The Bight 4-10

In the morning at Saba Rock, we head into the dock to fill up the water tanks. The wind is blowing hard, right around 20 knots, and providing a bit of a challenge. Its pushing us off the dock, and its a bit of a struggle to power our way up close. The guy on the dock has our stern line, but its clear he has no intention of pulling us in. He’s even reluctant to take up what little slack we do have in the line. Eventually we hit the right combination of thrust and lines, and snug up to the dock. We are completely out of water, and take the full 200 gallons, along with 2 bags of ice. Tim, Katie, and the girls run into the gift shop for some last minute souvenirs. Leaving the dock is easy, the wind pushes us right off. We round the corner of Prickly Pear, and decide to crank up the dinghy on the davits for the long downwind sail to Norman Island. We quickly crank it up, and raise the main to the first reef point.

We have a great sail, finally enjoying the downwind run. A rain shower blows over Virgin Gorda, but we avoid the downpour, getting just a few sprinkles on the boat. We put out both trolling lines, and soon have a fish on the ‘Rattle Jet’ (Ricky) bait we bought in St. Barths. The boat is moving about 8 knots, so we try to slow it down. The fish is pulling hard and flopping out of the water. Its a pretty big fish, and we can see flashes of blue on its side when it splashes out of the water. Unfortunately, the speed is too much, and with one big splash, he is gone. We are now convinced it was the Mahi Mahi that we have been trying for the whole trip. We put the lines back out, and continue on our trip. Its uneventful the rest of the way, making one jibe to get around Peter Island, then straight down into the Bight, arriving about 12:30. We skipped snorkeling at the Indians because of the wind, waves and cloud cover.

Noah takes the kayak into shore, and we follow in the dinghy. There is a sign warning of box jelly fish (confirming that’s what they are called), but there are no sign of them on the beach, and lots of people are swimming. Its Saturday, which means the Puerto Rican Navy is here. This is what we have been calling the large power/fishing boats that come over from Puerto Rico and always seem to raft up together on shore. This time we count 15 boats, the biggest rafting party any of us have seen. The kids start off on a hike around the island, while we secure a picnic table in the shade. There aren’t any sheer rock walls here, so I don’t think we will have the same concerns that we had a Tintamarre. Soon Ellen and Delaina are back, but Noah and Lauren have pressed on over the hill. By 4, they are not back so I decide to take the dinghy around the headland to look for them. I know its 4 because just as I leave the dock there is canon fire behind me. (Signaling the start of Happy Hour). I find Lauren and Noah on the rocky shore around the point.  They climbed down, but hadn’t figured out how to get back up. Lauren climbs in, but Noah is determined to climb over some more rocks. He tries for a while, but has to turn back and get on the dinghy.  Back on shore, I discover that not only is it happy hour, they have the Masters on behind the bar. The girls are building drip castles on the beach, and Noah is watching for a red macaw that hangs out in the tree behind the restaurant. Tracy runs Tim and Katie over to the Willie T, to check that out. They don’t have a lot of fun, as soon as they get there, a group of girls start doing pull ups from the roof. Normally this may be fun to see, but one of them tries to flip over and falls on here head. She is out cold, convulsing, and VISAR is called. Since we have the dingy they are stuck there. Its not exactly a fun party mood anymore. We pick them up, then head back to the boat for dinner. I find a Master’s App for the iphone, and with the service from St. Thomas I can get the radio broadcast. I put it on our speakers, and force everyone else to listen along. Freddie has a good day, and has put himself back in the mix for Sunday. We have a great marinated flank steak – yum. Willie T’s no longer sounds like a good time tonight, so we stay on board. (surprise). Tim and Katie start packing up. Its hard to believe, but their week with us is over. Tomorrow morning we head over to St. Thomas to drop them off.

Saba Rock 4-9

The kids are hanging out watching movies this morning. Tim and Katie go over to check out Bitter End. The East shore of Prickly Pear Island is just a couple hundred feet away from our mooring, so when the See’s are back Tracy and I take the kids over to explore. There’s not a lot here, just empty beach with lots of mangroves growing along the shore. We walk down to the southern shore, finding lots of conch shells and driftwood.

The kids are ready to go back to the boat, so we drop them off and then Tracy and I head around the point to the small beach bar called the Sandbox. Its a nice beach with lots of chairs and a sand volleyball court. There is a small cruise ship in the bay, and they are all set up to cater to the cruisers, with a large buffet set up.  Other than that, the bar itself is empty and not all that appealing. So we head back to the boat for lunch.

After lunch the kids and I take a high speed dinghy ride out into Eustatia Sound to see what is around the corner. We have seen a lot of boats go by in this direction, and we’re curious what is there. There are two more islands out here – Necker's, owned by Richard Branson, and Eustatia Island. Necker's is too far away, and there are only a couple of housed on Eustatia, So we aren’t sure where all the boats were going. On the north shore of Prickly Pear we find a totally deserted beach, and decide it would be a great place to spend the afternoon. We head back to get the rest of the adults. We come back in a few minutes, but its no longer deserted, there are now 3 dinghies on the beach and kid setting up a kite surfer. Beaching the dinghy is easy and soon we are relaxing in the sand. The girls swim and Noah finds some rocks to climb.

