We leave Cane Garden Bay relatively early, although not quite as early as we had planned. The motor round to Sopers Hole is pleasant enough but immediately we turn the corner we are thumping straight into the wind and it is very uncomfortable - the shape of things to come when we head to St Martin! I look at my favourite house on Tortola, Steele Point, and wonder, nostalgically, whether I will ever sail round the tip of his island again.
Photo: Steele Point
We head to the fuel dock before going in to TMM and fill our tank. There are quite a few boats out on charter which means we can park Jeannius on the bulkhead. There are only a few members of staff at the base, this being the middle of the three day festival. We arrange with Penny to meet up with herself and Peter after she has finished work but cannot find a restaurant that is open tonight. Most of them close over the festival period either because as the festival venues offer their own culinary delights or because many of them are closed over the low season anyway. In the end Penny invites us up to her house which sounds like a lovely idea.
We go into Road Town to get the rest of Mike’s prescription filled out and to go to Bobby’s. Mike has run out of Guinness and is pretty sure that he cannot get it in St Martin so we need quite a supply even if he only drinks one a day. I manage to slip a bottle of Baileys into the basket too. I had promised myself that I would lay off the BBCs as they are so fattening – see how quickly I crumble!
Road Town is like a ghost town. Everybody is at the music festival which today is over at East End.
When we get back, we wander over the road from TMM to Crandalls. This is my favourite lunch stop. Their patties are just wonderful. As usual Mike has a salt fish pattie and a beef pattie. My choice is just one salt fish pattie accompanied by a glorious, hot, indigestion inducing (although not for me) Johnney cake. These greasy, flattened, deep-fried dough cakes just hit the spot – you can feel them making their way to the pit of your stomach where I am sure they sit for ages. Delicious!!
Mike changes the oil filters in the engines and the generator. He is getting quicker and quicker at doing this.
We shower and change early and just after 5, Penny comes knocking on the boat ready to take us up to her house. It is a crazy drive. She and Peter live high up on the hill and the road does the usual zig zags at precarious angles, with heart-stopping drops on one side. I don’t know how anyone drives on them but I suppose it’s what you get used to.
Photo: Penny and Peter’s lovely home in Tortola
Their house is lovely. As is quite usual, the huge open plan living area is on the top floor giving the best views over the Sir Francis Drake channel. There is a huge veranda around the whole house, so we sit with a glass of wine and chat. It’s so much cooler up here.
Photo: View towards St John, USVI from the veranda
Photo: View back along Tortola’s south coast from the veranda
I am amazed by the number of hummingbirds that fly around their various bird feeders. As the light goes, we eat lovely pizza outside, then move inside to stop us getting bothered by insects. It turns out that Penny and Peter will be in Panama around the time we go through the canal next January. Have we found our rope handlers?
Photo: Penny and Peter
All too soon, it’s time for Penny to drive us back to the boat. I wonder whether I will be able to keep my eyes open – the ride down the hill is certain to be more scary than the one up the hill – but the darkness hides a multitude of sins and we arrive, unscathed, back at the marina. We hug goodbye.
The security guard wanders up as we get to Jeannius. He talks to us but we cannot understand what he is saying, although we know he is speaking English. We catch a couple of words and think he is telling us about the lines, pulled far too taught on the boat in front. Mike tries to loosen them a little but can’t. We take time to re-adjust ours though and lower the fenders. It’s a quiet night.
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