Wednesday 5th May (Lini’s Journal)
Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Sun 16 May 2010 02:09
absorb even more facts and information. What is really, really
irritating though is unlike me he remembers everything. He is a
walking encyclopaedia. I am a soggy sponge hung on a line, who after
absorbing everything possible, most drains away immediately leaving a
fraction to dry up in the breeze. I never throw out a book because a
month later I can reopen the cover with all knowledge of it forgotten
and with all the excitement and anticipation every new book holds.
Simon was up early, packed his astro-navigation books into a bag and
eagerly awaited signs of life on Festina Lente so he could go and play
maths with Phillip. The soggy sponge read a book which I’ve probably
read a dozen times before!
Si returned with a smiley face at coffee time and we talked over
the options for the next few days. After much studying of weather
charts it looks like we will head off for Bermuda on Monday. Today we
decided to pay a visit to ‘The Dogs’. Unfortunately after initially
losing our wind it then picked up significantly to well over 20knots
making anchoring in twenty meters on a rocky bed untenable. The
mooring buoys which were few and far between were all taken so after
sailing round the tiny islands of George, West and Great Dog we looked
for another option while eating lunch on the move. We sailed past
Virgin Gorda and the islands of Ginger, Cooper and Salt and late
afternoon dropped the hook in Key Bay on the south coast of Peter
Island behind a solitary yacht with a fat, naked skipper. We had been
sailing for much of the day and with minimal wind now to cool us from
the baking sun we couldn’t wait for a dip. Today Lini checked the
anchor Caribbean style with snorkel and flippers and through the clear
blue water the hook was clearly visible dug well into the sand.
A shallow reef lies between the mainland and Key Cay with rocks all
around: We went to explore. Initially it didn’t look like being a
spectacular site for snorkelling at all until I spotted a beautiful
conch shell with silky pink insides and glistening gold around its
opening. Then there was another, then a small pile, then a huge heap
of them with oyster shells in a mound too. I thought a fishing boat
must have dumped them overboard until Si popped his head above the
water saying, “I wonder if it’s an octopus lair!” The thought of what
size of creature would be capable of moving a foot long conch shell
with conch inside made me shudder and I would have made the national
front crawl team if coaches had seen the speed I returned to
Brindabella. Si found it highly amusing.
It was our last night at anchor in the Caribbean and a fitting
sunset illuminated the skies with our sundowners. I have ambivalent
feelings about moving on: So much still to see in the Virgin Islands,
the anxiety of bad winds at sea, but then Bermuda to explore as a
reward. Si barbecued with clothes on while our neighbour barbecued
naked then we watched the sky turn to a zillion twinkling stars.