All posts by kozyboat.com

Caneel Bay USVI

November 6, 2013 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

Uneventful cruise over to USVI last night. Made a midnight snack of chicken wings on the BBQ, high marks from crew.
Rain started about 3am for an hour.. Covered cockpit and real windows came in really handy.. Allie suggested she wouldn’t be steering the boat if we didn’t have this!! ha!!
Not a lot of steering to do actually.. set the autopilot in San Juan and kicked it off playing chicken with a Disney cruise line at daybreak.
Apparently Mr. AutoVanHelm is not SCARED of big Ships.. we played it safe and went behind it!

Beautiful sunrise over calm seas!!!
Pulled down the Puerto Rico courtesy flag and now flying the Q Flag.. (Thats a yellow flag that means you are Quarantined until cleared customs..)
Dropping the dingy after breakfast and heading into Cruz bay to clear into the ‘Country’..
Even though Puerto Rico is US, and St. John is US, they don’t play well together and require customs and immigration like any other place..
The water is 25 feet deep here and you can see the bottom like it’s a foot deep.. very nice!
Internet is free.. and appears faster than San Juan… Hummmmm
Seems like a nice place!!!!!

Off to check out the ‘town’ 🙂

Timbo!!!

British Virgin Islands

Bob Barker arrives in Road Town

November 15, 2013 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

The Price is Right (or.. The Price is Expensive??) You decide!!!

Im thinking of a new little research project to fill my day… Lets check prices of common items at each island we visit.

You will remember St. John.. Tide was $25.99 Wine was $6?

Ok.. lets do some real research here.. and start off the program:

Road Town Tortola

TIDE: $11.85 (Better than $26!!!) Good thing we stocked up ($9) in Walmart in San Juan!!… Maybe I should sell some!!!

WINE: $3.85 (Amazing Wine from Chile)…

RUM: $7.95

Beer: $1.25 for Redstripe in an ice filled cooler on the street

CHEERIOS: $8.05 (Again we stocked up in San Juan.. I need to set up a cart on the street!)

Guy Parker is sure we can get a grant from the government for the research…

So what happened today…. hummmm……

Well good news on the Water maker… the motor is OK.. problem was a transfer valve causing major arcing issues.. Looks like she will be back on the boat in a few days!

Not so good news.. Electricians are all busy.. haven’t looked at the charger inverter yet.. (So the waiting game continues)

Cruise Ship Day.. we successfully passed as tourists… People were trying to sell us tours, cab rides, etc..

I think my flower shirt was a good diversion to get us into the club!!!

Almost died.. Crossing the street.. Robin jumped out into traffic and was across the street when I started..

One car stopped, honked (nicely saying, go ahead, I will wait).. then a car came around the corner at 300 mph..

I was already committed to cross, saw the car, did the squirrel thing.. you can’t stop, so make a left and get back on the curb!!!

Allie said I even looked like a squirrel!!! which way to go!!!!!

But I Made it!!!

Of course the car wasn’t really going that fast.. stopped and then beeped.. come on Gringo.. cross the street… OK..thanks 🙂

So I’m trying to eat fish when I can… you know.. converting.. But geeze.. they don’t even have Fish and Chips here.. They have Chicken n Chips!! (I love this place!!!)

StarBucks doesn’t exist, neither does Mcdonalds or Burgerthing…big loss there eh!!! But they do have STARLUCK’s ha!!!..

So tomorrow (or today depending when you read this), we will decide to stay here another day or go up to Virgin Gorda and start some maintenance on Day Dream Believer..

Our little 30′ Nonsuch sailboat that we share with our friends Gary and Barb.. (You will likely see them on here in January!!)

Found a Job for Lisa… Surveying place… Almost ripped the licence plates off a car for George and Ted Cooper. but I hear the jails here feed you lobsters so I left it!

Here’s a few pics for your day….

Have a Great Day!

Timbo

British Virgin Islands

Nanny Cay – Tortola

December 3, 2013 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

Spent a wonderful weekend with our friends from Puerto Rico!
They have most of the pictures, but we were able to scam a couple off their camera!
Over to White Bay on Jost Van Dyke for a beach day. Power boating is pretty fun!.. Talk about getting places in a hurry!

Kids dug a 4′ deep hole and jumped in it.. They were extremely well behaved once it was filled in !!
Soggy Dollar bar is always a treat.. you have to swim to shore, so your dollar gets pretty soggie..
They need to change the name.. inflation you know… a dollar doesn’t buy you anything anymore!!! Its more like the Soggy $20

Picked up the water maker the other day… hummmm.. still doesn’t work… hummm… why is it anything I pay to have fixed doesn’t work until I actually fix it myself.. Well that’s today’s chore..
I’ll get it going one way or another!!! Forced learning I call it..

Jessi spent the weekend back home in Sarnia… was really fun hearing her stories of where she went and who she was hanging out with.. I’ll have her put a post together with some pics!!

Have a Great Day
Timbo!

