Hi from Clare, Sunday 5th January 2014
Views around Cruz Bay
(read the sign)
Our resort walk
IT’S A TOUGH LIFE
Early morning on New Year’s Eve we tore ourselves away from our idyllic location on the south side of St John Island and went around to the main town of Cruz Bay. Because the area is national park we were only allowed to anchor for three hours just off the town. This was our second visit to the town so we used the time to take some photos, visit the supermarket and have lunch in the very pretty and shaded outdoor restaurant by the waterfront.
MORE THAN YOU BARGAIN FOR
With a quiet New Year’s Eve planned we moored in Cinnamon Bay a mile away from the larger and more populated Francis Bay on the north side of St John Island USVI. There was one other unknown boat in the bay. No sooner had we settled, their dinghy approached with an invitation to New Year drinks (there goes our quiet one). It turned out to be the cruising couple we meet in the laundry a few days earlier in St Thomas. We had a lovely evening on their thirty year old 58’ schooner. With its solid rosewood interior, marble benches/sinks and traditional schooner rig all done with ropes and pulleys, it would fit in well on the movie set for Pirates of the Caribbean; a beautiful old boat and certainly a different sailing experience. But for all its 30 tonnes of weight it still rolled rather badly.
BACK TO THE BVI
We checked back into the BVI at Soper’s Hole on the island of Totola and then motored for eight miles into a strong head wind to Peter Island. The beauty of these islands is that being close together there are many anchorages to choose from to escape adverse weather conditions. So with the wind howling outside in the Sir Francis Drake channel we tucked in very nicely for a few drinks on Eye Candy with our English friends Ken and Judith from Badgers Sett. When we entered the anchorage Ken came out in his dinghy and took our line ashore. That saved us having to drop the dinghy and go through the whole rigmarole – sweet.
BE PREPARED
The following morning we set sail in perfect conditions to go five miles to Cooper Island. We only got half way before Cooper Island disappeared in a very dark rain squall and we got wet. The wind blew 25knots and we scrambled to reduce sails before the wind died completely. So we motored for a mile or two and then the sun came out and we resumed with the perfect sailing conditions we started out with less than an hour ago – someone up there has a terrific sense of humour and must be rolling with laughter.
RENEWING OLD FRIENDSHIPS
Drinks on Cooper Is, BVI with Glennys and Don
At Cooper Island we planned to catch up with British couple Don and Glenys on Agua Therapy. We first met them in Cartagena Spain in 2011 before our Atlantic Crossing. At that time Don and Glenys were still working and fitting out Agua Therapy for their retirement adventure. Glenys said “we may see you on the water some time” and we have kept in touch via the Blog. When we arrived at Cooper Island, Glenys was waving from the bow of their boat and called out “What a sight for sore eyes”. She had organised a most enjoyable BBQ lunch on Agua Therapy where we whiled away the afternoon catching up before retreating to the Beach Club for some Rum Punch and Pain Killers. The anchorage is fairly open and so we rolled for most of the night. Needless to say we have now returned to good protection on Peter Island.
A STROLL IN THE SUN
The four of us went for a walk yesterday around Peter Island Resort and over the headland to Deadman’s Bay. This is a very pretty semi circular beach with aqua water and white sand dotted with palm trees. We came here with Andrew’s sister Deb a few weeks ago and it rained rather heavily. Yesterday was no exception, with very little warning we all got rained on, so we decided to give the beach up and retire to Eye Candy for drinks and dinner.
SO WHAT NEXT
Tomorrow we will sail across to the island of Tortola for provisioning and a gas refill. We intend spending a few weeks in the BVI before venturing further east to the Eastern Caribbean island chain.
Love Candy xx
