Pirates!
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Tue 22 Dec 2009 14:26
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We are finally at the British Virgin Islands and
are anchored up at the Bight at Norman Island at 18: 19.00N 064:37.26W. This is
an old haunt of ours and we love to visit Pirates restaurant on the beach and
have BBQ ribs and then off to Willie T's (faux pirate ship and mad floating bar)
for some Rum Punch. We departed first thing Sunday morning, after
fixing our in mast furling gear on Saturday afternoon abd made the 200 mile
passge over night. Our ETA was about 0600 outside the islands for an entry to
Roadtown in the daylight, as navigation lights and marks in the BVI are
notoriously unreliable.
As it happened we had to feel our way in the pitch
dark into Drakes Channel. No - not a scene from Brokeback Mountain but
navigating just by radar and depth soundings. We arrived so early, even after
slowing the boat down the evening before, that we decided to go in and find an
anchorage right in Roadtown Tortola so we could go straight to customs and
imigration when they opened. As it was we managed to get a couple of hours
sleep at anchor before Roadtown came to life. I will have to tell you the
story about the immigration another time, I dont want to start the day in a bad
mood.
The night before when Trish was on watch she had to
do and emergency stop. She had been instructed to wake me up when we approached
a certain distance away from the BVI's and before the depth shallowed rapidly to
50metres and then down to a handful of metres which we had to navigate. The
depths on the south side of the BVI are up at over 2000 metres, on the north
side they go down to almost 10000 metres, but the Islands seem to be
perched on a shelf and depths change rapidly from these plateaus and trenches to
50 metres in a few hundred metres at some points. So Trish was bowling along in
the pitch dark trying to get used to all the nav instruments and all of a
sudden the depth reading which had just been showing three blanks flashed up a
5.4 metres. She slammed on the brakes immediately and called me up from my
slumber to restore clam. No problem - just a conflict we believe between the
Digital Sounder transducer and the Forward Looking Sonar which the rest of us
had already experienced but generally not in the pitch black approaching a
tricky channel.
Norman Island was the inpiration for the story
Treasure Island and of course was a strategic location for Sir Francis
Drakes English sponsored piracy campaign. They based part of their fleet here
and pounced on the Spanish as they passed by with their ill gotten gains. Sort
of the Somalians of their day, but OK because it was in the name of the
crown!
There is the most amazing snorkelling and diving
here. In the caves on Norman Island you swim all the way into the end of
the cave of course in the pitch black to the fabled location where there was
treasure buried in the book Treasure Island. Quite creepy when you do are going
along in the water with things you know not what brushing against you in the
bowels of a cave.
Fish abound here though most are not good for
eating due to traces of Cigutera which can quickly paralise you and even kill
you. Well its either that or the rum I guess..... On anchoring yesterday a very
large baracuda came around the stern of the boat with a whole host of other
fish, quelling any ideas of swimming off the back of the boat right
then.
So a wierd Christmas for us in a way. Hot and
tropical and away from Scotland and Home. We have lots of reports of deep snow
and freezing temperatures at home. I kind of miss that in a way, and I dont
think I could live in a place long term that did not have the real seasonal
definition that we have at home, even if I do sometimes describe it as " 9
months of bad weather - then winter
starts".
At this time our thoughts of course like people the
world over, perhaps particularly when away from home, to to our friends and
loved ones
at home.
From me, I would like to offer very special thanks
and apreciation and seasonal greetings for a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy
and Prosperous New Year to all my friends and colleagues at Gael Force, who have
built it and condinue to build it into the success that it is. All the very best
to you all and to your families at this special time.
From all aboard Rhiann Marie our love and best
wishes go to all our friends and family wherever they are and of course special
love and best wishes to Granny who is off to Tunisia with the
"girls".
Bliadhna Mhath Ur agus Nollaig
Chrideal
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