When we left off (see past posts on 12/20/11 for the first two parts of our weeklong sail around the British Virgin Islands), we were sailing away from my picture post card view of Guana Island, which is just north of Tortola.  Xanadu was making its way around the island chain in a clockwise direction.  We headed for Virgin Gorda and enjoyed a great day of motorsailing on the way there.  The weather was perfect, the water was sparkling, and the world was magical.

Once in Virgin Gorda, we enjoyed Painkillers on deck before heading to shore in the dinghy for the one-man Pirate show at Leverick Bay.  We found seats on the outdoor patio as the show was beginning.  The kids loved watching this guitar-harmonica-bass drum-playing-dressed-up-pirate-singer perform his sea-shanties and classic Buffet fare.  The show was interactive, calling for audience participation, joke-telling, and lots of clanging on the noisemakers provided at each table.  Bryson competed in the Conch Shell Blowing competition and Reese won a round of Pirate Trivia.  It was a fun night for the kids and we loved watching them enjoy themselves.

The next day found us at The Bitter End, the yacht club at North Harbor.  We enjoyed walking around, checking out the resort, sneaking into the pool, and shopping for gifts and groceries.  We enjoyed happy hour at Saba Rock, the tiny island right next to The Bitter End.  The kids had super-fancy (read: EXPENSIVE) chocolate milks and watched the tarpon (a type of fish) swimming right next to the dock!  I walked around with the kids and discovered a lone hammock on a deserted bit of sand, on the other side of the “island”.  I enjoyed a delicious 15 minutes of solitude, listening to the waves, watching the white caps in the channel, and feeling the warmth of the setting sun and the coolness of the breeze on my skin.  More Magic.

We heard that the Kiteboarding Championships were to be held at North Harbor in a few weeks, which explained the free show we got during happy hour.  There were three guys out practicing their amazing moves, right next to the bar.  It was breathtaking to see them catch 30 or more feet of air on their kiteboards!  You have no idea how many pictures I took!

Another cool moment was meeting an older couple who travel the world together.  They love Virgin Gorda and come back again and again.  I enjoyed one of the best rum punches I’ve ever had while talking to them, so naturally I can’t remember any further details about that conversation…other than that they thought I was very sweet and wished the best for us and our “lovely family”.

After a great day of snorkeling and discovering the harbor by dinghy, including seeing wild flamingoes (as opposed to the lawn stake variety?), we ate like locals at the Fat Virgin restaurant on the other side of the harbor.  We had the place to ourselves, a picnic table type of joint, where we hung out for hours as the kids ate, played, and poked around the property, playing pirates.  Porter fell asleep on my lap and managed to stay asleep for the dinghy ride back to the boat!

The highlight of the trip for the kids was The Baths.  It didn’t look like we would be able to get to The Baths for most of the week.  The winds need to behave in order to safely anchor in the harbor there.  The anchorage is not protected and the wind whips around like mad, creating quite a bit of chop.  I’m guessing this is why The Baths were created in the first place.  The Baths are a large grouping of rocks and boulders piled along the beach, with large areas cut away underneath them by the water.  This creates a labyrinth of caves, tunnels, and secret passageways between the rocks.  Big Bryson prepared us early on, telling us not to get our hopes up, but he knew that the kids would love it and we changed our itinerary so that we would end up at The Baths as late in the week as possible.  He hoped the winds would die down by then.  Sure enough, it was calmer by the end of the week and we made a go of it.  I understand why Bryson had trepidations.  The current was crazy, there were a lot of boats anchored, and the waves were pretty big and from all over the place.  The wind was incredibly loud.  But it was a sunny, beautiful day and we all loaded into the dinghy with snorkel gear, cameras in plastic bags, money for the restaurant at the top of the hill, and a lot of excitement.  Our plan for disembarking the dinghy was – well – less than solid.  The waves were crashing onto the beach, which meant we couldn’t bring the dinghy up on the sand, and the sides of the harbor were reefy and deep.  Bryson brought the boat up to the left side of the harbor and one of us had to jump out to hold the boat and help the kids out.  I was closest so I jumped out, thinking the water would be about 2-3 feet deep.  It was at least 5 feet deep.  And I was holding my camera bag.  Somehow I got it up and over my head in the milliseconds it took my brain to register that I was still going down in the water.  At this point, I realized I couldn’t possibly get the kids out too, but they just jumped in the water and swam to shore.  They’re crazy!  Porter waited until one of us could get him.  Then Big Bryson had to get the dinghy to a safe and legal location and anchor it.  We had already had enough adventure for one day and we hadn’t even started!

