Time to get out of Cane Garden Bay
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| Cane Garden Bay - Awaiting the cruise ship invasion |
We were very fortunate to arrive in Cane Garden Bay when
there was NOT a cruise ship in town. The beach was virtually empty.
On this day
however, you can see that everyone is getting prepared for a crowd!
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| Everyone needs a beach chair |
Off we go to Virgin Gorda and North Sound. The destination
is Leverick Bay Marina and Resort – they offer 100 free gallons of water if you
spend one night on a mooring ball – this is a great deal!
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| Leverick Bay |
It is Maryse’s birthday today – happy birthday to an
incredible lady!
Upon our arrival there was a “little” yacht already there …. I
would have loved to make them an offer for a gift for Maryse – but then I
realized that I do not know how to fly a helicopter.
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| MY Anna |
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| and the helicopter that I can't fly |
Instead we opted to have a wonderful lobster dinner at the restaurant
at Leverick Bay – service was impeccable, the meal delicious and the company
was extraordinary – Happy Birthday Maryse!
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| A beautiful birthday girl .... looking great! |
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| Leverick Bay |
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| Bitter End |
The next day with our friends,
Yolene and Jean we decided to
snorkel the reef in Eustatia Sound which is north of Bitter End and just a bit
east of the famous Necker Island owned by Richard Branson.
Maryse was still suffering from swimmers ear – a nasty
infection that prevented her from swimming with us – so the “princess” sat in
the dinghy and was ferried around by the three us, so with the help of a clear
bottomed bucket, she could see what we saw! Talk about first class treatment!
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| My little Princess!!! |
The reef was unfortunately mostly dead coral with the only
new coral being small elkhorn coral.
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| Bushwhacker.... |
We stopped off at Saba Rock for happy hour and kicked back a
couple of Bushwhakers – deadly afternoon drink – Rum, Vodka, Kahlua, Amaretto,
Frangelico, Bailey’s, Crème de Cacao and Cocunut milk – drop in a blender and
add crushed ice. The king of smoothies!!!
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| Benoit - SABA ROCK!!!! |
For the entertainment of the happy hour guests, they hold a tarpon feeding frenzy – impressive as the 3 to 5 foot long tarpon all show up, just like us .... for happy hour!
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| Tarpon frenzy |
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| and you thought delivery charges were high from your garden store!!!!! |
Saw this on our way to Saba Rock .... "you want that delivered???"
Next stop on our wandering is Anegada – an island that is completely
formed as a coral reef which is different from all other BVI islands. Caffe Latte and Ambition had just a little wager going as who would arrive first ... seems that there was an un documented regulation that I should not have used the genoa, staysail and mainsail when Jean only has the genoa and main .... hhuummmm just saying - Ambition led the way into the mooring field!
The
seasonal rains kept us rather confined to the boat as we didn’t want to get wet
in the dinghy going to snorkel! Winds and squalls blew through at 30+ knots –
we watched intently as a small catamaran drifted backwards through the mooring
field. A quick dash out to tie him to a mooring ball so he wouldn’t damage any
other boats – Ambition 911 at service yet again! They returned and found their
boat in a very different spot than where they left it! At least they did return
my line once they were secured ....... MUCH further away from us – good thing!
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| Free wheeling catamaran.... |
We did get out for a famous Anegada lobster dinner and cold
wine on the beach with Yolene and Jean – life is very good!
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| Ambition's crew.... |
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| the crew of Caffe Latte |
One of the rules in the BVI is that we can use our boat here
free of charge for only 30 days per year after which we must pay a temporary
importation visa that is good for 1 year for US$200. We opted to take a marina
at Village Cay in Roadtown as it is also close to Customs – well so we thought!
Interesting how folks give directions – ended up in Government House – did at
least three different offices obviously confusing everyone about what we needed
to accomplish – but they were pleasant in their confusion. Back to the marina
for one more set of new instructions – this time we got it right and armed with
all our very official documents – filled in a bunch more documents – paid the $200
and back to the second floor for our VERY official temporary import visa
complete with seal and red star! We are legal again!
The marina will offer us fresh water and a chance to really
recharge our batteries. I have discovered that the combination of black hull
and the sun seemingly always being on the same side of the boat as the fridge
and freezer, the refrigeration compressors are struggling to keep their
temperatures. The ultimate fix will be to install Freon coolers through the bottom
of the boat but that will have to wait until January when we will haul the boat
out of the water for a few days.
The other major plus is that we have fired up BOTH air
conditioners and the big chill is major happening on Ambition – it is our way
of helping prepare us for our 2 week mini vacation in Montreal in a few days! I
have my tuque on inside the boat!
Next stop the VERY famous Trellis Bay Full Moon Party ….. I
can only imagine!
