The British Virgin Islands! What a lovely place! Sir
Francis Drake Channel in the middle surrounded by
Virgin Gorda, Tortolla, Peter Island, Norman Island,
Salt Island, Cooper Island and Jost Van Dyke. What a
great place to sail! The winds of the ocean but not
the waves. And everything is only 2-4 hours away by
sail. Maybe 10 miles long and 3 miles wide with St.
Johns of the US Virgins at the end. You could hardly
ask for a better place for a 1-2 week sailing holiday.
We arrived in Virgin Gorda after the night sail from
Anguilla. We had the wind directly behind us and the
waves coming from the side, so we rolled all night.
Not a pleasant night. We were very happy to see Virgin
Gorda at sunrise.
The Americans have found this place. All the way from
Trinidad, we have seen few Americans. Mostly British,
French, German and Canadian yachts have been the norm.
But now everyone is American - spending a week on a
chartered sailboat in the British Virgins. And there
are a lot of them! This is a lovely place but
occasionally paradise is full here. Imagine Sir
Francis Drake and his flotilla of 300 sailing vessels
coming down the channel hundreds of years ago. Well
Drake isn't here now, but there are still that many
sailing vessels. In many anchorages, we have seen 50
or more yachts.
Eating at the Fat Virgin in Gorda Sound, snorkeling at
Sea Dog Island, getting a beer at Foxy's on Jost Van
Dyke Island, watching(and listening to) the Carribeans
with their cigarette boats with twin 200 hp engines
leave Billy Bones on Norman Island at sunset to get
back to Tortilla before dark, finding beautiful
beaches at Deadman's Cove on Peter Island, snorkeling
on Salt Island, listening to some horrible music from
an Irish trio at Marina Bay.....there's a lot to do.
You're just never far away from a lovely beach, or
some good snorkeling, or a good restaurant here.
Barry, the skipper's friend, loves to find a beautiful
"deserted" beach with a restaurant for dinner. There
are quite a few here so we have had some good meals.
He's quite a helmsman most of the time too. But there
is this one time at Road Harbor on Tortolla where we
stopped for stores and some internetting. We were in
the marina and had decided to anchor outside. I was up
front untieing the anchor, Barry was at the helm, and
the skipper......well, he was in the cockpit too.
Barry desides to take a shortcut out of the marina and
we run aground. The boat stops but not too suddenly.
Barry rams it into reverse at full throttle and we're
out of the mud and I'm hanging onto the forestay to
stay on the boat. These Brits.....if it isn't mooring
knots coming loose, then it's running aground. They
seem to have a knack of putting sailboats in places
they aren't supposed to go.
Barry has returned to England now, so it's just me and
the skipper. I've now been promoted to second in
command and reduced to the lowest man on board in the
same instant. If something goes wrong now, everyone
knows who did it. And there are no more Brits to blame
it on now. I really hope I don't screw up!!
The boat has suddenly gotten a lot quieter. I'm
finally starting to read some of those books I brought
with me. I keep hinting for that young Caribbean lady
to help sail, but it's fallen on deaf ears. I've heard
that women use too much water on sailboats but I
better not say who I heard it from. But at least there
are no Brits on board anymore....... hallelujah!!!!
The game of hearts has now been officially replaced by
cribbage now. After beating me the first two games a
few days ago, I have made a fatal error and beat the
skipper two games last night. Well, looks like I'll be
flaking the anchor for a while now.
Today, we have left the British Virgins and gone to
St. John. We've been looking at it for days, but you
have to clear customs before you can go. We cleared
customs in Cruz Bay today and managed to avoid getting
run over by the ferrys coming from St. Thomas. We ate
lunch, bought some groceries and ice(we always need
ice) and got out. Tonight we're moored in Hawksnest
Bay(north side) with about 10 other boats. Five motor
boats came in before dusk from St. Thomas and are
anchored side by side. I think there's a party going
on over there.
Tomorrow and Easter Sunday, we go around St. Johns and
maybe hike a trail in Reef Bay on the south side.
We're going to skip St. Thomas and head straight for
St. Croix and then it's back to Trinidad. I'm starting
to miss home now, and I can't keep the islands
straight anymore, so I guess it's good this trip is
coming to an end soon. Debbie is already getting our
boat out of storage so I'll have plenty to do getting
the "Kalik Time" ready for the summer when I get back.
Anyone want to learn how to put a sailboat together??
The best newsletter editor ever,
Dave
