Sea Vagrents in the British Virgin Islands

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Mon 30 Apr 2012 12:19
SUNDAY  29th April  2012
 
Last Friday, we departed Cooper Island in a strong breeze and motoerd into the wind past
Ginger island, Fallen Jeresulem, and on to " The Baths " where we picked up a mooring ball.
The " Baths" are to the BVI about the same as Killarney is to Ireland,
 
There was a good swell running at the time so going ashore to the beach took all our atletic
abilities to remain upright getting out of the dingy. especialy Denis, Vera and Aileen with their new
flippers and goggles,
One is not allowey park dingies on the beach , so skipper had to take the dingy back out to a designated
dingy park 200m offshore and swim ashore, but it was worth all the effort,
" The Baths" consist of massive Granite boulders with lots of caves, ponds, underwater passages,
thousands of colourfull fish and of course the odd Cock-a-doodle-doo strutting around the beach,
 
We spent some time there exploring the place before another brave effort by all to climb into
the dingy in the big surf and return to " A Lady ",
From there we motored to Spanish Town a mile away and got some provisions, there we met another
Irish boat " Emilija" who will also be on the ARC europe trip next month.
 
From Spanish Town, we sailed with just the headsail only north to Bitter End where we picked
up a yacht club mooring ,
 
We had a few " Pain Killers" in Saba Rock before returning to the boat where we had steak and onions
for dinner plus creamed potatoes,
 
Denis and Skipper tried in vain to watch a film, we both crashed out half way through , too many pain killers.
 
SATURDAY  28th :-
Another lovely day,
Aileen and Vera took the dingy ashore to the "Bitter End Yacht Club " while Denis and Skipper
serviced the generator, this all took a couple of hours, but a job well done,
Later we all went swimming again a the Yacht club, then Aileen took the ferry to Gun Creek and got a taxi to Mass,
while the other pagans got dolled up and took the dingy to Saba Rock for happy hour,
we booked dinner for 7.30pm  and the manageress welcomed us big time with " What part of Ireland are you lot from "
Amazing the people we meet,
This girl "Siobhan"  ( manageress ) is a grandaughter of Angela , thats Angela of Angela,s Ashes, how about that,
Aleen returned about 7.00pm and we had a laugh before returning to the boat, mind you, we got drenched as the
water was very choppy and "Denis the driver"  wanted to prove he was Sterling Moss,
 
 
SUNDAY  29th :-
 
All up early, having discussed all our options last night, we decided to go to Anegada, an Isolated Island
just 13 miles north of Virgin Gorda,
09.30 hrs we set sail with just headsail only and sped along at 7 knots to Anegada, this low lying Island is
surrounded with some of the biggest Coral reefs in the world and claims a rich collection of ship wrecks,
It also had many salt ponds which are home to a large flock of Flemingo,s
 
 we knew the water would be shallow, so on arrival at the bouyed cahnnel we rolled up the sail and motored slowely
into the the the marked area, however it did not correspond at all with our charts or the position of the bouy,s 
on our E120 chart plotter, 
Then we bumped, and bumped again, oooooh  shite ! not good, 
We turned around and decided it was not worth the risk, so headed back to " Jost Van Dyke " a distance of 25 miles,
we used the headsail only and arrived at the northern tip of JVD at 15.00hrs,
 
We dropped anchor beside a groupe of other boats and went ashore to the beach and did some snorkling, this
time we had Denis and his underwater camera, along with the new flippers & goggles, and the warm water, 
Later, Skipper cooked a spicey " Cottage Pie " with Avacado and it was v. good, yum, yum, 
It consisted of :-  mince beef, Onions & garlic, carrotts, celery, peas, ginger, tomatoe sauce, cinnamon, salt & pepper,
chilli flakes, masala, and this was covered with a layer of mashed potatoes & sweet potatoes mixed , 
then covered with cheese and grilled untill a nice golden colour and finished off with slices of tomatoes, YUM,
 
Then we did some reaging before and early night,,,,,,
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed :-   Stephen Hyde  ( skipper )