Great Harbour to Cane Garden Bay

We wake Nikki and Brett just after 8.30 as requested as they want to go to the Fox Hole for shopping immediately it opens.  Guess what?  We arrive just after nine and it is still closed.  The extremely rude lady who works there informs us that the lady with the key has not arrived and she has no idea when she will come, so we go in search of Christine’s Bakery and banana bread, although, being a Sunday, I have my doubts that we will be successful.

Nearing the bakery, we can see that it is open but unfortunately they are just serving breakfast and have not baked this morning.  This is disappointing for our guests as I have sold them on fresh baked produce for breakfast.  Oh well.

We go back to the Fox Hole and the lady with the key has turned up.  I hang around for a short while but the place is full of hungry mosquitoes that have been shut in all night, so I flee, choosing to fry myself on the dinghy dock waiting for them to finish shopping rather than be eaten alive.

We motor just around the corner to White Bay which, early in the morning is almost empty, and looks as beautiful as ever.  However, it is a Sunday, and during the morning, hoards of people arrive in small motor boats, some from St Thomas, and the bay gets very crowded.  There are some heavy downpours too which empty the beach for a short while because everyone scurries for cover.

 Photo:  The Soggy Dollar Bar, White Bay

Photo:  Mike delivers our honeymoon couple to the beach

Photo:  Mike heads back to Jeannius 

After lunch, Nikki and Brett have had enough of the crowds and we motor over to Cane Garden Bay.  Once there, they get the kayak down and go exploring and searching for turtles.  Again, no luck.  I feel quite guilty as the one time I  look out of my cabin window, there is one right in front of me.

In the evening we go to the Elm.  Malcolm, Candace and Jim are there but as we have guests we take a table to ourselves.  Steve and George put in another great performance, playing an assortment from the Beatles, Elton John and even Elvis (mmm, not sure about that one) as well as their stock favourites.  Night Nurse is on the agenda so I am happy.  The lads are in full moon mood tonight and it’s obvious that they really enjoy what they do.

As we leave, the heavens open so it’s a wet-bum dinghy ride back to the boat.

Leverick Bay to Great Harbour, JVD

We are woken extremely early by some inconsiderate people on the dock talking and laughing very loudly.  Mike pokes his head out and says “gentlemen please, people are trying to sleep” and they actually apologise and stop.  I don’t go back to sleep but the noise does not disturb our young guests!

Before we leave Leverick Bay, I wander up to say goodbye to Nick and Monica and buy a couple of things I have run out of from the shop.

The sail down to Monkey Point is a great one.  The wind is almost directly behind us and we sail along at the same speed as the waves – it feels like we are lightly skating over them – no lolloping or smacking – just smooth and gliding.  Why can’t it always be like this?  Mike assures me that when we do the World Arc, this is what it will be like most of the time.  I might hold him to that.

All too soon we are at Monkey Point, and Nikki and Brett go snorkelling and see lots of fish, including some very large tarpon and I prepare lunch, after which we motor over to Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke. 

As usual, anchoring is a bit of a nightmare, although luckily, not for us.  Our anchor bites first time so we have the luxury of watching those less fortunate haul their anchors two or three times before they settle.  Nikki and Brett get another lesson in glaring.  Mike has perfected this to a fine art.  Whenever anyone on a charter boat comes anywhere near with intent to anchor, he stands, watching and glaring.  He is normally successful in his endeavours, and today is no exception, and we see two boats off.  He is happy with professionally crewed boats as they as keen to look after their boats as Mike is to look after ours.

Nikki wants to buy some t-shirt presents and they go to the Fox Hole but the lady has already gone home.  Apparently she will be there at 8.30 in the morning.  I don’t think so!

In the evening they go to Corsairs for a pizza which is absolutely huge.  They share one between them and bring some back for us as they can’t eat it all.  Mike rigs the large screen up and links it to our PC so that we can all sit and watch a movie.  Nikki can’t believe that we are watching movies that have been given out free by an English newspaper.

Trellis Bay to Leverick Bay

At last there is some good weather.  The sky is a bright blue with fluffy white clouds, although the winds are in the wrong direction which means that we have to motor all the way to The Dogs.

Nikki and Brett go snorkelling and see some great fish, then come back to the boat for their lunch.  I’ve prepared one of my favourites;  marinated tiger shrimp with fried plantain and mango mayonnaise.

