23rd February

Osprey
John Bowering
Tue 24 Feb 2009 11:37
Gorda Sound - a lovely day in an almost idyllic environment, Chrystal clear blue waters and the temperature hovering in the mid 20'sC. We had a relatively lazy start to the day checking out the boat ready for the passage to St Kitts tomorrow, not a lot to do really as, rarely, we have no real defects at present and this month has been a good shakedown ready for the Atlantic crossing. As we will be heading into the wind and seas we have demounted the spinnaker pole from the mast and secured it in its deck mounting. As its very convenient here we will go alongside the fuel berth in the morning and just top up our water. This will prevent us having to use the water maker and the subsequent sterilising of the unit when we get to Antigua. It will also ensure Anita can wash her hair without water concerns! About 1100 we took the dinghy for a high speed ride over to Bitter End which is about a mile away from where we are moored. It is a mini resort and yacht club - relatively new and in pristine condition. We both concluded it would be an ideal hideaway for a holiday. Only problem is getting to it from almost anywhere without a yacht. Nearest airport is Spanish Town and that has only domestic connections to Tortola which in turn would connect with Purto Rico and the USA. Our visit confirmed the discussions we had we some of the locals at our mooring in that the place was very nearly empty and really suffering from the recession. At best there might have been a dozen people staying there and the place has a capacity for about 250. The adjacent Island resort was also deserted and there was no sign of activity at all. Even our local "hut on the beach" pub/cafe is only working at lunchtime and not the evenings. In some respects this is all good for us as we enjoy the peace a quiet. There are very few yachts here in comparison with Sopers Hole. After a snoop around the resort we headed across the bay to moor local beach hut for lunch. There was a lovely St Kitts lady on duty and she made a few phone call to check out the weather on St Kitts for us and also checked out a local restaurant for Anita where we would be able to get local food. She also made Anita a great Roti. Met up with an American couple who will be leaving about the same time as us tomorrow - they were on a yacht called Windswept - Scot and Jen Clarke. They are travelling with a German Shepherd and a cat on a boat less that 40 ft in length and headed for St Marten. We should be pretty much in company for the first 12 hours. It was a long lunch so a siesta was called for on our return to Osprey then we spend an hour getting the dinghy onto its davits and generally getting organised so we would have little to do in the morning. A lovely evening and sunset spent pleasantly sitting on Osprey with our books. Anita has now really relaxed and is ploughing through the Davinci Code and really enjoying it. Having read it John steadfastly refuses to give her any hint of how the plot is developing which could if we are not careful develop into a running feud!

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