power of "The Secret", picturing us at work doing something together and that makes us happy. Wish us luck. If you have any further suggestions or words of wisdom for us we are all ears. Or if you would like to donate/loan us a large sum of cash, then that would help too.

Still in St. John,
Amy and Tom

Coral Bay, St. John

Anchored in Coral Bay
St John Island
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!
18'20.1N/64'40.5W

• 1189nm to Charleston, SC
  

First a big shout out to Mom Larson who is home recovering from knee surgery. We hope you are up and mobile soon!!

We left St Thomas motoring up the west coast and returned back to St John for a short 5 mile motor upwind to Maho Bay on St Johns east coast. We grabbed one of the National Park's mooring balls and spent the afternoon swimming off the white sand beach and explored inland. Maho Bay is just a quarter mile south of Cinnamon Bay where we had been moored weeks before on our last trip around St John. And most the island's east coast is part of the National Park.

This coast is very unique as the bay is lined with white sand beaches and not a resort in site! There are many turtles to be spotted and porpoises swimming by to say hello. Just down the bay at Cinnamon Bay the National Parks have a campground. There are camp sites, tents, and tiny cottages just feet from a perfect beach. And is one of the cheapest places to stay in St John.

Just off where we were moored is Maho Bay Camp , a private eco lodge which has 114 tent cottages on platforms on a steep wooded slope. All the cottages are connected by stairs and walkway's and walking around involves going either straight up, or down. We did manage to climb the 118 steps for a cold beer from their small store.

Our motor from St Thomas was not all drama free. When we motored out the engine was sounding louder then normal and the temperature gauge was reading a bit high. So after a good nights sleep I climbed into my favorite space in Sandpiper... the 'engine room'. I pulled off the impeller plate and found only two fins left on the sea water pump's impeller, and the broken off fins were jamming the intake. In the last four years I have become quite an expert at rebuilding this pump all over the world as it seems to love to self destruct quite randomly. Once finished we ran the engine and all was well, so we cut loose our mooring for a seven mile motor sail upwind around St John's east coast to where we are presently anchored in protected Coral Bay.

Along the way we tried to catch dinner, but ended up with a four foot barracuda. Once we got our lure back, it was released. We were in Coral Bay over a week ago, but only had the chance to stay one night. We are hoping to spend the next week here to check out this end of St John. Cruz Bay where we had been staying on St John's west end, and is just a few miles away. But compared to Coral Bay, it is in another world. Cruz Bay is where all the islands' ferries arrive, and is the main city on the island. Coral Bay is more like out of some salty sailors novel.

Most all the boats in Coral Bay are on moorings permanently and there are many colorful characters living out on their boats. We are a bit of an oddity here as most the boats here have never even left St John. They would consider a trip to the BVI's, just a few miles away, a major passage. Many of the boats here are as old as the people that live aboard them and I am sure only a small percentage of them could ever leave the harbor under their own power. But Coral Bay does have its charms. Ashore by the dingy dock is Skinny Legs bar/restaurant where the bar is full of boat people getting their daily tot of grog. And the people working behind the bar are the boat people that have jobs.

One of the cast of characters you are guaranteed to find perched at the bar is 'Pirate Bill'. Bill looks something out of 'Pirates of the Caribbean', being about 80 years old with long white hair and a beard. Pirate Bill wears a necklace of five Spanish doubloons he proudly wears and told us when he was younger he swam down and found them when he was working salvage in his younger days. Pirate Bill asked Amy where she was from and after she told him we were from California, he said "I used to live in California in the forties." He then stated to us he hadn't worn shoes in over twenty years!

In the evening when business slows down everyone stops talking and all watch the bar's TV before heading back to their boats. Skinny Legs is more of a cruiser family room than a bar for the local folks. But even if you are just dropping in for their famous burger, you are more than taken care and instantly part of the family.

Sandpiper's plans are to stay here at least till Friday where we hope to have decided what we are doing next. Hurricane season is rapidly approaching.

