That Which Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

We started the day with some snorkling just south of Haulovers. The snorkling was fantastic but we kept running into clouds of jellyfish which wasn't so pleasant so we headed back to the mothership and then around Salt Island and into the bay on the north side.

I've got to practice diving so I can get down to fish-level

Fish love to hang out under the boat

It had been a few days since a good hike so we headed ashore and set out up the hill at the eastern end of the beach for some good views. Hill number 1: no problem, good views, nice breeze. Once we crested the hill we realized we could keep going to hill number 2.

Mowzer (the little one) in the bay at Salt Island

Only goat tracks to follow up Hill #1

Hill number 2: hot but still ok, no paths, lots of scratchy thorns but still great views and a cooling breeze. From here we could see Haulovers Bay on Cooper Island where we stayed last night.

One boat left at Haulovers this morning

Notice hill number 3 in the background. Didn't look so tough from down here...

This is where the hiking got serious. Scrabbling through the dry undergrowth and over rocky outcrops with the temperature climbing and no shade or path in sight. Henry was a mountain goat and made it to the top - he's being charitable when he tells me I was 30' from the crest but hill number 3 had me beat. On the descent we crossed the spine of the hills out to the south and finally made our way across the salt ponds that give the island it's name and back to the beach. I have never been so happy to sink into the cool ocean waters.

Definitely the dry season - amazing how it all comes back to life in the rainy season

Notice the lovely path we didn't take from the salt pond

Counting from the right - #1 (155'), #2 (270') and #3 (386')

Mid-afternoon we up-anchored and headed for Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. We really felt that third time was the charm since we have intended to stop here on two previous occasions but always kept on going to another anchorage. The afternoon sail was again pretty surreal with 15 knots of wind on a close reach and boat speeds topping out at 7.4 knots. Sweeeeet!

Tomorrow morning, if I'm still able, the plan is to do a little hiking around The Valley on Virgin Gorda.

 

A tour and tidbits

This morning as promised Paul and Elka took us on a dinghy tour up the north-west shore of Great Camanoe Island. Even though the swell had come up during the night we had a great ride around the shore-line discovering a thunderous blow-hole cave that filled with water from the surge and then spat out a spray of fine mist with a roar, and further along the coast, a narrow cave entrance at water-level that Paul says rises up about 200' into the hillside and is filled with bats. On a calm day you can take the dinghy to the entrance and hear the bats squeaking inside or if you visit in the early evening you might see them leaving the cave, but I wouldn't be keen to take a dinghy round into the rock strewn bays in the dark.

Paul was extremely knowledgable of the local geology and natural sights. We learned for instance that the laughing gulls (considered a pest) will actually sit on a pelican's head and pluck fish right out of it's beak. The red-beaked birds we had seen in Culebra in the past are called Tropic Birds and the heron that we had seen in Puerto Rico and again on the CYOA dock is called a Night Heron. Finally, and probably the one I will remember most is the name the locals have for the Turpentine Tree: The Tourist Tree. This tree is notable for its paper-thin bark that turns red and peels!

We were extremely honoured when Paul presented us with a copy of a book we have admired many times about the BVI; he is the publisher. We were sorry that we had nothing more than some fresh-baked tea biscuits to give in return but we had all thoroughly enjoyed the morning.

For the afternoon we decided it was time to up-anchor and go for a sail. Our original intent was to head to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda but given that this is the holiday without a plan, the winds set our course for us and we ended back in Haulover Bay on Cooper Island. This is one of our favourites: the low saddle of land allows the breeze to cool the boat without being exposed to the waves, the sunset over Salt Island and later the twinkling lights of Tortola in the distance all contribute to the charm of the place.

We capped off the evening with a cut-throat game of Scrabble - Henry won this one but I'll be back to exact my revenge.

 

A Boat Day

Yesterday brought a real mix of weather with winds as high as 25 knots, a couple of rain squalls, sunshine and cloud.

We started the day at Haulovers where I baked raisin tea biscuits for breakfast. The little gas oven on Mowzer took a little while to get hot but once there, did an excellent job.

This boat arrived just as we left Haulover Bay

One of the other boats in the anchorage managed to wrap not one but two anchor chains around rocks on the bottom and needed the assistance of a diver off another boat to help them get free. Once all that excitement passed, we also headed out and made our way around to South Bay on Ginger Island. It took a little bit to get the anchor to settle but once there we were the only ones in the anchorage for lunch. The toll however was winds and swell running at opposite angles to each other. Wind wins so we ended up sitting abeam to the swells which was not overly pleasant.

