Sunday 25th December
Nowcrew
Tue 27 Dec 2005 00:01
Xmas Day -
Bitter End Virgin Gorda
Guess who was up
early this morning? Before anyone had risen out of their bunks we could hear
Rory and Frazer creeping around the main cabin whispering "He's been, He's
been... look at all these presents under the tree!"
Yes we could not
have Christmas without a tree so we had a small on in the main cabin with a few
decorations. Rory had paid a lot of attention to dressing it last night before
he went to bed. Farther Christmas had slid down the mast and in through the
hatch we had left open for him and filled the place with
presents.
This one's for you
Frazer", said Rory, as he tried to hide his excitement. It was 6.45am and the
boys were not going to let anyone sleep much longer. Soon we were all up and
prezzies were being opened at a rapid rate. Andy set about making bacon butties
for breakfast and we waited for the Nico's to arrive.
Today was an extra
special occasion as it was also Sophie's 18th Birthday. When the family came
over from the hotel the first hour was dedicated to her birthday. She had some
very special presents from her Mother who was back in Wales and everyone sat
around the cockpit as she opened her gifts from the crew. Then it
was Champaign and birthday cake for breakfast! What a good start to the
day.
When birthday
celebrations were over we exchanged Xmas gifts and all enjoyed the excitement of
seeing what everyone had received.Prezzies of the day was Ian's goat
from Gillian! Serves him right for insisting he did not want anything for
Christmas so she bought him an Oxfam goat that is donated to a family in
Africa.
After the
gift opening had finished we all made a quick call to families back home
and then set sail from Nanny Cay towards Virgin Gorda, an island to the north of
Tortola where we were going to anchor up for the night and have our Xmas
dinner.
The winds were
strong and started on the nose of the boat so we motored for an hour before
changing direction and then it was sails out and tacking practice for Ian at the
helm with Daniel and Nico manning the sails. We had a good sail up the east
side of Virgin Gorda and then rounded Mountain point and entered Gorda
sound through a narrow gap between Mosquito Island and Necker Island which is
owned by Richard Branson.
We picked up a buoy
off Bitter End Yacht Club and settled in the boat for the night. We were
about to start Xmas dinner when someone noticed steam coming out of the back of
the boat. The generator was not working properly and so the next 2 hours was
spent tracking down the problem and fixing it! Oh what fun on Christmas day.
Sarah and Babs had
been preparing Xmas dinner in the meantime and we soon sat down to eat. As usual
with so many people this was a 3 hour event but the girls did us proud and we
had a magnificent feast.
After dinner Frazer
and Rory put on a special panto for the rest of the crew. There were songs,
magic tricks and clown acts that were amazing. The show was ended with a Billy
Connelly CD and then we all flaked and crashed.
Merry
Xmas,
Nowcrew
out.