Stay Tuned!!
Tom and Amy

Charlotte Amalie, USVI

Anchored off Charlotte Amalie
St Thomas Harbor
St Thomas Island
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!
18'20.1N/64'55.7W

1179 nm to Charleston, SC

After a night at anchor wondering if the engine was going to start in the morning we woke up early to see what would happen. The day before we had changed out all the engines filters and thoroughly cleaned everything out. I cracked the injectors and had Amy crank the engine over to run all the water out of the injector pump. Once diesel started squirting out, I tightened the injectors back down and she cranked right up like nothing ever happened. We ran the engine for about 30 minutes to make sure there would be no drama once we upped anchor. Then we motored over to the fuel dock at Yacht Haven Grande Marina just in front of us. We took on 40 gallons of diesel and filled both water tanks.

H2O is quite scarce in the Virgin Islands and many parts of the islands rely on rain water collected off their houses roofs for their annual supply. We paid 20 cents a gallon for water! With this extra fuel we should not do not need to refuel for a very long time as the last time we refueled was in the Canary Islands, 2780 miles from here, and we still have a full port tank. 

Once topped off we re- anchored as close to Yacht Haven Grande Marina as possible so our dinghy commute is as short as possible. Ashore we made contact with Piper followers Carl, Penny, and their daughter Lacey. We found out they had planned on meeting us that day instead of the day before where we had thought we had stood them up. So we hopped a Safari Taxi to the port of Red Hook where we had been unable to anchor the day before.

The Safari Taxis in St Thomas are large flatbed trucks with bench seats in the back covered with an awning. They make loops around the island and is a cheap way to get around, costing only 2 bucks to get where we were going. When everyone climbs aboard they greet everybody seated with a cheery "Good Afternoon". Since the diver is up in a truck cab and cannot hear his passengers when one is approaching their stop, there are doorbell buttons above the passenger seats that when pushed alert the driver to stop.

After we jumped out it was just a short walk thru a park and we were back at Latitude-18, the cruiser bar where we had been the week previous to scope things out. We met Carl, Penny, and Lacey who had just flown in from snow filled Montana and were quite pleased to be in the warmth of the tropics. At home in Montana Carl and Penny both sell real estate while their 15 year old daughter races dog sleds in the winter. She competes in the Junior Ididarod with her assortment of 23 sled dogs to choose from. They were out here not only to enjoy the warm sun, but were filming a High Definition point of sale DVD that will be released sometime soon called 'Travelers in Paradise'. Team Sandpiper will have a short cameo in this soon to be famous film, and we were even wired up for sound for our interview. Very professional!

Carl, Penny and Lacey plan on traveling through the islands filming and interviewing as many people as possible on their 2 week Caribbean charter aboard a catamaran, stopping all along the British Virgin Islands. Later that night at Lat-18, cruiser favorite Eric Stone, appeared and played two sets of acoustic guitar that will be featured on their film as well. We wish them well on their Hollywood fame and a great thanks for a night out!

If it seems like we are dragging our heals while in the Virgins Islands it is because we have a few things brewing here. We cannot stay too long as hurricane season is fast approaching. But we plan on staying here in the U.S. Virgin Islands as least one more week. If what we got brewing works out, then you readers will be the second to know!

We plan on an early start tomorrow morning to motor back upwind along the east coast of St. John hoping to be in Coral Bay by Sunday.

More Down Island,
Tom and Amy

St Thomas Harbor, USVI

Anchored Charlotte Amalie
St Thomas Harbor
St Thomas Island
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!
18'20.1N/64'55.7W

1179nm to Charleston, SC

Drama...

We should have read the signs last night when we returned to the dinghy dock in Cruz Bay, St. John that things were going to go wrong today. We arrived to the dinghy dock to find our dingy trapped under the dock with the bow sticking out one side, and the outboard sticking out the other. When the tide was low it must have floated under the dock bow first. Then when the tide came up it trapped the dingy under the dock. Amy stood on one end and I stood on the other, but it was stuck good. We took off the outboard and opened the air vents to deflate it enough to pull it back under the dock. Once we got it out, we pulled it up on the dock trying to figure out how to re-inflate it so we could get back to the Piper.

Amy heard a guy with a leaf blower above us on the ferry dock cleaning off the pier and persuaded him to come down to where the dingy was. He asked "What's the problem Mon?" I grabbed the end of his leaf blower and inserted it into one of the dinghy's inflation valves, and in one pull he had it started and the dinghy was back to its original shape. With the outboard back on and a beer to our new friend we were back on the Piper.

