The Bight on Norman Island, then White Bay on Peter island.

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 1 Apr 2012 19:38

18:20.88N 64:34.47W

 

Friday and Saturday – 30th & 31st March

Friday morning we finally launched the dinghy, motored over to the very stony/coral beach and dragged Doris up from the water’s edge as she protested loudly and wandered over to the very grand Peter Island Resort.   We had a good strong cup of espresso each and Rob got his emailing and website uploading up to date while I walked a bit further on so that I could view Deadman Bay from the road over the top of the island.    It is a really pretty, typical in-your-dreams Caribbean beach: turquoise sea, white sand with palm trees lining it, but as an anchorage it seemed pretty busy and all the boats were facing out to sea and receiving quite a swell into the bay.

Once we got back to the boat, we were working out the length of rope we needed to buy to put as a warp on to the two new buckets we have had to buy since we have both successfully deposed of a bucket each recently.   This involved lengths and weight of water versus ease of use and potential palm blistering!   Weirdly all the splashing attracted some huge fish who sat under our boat.   Rob was none too sure that they weren’t Barracuda, and having already scared himself witless with his shark encounter, adopted Pips’ technique of viewing the sea life – leaning out of the dinghy with a mask and snorkel on.   As Rob had survived this confrontation and the fish hadn’t zoomed away, I got in the water somewhat gingerly.   There were nine fish the biggest of which was about 4’ with under slung  jaws and quite solid bodies, just hanging in the water, not at all worried by me.   We eventually identified them as Tarpon who tend to habit the same area, and they spent most of the day around about the boat.   Rob was obviously worried for the survival of his small fishy girlfriend but we decided she was far too tiny a titbit for them to even notice her!

As the afternoon went on, more and more yachts came into anchor when previously the figure had been under ten, the evening finished with 28 boats in the bay including two very large yachts and two massive motor boats.   And to add to our entertainment, a few charter boats trying to anchor in the deep water (there is a technique, and we had only just been discussing that we seem to be a whole lot better nowadays – but we have had an awful lot of practice) far too close to other boats and having to repeat the process all over again.

Over the last few days we have been experimenting with the SSB to try and contact Chris and Steve on Scott-Free with a tiny bit of success and lots of frustration.   In between whiles Rob has been texting and emailing them with various ideas of where we should meet.   Very oddly, despite being unable to get much of a wifi signal, all the traffic with Scott-Free has managed to be sent and received although nothing else has gone or arrived at all!

First thing on Friday morning, after Rob had proved again that we are still struggling with the SSB by trying to listen to the OCC net, we set off to Road Town (Tortola) to do a food shop anchoring off Wickhams Cay II marina and zipping in on the dinghy.   This marina is quite a sight as it handles all the ‘Sunsail’, ‘Moorings’ and ‘Footloose’ charter boats in their hundreds! (We have since been told there are over 600)  We were amazed there were so many boats still in the marina, although it was apparent that some were being turned round and there were stunned new arrivals in all their glorious whiteness, hefting bags around.   We rather thought that this fortnight everything would be out by now for Easter – obviously delighted that all these boats aren’t out there yet cluttering up the anchorages (!) but worried for the survival of the companies themselves, we have known that feeling.   The staff kindly agreed we could leave the dinghy there. Rob did point out that if all these boats emerge next weekend it will be hell on earth in the BVI and we might do better to go to the USVI then.

Short walk to a great supermarket which for once, amongst all the refrigerated food, had local produce that had not been beaten into submission with the chill factor.  We staggered back to the dinghy via a nice French deli where we bought lovely bread, and had breakfast.   When we got to the dock we discovered that a catamaran had in fact been parked on Doris so it was a bit of a fight to free her and then a very soggy trip back out to Serafina as there was quite a chop in the harbour now.

Rob then rang Brendan at Nanny Cay Marina who confirmed that we could come in and collect our sail.  So we jammed everything into the fridge and cupboards, raised the anchor and hot-footed it round to Nanny Cay.   Kindly they had offered us the hammerhead free nearest to the sailmakers and once we had docked, I set off to fetch the sail and Rob settled down to make good use of their wifi.   The sail repair cost US$65 which seemed a bargain and their precious trolley was lowered from the loft for my use.   On my return I was somewhat surprised to find that Serafina had materialised on another pontoon and a very swish racing trimaran was in her place.   It transpired that they had already finished their racing for the day being the first boat in and we had been put in their berth and were happily nestled against her rather nice fenders.

Rob had help from Miles who is the Manager of the marina and also our first OCC Port Officer we have come across, to move docks.   He was charming and very generous in his help, offering us use of the showers and extra time on the quay.   Rob then met Brendan, the Dock Master, with the narrowboat background and had a good chinwag about the trade, and how things work out here.   They very kindly waived any fee for the two hours we ended up spending there – definitely good Samaritans.

It was too windy to try and get the sail up there and we decided to go over to the Bight on Norman Island so that we could snorkel the caves the next day and perhaps raise the mainsail there.   This was a bit of an eye-opener:  there were at least 50 boats mainly on buoys with more following us in.   And right in the middle was Salperton looking the most elegant as usual.   We are trying to avoid expensive buoys so ended up anchored quite a long way back in the bay, pretty much alongside Salperton again but this would have the advantage that we could nip out of the bay in the morning to the caves situated on the headland just behind us – and without having to swap engines on the dinghy for the more powerful model.   The last few days, we have for the first time, towed the dinghy behind Serafina somewhat nervously, mindful of the article we had read about losing the same type of dinghy due to the weak tow points and just how difficult it is to replace them.   We have beefed up the clips on our tow harness and use two ropes in case one breaks.

The day continued to be very windy and it appears that this is another place where the wind is accelerated through the bay although it isn’t so windy outside.   We certainly were not going to try and put bend the sail on here, but were pleased that the anchor had taken so well in 21 metres.   The wind had the added advantage of blowing away some of the squealing female noise coming from the Willie T, a replica of a topsail lumbar schooner which has seen better days, but is now a well-known bar and restaurant with a partying reputation.

After another abortive attempt with the OCC net when we heard Steve as clear as day as they were 4 miles out from their overnight destination in Puerto Rico, we dinghied out to the caves.   We tied up Doris as instructed in the pilot to the buoyed line outside the caves and slid into a fairly cool sea.   There were already some yachts tied up to the buoys also located there and we felt we probably wouldn’t want to do so with Serafina:  it is very calm here and the boats tend to swing every which way and seem very close together.

There are three caves which go quite far back, all covered with different brightly coloured corals and sponges, and some electric yellow anemones.   The underwater terrain was of large boulders piled up against the sheer cliff face on to a sandy floor.   There were some very large fish, shoals of smaller fish, some that we haven’t seen before, a cruising Barracuda and a completely oblivious turtle who swam along with us.   It was a truly magical experience from what was quite a low expectation.   But we would recommend a really early start, by the time we lifted out heads out of the water the area was heaving with swimmers and boats.

As the bay was still very unsuitable for raising the mainsail we motored off upwind to White Bay on Peter Island in quite a bit of wind and a choppy sea.   As we neared the beach we could see that the three boats anchored there were back-winded which bode well for sail-raising.   We managed to sneak into the NE corner and the wind obligingly dropped, so we dashed about getting the sail up and breathed a sigh of relief that we are now back to normal.

The rest of the day was taken more gently and I did feel a little embarrassed to dress Serafina overall with a full complement of drying laundry in full sight of the beach which is also maintained by the Peter Island Resort.