The Baths were mesmerizing.  The beach area is small and crescent shaped.  Bright yellow sand, crashing waves, and tall rocks and boulders rising up all around created a maze that beckoned exploration.  The kids found a spot where you had to duck under an opening in a rock that hung over a foot of water.  Once underneath, it opened to a cave-like, water-filled room with cool echoes.  When the waves crashed through the opening from the harbor, the water flew everywhere and the rush of water knocked you down.  The kids could have stayed right there for days.  It was very cool.

We dragged ourselves away so that we could follow the trail through The Baths.  We had to climb, duck, and squeeze through giant boulders and my shutter-release finger was exhausted by the end.  The gorgeous shots just jumped out around every corner.

The trail winds uphill from the beach.  At the top of the hill is a fun restaurant for quenching your thirst and fueling up for the hike down.  There were beautiful views all around and a pool for the kids to play in while waiting for our lunch.  On the way home from the restaurant, we took the long hike down the east end of the mountain.  On the way, we debated the merits of wearing flip flops and risking tripping versus going barefoot and getting cut by debris on the trail.  Such problems in paradise…

Big Bryson pointed out several low cacti with beautiful pink flowers and told us that the locals pick the berries right out of the middle of the flowers and eat them.  Somehow, Reese got it in her mind that she was going to eat one of these berries.  I was so taken with her adventurous soul that my good old American parenting sense lapsed for a moment.  Before you could say “potential toxin”,  I was whipping out my camera to take a picture of her midday snack.  A few hours later, she was itching and complaining of stomach pain.  We assume it was from the berry, though it could have been from ingesting lots of seawater while snorkeling.  Either way, “Go Reese!” for being such a daredevil.  If Survivor is still around for Season 196, Reese will be a contender!

We left Virgin Gorda in awe at all this island has to offer: amazing snorkeling, gorgeous sunsets, lots of entertainment, and a natural wonder that remains in our hearts as well as in hundreds of digital photographs!

Next stop-Norman Island (aka Treasure Island)

I had been waiting with one part patience, one part PURE dorkiness to arrive at Norman Island.  This mostly uninhabited island is shrouded in mystery, with an ancient smell of danger in the air.  We arrived at a pretty harbor, not far from the famous Willy T’s.  We made our way to the beach with snorkel gear and my iPad safely protected from the waves.  I parked myself on the beach while the kids went to find the “bar game du ile”, which is a giant game of Jenga made out of 2×4’s.  (I’ll spare you the details, but the loud crashing of a tower of 2×4’s would be the source of many a tear and many a cheer by the end of the day.)

I took a long look around at the trees in the nearby forest as well as the rocks and waves hugging the sides of the harbor.  I snuggled into my iPad (so historically inappropriate) and felt the deliciousness of reading Treasure Island.  On Treasure Island!  Apparently it doesn’t take much to completely blow my mind away, because I could not have been more excited about this.  It was amazing to read this story of pirates and danger while looking up from time to time and imagining the sound of footsteps through the woods behind me or seeing the ship pass by the harbor entrance.  I could probably write an entire post on this experience, but I guess I will spare you.  If you are a fellow bibliophile, please promise me you will try this someday.  But bring the real book!

That night, we had a great dinner on board with “shrimp on the barbie”, chicken, rice and squash.  We had cookies for dessert and spent hours listening to music and staring at the stars.  It was a very windy night, which connected me once again to the rawness of the island and the history of pirates and adventure.

Back in Tortola

On our last night, we had to visit Cane Garden Bay.  Unfortunately, CGB is on the other side of Tortola and required a CRAZY SCARY car ride in Bryson’s old Suzuki Sidekick, which, believe it or not, does NOT have seating and seatbelts for 7 people!  After a hair-raising ride up 15 switchbacks in an underpowered, overpacked, highly rollable SUV, we pulled to the side of the road.  I looked to the left when my stomach stopped rolling and saw the beautiful view from the north coast of Tortola.  Holy cow.  We stopped for a sunset drink at a bar that served something called a Bananakeet drink.  Yum! Then we continued on to Cane Garden Bay, where we enjoyed an amazing BBQ dinner at a place called Elks.  It’s the restaurant where all the locals and expats meet up.  It’s right on the beach and the sound of the waves was the perfect backdrop for the live band.  Of course, Bryson and Cindy knew a bunch of people there, so it was a sociable night that made us feel like locals ourselves. It was one of those lovely nights, where time seems to stand still, connections are made with new acquaintances, the kids lounged on the tree swing that was next to our table, and the picture in my mind is lit with the soft twinkling luminescence of the Christmas lights that were hung everywhere.  Porter fell sleep in Cindy’s arms on the drive home.  Reese was in a sleepy stupor and asked for hugs from everyone when we arrived back in Soper’s Hole.  It was the perfect way to end this magical vacation.

Our forever thanks go to Bryson and Cindy, good friends and lovely hosts, whose generosity and spirit of adventure planted the seeds for changing our lives within a year and a half of that week.