The ride back to the boat is right into the wind. With 8 people, the dinghy doesn’t get up on plane so we just slowly push through the waves. Each wave is crashing over and sending spray all over us. We are all drenched by the time we make it back to the boat. Its already after 5, so we have a quick rinse and head back in to another round at happy hour. This time we remember the camera and get some good shots of them feeding the eels and tarpon. There is even a small nurse shark that comes by to clean up the scraps.

For dinner we head over to the Bitter End.  We go for the casual place down by the marina instead of their formal dining room. This works well, they have pizza and a pool table inside for the kids to play while we take our time with dinner. They even have a large projection TV showing the pistons, and then the Masters. After dinner we look around for the CIC burgee, but we have no luck.

The Baths 4-8

After a fun night at Marina Cay, we get up early and head out at a little after 6 to go over to the Baths on Virgin Gorda. The wind is still blowing strong, and it ends up being a bit rough for the hour long trip into the wind. Kids still manage to sleep through most of it. We get to the Baths around 7:30 and grab a ball right in the middle, between the first beach and Devil’s Bay. We watch as the catamaran that came across with us runs over the ball and snags the pennant in the prop. We notice that both the father and roughly 8 year boy are in the water with snorkel gear to clear the line. When its free, the cat takes off in the wind, and it doesn’t look like the mother is going to be able to bring it back. We contemplate jumping in our dinghy to help, but figure we should give her one chance to turn around. Eventually she does, getting close enough that the father can climb on, then he brings it forward to attach to the pennant. All the time, the boy is floating right on the ball, but doesn’t appear scared.

With that drama behind us, we finish a quick breakfast and head in to shore. We can’t beach the dinghy, so I drop everyone off and then take it back to the dinghy tie up, about 30 yards off shore. While swimming in, Tim and Tracy are guiding me towards a cut in the rocks. With head down I can’t hear them, but they are warning of jellyfish that are along the shore. As I reach shore, suddenly I’m surrounded by the horrible beasts. They move in from all directions, lashing out with their stinging tentacles. I fight them off as best I can, but ultimately succumb to the attach.  (Actually, I didn’t see any, but just as I was getting out of the water, I did feel a quick sting on my arm)

The jellyfish are laying on the beach, washed up in the waves. While watching the water, we can see some more floating around. (All pictures are on the waterproof cameras, so no images yet.) There are a lot of them, and we won’t be able to swim. We start down the trail towards Devil’s Bay, going through the first tunnel and to one of the small pools of water. The jellyfish are there as well, so we won’t be able to go into any of the deeper pools and grottos. Too bad, because this is really the highlight of the trail. We make the best of it, carefully wading through the shallow sections, watching closely to avoid the jellies. I was lucky, with only a small sting on my arm, but we pass a couple of people that got hit hard, with multiple stings and large red swollen areas that burned. Nasty. We are hopeful that at Devil’s Bay it will be clear, but no luck. They are on the beach there as well. So no jumping off the rocks this time. Tim hikes back to the other beach, and waits for someone to give him a lift back out to the dinghy, so we don’t have to swim out. He gets lucky, and quickly gets a ride. He comes over and picks ups Katie and the girls. Tracy, Noah and I hike back to the first beach, so Noah can do some more climbing. While Tim was back at Seabbatical, the VISAR came out to the boat next to us. The teenage boy on board had been stung and was having a reaction. They took him on their boat and sped off to the North.

Tim came back in to get us, at 11:00, and we went back to the boat to prepare lunch. We pulled out of the baths before noon, noticing that the boy on the other boat was back on board, so he must be fine. The wind is blowing from the Northeast, turning what I was hoping to be a beam reach into a beat into the wind. This kids start off on the nets, but we take a couple of waves that drenches them, and they come back inside. Wind is now sustained at 25 knots, and we have about half the headsail out, motor-sailing at over 8 knots – hitting 9 for a brief time, before rounding the top of Gorda and having to turn more into the wind. We make one tack, and sail in through the channel in the reef. The water is calm here in North Sound. We head right in to Saba Rock, and grab a ball with a great view of Eustatia Sound. The reef protects us from the waves, but we have a nice, cool breeze blowing. We watch behind the boat for signs of jellyfish and jump in to check it with a mask, its all clear but the kids decide not to swim.

Remembering that Saba has a good happy hour, we go into shore a little after 4:00. The Painkillers are even better than last time. While we there, they came out to feed the fish in the aquarium. Two big moray eels were cruising around the tank up at the top and taking the fish scraps right out of his hand. Very cool. Then he took the rest over to the dock to feed the tarpon. There are about a dozen huge tarpon that stay there under the dock. Now we know why they are here. As he throws the food, they see it in the air and race over to where it lands, grabbing it just as it hits the water.  We end up staying for dinner there at the pub, and then head out to the boat to watch the stars from the netting.

