Peter Island to Road Town and Back Again!

There are two heavy rain storms during the night and lots of wind, although I only one of them.  Mike gets up to check on the boat but all is well and he’s able to get back to sleep quite quickly.

When we wake in the morning, the rain has passed, but the clouds are still there, threatening to give us some showers.  Today is the day that we are supposed to get our cheque from the Treasury.  We decide to phone before we make our way back to Road Town as there is no point going if the cheque is not there.  We have also found out that it is festival week next week and none of the government offices or the banks will be open from Monday to Wednesday inclusive.

It takes ages to find the telephone number.  They obviously don’t want people to phone them, but tucked away in a link we find it along with a theme statement (comically this is “You can count on us” and a list of services (which says that they will issue cheques to the public within 5 working days of receipt – another joke!).  I write both things down ready to quote at them if I need to.

Just after 9 I phone the Treasury and ask for our lady’s extension and am told she is not available.  Here we go, I think to myself, but I am successful at getting her extension number and I phone a little later.  Guess what?  Against all odds, she’s there and confirms that our cheque is ready for collection.

Without waiting for it to get lost or eaten or something, we get the anchor up and sail over to Road Town once more, anchor outside the breakwater, and dinghy in as fast as we can.  We get to the Treasury and the same guy is there, confused that we have returned on a day when there is no cheque run.  Luckily our lady is there too.  When the guy fails to find the cheque the first time he looks, she tells him it is definitely there.  We watch as he thumbs through each cheque individually in the pile.  Ours is the last one!  We check it is for the right amount, made out to the right person and leave, thanking ‘our lady’ before we go.

We get to the bank, Banco Popular, and groan when we see the queue – it is nearly to the door.  This is because of the three day holiday next week.  We have left Allison, Rachel and Adam shopping, telling them to meet us in twenty minutes.  There is no way we will get through the queue in that time, so I risk leaving the bank and going to find them.  I find them in Kenny Tees, looking through the racks.  I warn them we could be an hour and not to hurry and go back to make sure that Mike is OK – he’s not good at queuing!  We both need to be there as both our names are on the cheque so there is no escape.  We queue for 45 minutes and just before we get to the front of the Allison, Rachel and Adam arrive.  Then it’s our turn and we get our money.

We get back to the boat and I make sandwiches for lunch, before heading out for Peter Island again, but this time to Little Harbour.  All of a sudden there is an almighty crack and the gennaker breaks loose from the top of the mast and goes crashing into the sea.  As this is the only sail we have out, the boat comes to a slow stop and we manage to drag it back over the side rails, amazingly undamaged!  We are lucky.  Of all the reasons it could have broken, this one is the cheapest – the gennaker halyard has broken.  The trouble now is that this huge amount of light sail will not stay put on the trampoline.  The wind keeps getting into it and it is in danger of going over the side again.  Adam is reluctant to sit on it as he is intent on watching the fishing line so I volunteer to sunbathe on it.

Photo:  Doing my duty – pinning down the gennaker 

It’s an occasionally wet, and continually hot ride over but at least it is uneventful.  We anchor in Little Harbour and everyone, including me, goes swimming or snorkelling.  There is a fair amount to see.  Small sharks, tarpon and large rays swim around the boat.  This is the first time I have seen a ray close to, and I am not even snorkelling.  The water is so flat that I can see down to the bottom without wearing a mask.  I just float comfortably with my noodle. 

  Photo:  A pelican waits for a fish with a seagull waits to scavenge

Pelicans dive bomb all around us for fish.  If they manage to catch anything, cheeky seagulls actually land on their heads trying to pinch the fish away from them.  The pelicans have learned to keep their beaks down in the water long enough to get their catch neatly into place before throwing back their heads and swallowing.  I have never seen a seagull being successful in their attempts at stealing, but it doesn’t stop them trying.  Sometimes two seagulls will land on a pelican at the same time.

Photo:  Being Simon means continually throwing yourself off the boat!

Being in the water cools everyone down until we start to cook dinner then it all heats up again.  Dinner is more of that lovely imitation crab with spaghetti.

Photo:  Dinner on Jeannius – sorry, John, I chopped you off!

Photo:  Sunset over Tortola and St John from Peter Island

Allison, John, Mike and myself reminisce over dinner about the good old days at Control Data where we all met.  None of us can believe that was thirty years ago.  It makes you wonder what everyone else is doing these days.  The kids get so bored they actually do the washing up again.

Then it’s time for bed!