We had plans to meet a couple who are fans of our blog in St Thomas today at a salty cruiser bar called Lat-18, just across the channel from St John. To save the ferry fare of going back and forth we decided to take the Piper over and anchor in front of the bar to save 20 bucks. The winds were cracking straight into the anchorage in front of Lat-18 bar and all the boats anchored there were rolling all over the place. So we decided to try the next bay over where we could walk over from. That bay was even worse, so we continued on to the next bay that promised a Mangrove swamp that was very protected. After motoring in we found is extremely shallow and even ran aground right in the middle of the channel that leads into a marina. I have no idea how the boats in the marina ever get out of this place. We applied full throttle and powered our way off the mud bottom.

Trying to figure out what to do next,  we decided the best idea would be to return to Cruz Bay in St John, now miles away straight upwind in 25 knots of wind. I had not anticipated doing this much motoring and Sandpiper's engine had been running off our starboard fuel tank, which we have not refilled since the Canary Islands back in December. Due to a boner move on my part months ago in Barbados, our port fuel tank had water in it. I thought I had been able to filter the water out with our portable filter. So we dropped the hook right in the entrance of the bay we were in so we could transfer fuel before motoring back to St John. Once we transferred 5 gallons we lit off the engine and headed out, beating into 25 knots of wind back to St John. We were only making 2.5 knots and having flashbacks of our Red Sea passage. We made it about one mile, then a giant slug of water that I had thought I filtered out shut the engine down just as we were very near some large rocks along the shoreline.

So we made a quick 180 and headed downwind, trying to figure out what to do next since we had no engine. We decided the safest thing to do would be to sail downwind a few miles to where we are presently anchored, off St Thomas' main harbor. We sailed along with just a double reefed main through the harbor and called the marina to see if they could assist us in pulling into a slip so we could make repairs. They suggested calling 'Vessel Assist' to tow us in. We quickly declined, imagining paying $400.00 just to be towed in to a marina that was going to charge us $50.00 a night to stay one night.

So we decided to sail into the anchorage just past three large cruise ships. With Amy steering us in through the anchored sailboats we found a spot in the middle where we threw out the hook and dropped the main sail.

We thought that we would have to tow ourselves in to the marina so we could hire someone to polish our tanks to get the water out. But after looking at the tanks we decided we can do this ourselves while at anchor. Luckily, before we left on our four year transit, I installed an electric fuel pump in the engine's fuel system so that in an emergency we could prime the engine. Using this pump I was able to pump all the water out of the tank into an empty fuel jug. Then I changed both pre filters and cleaned everything out. I think we are back in business because as I type this post, we are running the generator to see if there is any water left in the tank. It has been running for the last hour with no problems.

Tomorrow we are going to pull into the fuel dock to buy some clean fuel to put in the starboard tank and all should be well. All this just to save a $20.00 ferry ride!

One positive note: Our good friend Paddy Berry is in St. John on his new catamaran that he bought in Venezuela. We look forward to hanging out with him once we are back in St John. We met Paddy in Mexico in 2006 before we crossed the Pacific and enjoyed sharing many different anchorages in the South Pacific along the way until he headed to Australia where he sold his boat S/V Zafarse. We are looking forward to checking out his new ride, the S/V Chat Beaute, this next week. You can also check him out yourselves under 'Friends of Sandpiper'.

More very soon,
Tom and Amy

St. John, USVI

Mooring Ball Cruz Bay
St. John
U.S. Virgin Islands
USA!
18'19.9N/64'47.8W

1184nm to Charleston, SC

Since Shannon's departure we have been busy trying to figure out Sandpiper's next move. We have been seriously thinking of staying here on St. John and finding work. Our days consist of a short dingy ride into town from our much appreciated free mooring in Cruz Bay to the wonderful Deli Grotto where we connect to free wifi or use their computers. This town seriously needs an internet cafe! There are several turn-key business's on the island for sale that we think would be an exciting adventure for us to own and operate. The problem we are running into is that we can't find a bank willing to give us a loan since we haven't worked in 4 years. We haven't given up yet and will continue to try for at least one more week. After this week we will have to continue to move north since the official start of Hurricane season is 1 June.

One Love
Amy and Tom

British Virgin Islands Rum Report

This is the fifth installation of the Rum Report. Updates will be given from islands in the Caribbean which Sandpiper stops at that have distilleries.

