November 27-December 15

(Reported in Dave Barry’s End-of-Year-Review Style, because I love his writing and will miss reading his 2012 wrap-up…)

 

 

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip,

That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship….

The Boyers and Conways aboard s/v Anything Goes and s/v Patronus set out to paint the BVIs red.  We wanted to see it all and drink it in, or drink it up, whichever came first… We were certainly content to enjoy all that the North Sound in Virgin Gorda has to offer, but it was time to haul our anchors and see what else there was.  We left on December 27th.  Actually, all we knew between the four of us is that we left on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.  I just had to do a whole lot of advanced mathematics to determine that it was the 27^th.  And I could easily be dead wrong on that.  Island Time details pretty much top off at “yesterday”, “tomorrow”, and “cocktail hour”.

Part I: November 27-30

Being the dutiful, responsible adults that we are, we stopped in:

Road Harbour, Tortola

to get fuel, water, groceries, boat parts, hardware, and more (rum).  It was hot in Road Town and we had to walk far to get to the stores, but we got it all done and ran into Bryson Hall in the, you guessed it, liquor store.

He treated us to a ride back to the marina in his car and we paid him with a home cooked dinner.  We got to update him on our trip since the last time we saw him was up in Rhode Island.  He was only down for a few days to put his boat back in the water and get her ready for the season.  We made plans to hook up the next day in:

 

 

 

Soper’s Hole, Tortola

which is where he keeps his boat for the season.  We pulled in and grabbed a mooring before heading into the colorful little village for supplies and a bathroom run.  Chris hopped on s/v Xanadu (Bryson’s boat) to help him get her all set up before he had to leave to get back to the states.  He would be back at Christmas time.  The kids played by themselves all afternoon at the little beach, exploring a tug boat that had been wrecked for years.  Wendy and I did some swimming and she gave me some great pointers on technique.  She even swam next to me so that I could attempt to stay in a straight line by peeking at her bright yellow swimcap every time I came up for a breath!

After dinner, Wendy, Craig, and Big Bryson came over for drinks and Bryson gave us the lowdown on the BVIs and the rest of the Windward and Leeward Islands (the eastern Caribbean island chain).  We pored over charts, I took notes, and somewhere during the evening, we were all sold on going to Tobago.  Both the Boyers and Chris and I had decided at the beginning of our journey that we would go no further south than Grenada in order to stay as safe as possible.  Venezuela has had a number of security breaches in the past few years and we didn’t want to go anywhere near it, but Bryson says that Trinidad and Tobago are wonderful and that Tobago is very safe.  So we scrapped our plans yet again and went back to the drawing board.

This was all entirely too much thinking and planning, so we left early the next morning (like, 11am), for:

Smuggler’s Cove, Tortola

on s/v Anything Goes.  We had all been dying to sail on a catamaran to see what it is like.  We had picture-perfect weather and sailed around the corner to the lovely Smuggler’s Cove.  We anchored just off the beach and went in with a dinghy full of beach chairs, picnic lunches, and snorkel gear.  The kids ran off to boogieboard and we found a lovely spot to sit and enjoy the view.

Craig and Chris swam off to snorkel on the reef at the east end of the cove while Wendy and I chatted and took pictures of the kids, who were having an amazing time.  Wendy went for a snorkel and I did yoga on the beach with the kids.  We eventually peeled ourselves off the beach and swam back to the boat to haul anchor and head back to Soper’s Hole for one more night.

The next morning, we filled our tanks with water and agreed that the swell (waves) was quiet enough to try for:

Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

which is on the exposed northern shore of the island.  I was glad we got to check it out, since we only visited it by land before, and only at night.  It was a cute and happening little place, by BVI standards.  We had an agenda and quickly finished our schoolwork so that we could walk into “town” for our Field Trip.

 

First up, we found the Green VI glass blowing studio, where we met the glass blower and learned about how the studio is using their art to promote glass recycling on the islands.  Don’t get me started, because I am still completely beside myself about this, but they don’t recycle down here!  You have no idea how hard it is to throw glass and metal in the garbage can.

We headed up the road, on a mission to find our next stop on the Field Trip, when we passed the Cane Garden Elementary School.  As we passed, we heard the children inside singing the national anthem.  We decided to stop in and say hello.  The students in the K-8 school were in music class and gave an impromptu concert for us, delighting us with “Oh Beautiful Virgin Islands”, their lively and passionate national song. 

We let them get back to class and finally found our Science Lesson of the Day: the Callwood Rum Distillery is a 400-year-old distillery that is still in operation.  We requested a tour and were granted a discount on the $2.00 per person charge (the rum maker probably assumed the six children wouldn’t be taking advantage of the rum tasting at the end of the tour).

We enjoyed the tour and were surprised to hear that the gentleman running it is the sole employee.  He does every aspect of the process himself and was quite happy about it, too.  We tasted white rum, aged rum, and the still mysterious “Lady’s Rum”, which boasted capabilities on its label that can not be shared here, as well as a risqué illustration.  Seeing a rum distillery is an important part of understanding the history of the Caribbean.  For many years, sugar, molasses, and rum were the primary exports of the islands.  The children learned quite a bit through our discussions and tours about what it may have been like to live and work on this island two hundred years ago.

After our hard day of learning experiences, we meandered back to town along the beach and the kids began playing in the water with some local children (the same ones who had just sang to us).  Chris and Wendy got some work done on the boats while Craig and I held down the lounge chairs on the beach, supervising the kids.

After they returned, we investigated the happy hour deals and settled on a beach bar with comfortable seats, good prices on Painkillers, and a view of the kids playing in the water.  All bases covered.  We decided that the first four days of our trip were a resounding success.  What’s next?  Or is there anything else? (of course there’s more.  for starters, there are 20 more pictures that couldn’t fit here, so they will be in a separate post.  after that, we will visit Jost Van Dyke-just about the coolest place on earth.)