Back in the tropics
18:30.13N
64:21.88W Our unplanned stop in
St Georges
town hall, welcoming door open to all and lit for the walkabout
festivities. Despite its economic problems, But economic hard times are nothing new for
This 9 inch
rifled muzzle loader from the 1870’s would probably discourage most
intruders from sailing down Richard and Alison arrived on Vulcan Spirit. They had some autopilot problems so we helped them diagnose the problem - a faulty drive unit clutch – then eventually managed to fix it.
Inside the
welcoming door to St Georges town
hall But the best part of our extended stay was the magical St Georges Town Walkabout. Organised by the Bermuda National Trust, the walkabout is an annual event to celebrate the town’s history and culture. This quaint town dates back to the early 1600’s and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. For one evening, generous townspeople open up their beautifully decorated homes to the public, some of them very old indeed, and even offer visitors mulled wine and egg nog. Entertainment was laid on in the town square. Whilst enjoying a chicken dinner with desert served by sea cadet volunteers, the town crier called us to attention as various dance groups, a Salvation Army band and a youth orchestra performed. In St Peter’s, all the candelabra’s were lit and the church was filled with the haunting sound of a hand bell choir. The following evening there was yet another street event, but this time with more modern dancing and with Father Christmas in attendance.
Banyan tree near
crystal caves,
Bermuda
At last it seems there is a possible weather opportunity for us to continue on our journey south. Although it’s still rather windy, Vulcan Spirit sets off. Feeling rather tired and worn (the effects of a head ‘cold’, not alcohol!) we decide to wait till morning, even though there’s a risk of being becalmed when the Bermuda ‘high’ - an area of high pressure - re-establishes itself. Is there
something there? At 7am the next morning, we weigh anchor and set off into 25 knot winds and a 4 metre swell. There’s nearly 1000 miles to go as we race to the south to try and beat the high pressure system. Thankfully the strong winds persist, and for the next 48 hours we make fast progress on a beam reach, though with poor radio propagation we are unable to check the weather forecast with Herb. But an unpleasant surprise awaits us. At 0400hrs one morning, Stellie hears a curious tinkling sound on deck. Too early for Santa with his sleigh. But what can it be? She wakes me and we investigate together. Looking out into the darkness we think we can make out something large on the foredeck. The penny suddenly drops. Keith rushes inside to trip the main switch to the anchor windlass and the noise subsides. The problem? A deck switch had malfunctioned, causing the anchor windlass to operate on its own and feeding out chain from the chain locker onto the foredeck. Now there’s 60 metres of heavy chain piled up on the foredeck. Thankfully none of it had gone over the side. A minute longer and all 112 metres would have paid out to the bitter end – the inboard end of the chain which is made fast to the yacht. This would certainly have damaged the winch motor and risked the whole caboodle going overboard. The next job is to retrieve the chain and put it all back into its locker. We reef both sails heavily, don full wet weather gear and safety harnesses and then head forwards on the slippery deck. By chance there’s a momentary lull in the wind, allowing us to avoid a soaking as we manually feed the chain back into its locker below deck. Wot
lighthouse? The next day the wind howls with steep seas but we
speed on, heavily reefed, and 24 hours later the wind abates sufficiently to set
more sail, easing our ride considerably.
Our plan is to make landfall at night near the low-lying By midnight, we are safely anchored off
Ananda anchored off Virgin
Gorda, Spanish Town,
sporting her original white sun awning. Quite a handful to set up
but loads of shade.
Behind us is the slightly larger Club Mediterranee 2 offering ‘ballroom
dancing, bridge and music’.
Alors , pas de
difference...
Club Med 2 sails into the
sunset After a few days rest and quite a lot of rolling in
this rather exposed anchorage, we sail around to the north of the island past Necker Island – Richard Branson’s
privately owned Virgin isle – and into Gorda Sound. The sound is sheltered, almost
landlocked, and is a beautiful setting amidst unspoiled islands. We anchor off the mangroves on
uninhabited Prickly Pear Island, and
land our dinghy nearby on the deserted pristine beach. Land crabs scurry everywhere as we tread
carefully towards the salt water lagoon 50 metres inland. Incredibly, there is a small colony of
flamingos resident there! Sadly
these shy birds are now uncommon in the
Close to Ananda, flamingos forage on
Prickly Pear Island
A seaplane
lands near David Geffin’s
yacht Rising
Sun. No wonder the place is popular with the
super-rich. This weekend is Holly
Branson’s wedding on
A helicopter
lands on Larry Page’s expedition yacht Senses. Just behind us is ‘Senses’, a 194 foot expedition motor yacht owned by Larry Page, the 39 year old co-founder and now chief executive of Google. Was he at the wedding? His own wedding took place at Necker only a couple of years ago. Next to him is Rising
Sun, a massive 450 feet and privately owned by the legendary (notorious?)
showbiz mogul David Geffin. Not
only founder of Asylum Records (Joni Mitchell/Crosby Stills and Nash/Bob
Dylan/Tom Waites/Eagles), as co-founder of Dreamworks, he is big in Hard to think of a better place to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. On the great day we hire a car with Richard and Alison and tour the island, swimming off lovely beaches.
Hats
galore. Lunch
overlooking the Baths at Virgin Gorda - 30 years of marriage
today!
Gorda Sound
anchorage. Ananda is the white yacht
with 3 spreaders, anchored just below and to the right of the tiny
resort of When it comes to eating out, there’s no shortage of choice.
Built on an isolated rock behind a
reef lies what must be one of the tiniest complete resorts, Saba Rock, complete with hotel, vintage
boats and outboard engines and tame toucans. During ‘happy hour’, their rum-laced
‘painkillers’ certainly achieve their aim.
And there’s the Bitter End
resort, sophisticated with music, small cinema and every kind of water sport
activity available. Across the
lagoon is
Stellie in
beach
mode
Anniversary
on the beach – quite a contrast to the deep snow of our wedding
day. There’s plenty to explore on foot too. A long walk along a hilly trail led us to
Development
marches on relentlessly.
The almost completed So, all in all, not a bad place to be holed up, despite the rather windy weather. Stellie has baked mince pies, the freezer is well stocked so we probably won’t be moving far for a while.
A
beautifully situated telegraph pole somewhere in the Virgin
Isles. Composition is
all… * * * * * |