During Sandpipers stop in Tortola/BVI we got the opportunity to stop at the oldest and smallest distilleries that we have had the opportunity to visit in the Caribbean. Once we made our way ashore, we smelled our way to Arundel Estate where the smell of distilling rum was in the island breeze. This distillery has been in operation for over the last 400 years and was in operation when we arrived. Unlike other distilleries that use molasses, the Arundel Estate uses raw sugar cane that is crushed behind their building with machinery that was shipped over from England several hundred years ago. The cane crusher used to be powered by donkeys, but according to our guide he said it was a time consuming process because they had to keep beating the donkeys to keep the machinery going. So now the crusher is powered by a small diesel engine with a long belt that rotates it.

Once the cane is crushed the cane juice is then boiled in open copper pots using the dried cane stalks as fuel for the fire. It's then put in barrels to ferment for 18 days naturally without adding yeast. After fermentation the fermented cane juice is poured into a copper still pot and a fire is lit. Coconut husks, scraps from local construction sites and tree limbs are burnt to distill the fermented wine. It takes all day to boil the alcohol from the ancient still where a pipe runs from the top of the still to inside the building where we could see the pure rum dripping into a well in the floor.

The rum is then hand ladled into large extremely old hand blown glass jugs where it is kept till it is ready to be bottled or barreled to age. This tiny distillery makes only 25 gallons of rum a day. White rum from the glass jugs is diluted and bottled as 80 proof white rum. Or it is barreled and allowed to age for 4 years. Or their top of the line is aged 10 years. This is the only licensed distillery in the Eastern Caribbean that uses a single pot still. Too cool!

There are several other rums around the BVI's such as Pussers Rum that still uses its original recipe from the 16th century. Pusser was the official rum for the British Royal Navy. Each man aboard was allowed a pint a day. But a pint a day is quite a bit to drink and still function. After general disorder and dysfunction throughout the fleet in 1740 Admiral Edward Vernon ordered the ration to be diluted with two parts water, sugar, and lime juice. It then become known as Grog. This tradition continued for over 200 years till 31-July-1970 ("Black Tot Day") when the last Grog was drunk aboard her Majestys Ships.

Pussers Rum is a blend of six different Caribbean rums and now is marketed in Pussers restaurant/bars around the world. We got the chance to visit one of these shops on our stop in Gibraltar before our Atlantic Crossing.

Other rums sold in the BVI's are Foxy's Firewater Rum that he sells at his beachside bar in Jost Van Dyke. It's not bottled in the BVI's. Instead it is a blend of rums bottled in Trinidad and then has his label added to the bottle.

Another rum bottled in Trinidad and labeled in the BVI's are resort blends that are labeled with whatever resort wants to have their own labels.

Stay tuned for the next issue of the 'Rum Report'!!

Tortola, BVI

Anchored Cane Garden Bay
Tortola
British Virgin Islands
18'25.7N/64'39.5W

• 1185 nm to Charleston, SC
  

After a morning swim ashore Team Sandpiper up'd the hook and headed south 5 miles to where we are presently anchored. We are in yet another white sandy bottom anchorage in crystal clear waters along a picture postcard beach. There is just a small town here with a few shops and a laundry. Mostly there are small beach bars/restaurants that line the beach right off where we are anchored with beach chairs full of tourists getting burned red.

We wandered ashore and found the tiny Callwood Rum Distillery that has been in operation for over 200 years and is still in operation with its original equipment. We were given a short tour and got to see this tiny distillery in operation, then we partook in the mandatory rum sampling that followed. Check out the new 'BVI Rum Report' when it comes out and you can get all the juicy details.

After that it was back to the boat for a swim and back into town to see what happens around here on a Friday night. We stopped at one of the beach bars for their 2-for-1 happy hour and 50 cent chicken wings. After that we had a very tasty dinner at Quito's restaurant bar that has a nice upstairs that looks out over the anchored boats and the lights of St Thomas off in the distance.

At 10pm the downstairs bar opened up with a kickin' Reggae band that played till about 1am, followed by a DJ that was spinning Soka tunes till about 4am. Just like the other islands we have visited, the white charter boat tourist crowd stayed till 10pm then vanished back to their boats leaving the place to 'Team Sandpiper' and the locals. We represented well making it till about 3am returning to the Piper being able to hear the music out in the harbor just about as loud as it was in the bar.

Today's plans are to swim around a bit and then motor-sail 8 miles to Coral Bay on the south end of St John.

More Later,
Tom, Amy & Shannon