Mountains and Seashore: A Boat Yard Life - Nanny Cay, British Virgin Islands

So after a week-plus of time spent in Nanny Cay the verdict is in. We really loved it. A boat yard, is a boat yard which means hot, dusty and dirty. But interspersed with the work (Terry did the lion’s share of it) we enjoyed the pool and beach bar restaurant and meeting some new friends.

They have truly everything you need, boatyard, marina, marine store, grocery store and even a couple shops and an ice cream parlor. We were impressed with the friendly and helpful staff in the boatyard. They did all they could to accommodate our preferred launch times and were helpful in so many aspects of our boat repairs.

There was a Budget Marine right on site which, though small, had an adequate stock of marine equipment. There are two great little restaurants on property The Genaker located near the RiteWay grocery store and Peg Legs near the pool and beach. All within walking distance of our boat.

The Genaker

Peg Leg's

They do have typical boat yard bathrooms and showers (pretty rough to be honest, but doable) but if you walk down to the docks you can enjoy their new marina bathroom and shower facilities.

Not too bad, right?

A fully stocked RiteWay grocery store with prices that were actually a little lower than St. John was a nice surprise. Along with some yummy grocery items that you can only get in the BVI (try the steak and kidney pie!).

A pretty pool with comfy lounge chairs and an adjacent beach and beach bar restaurant pretty much made it perfect.

I didn’t come over till later in the week and I am so glad I waited.

Terry's feet as he works on the engine. Access to the back of the engine is through the quarter berth which is basically our storage.

The boat was a wreck! I should have taken some photos of how bad it was but I think I was afraid the catastrophic mess would be seared in my brain forever. Having such a small space cluttered and unable to do anything about it makes me border on insanity which is never too far away on a good day! When a boat is hauled out you are basically unable to use any of the amenities of your boat, except electricity. No showers (on board that is), bathroom, no washing dishes, brushing teeth, etc. Every time you need to use the restroom you have to climb down the ladder that is about 18 feet up in the air and trudge to the nearest bathroom.

And Down

Since I worked part of the week I missed out on the worst of this experience. Terry's day started at 6:00 am every morning and worked till midnight almost every night before I got there on Thursday. He did so much maintenance work on the boat. While the yard started on the bottom paint Terry started on some much needed repairs. First off was the monumental task of hauling the engine out (involving a come along, and pulley system to lift it up and then horizontally out. Still impressed with that feat!), installing new engine mounts, replacing hoses, hose clamps and transmission cable that was ready to break. He also found a lot of small items that could have become big items at some point. We had the boat yard do the bottom paint and Terry installed a new cutlass bearing at the same time.

Yes, that's Terry's feet sticking out of our quarter berth. That's the only way to access the back of the engine and the shaft from the inside.

Terry's final checklist

The one real fluff thing that we did do to the boat was add some underwater lights. The Ocean LED lights were a real splurge but something that Terry’s been wanting to install for a long time. It’s one of those things you can only do when the boat is hauled out. So it was now or in 3 years time most likely. So now was the time!

We also met several very cool sailing families. We met Allen and Cindy at the Tortola Kingdom Hall on Sunday. They are down in the Caribbean on their sailboat from Woodland Parks, Colorado for a couple of months.

We finally met Scott and Brittany Myers and their kiddos onboard Asante. I’ve been following Brittany’s blog (Windtraveler.net) for the last couple of years so it was pretty cool to meet her and her family. Her kiddos are the cutest!

We also met Francisca and Peter from Austria with their three sweet peas. They were aboard Philocat Ena. Francisca keeps a blog at Philocat.com. They were generosity itself and we enjoyed our evening chats by the pool and learning so much about their home and life in Austria.

So while Terry left the boat yard pretty exhausted, we felt good about all the unseen but important maintenance issues that have (hopefully) been addressed. Don’t be fooled though. There is always, and I mean always something to be repaired, replaced, painted, varnished, washed, rewired . . . the list goes on and on. But, at least the list is a little shorter this week.