Forgot the camera today – no pictures other than the underwater ones.

Marina Cay 4-7

We leave Cane Garden in the morning and start the slog to the east, into the wind and waves. Its not any worse then expected, but it does seem like we are doing a lot of this into the wind stuff.  The wind is strong, blowing steady at 20 knots, but we hug the shore going up so its not too bad. The plan is to stop at Monkey Point for snorkeling. The trip takes a little over an hour, putting us at the point right about noon, just as the ball closest to the reef opens up. We have a great snorkel trip – water is clear, and I still think this is the one of the best places in the BVI. The coral is shallow so you can swim over it, and then dive down into the deeper areas in between. Tons of fish of all kinds and the coral is amazing. We finish snorkeling and then have lunch before dropping off the ball and motor sailing over towards Marina Cay. The moorings are full and we anchor in 30 feet of water. We are secure, but the forecast is calling for some very strong winds, and we may be a little exposed where we are now. We pull up the anchor and move to a better spot. Just as we are dropping anchor, we see a ball right up off the Marina Cay dock open up. Once again Tim springs into action and zips forward in the dinghy to secure the ball while we raise the anchor and motor over. Its worth the effort with the dinghy because once again there is another boat on the move that would likely have beat us to the ball if Tim wasn’t on it. We would have been fine on anchor, but its just so much easier to go ashore and relax if you don’t have to worry about the boat at anchor. We go on shore to explore and swim at the beach on the far side of the cay. The kids are having fun running around the island and exploring. Soon we see people in pirate garb heading up the hill. There is an old house up on top where an author named Robb White lived many years ago. Its almost time for Happy Aaarrr. This turns out to be a fun one man pirate show with a guy named Michael Beans. He’s actually family friendly and involves the kids in his pirate bits and songs. There are shaker bottles on the tables that he calls for throughout the show. Its corny, but fun and we all enjoy it. Noah wins a gold coin for knowing the answer to a pirate joke. (How much did Blackbeard pay for his earrings? – a buccaneer)

On the way out to the dinghy, we pass a webcam that takes shots every 15 seconds and stores them on the web. These are taken at 6:47pm 4-7-10:

http://www.pussers.com/redbox/about

Foxy’s and Cane Garden Bay 4-6

In the morning Noah continues his ‘Dinghy Captain’ Training, and then we all head into Great Harbor to explore. We walk down towards Foxy’s, just as he is walking out on the deck with his guitar. We chat with him for quite a while, as he sings a few songs and tells us about his family. Last summer he went to England and met the Queen. There was a ceremony and he was honored as a ‘Member of the British Empire’. He told the story of how as a young man he said he would climb to the top of the mountain on JVD and light a match that could be seen around the world. After that he built Foxy’s, and is now very proud that he has realized his dream. People everywhere in the world now know of Foxy’s and you can find people with his T-shirts or hats in virtually any port. It was very cool to hear his stories, and I now better appreciate what people see in this place.

We pull out of Great Harbor around 10:30 and sail over to Little Jost Van Dyke. There is supposed to be great snorkeling around Diamond Cay. We pull in and tie up to a ball right off the reef. We jump in a snorkel over to the Cay. Noah spots a large sting ray and also a sea snake – creepy – in the sea grass. Its very shallow and not great snorkeling but the kids enjoy it. We debate having lunch here at Foxy’s Taboo and then looking for the ‘bubbly pool’, but elect to head over to Cane Garden Bay to have lunch there. Its only about 40 minutes sail over, but the wind is really kicking up and the waves are rolling. There is some concern over how calm CGB will be, as its not considered a good spot when the north swells are coming in. Once in the harbor, we have no concerns. Nice and calm, with plenty of mooring balls available.  We grab one in the north corner, and head in for lunch. There are lots of Happy Hour signs, this is my kind of place. We have a good lunch at Stanley’s, then sit in front of Myett’s bar and listen to their singer while the kids swim. There are big waves coming in, and they are having a blast.

 

We eventually move up the beach to the Big Banana, where the bar maid talks Tim and me into Mango drink. Mango always sounds better than it actually is, and this is no exception.  I finally recognize the place next door – Rhymer’s – which was where we spent an afternoon on our first cruise here 17 years ago. Soon the kids show up for their daily fix of  ice cream.  Tim and I are elected to hike up to Bobby’s market -a ‘3 minute walk’ we are told. For once, the time is right and Bobby’s is right around the corner. As we get back to the beach the rain clouds are blowing in, and the girls were heading for the dinghy about to abandon us. Its a good thing it really was a 3 minute walk. Once on the boat, the clouds blow over and we settle in for dinner. This time we don’t even pretend to be interested in going back in to shore.