US Virgin Islands

Cinnamon Bay

December 15, 2013 kozyboat.com 1 Comment

Up anchor at 8’ish….. sailing to Cruz Bay to check in to the all mighty USA.. Unfurling the main sail, something got jammed.. no in, no out.. hummmm

Well one thing I learned in boy scouts… a wooden spoon from the kitchen fixes a lot of things.. good for stir’in paint… spashin bugs, and now I’ve learned its awesome for fix in sails..

Great sail wandering between islands… picked up a free national forest ball and headed to town… Customs were really nice even with their big guns… they had an electrified bug swatter that Robin suggested she could use on Timbo if I got outta line… That made them laugh and we were in like Flynnn.. (who ever that is)…

Over to the National Park Visitor Centre.. this is really nice setup.. with fun people.. model of the island so you can plan your stay… as we planned a hike across the island…

Motored back upwind a couple miles to Cinnamon Bay.. beautiful Beach.. we must explore!!!…. SUP’s launched.. we landed the beach..
It’s a CAMPGROUND??? on St.. John… cool!
Park store and BAR (only in America eh)..
Park sign to note:
Please don’t leave trash where Donkeys can get into it…. OK

Hike this morning brought us to some sugar mill ruins.. 200 years old or so… very interesting,,,,History class for Allie…
Gym class for Timbo and Robin…. Views amazing as always around here… we really like St. John…. Allie says it’s her favourite…

Have a Great Day
Timbo

British Virgin Islands

Privateer Bay – Norman Island

January 6, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

Since we dropped off Chuck and Carol in Trellis bay, the winds really picked up, blowing in the mid 20’s.. Since that bay is fairly open, we hoisted the sails and went downwind…
Found an awesome little bay on Norman Island called Privateer Bay.. At one moment we are surfing “8” knots downwind in heavy seas… swing into the bay and Ahhhhh Smooth as glass… I was first to jump in.,,, we didn’t even have the mooring lines set… (Yes I love swimming, but I also like my hat and it blew off..)
Snorkelling into 3 caves in the area, we had some fun feeding 1000’s of fish.. I rode the SUP into a cave… as soon as I entered everything went dark and Im sure there are bats in there… AWESOME.. but I retreated after just 30 seconds.. No I wasn’t SCARD… just cautious 🙂 and didn’t want to scare the bats while they were sleeping!!! 🙂

As the sun set, the girls went for another ride on the boards.. Ribs, sweet potatoes, Zucchini were the main dish before settling down to watch a movie on the big screen (27″)… we pipe it into the stereo and it’s just like the theatre!!! Popcorn cooked with coconut oil… Checking out the stars before bedtime, there were millions.. we are in a bay with no lights… Found the big dipper, then the north star, pointing towards a small snow storm back in Ontario…

Have a Great Day!
Timbo

St. Maartin

St. Martin

January 19, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

What an awesome Island!!! We are LOVING St. Martin… Sant Maarten, Saint Maartin.. not sure how to spell it.. every sign we see if different!!
Anchored in a very cool spot.. I was sure we MUST be on a sand bar… Boat didn’t MOVE last night.. AMAZING!!
Cruisers NET on the VHF is on channel 10 at 7:30 each day… This is fun,.. they go through security, weather, then local events.. Its just cruisers (like us?) that chit chat each morning and setup daily events..
We asked last night… Hey wheres a cheap place for dinner? Set us up with a Fish and Chip place with $1.00 beers and apparently the BEST fish and Chips ever… Im not a good judge of this but the Tarter sauce was AMAZING!!! ha!!
Breakfest… Allie and Brendan launched the SUP’s.. went to beach and asked for a Bakery… Fresh Chocolate Cressents and a loaf Baguette all ordered in French with a cost under $5.00 to feed the entire crew. Still warm after the SUP ride back to Island Dancer!
Over to Phillipsburg today… local bus (van) is $1.50 to take you anywhere… what a great system!!
For those that like to SHOP… there is no where better. Electronics shopping is about to start this week for the boat.. Looking at AIS system to see other boats and show them where you are.. cool stuff.
One street vender tried to impress us with a head stand… Allie showed him up with loud cheers from the restaurant watching!
LOVING it HERE…

Have a Great Day!
Timbo

St. Maartin

Turbo Timbo Goes to the Beach

January 23, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

Another productive day, crew working the morning on the boat / Robin working on her business with a surprisingly good internet connection from our long range antenna.

As Im sure you all know, there is a beach here where the planes land very close…

Standing on the beach when the large ones land is certainly something not be forgotten anytime soon!

There were a few planes cancelled out of JFK yesterday… some kind of snow storm up there?

I guess that will make Thursday a very busy day… 747’s come in Thursday/Friday and Sunday… we will have to check that out!

It was Movie night on Island Dancer… tried something new.. moved the BIG SCREEN (all 27″ of her) outside to the cockpit. It was much like a Drive In… but we call it a SAIL IN !!!

Looking around the bay, with moon light shining off the water was just amazing while sitting back watching a movie..

The temperature was PERFECT.. not hot, not cold..

I think I can start this up a business with Dingy parking behind Island Dancer.. Allie could sell popcorn and make a few bucks eh!

