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Here we are, back again
at the Bitter End. It has become our winter
home away from home this past month. With
friends for us and friends for the kids, snorkeling,
hikes, Hobie Cats and kiting, why would we go
anywhere else? We actually have been moving
around, but we just keep coming back. Perhaps
the great internet signal also contributes to our
fondness for the place!
Unfortunately, Aunt Kim
decided that it would be unwise to try to extend her
Zia visit and left us last Tuesday. But not
before we showed her more good times, including the
dock party here last Saturday. As it was a
costume party, I was thrilled that we even managed
to dig up some threads for all of us.
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It was a varied crowd of guests including some of
the workers here at the Bitter End, from sailing
instructors and bartenders to dockmasters and marina
staff. Other charter boat crews and marina
managers from around the BVI also attended.
The staff at Richard Branson's
Necker Island
came over to share a few cocktails with their
neighbors at the Bitter End. We knew only a
handful of folks but that didn't stop us from having
a great time.
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Before Kimberly's early
morning flight on Tuesday, we wanted to show her
some of the hot spots down here in the BVIs.
We took her to The Baths for the beautiful clear
water and amazing rock formations onshore. We
anchored off of Peter Island for the evening and
then went around to The Indians where she couldn't
believe she was swimming with big, ugly,
fierce-looking barracuda. I was a little
worried that she might freak out when I pointed out
the nurse shark sleeping under a rock in ten feet of
water, but she actually handled it very calmly.
She didn't get too close, mind you, but she also
didn't go dashing away. We hit Soper's Hole
for lunch and a little shopping and then back to St.
Thomas for our final meal and a very early morning
wake up call for her cab ride to the airport.
The week went by far too quickly for all of us, but
we cherish the memories and look forward to our next
chance to visit. All sorts of plans are
cooking for the summer so we have our fingers
crossed!
Charlotte Amalie in St.
Thomas isn't our favorite anchorage in the area by
far, but it is convenient for getting things done.
On our list was laundry and another shopping trip.
I also have an old college friend who lives in St.
Thomas and we had arranged to meet for lunch.
I can't believe that I forgot Kiki lived here last
time we were in the area. He's a wonderful guy
and full of all sorts of local knowledge.
Lunch was far too short but it was great to see him
again and we are hoping we get a chance to see each
other again in the next month or so. He has
ten month old twins and a wife that I'm dying to
meet.
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No sooner had we
returned to the boat with full bellies, plenty of
provisions and clean laundry, than we receive an
email:
"Hi guys! We are sailing
to Anegada with John and Po today and plan to anchor
somewhere on the West end of the island. John needs
to have Nina at the Tortola airport Thursday
sometime during the mid day. I was thinking if you
guys make your way to Anegada on Wednesday day or
Thursday morning we could give kite lessons and hang
with you guys for Thursday until John and Po return
in the evening to Anegada. What do you think?
Hope to see you! Bob and Kathy"
It took us about two
minutes to decide to take them up on the
proposition. The only reason we hesitated that
long was because we were kind of planning to go to
St. Martin to buy new batteries. I don't know
if you remember
our battery story from Barcelona, but our
hand-me-down batteries haven't been performing as
well as we had hoped. For reasons I'm not
entirely clear on, there is about a 30% delta
between prices in St. Martin and the rest of the
Caribbean so when you are looking at $800 per
battery, and we need four, that adds up pretty
quickly. Actually, our batteries are working, they
just don't hold a charge as well as they used to.
We can certainly survive for a little longer without
replacing them. How could we pass up this
opportunity?
What should have been an
easy motor in no wind at the worst, and a beautiful
beam reach at the best, turned into an ugly bash to
windward in ten foot seas. The weather this
year has been full of nasty disturbances to our
north which have disrupted the usually steady
easterly trade winds much too often for our tastes.
Nonetheless, we arrived to a warm welcome from our
friends. They had enjoyed a wicked day of
kiting with all the wind that we had fought against
on our 20 mile trip up. And they were fired up
for another day on the water!
As we are negotiating
our plans for the day with the girls on Thursday
morning, the amazing and wonderful Po came over with
a proposition. Since she was doing school with
her two girls while they took Nina, John's mother,
back down to the airport in Tortola, would we like
her to take our two and their school books along for
the ride? That way the girls could play with
each other after they all finished their work, and
we could go off kiting for the day and everyone
would be happy? Now, I don't know too many
people who would offer to supervise my kids for a
day of school, so I was pretty stunned by the idea.
But, as you might imagine, this was another decision
that took very little thought. Po wouldn't
offer it if she didn't want to, and a quick check
with the girls made it clear that they would be very
happy with the arrangement. The deal was
sealed with profuse thanks and Sky was off to
Tortola and Bob, Kathy, Joe and I were off to Cow
Wreck Beach for some kiting. Woohoo!!!!!
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The first adventure is
in the dinghy ride around to the north shore of the
island. Most of it is navigable at high tide.
Bob had done the trip numerous times before and Joe
readily turned over the helm. Wouldn't you
trust these two to steer you right?
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From Half Way Point
around the West End to the first bay on the north
shore, it's about a twenty minute trip before we
arrive at Cow
Wreck Beach.
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We offloaded a bunch of our gear and continued a
little further east into the second bay, hoping to
get a little more room downwind for us beginners.
Bob loves to teach and is a wonderful instructor.
We are among half a dozen of his fortunate students.
He quickly assesses our skill level and takes it
from there. We learn to launch the kite on the
beach, land the kite on the beach, we practice some
body drags and starts with the board, and walk the
kite back upwind. With these basic tools we
are self-sufficient. Our time with Jean had
laid a solid foundation, and with these added
skills, we could now practice independently.
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And what a location to
practice in! Miles of empty beach stretched
out before us. On just one of the four days we
spent there, two other kiters showed up. As a
beginner, I'm a little leery of getting too close to
other kiters or people on the beach. It's one
thing to put yourself in bodily danger but something
else entirely when there are innocent civilians to
worry about! In that respect, this was the
perfect place. The shallow patches of coral
and grass were a bit of an issue since I still spend
a lot of time pounding myself into the water, but in
between it is mostly shallow so when you do crash
the kite, you can keep yourself from going too far
downwind by merely standing up.
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In the end, Joe and I
had four days of pretty solid kiting. The wind
was a little light on one day, but there was enough
of it in the forecast to keep us coming back for
more. The girls were amazingly cooperative,
although we did sacrifice a day or two of school for
the adventure. They even got their own kiting
experience when Bob
offered to give them rides on his back. Who
would have thought this was possible? All four
of them were glowing from the experience.
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Three years ago when we
first tried this sport, a tiny seed of interest was
planted, but there was no burning desire to pursue
it. Now, with Jean watering that seed with
every correspondence over the past three years, his
determination to teach us on his recent Zia
vacation, and Bob, Kathy, John and Po supporting the
momentum, we have become hopeless junkies. I
am sure it isn't the last time you will be hearing
about it on zialater.com!
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