Part 3 of our BVI Tour

Peter Island, Marina Cay, Saba Rock

December 6-8

After a fabulous time at Norman Island, it was time to head for:

It’s a drive-thru that comes to you.

Great Harbor, Peter Island

to anchor for the night.  We found a spot in deep water on the left bank in cloudy weather that threatened to rain.  We spotted the Deliverance boat (great name!) and gave them our garbage.  We picked up some bread and ice as well.  It reminded me of the Raw Bar boat in Cuttyhunk, MA.   The next morning, we were excited to head off for:

Salt Island

which is the site of the RMS Rhone wreck, a ship that sank long ago and is well known by divers and even snorkelers.  We were looking forward to it, but were pretty disappointed.  I was expecting to see an entire ship down there.  I thought we would be diving down and peeking in the windows to look at barrels of rum and the ship’s wheel and other cool stuff.  Nope.  The wreck was truly that: a wreck.  It was just a jumble of wood, in no discernible shape.  You could sort of tell that it may have been a ship, but you had to use a lot of imagination.  The coolest thing left was the crow’s nest, which jutted straight up out of the rubble.  And we didn’t even see any neat fish.  Oh well.  We got back on board and tried to get in touch with Anything Goes so that we could meet back up with them.  We looked at anchoring in Cooper Island, but decided instead to head for:

Marina Cay

which is back on the north shore of Tortola.  We had to beat upwind to get there (sail into the wind, which is the least comfortable and slowest point of sail).  Once there, we found Bryson Hall’s secret anchorage spot so that we could save $30 on the mooring fees there.  I did some laundry, which was a nightmare because the washers and dryers were outside.  Yes, that’s right.  They were outside.  And there were about 7 million little mosquitoes attacking me as I loaded the clothes into the washer.  I had to coax them out of the washer just to close the lid (good Buddhists don’t kill bugs by washing them in washing machines).  Then I realized that the little slots where you put the quarters were ripped out.  Just gone.  So I had to track someone down to help me jumpstart the washer.  It would have been kind of funny and adventurous if I wasn’t slapping and swatting at my legs, arms, and neck during the whole rigmarole.

The harbor was really rough, so the dinghy ride back was a bit scary.  Between the waves and the bugs, I enlisted Chris to go back ashore to switch the laundry over, which was another ordeal, but enough about our dirty laundry…

I made a cake so that we could celebrate Porter and Reese’s “Half Birthdays”, which we do every year.  I made each of them ½ of a round layer cake, put 6 candles for Porter on his and then I cut one candle in half for his half-year mark.  Reese got 9 ½ candles on her cake.  We all gathered around the table and sang the first syllable of each word in the “Happy Birthday” song.  It always has us laughing and it is a seriously legitimate excuse for having cake.  Plus, I look like supermom for about twelve minutes.  I’ll take it.  Of course, Wendy now wants to strangle me!

Craig “attacks” Porter with “The Claw”

Despite the cuteness of Marina Cay and the surrounding harbor, the anchorage was way too rolly for Patronus and Anything Goes, so we hightailed it out of there the next morning.  Anything Goes went to explore Trellis Bay.  Patronus, brushing their teeth with the dregs of the last tank of water, went to explore the water hose at:

Following Anything Goes

Saba Rock, Virgin Gorda

where we got a mooring for the night, if only because it includes 250 gallons of (FREE!) water and a bag of ice.  Oh, and while we are here, we might as well enjoy a fun and lively cocktail hour with the Salty Dawgs who are still hanging out in North Sound.

It was great to meet up with everyone again, but the next morning was all business.  We were coming up on the end of our allotted time in the BVIs.  Customs and Immigration allows each person and each boat to stay for 30 days.  Before we checked out of the country, we wanted to visit Anegada, a coral atoll lying 12 miles to the north of Virgin Gorda.  So we paid a visit to Gun Creek, a working community and home to one of the customs offices.

Reese and Porter wrote a report (as a surprise) about ocean evaporation, complete with props and a little skit.

We also went to Bucks, a grocery store that had been praised by several cruisers and locals.  Bucks did not have everything we needed, like milk (?), but it was well-priced compared to other stores we have visited.  I wish I had a picture, because I’m sure by my practically glowing description you are not imagining what it really is.  Think about a 7-11 convenience store.  In the Bronx.  After the apocalypse.  That would be a lot nicer than most of the stores here.  You could easily get hurt walking, no, climbing, through some of these shops.  I would even choose to shop at Fairway (in NJ), which drives me completely insane with their lack of organization (if you know me, and you’ve ever been to Fairway, you know what I’m talking about.  And before you send me nasty comments about how great Fairway is, I do love the food there, especially the French bread!  I just have to send Chris, who isn’t as offended by the lack of an appropriate planogram.  If I need yogurt, I need a YOGURT SECTION.  I don’t have time to visit 5 “Yogurt Mini-Sections”.  And no. I am not finished.  But I guess I will get off my high horse long enough to finish this post.  Check back in the future for more complaints about store layouts.).  I shouldn’t complain about Bucks, because we are very, very, very likely to be wishing for a store as great at Bucks in about a month, when we are down island and way off the beaten path.  As we are continuing to learn, it’s all relative…

The boys sleeping with their “wall” to give them their own little area.

We found out at Customs that we could check out of the country on our last day (December 14^th) and check back in a few days later to get an additional 30 days for both our persons and our boat.  Perfect!  The alternative was not good.  We would have had to “import” our boat, which comes with a fee of over $200.  (At this writing, we are still not sure if this will actually work.  We did check out on December 14^th but will not attempt to check back in until April.)

By the way, we sailed to Gun Creek, shopped at Bucks, and visited Customs all by 1000, so we had plenty of time for the potentially rough, possibly exciting ride to:

Anegada  (stay tuned.  It’s a really good story!)