They go snorkelling again after lunch and this time they spot a shark.  There is some disagreement over its size.  Nikki says it’s 5 feet long and Brett says it’s only 3.  Brett says it just looks bigger to Nikki as she is not that tall.  But they are pleased to have seen it, whatever its size.

Once we are tied up in a marina slip at Leverick Bay, they go off to explore and I trundle off to say hello to the lovely Nick and Monica.

In the evening Brett and Nikki go off for the Friday Night Party with the live music and the Mocko Jumbies and we stay aboard and watch The Apprentice.

Cooper Island to Trellis Bay

The weather picks up a little.  When we wake up there is more blue sky than cloud, so after breakfast we head out to The Baths at Virgin Gorda.  Our guests look forlornly for turtles but there are none to be seen.  I can’t believe that for the third day running they are hiding.

Mike pulls the main sail up so that it feeds through the lazy jacks then hands over to Brett for him to have a go.  We also manage to have the gennaker out today and have a good sail over although it is quite gusty at times (up to 27 knots at one point) and all the white horses suddenly appear.

The weather stays clear for Nikki and Brett to have a good time exploring The Baths and Devils Bay, but starts to cloud over again towards the end of the afternoon, during our sail over to Trellis Bay.

Turtles are just like buses – you wait for ages then loads of them come at the same time!  Well two in this case, but they hang around the boat for quite a while, although they never give Brett the photo opportunity he wants.

They get ready to go ashore, and the heavens open just as they are about to go in the dinghy.

Photo:  Tortola, the airport terminal building and the watch tower have all disappeared in the torrential rain

This happens a couple of times, but eventually, having watched the satellite weather thing on the computer, Mike thinks there is enough time to get them to shore, so off they all go.  No sooner is Mike back on board than he gets a call saying everything is closed and he goes back for them and takes them to the Last Resort for an early meal instead.

Photo:  Storm clouds and sunset at Trellis Bay

I start to prepare the marinade for tomorrow’s shrimp, and cannot believe it when the mini-chopper goes on the blink!  First the blender, now it’s little sister.  I get to and chop spring onions by hand but Mike is not be be outdone by a mere machine and takes it to pieces, having discovered that the cause of the problem is a broken off bit of plastic which acts to poke the motor into action.  He takes it apart, removes the safety mechanism and hey presto, it works (although as usual there are two screws left over after putting it back together).  Too late for tonight though as now, having finished the onions my eyes are streaming.  Still a result though.

When Nikki and Brett return, Brett plays us a recording of an American comedian, Rodney Carrington.  They are in fits of laughter but neither Mike nor I can understand a word of it as he is from some red neck area of the South.  So we pay them back and force them to watch an episode of Blackadder.

Peter Island to Cooper Island

Late during the night, early morning really, there is some torrential train.  When we wake up, the weather is still vile.  Grey, windy and wet.  If it weren’t for the heat, I would imagine I was in England, although the palm trees might be a giveaway!

At breakfast, I make a discovery.  The French patisserie's sour dough bread is not good for bacon sandwiches.  It is dry, even though it is straight out of the freezer.  However, toasted with lashings of butter, it redeems itself, although the sandwich now becomes the proverbial heart attack on a plate.

We decide to wait a while to see if the weather changes.  After a couple of hours, with the weather forecasting software predicting that we have seen the last of the heavy rain, we motor across to Cooper Island.

Photo:  Manchionneel Bay, Cooper Island

Mike trundles Jeannius around the whole mooring field, picking the one ball which meets with his exacting criteria.  I am clueless as to what this criteria actually is, but keep quiet as he dismisses one ball after another.  When he eventually settles on one, I hook it only to discover that it has a very dodgy ring, so off we go in search of another one.

Once moored up, our guests get the kayak out and they are off for a scout around while I prepare lunch.  After lunch Mike takes them to a the rocks to the far right of the island for them to do some snorkelling.  They will swim back, as they are young and energetic.  In the meantime, there is time for an afternoon nap for me.

I sleep a while and read a lot then realise that it is time for my afternoon cup of tea.  I holler to Mike who arrives saying yes of course I can have my tea, but after we have moved the boat – again.

