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November 20th, Sunday - Cooper Island, British
Virgin Islands
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Joe and I are quickly discovering why the Virgin Islands
are a favorite spot for sailboat charters.
Everything is so close together, and so spectacular, it
is impossible not to have a fantastic time. We
escaped the marina on Thursday afternoon to begin
exploring our new playground. The rally parties
and all the socializing were great for the first few
days, but the promise of crystal clear water was too
enticing to resist. The smell of the harbor (lots
of boats and no holding tanks) and the restaurant's
grill, which was strategically upwind from us,
contributed to our motivation. We had thoroughly
cleaned the boat inside and out on Tuesday, and hooked
up with all the folks we had wanted to see by Thursday
morning, so we were ready to leave. We bought a
few items at the grocery store, mostly fruit and
veggies, paid the marina bill (very reasonable at $1 a
foot), said our goodbyes, and fired up the engines.
Destination: Norman Island.
We
rendezvoused with the Martins, who have been traveling
on their catamaran "Jaimie" for the last four years.
John and Po and their two girls, Jaimie (9) and Skylar
(6), promise to be great companions for us. They
know all the great spots, the tricks to beating the
crowds, and the whole family really gets along well with
them. We met the Martins in Annapolis last spring.
We have lots of mutual friends and after much talk we
finally managed an introduction. We quickly
invited them over so we could pick their brains about
the cruising lifestyle. We still have much to
learn from them and are hoping that our paths continue
to travel in the same direction for at least a little
while.
We
arrived at a mooring near The Bight on Norman Island
about an hour before sunset. We had just enough
time for the eagerly awaited first swim in the Caribbean
waters: getting doused with huge quantities while
reefing the mainsail does not count! We have been
told to avoid swimming around sunrise and sunset as that
is when sharks are typically out feeding. It seems
like sound advice! We have enough trouble getting
in the water with four foot barracudas hanging out in
the shade between our hulls! We had rafted up with
Jaimie and shared a meal before moving over to our own
mooring ball and hitting the sack.
Friday morning started out with a snorkel around and
through the caves at The Bight. The kids were
amazing. Cassie is totally comfortable with the
mask and snorkel, diving down ten feet or so and
clearing the snorkel like a pro. Juliana has a
little more trouble but I am confident that she will
quickly catch on. She kept getting water in her
mask and we had to take a break after a half hour or so,
but she jumped right back in when we moved over to check
out The Indians. This is a group of tall rocks
that jut out of the sea not far from Norman Island.
We took the dinghy over and spent another hour exploring
the coral reefs there. All of this transpired well
before noon. We started school once we got back to
the boat. The kids were very motivated to do well
as there was promise of more swimming and a beach at our
next destination.
Deadman's Bay on Peter Island has a lovely white sand
beach. There is a fancy resort hotel that occupies
most of the land around the cove, but the beaches are
all public. The four kids took off on the kayak
for the beach, while we watched from the boat. It
is wonderful to let them run off on their own and not
worry too much about it. Jaimie and Skylar are old
hats at this, and they know all the rules. After a
week on the boat and the confines of the marina, it was
great to see Cassie and Juliana spreading their wings a
little. There is endless fascination in sand for a
six and an eight year old.
We
dropped Gregg off back in Roadtown yesterday afternoon.
We anchored outside the harbor and took the dinghy into
the marina. We enjoyed a bon voyage lunch at
Pusser's and Joe walked him to the ferry dock while the
girls and I went back to the marina pool. We were
very thankful to have had such a great crew in both
Gregg and Lew. We have heard plenty of horror
stories from other cruisers about control issues and
other unnecessary head trips. We'd have either
back on board for a passage in a heartbeat, and that
speaks for itself.
We
motored over to Cooper Island to hook up with Jaimie and
Blueprint Match. We were within swimming distance
to the beach and the four little girls spent hours
exploring the rocks on shore. We got plenty of
swimming and socializing in before bedtime - about nine
o'clock. We are taking off for The Baths on the
southern tip of Virgin Gorda. There are a limited
number of moorings available and the early bird gets the
worm! We have three days of school in a row
completed, and we'll probably try to keep the streak
going despite the weekend. The girls tried to pull
that on me yesterday but quickly acquiesced when I
pointed out how many weekdays we had missed!
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Thanks for
your emails. They mean so much to us.
With love,
Christy, Joe, Cassie and Juliana
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Many thanks to our
friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up
the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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