Another week in the BVIs

 

We said goodbye to Joe and Cheryl after a great visit!

 

 

They flew in and out of Beef Island Airport at the east end of Tortolla BVI. This was a perfect location for us since we always like to bring visitors as far east as Virgin Gorda.  With the Trade Winds blowing in the mid to high 20’s for the entire week it saved us all from a long upwind journey from St. Thomas.

 

We spent the night before their arrival anchored in Trellis Bay which is right beside the airport. Each month there’s a “Full Moon” party and this was the night. The harbor was quite full when we arrived and we were fortunate to find a good anchor spot near shore.  The party is a very popular event each month and it was entertaining watching all the boats streaming in the harbor looking for a spot.  We met up with our friends Robin and Rick of Endangered Species along with two other couples for dinner.  The celebration starts with “dancing mocko jumbies” (stilt dancers) then the fire balls are lit.  These are iron balls made by artists at Aragorn’s studio right nearby. The artist studio is also great to visit during the day, not only is there beautiful artworks there is also fresh baked goods and organic produce grown on Tortolla.  The Full Moon party was a fun time!

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Joe and Cheryl arrived after dark on Friday so we spent that night in Trellis Bay too. Our great anchor spot turned out to be a bit too close to one of the restaurants where the music went on till early morning. The following Friday we dropped anchor in the same spot  when we went back for the departure flight.  This time we were prepared with earplugs so we could get some sleep.  I should point out that we did enjoy a great dinner at De Loose Mongoose before the loud music started.

Joe and Cheryl’s luggage did not arrive when they did, but we picked it up the next morning and headed out. We motor/sailed to Virgin Gorda, made a quick stop at The Baths for lunch and a swim, then on to the North Sound near Saba Rock.

We spent a few days hanging around the sound and visiting the popular spots, Saba Rock, the Bitter End Yacht Club and Leverick Bay.  One day we rented a car to explore the island by land. We had heard of a good restaurant with a great view of North Sound. We stopped by for the view which was well worth the time!  We then hiked up to a lookout platform at the top of Gorda Peak for yet another amazing view.

 

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We visited The Baths too.

 

 

 

At Leverick Bay we were able to see Michael Bean’s “Happy Arrrr” show. We had seen it a few times last year but had missed it with our previous visitors this year. Cheryl and Jeff participated in the conch blowing contest Jeff washed out pretty early but Cheryl prevailed. She came in second place and won a six pack of Carib and a cool coozie, yea Cheryl! In honor of her success Jeff bought her very own conch horn to take home.

 

 

 

We enjoyed a beautiful downwind sail to the bight on Norman’s Island where we picked up a mooring for two nights. Cheryl tried her hand at fishing while underway, unfortunately no catching.  The bight can be a wild party place but it is well protected, has a good beach, hiking and a nice restaurant.  Joe did some trail running, we all did a little paddling, some swimming and some beach vegging.

 

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Cheryl had been intrigued with the emergency hatch in her cabin.  She had saved some leftover pancakes from breakfast and spent the morning feeding fish through the hatch, her own personal aquarium.

 

 

 

Since Cheryl had been our breakfast chef she was entitled to share her creation with whom ever she choose.  Jeff had given her a lesson in cooking perfect pancakes, she was a great student!

We moved on to Cooper Island and dropped anchor in Hallovers Bay which turned out to be a magical spot.  First we headed off in the dinghy for some snorkeling then to Cooper Island Beach Club for happy hour.  While there we met a man who had graduated from Redford High School where Jeff, Joe and Mary had gone.  Back aboard Echo we had a nice dinner then laid out on the foredeck to for star gazing.  Our dark, quiet anchorage was a perfect spot.  To top the evening off we discovered bio luminescent fish scurrying around the boat when the flashlight beam hit the water.

Joe and Cheryl’s departure was nearing and we needed to make our way back to Beef Island.  We sailed from Hallovers to Marina Cay through some strong winds and rain. We had not seen a day like that for a bit.  Joe and Cheryl witnessed a bit of disagreement among the crew that morning, nothing too serious just some passionate discussion about sail handling in tight spaces.

We picked up a mooring ball at Marina Cay for the afternoon where we hung out on the beach and enjoyed an amazing “Bushwacker” at Joe’s insistence.

 

Back to Trellis Bay for the evening where we had that nice dinner at De Loose Mongoose.  Joe and Cheryl packed up and had a flight out at 9:30 the following morning.  Fortunately the temperature in Detroit had improved in the week they were with us, it had been -5 the morning they left but would be in the 30’s for their return.  We were sorry to be saying goodbye but happy to be staying here in the islands!

You can always count on Cheryl to bring some silliness along!  At least no plastic bugs in our beds this time…