Karen's Notes: Jan. 7th-Jan. 9th

Sun., January 9th

     We departed Anegada at 9 a.m., had a great 15 mile sail and arrived at Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke around 1 p.m. Of course, all times are approximate as we rarely look at a watch.  What a treat! Great Harbour now has 10 mooring balls and our early arrival assured that we snagged one of these precious things.

     We have so much food in our freezer that we ate lunch aboard. Today it was left-over steak that made great sandwiches.

     We went ashore to Foxy’s to see his famous little beach bar/restaurant. 

 Karen, Sallie and Taya at Foxy's

Taya, Sallie and Roy on the main road

Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke

     Next, we walked the sand road around the town. The Methodist Church door was open and we went inside for a little Sunday prayer. I thought it was nice that the church was left open for travelers.

Sunday afternoon in my favorite church on Jost Van Dyke

Karen leaves her favorite little church

The Church yard

     We circled back on the only other road in town and finished our walk at Foxy’s. Phew! We were hot! We bought 3 bags of ice and headed back.

     Roy tied bumpers on lines and we used them for floats while we swam until dusk.

Tonight’s dinner will be grilled pork tenderloin. I anticipate a very early bed time as we are already sleepy.

Karen
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Sat., January 8th: The Anegada Crossing

     We departed the North Sound, Virgin Gorda and were off Mosquito Rock by 8 a.m. Our heading was 005 magnetic. The winds were light which mean the iron wind was the only way to make significant progress to Anegada. Alas, we needed to charge the batteries anyway so off we went. 

     The only excitement was a flying fish. It was the largest we've seen and it flew over waves for many seconds. It was so bird-like that we were almost incredulous when it disappeared back into the ocean.

Whispering Pines Restaurant, Anegada

     Arrival at Anegada was around 10:30, we got a mooring ball, chatted with Barry-the-Whispering Pines-dinner-recruiter. Heading ashore, we got a taxi to Cow Wreck Beach. The road is now paved almost a half mile beyond Neptune’s Treasure. Oh, happy day!

 Roy and Karen at Cow Wreck Beach

"Where is everyone?"

 Roy and Taya at Cow Wreck

Sallie working on a water color painting at the Cow Wreck Beach Bar

     There was quite a crowd at Cow Wreck (e.g. there must have been a dozen other folks there). First priority was to hydrate with something cool. Mission accomplished. Roy and I walked down the beach and introduced ourselves to Walker who is on the TTOL chat board. A Texas resident, he has a home right on the beach and spends several weeks at a time here when he's not flying his plane. Walker gave us the super-secret snorkeling location which was right in front of his home.

     Once in the water, Sallie and I spotted a lovely nurse shark. Now, we didn’t want to alarm Taya so we just hovered over the spot until she arrived. Pointing out the little cutie, Taya seemed pleased to see it and was ready to get out of the water. Hee-hee.

     As Sallie got out of the water, one young man commented on how we all were “expert snorkelers” as we were well-equipped and far out on the reef. Har-har. It pays to wear funky swim skins to impress the adoring crowds.

A friendly Anegada beggar

     Back on the boat in the late afternoon, we decided to take naps. Ours was interrupted by a male voice saying, “Is there a Karen aboard?” The man in the dinghy holding a run and Coke was Mike Kneafsey, a member of my TTOL chat board (see: www.traveltalkonline.com). He spotted our cat and knew it had to be “SMC Irish 68” and her gang. Mike visited for a while and then was off to find his charter patrons.

     We dined on fresh lobster at Whispering Pines, then walked along the shore to Neptune’s Treasure for Key Lime Pie. Back on the boat, we were exhausted from the sun, sea, and snorkeling. We were in bed by 10:30 p.m. again.

Happy in Paradise, I remain...

Karen

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Friday, January 7th: Virgin Gorda

     The first plan was to move the cat to the dock when our slip was ready. Alas! There were two other cats who were also going to be in the slip and we had to wait for their arrival as we would be the last one. That would allow us to leave first for Anegada in the morning.

     Sallie and Taya spent the day on the beach at Leverick Bay Marina. I wasn’t feeling well so Roy drove the rental car to a pharmacy for some OTC meds. Actually, I had a miserable night with my stomach and needed some day-time "z-z-z-z-'s" to recharge my batteries.

     By late afternoon, David, who was managing the dock, informed us that the other cats had cancelled so we could move our boat into the slip. Okay. That is always a nail biter since it required backing into the slip. Actually, the nail biter was for the captain of the mega-yacht that was already in the slip as we were potentially playing bumper cars with it. Capt. Roy, though, disappointed all the hordes waiting on the dock to see a little cat attack a big lion. Instead, he backed “Snowbird” into the slip without any problem, the lines were secured by David and we headed ashore.

     After running a few errands, we were back on the cat and another one appeared. “Hey, you’re in our spot,” came the somewhat friendly hail. Apparently, David erred and this cat did not cancel its reservation. No problem. We had already docked this little cat once and we ready to repeat it.

     We pulled out, waited for that cat to tie up and then we backed into the slip again. Mother Nature, however, decided it was time to pick up the wind. First, our forward line was handed off to David's assistant and secured. The back line didn’t get to David in time and our rear started swinging toward “Te Manu” which wasn’t good. David was overseeing the docking. As David barked docking instructions, Roy tried to oblige. However, he needed the forward line to be released. David's assistant kept it secured which forced the rear of the cat to swing out towards "Te Manu."

Our cat "Snowbird" between "Ethereal" and "Te Manu" at Leverick Bay Marina

How would you like to back in between these yachts?

     Now it was getting dicey. The Captain of a boat is always in charge. Roy demanded that the assistant on the dock release the bow line and he had to comply with Capt. Roy's order. Roy powered forward, away from "Te Manu." 

     Mother Nature was still in the mix and she provided a gust at the wrong moment. Our nose started heading towards “Ethereal.” Wow! You should have seen the expression on the face of "Ethereal's" captain. He was flying over her deck, heading to the bow, in a desperate attempt to protect his precious charge. Capt. Roy, though, was fast at the helm and in control, stopping "Snowbird" before she mated with "Ethereal." Many years working as a launchman at a yacht club paid off!


     Both of these events were just quick quirks of slip dockage, but it is embarrassing as there is always a crowd around when there's huge yachts on a dock. Within seconds, we were back in the slip, secured and the disappointed crowd didn't get to witness any bumper boat action.  

"Snowbird" enjoys the company of "Ethereal" and "Te Manu" at Leverick Bay Marina
Can you say, "Let's play bumper boats?"

A closer view of "Snowbird," our catamaran

 "Snowbird" at Leverick Marina
It's tight with two cats in the same slip!

Our neighbors on the dock were the mega-yachts "Idol" and "Ethereal"

Aft of the mega-yacht "Idol"

It had it's own security guards, nanny, etc.

     Dinner was the BBQ on shore followed by the Jumbies performing. The Jumbies are some very talented young folks who dance on stilts. As much as I tried to hide, they kept selecting me to dance with them.

 Taya and Sallie danced their way through the stilts.

One of the Jumbies about to fall into the swimming pool

It's her turn to fall into the pool!

      The show was over by 10 p.m. and we headed back to the cat. The mega-yachts had underwater lights to attract the fish. We sat on our catamaran for a few minutes to watch the tarpon swimming around the boats. My word! Those are large fish! After some star gazing, I think we were in our bunks around 10:30 p.m.

Happy in the Islands,

Karen