We hope everyone has a wonderful time celebrating the end of 2012 and the beginning of a whole, brandy new trip around the sun! Imagine hugs and kisses from all of us at midnight tomorrow. We’ll be sailing on the Caribbean Sea, thinking of all of you, en route from St. Croix to Guadeloupe.
Love, The Conways
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:
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 14th) 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 14th 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!)
our dinghies and kids have the beach to themselves
Part 2 in a 376-part series of our 18 day trip around the British Virgin Islands:
December 1-3
Days 4-6
Finally, our wandering souls found their way back to one of our favorite places on earth. We pulled into:
White Bay, Jost Van Dyke
and it was just as lovely and beautiful as I remembered it. A long crescent beach, broken up by reefs in the water and a small cropping of trees in the center, White Bay is best known for its beach bar, The Soggy Dollar. Named for the wet money that sailors use to pay for their drinks after swimming to shore, it is a quintessential beach shack with sand floors, weathered painted signs, and lots of outdoor tables, benches, and hammocks. The rafters were decorated with police patches, so we had fun looking for NJ towns we knew!
let’s see how long it takes you to get sick of seeing us sitting on our bums with drinks in our hands… (and yes, we are double fisting)
we’ve got our soggy dollars ready to go!
This is the birthplace of the Painkiller, the unofficial drink of the BVIs. The Painkiller is a cold, sweet, and spicy concoction of Pusser’s Rum, pineapple juice, cream of coconut, and orange juice, with a dash of freshly grated nutmeg. We are quickly becoming adept at making it aboard s/v Patronus, but the Soggy Dollar version is amazing.
(Side Note: Yesterday, Christmas Eve, the kids found a coconut on the beach and a man used a machete to cut it open for them so they could drink the juice. Reese looked at him and said, “You can drink it plain? I thought it was just used in Painkillers.” Uh-oh.)
Cheers! Skal! (Norwegian for “cheers”. pronounced “skoal”. there should be one of those cute little circles over the “a”.)
we get up only to get a refill and play the Soggy Dollar game: swing the ring onto a hook screwed to a tree. ADDICTIVE.
We got our drinks, counted the number of kid heads bobbing up and down in the surf (six? good.), and plopped ourselves down on some beach chairs. We didn’t move until we needed a refill, and after that only to hit the head and the gift shop. We sat and talked and soaked up the sun all afternoon. When we pulled our dinghies up on the beach, there were a dozen boats and even more twenty-somethings, drinking in the water, laughing loudly, and acting like, well, twenty-somethings. We outlasted them as they piled back in their boats and set off screaming for Willy T’s (more on that later). Before long, we had the beach to ourselves and allowed the sun to move from blinding, to brilliant, to golden, to soft yellow.
Chris and Craig try the ring game.
Happy Birthday Sweet Olivia!
We finally looked at one another and agreed it was time to get Olivia back to the boat for her 7th birthday dinner. We all enjoyed watching the pure and innocent delight of a child on her birthday, especially when she got her dream gift: a pair of handcuffs to complete her police costume!
She loves Porter’s gift: he made her a design-your-own-pizza project in a homemade pizza box.
We all stayed up way too late, and we were off and sailing the next morning for:
Patronus at anchor at Diamond Cay
Diamond Cay, Jost Van Dyke
where we knew our friends would be blown away. A short hike across the coral beach and up the hill led us to the Bubbles, or Bubbling Pools. The sheer power and strength of the ocean waves on the other side of the mountain had, over thousands of years, cut a narrow passage in the side of the island. This narrow cut allows waves to crash into a small lagoon up high on the hill. I have never seen anything like it and am not sure I am even describing it accurately from a scientific point of view. The speed at which the water is squeezed through the rocks creates tiny bubbles, so that you feel like you are swimming in champagne. Sounds just awful, right? The fun part is to try to stand your ground as the waves come crashing in.
The ocean-side of the Bubbles
standing in the Bubbles lagoon looking towards the ocean
Reese is happy we don’t have to shave part of her hair off.
It’s a bit dangerous with all the rocks, so we had to keep an eye on the little ones. Unfortunately, Porter was playing with some smaller rocks and hit Reese in the back of the head. She had a decent sized cut that was bleeding badly, so we headed back to clean her up and assess the damage. It seemed pretty bad. But oh, look! We have a doctor with us! How convenient! Craig checked it out and decided she would be fine without stitches, so we wrapped up her head and sent her off to relax. We set out the next morning for:
Porter reading to me up on deck.
Soper’s Hole, Tortola (again)
because we were able to set up an appointment with a canvas-maker to measure and design some side panels for our dodger/bimini top. The side panels would help reroute the rainwater that slides off the bimini so that our cockpit stays dry while it’s pouring. Anything Goes sailed on to Nanny Cay for some boatwork of their own. While that was going on, I took the kids for a dinghy ride to the old Fort ruins, which are now just “decorations” at a resort. It was a little disappointing, but the kids still liked seeing the large stone pillar and imagining how the soldiers kept a lookout for pirate ships.
The kids catch up on their chores.
On the way back, we spied Anything Goes in the distance. They were back to meet us in Soper’s Hole. We stopped at an awesome resort, which had its own beach and really cool lounge chairs, which we all tried out. We had a quiet night so that we could be off for:
doesn’t it just LOOK like a scene from a book about pirates???
Norman Island via the Indians
in the morning. Yay! Norman Island is the setting for Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. I really love this magical, time-stands-still place and couldn’t wait to go back. On the way, we stopped at the Indians, an outcropping of rocks, which boast good snorkeling. We swam around, seeing barracuda, a nurse shark, and some other cool fish.
The Indians
Anchored in The Bight (a harbor) on Norman’s Island, we got some schoolwork done and took a beautiful hike to the top of the mountain, which had one spectacular view after another.
the dive captain has us cracking up all day
The next two days, Bryson and I completed the open water dives for our SCUBA certification. We went on two trips with Blue Water Divers BVI and had a great instructor. She gave us a refresher course and was incredibly patient with me. She literally HELD my hand when we saw tarpon for the first time because I started hyperventilating at their sheer size and mean mugs. I probably used half of the air in my tank in those thirty seconds. She also went nice and slow with me when it came time to take off our masks at 40 feet below the surface and replace them, clearing the water out of them, while still managing to breathe (I’ve got a thing about getting water in my nose.)
Bryson proves that he can set up his own gear.
She also helped me to figure out how much weight to carry in my weight belt because I kept floating to the surface on our first dive.
Craig and Wendy came over to play cards in the evenings and we swore we would get up the nerve to head over Willy T’s, but we never did do it. Willy T’s is an old decrepit ship, moored in the harbor, that has been turned into a bar- a raunchy bar, that frowns upon shirts, for all guests. The music blasted most of the night, so we saved battery power on our boat and got to listen to their music instead.
Talking smack about going to Willy T’s. Next time!
Well, I have SOOOO many more pictures to share with you, so I really hope you can take a minute to check out the next post! Jost Van Dyke and Norman Island are really spectacular places and the pictures tell a thousand words…
We are official SCUBA divers!
The kids and I at the top of our hike on “Treasure Island”
The Bight, Norman Island