The First Few Weeks On DHARMA BUM III

I arrived in Tortola on a Sunday and bought DHARMA BUM III the next day. The next morning the former owner departed and I was alone with my new boat and home. We had gone sailing for a few hours the day before, but that was going to be all the sailing I was going to do this time around.

 

Instead I hitchhiked into Road Town almost daily. I like hitchhiking, but here an added reason were the outrageous prices for the taxis. More often than not the very first car stopped right away and I got into an interesting conversation with the driver.

 

After a few trips into town it became increasingly clear that it wasn't only the taxis that were out of line pricewise. I got a quote to replace my standing rigging - $13,520! And so it went pretty much with all the work I wanted done on the boat. Also, I finally really understood the meaning of "bareboat". There's nothing on it. Not even a bucket or a sailbag. Everything was reduced to the absolute minimum, which gave me some pause initially.

 

The next discovery was that apparently quite a few charter guests do absolutely everything wrong that one can do wrong. Lack of experience and sheer carelessness cause a myriad of small problems. And some not so small ones.

 

One fine day the big motor cruiser "Virgin Dancer" from "Virgin Traders" rammed my boat. He then proceeded to hit two more boats in the immediate vicinity. My stern crashed into the dock and fiberglass emanating a nasty smell flew in all directions. I was not pleased, especially as it reminded me of a similar accident at the San Diego Yacht Club in 1994. This time I didn't even get an apology. Nothing at all, in fact.

 

For the last two weeks my wife Liping and our daughter Aurora Ulani joined us on the boat. As Aurora is just one and a half years old, I watched her with some trepidation. I needn't have worried. After just a couple of days she navigated the steep steps down into the main hulls without having fallen down once. When she found all the wonderful switches for pumps, the inverter, lights and so on, I reassessed the situation. Maybe better to hoist her up to the masttop or something....

 

Since I started with serious sailing in 1987, this was only the second time I had been in a marina. I soon made friends with people on boats next to mine, with the operators and their employees and pretty much all the cool people in the vicinity. Instead of a sundowner on the boat, I headed for the marina office, where everybody met for beers and a chat. Very pleasant indeed.

 

Right next to the boat there were tarpon and mahi mahi swimming around, sometimes a pair of dolphins came by and our "favorite" pastime became the chasing away of pelicans. When sailing I had seen a big turtle, too.

 

Most of the people I met, were either directly or indirectly in the charter business or having their boats in the BVI more or less permanently. Not many real yachties seem to make it up there. Jean-Pierre Cauvy-Zaehringer had been all over French Polynesia, Brian had sailed his tiny Wharram catamaran all the way from South Africa and John had spent years and years cruising in the South Pacific.

 

All to soon my four weeks were up and to my dismay I realized that I hadn't gotten done anything. Most of that will have to wait until the next trip when we plan on sailing DHARMA BUM III down to Trinidad, where things like that are supposed to be cheaper. Before I go there, I will have to have my transmission fixed and my alternator replaced though. Ah, well... Boat-life, here we go again.