The stunning south shore of Ginger Island

We had arrived at Ginger in a squall so it was fitting that another arrived as we were hauling up the anchor. Rounding the westerly point and entering the Drake Channel it was just like someone turned back on the pleasure sail; the high seas and rain instantly disappeared and we headed up to Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda. We were happy that we had reefed the mainsail as the winds climbed up over 20 knots and with genny reefed as well, Mowzer happily skipped along at 7-8 knots! We were enjoying it so much and making such good way we carried on up to Long Bay where we tucked into the anchorage just off a lovely isolated white sand beach fringed by reef and turquoise waters. Just five other cruisers in the anchorage - no mooring balls and a beautiful westerly view over the island of Tortola - I anticipate another good sunset tonight.

Squalls heading over to Tortola

Long Bay anchorage

A couple of other boat jobs awaited as we lazed around for the afternoon. The trampoline benefitted from a little rework to fill in a few holes and I managed to splice an eye in the dinghy painter. My first splice!

The Digicel Quest

This post is somewhat about our search for a wifi solution, which of course is a hot topic if you are trying to post a blog; then I'll get to some more interesting updates.

A couple of years ago we purchased a Ubiquity Bullet that we used on Mowzer with varying degrees of success and very much dependent on the good will or naïveté of folks to allow us access their wifi network. Sometimes it cost a drink to get the wifi code from a bar, but even that adds up at tourist hangouts where drinks can get quite expensive (which is surprising given the previous post's picture on the cost of rum). Unfortunately when we were taking down our antenna last November, something came disconnected and I am not sure how repairable, and cost effective, it is. This time we decided to try the more commercial route since data SIM cards are becoming much more affordable and with the prevalence of cellular networks in this part of the Caribbean we wanted to give it a try. Thus began the quest for a Digicel outlet that could sell us such a beast.

I did a little research before leaving home and found out that there was a Digicel store somewhere just east of West End (Soper's Hole). We asked at one of the shops and the fellow advised us that it was a half hour walk, but knowing how little the locals like to walk (but they love to drive very fast on the windy roads) we thought, "How far can it be, we can walk that." Well walk it we did, at 1pm, in the hot sun, for a half hour - this guy knew his distances! Just past the Big Ben Grocery, there it was. However, this small outlet didn't carry the data card for an iPad. So, we headed into the grocery to find a cold drink and on our return walk, a very nice fellow in a brand new SUV gave us a ride back to West End. Funny how, even knowing how far we'd walked, it still seemed far on the road! Thank you to the local who took pity on the crazy cruisers in the mid-day sun.

Digicel Quest - part 2, Road Town. We landed in the store in Road Town where they got us all sorted out with a data SIM card and we are now connected. We picked out a nice 1GB prepaid card, good for 30 days for $27 with a $10 credit that covers the cost of the $10 card (funny how that works). We can now connect from just about anywhere in the BVI, with the curious exception of Norman Island (what happens at Willie T's or Pirates apparently stays there). Of course we're not continuously online since we now have some serious relaxing to do now that we have completed the Digicel Quest. Sum total covers about the cost of two drinks for each of us at bars for their local wifi so we figure we're well ahead at this point.

Ok, now for the fun stuff. We stopped off at The Indians for snorkeling in the morning and it was pretty good. Not the most abundant fish population but the reef structure was pretty interesting to swim over. After finishing up there we had a most perfect sail over to Road Town; 10-15 knots of wind, flat seas and a close reach at 5-7 knots. After we finished up our errands in town we headed out again and had another similar great sail over to Haulovers on Cooper Island. The Beach Club was packed with boats and we sailed right on by, accompanied by two dolphins (where was my camera!) and we settled down the anchor in the same place that we stopped here last year. As we went out to snorkel the anchor the dolphins gave us another swim-by making this a perfect stopping place for the night. The evening games ensued watching a few other boats trying to find a spot in the swirly winds up against the cliff face and when all was done there were about five boats settled in for the night.

Just a few photos from The Indians. I am experimenting with the GoPro underwater.

Thursday: Cooper Island

Forecast:  Winds N 6-11 knts, seas 3-5’, scattered showers.