There are loads of mooring balls but a Moorings power cat, full of clueless sailors has chosen the one right next to us, and moored themselves incorrectly to it so that it is now swinging perilously close to us.  We all (yes, including our well-trained guests) stand and glare at the 10 people on the boat, all of whom are now clambering into the dinghy but it makes no difference, they are oblivious to their incompetence.  So we move. 

Photo:  Cooper Island Beach Club

Photo:  One of the private cottages on Cooper Island 

Photo:  Moored up by pretty island flowers 

Later on, when our guests are ashore at the beach restaurant having dinner, I watch incredulously, as the same Moorings “sailors” light up their barbeque.  Flames leap into the air, probably from an overuse of lighter fluid, and we wait for their dinghy to catch fire as it is directly underneath - they have not bothered to pull it to one side.  This does not happen and I consider them to be very lucky.

Road Town to Peter Island

This morning the weather has not improved.  It is hot, wet and therefore very humid.  In the marina, the air is still and stifling again.  Mike tries to get money out of the ATM but they obviously have not filled the machines since the holiday weekend, so he has to come and buy the last of the provisions with me.

Back on the boat, he cleans the decks and I finish the inside.  As soon as he has cleaned all the bits of debris that have fallen from the trees, more falls and the decks look almost as bad as when he started.  Ah well, I know he tried.

Nikki and Brett, our honeymoon couple, arrive a little later than expected as the ferry is not going to Road Town today and they have to get a taxi from West End.  They were married on Saturday and have spent the night in St Thomas.  It’s Brett’s first time outside of the USA, and he starts his honeymoon with a raging ear infection.  Luckily he has managed to get everything he needs on St Thomas.

We get out of the marina as quickly as we can.  The water in the channel is quite choppy and it’s not long before we see rain clouds gathering behind Salt and Cooper Islands, coming our way.  It did this to me the last time we went to Deadman’s Bay.  Mike is convinced that by the time we need to drop anchor, it will have passed.  But of course, that’s not the case, and out comes my wet weather gear, again.

After a mimosa or two, Nikki and Brett go swimming, and I prepare the dinner.  Later on, I put together the ingredients for a daiquiri for Nikki, switch on the blender and the whole thing leaks, spewing sweet sticky alcohol all around the boat.  Lovely. 

The rest of the evening goes well.  And the anchor light still works!

June Bank Holiday in the BVIs

Yes, today it is a Bank Holiday.  Everywhere else had it last week (well I don’t actually know about everywhere else, but everywhere I know) but the BVIs is different.  Everywhere is closed except, strangely enough, the supermarkets, and probably some bars.

Mike and I are both awake just after 5am and as we want an early start, Mike gets up, makes the tea and we are away by 7am.  We look over towards Sophisticated Lady but there is no one around.  Motoring past Apple Bay, we look towards Chateau Relaxeau Caribe (Malcolm and Candace’s place) but there was no one waving from the balcony.  (Well, I say we, but actually I had gone back to bed to do some Sudoku leaving Mike at the helm.)

We arrive in the mosquito sauna, aka TMM’s base at Road Reef Marina where it’s lovely to see Penny, fresh from her RV road trip around the Grand Canyon and Utah.  She searches out some books for me and I give her one of mine.  We share an author in common.

Mike has been puzzling over the condition of our aluminium bow sprit.  It has been in one of the bow lockers, with a sail bag on top of it for the last few months.  During that time, the paint has blistered up from it and some strange, putty-like substance has appeared from between the aluminium and the paint itself.  He calls Mark, then Joseph (who I fail to recognise without his beard), then Jock to have a look.  There is much scratching of heads but no one has seen anything like it before.  Strangely enough, after this gunk has been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours it goes rock-hard.

We carry on round the corner to a slip in Inner Harbour.  It is absolutely stifling in the heat.  When we hook up to shore power the temperature shows an initial temperature of 89 degrees and it takes some hours for the a/c to bring it down to the more acceptable level of 78 degrees.  We do some shopping at Bobby’s and Ample Hamper then wait for the full provisioning delivery to arrive from Bobby’s.

For dinner, we treat ourselves to a take-away from Simply Delicious, the local Chinese – quite disgusting and, well, when you’re shattered, simply delicious.

Photo:  A cuddle with hubby

The above photo actually has nothing to do with today.  Rick took it last night but I have no pictures for today and want to use this somewhere, so ……