Having a dinner party onboard tonight… menu: Cashew Chicken and Brownie Puddling with Vanilla ice cream… Theres still a few seats open if you would like to join!

Have a Great Day!!!

Timbo

St. Maartin

Timbo’s Birthday

February 4, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

Had an awesome Birthday this week! Waking up to Island Dancer decorated with red solo cups! Allie was up much of the night decorating!!
Timbo opened up a very cool present.. an official ISLAND DANCER Shirt!!! wow.. we ‘look’ professional now!!!

Tough man stickers were applied to the crew… Allie is head tattoo artist on board if anyone is interested…

Thought long and hard for a plan for the day when we came up with “No plan, just go”…
We started off in a small lagoon surrounded by a golf course.. our sources indicated a small dock would be available to tie up the dingy… Hummm.. need new sources!!!
We had an up-close look of the driving range.. Are we dressed in clown suites or something.. a few balls almost landed in the dingy!!!

Up on plane, we pulled into the next harbour and locked up the dingy for the day with our 400 lb chain and fort knox lock..
Today we were smart enough to bring an extra key, ‘WHEN’ the key is lost one day, we certainly will have an interesting story getting the floating car home!

Crew was grumbling of starvation, so two choices.. into an expensive restaurant, or… Grocery store..
Hot meatloaf, rice and beans was a hit… taking over a patio at a closed restaurant made a spectacular $4 meal !!! Good start to the day!

Walking out onto the road, to figure out a ride to town, a local bus pulled up… Great timing!! $1.50 each and we landed in Simpsons bay..
Meandering the beach, we found several interesting establishments to insure the thirst of the crew maintained in-check.

Back to the main road, looking for ride further up the coast of the island… 10 seconds into the wait a taxi pulls up… no thanks.. they charge $10 a head..
35 seconds into the wait a bus pulls up… $2.00 to get us up the coast, across the mountain, and into the next beach town.

Round of licence plates later, we found ourselves being directed by Allie to the local Gelato stand…
Swimming in the ocean was a hit…and a nice refreshment from the hot hot sun…

After a fun beach day, tackie shirts were bought to insure we are camouflaged in tourist attire..
Bus wait was 15 seconds… and pointed towards “Curry in a Hurry” for dinner

Fabulous dinner… and before long we were back on Island Dancer for movie night!!!

Another great day…. hope your’s was as well!

Timbo

Open Ocean

Overnight Sailing Passage to BVI

February 28, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

As my best Buddy “Bad Billy Butler” would say.. it was a Hollywood passage….
For some reason this passage is normally hairy to say the least.. we lucked out on some good weather…
Swell was not toooo bad, if you positioned the boat correctly.. We were wing/wing for a while but the boat was too Hobbie Horsie for Robinski…
Turning off course slightly Island Dancer settled in well… we left too early (11am), with the wind conditions we were going to show up at Round Rock passage in complete darkness.
So.. doing a zig… then a Zag.. we still showed up in COMPLETE darkness.. ha.. well it was 5:30 am.. when the heck does the sun come up around here!
A cruise ship decided it was time to run down Island Dancer, so we did an EXIT STAGE LEFT, and let them motor through.. the sun soon popped up and we arrived in the BVI’s !!!

The only surprise was around 2am.. I fishing boat? was coming straight at us.. we turned starboard.. he turned (his starboard).. were all good.. we will miss each other with plenty of room..
Off in the distance I see a VERY VERY FAINT red light.. hummm….. I hesitate turning back on course to have a better look… The fishing boat is a TUG… and a TUG PULLS a BARGE… MILES? behind him..
Could you just image running over the tow cable?? Now that would have been a story and a half… maybe half a TIMBO!!!
Nice they didn’t think to call on the VHF? just a thought??? ha!!!

Customs are still strangely super nice here in the BVI’s.. $10.00 to stay a month!

Nice 21 hour sail, without the sound of motors… Just the iPod Brendan left on board for 50,000 songs…. love it!!

Have a GREAT DAY!!!

TIMBO

British Virgin Islands

Brights Grove Retreats (well half of them!!!)

March 16, 2014 kozyboat.com Leave a comment

But not until a 3rd day trip on Island Dancer Time! Great Great times with a ton of friends this week!

SUP fighting is the new sport.. Herb and Owen had a draw after many rounds!…

Even throwing each other off the boat at the end.. a few guts hurt bad today… not theirs.. ours… watching the action of these 2- two year olds… ha toooooo fun!!!

Trip across to the BATHS… love this place … in typical Wyrzykowski fashion the main route was abandon for a less travelled one.. some spots were swam across.. others rock climbing.. I’ve never seen the baths this way, very very very cool!

Great time had by all (an understatement!).. and some tears shed when they left for the airport… I think Annie is hiding in the bilge!!! So glad your clan decided to come to the BVI’s this year!
A new crew is here now (Lefebvre’s!!)… I’ve reloaded the film in the camera… so stay tuned for more action!!!

Have a Great Day!!!
Timbo