A high pressure system has now settled quite nicely over the area so no showers to be seen.  Overnight it was almost dead calm and the sea was like glass in the anchorage as we got up.

We liked it so much here we decided to stay put.  We headed by dinghy this morning into Cooper Island Beach Club where we sat in the bar for a while with a nice cold drink, doing the usual exchange for wi-fi.  Catching up on posting to the blog and email all within feet of the ocean; can’t get much better than that.

Cistern Point, just to the south of Manchioneel Bay had some great snorkelling.  Never seen so many sergeant majors just everywhere you looked!

(Not a great photo but it gives the idea of how many there were.)

We headed back to Mowzer for lunch and while sitting on the deck looking down through the 25’ of water we are anchored in, we could actually see two rays on the sand below.  We joined in the fun for another snorkel as we followed the rays from the surface for about 15 minutes around the boat.  The picture is a little murky since I’m 25’ away but the ray was about 2’ in width and about 5’ long including his tail.

Then, over to the reef off our bows for another ‘aquarium’ swim.  This time is was a school of blue tangs that caught our attention.

    

Dinner tonight was made up of left-overs from a number of our previous meals:  bbq chicken, rice, corn and stir-fry veg and the last of the meatballs.  I have to say that I am quite happy to see the last of those darn meatballs.  They were quite yummy but a bit too numerous!  We’ve done very well with our provisioning though with not a lot of unused supplies.  We’ll probably pick up a breakfast treat when we check out at Soper’s Hole or in at Cruz Bay tomorrow but otherwise we should just about make it home.  We’re planning on one last day on St. John on Saturday (I feel another hike in the planning) before heading back to CYOA on Sunday.

Wednesday: Trellis Bay to Cooper Island

Forecast:  Winds NNW 7-12 knts. Seas 3-5’. Isolated showers, then scattered showers.

Our hiking habit needed a fresh injection so we thought we’d take a walk around Beef Island.  From the boat it looked like there might be a track up over the headland, at least there were power/phone line poles heading in that direction.  I can definitely understand now why the airport was built here – it is flat!  Boasting the airport and the first point of entry for those who fly in, it also contains what is most likely the flattest, straightest and widest piece of tarmac on the island, and I don’t mean the runway.  We walked all the way round the airport to the bridge that joins Beef Island to the mainland and then had to walk all the way back.  To make the return a little more interesting we found the old overgrown road which had been replaced by the aforementioned tarmac.

According to the tourist map (the one that led us in circles on Jost Van Dyke) there was a back-road that would lead us into Trellis Bay.  As before, we found a number of rough trails but all of them ended up at private homes or as in the last case, into Aragorn’s fields where he grows the produce he sells to boats in the anchorage.

The forecast is for dropping winds for the rest of the week so we were thrilled to have a wonderful sail out of Trellis Bay and up to The Dogs.

The Dogs are a group of small uninhabited islands with a few small mooring fields where the snorkelling and diving is said to be excellent.  Unfortunately the moorings were all full but we decided to hang out for a bit, have a bite to eat and see who was going to leave next.  As we passed by the boats we realized that one of them was Maia whom we had met at dinner at Taboo a few nights ago.  We had a quick chat on the radio and then one of the other boats departed and we were able to continue our conversation in person.  Laura and Gerry, Julia and Charlie welcomed us aboard for a cold Caribe and wonderful chat.  It is always a treat to meet up with folks down here and it is sometimes difficult to do with the charter crowd of large boats full of families and friends.  Laura and Gerry had made the night-sail over from St. Martin so we were very interested to hear of their experience.

The snorkelling at Great Dog was quite good but what was so pleasing to see was the health of the reef.  We saw more varieties of corals than we had seen elsewhere.

Finally, to round out the day we headed down through the passage between Ginger and Cooper Islands.  As you round the islands to the Caribbean side they become massively rugged and Caraval rock just rose up before us, looking a bit like a dragon about to pounce on the unwary.

From the side though a bit more like a sleepy turtle.

  For the evening we decided to drop the anchor in the lee of Cooper Island and for the first time ever we had an anchorage in the BVI entirely to ourselves, if you discount the barracuda that took up residence beneath our hulls.  The sun set in a wonderful fiery display and then gave way to the twinkling lights of Tortola in the distance.