Abtnoski Adventure in the BVI: Day 10

White Bay, JVD to West End, Tortola to Great Harbour, Peter Island.

This morning, our routine differed. We stayed in White Bay for breakfast, and snorkeling. There were lots of turtles, mostly small ones, feeding on the bottom, and bob and I snorkeled over the reef enjoying the usual sights.

Then Abby and Allison decided to snorkel to shore by themselves. (see picture) We were pretty far out, so this was a big undertaking. We could see that there was a bar ashore, and few other buildings, but no people.

They found what they considered paradise. A tire swing, some cats. A creatively decorated bar/restaurant (see the picture of the ‘art’) called Ivan’s Stress-free Bar. And they had found it themselves.

Eventually, they swam all the back, telling us we needed to see it come see it it’s special wonderful fantastic I want to live here. So all the girls, and Kevin, hopped in the dinghy. We made it to shore, beached the dinghy, and checked it out, paying Ivan for our mooring, then got back in the dinghy and motored over to the Soggy Dollar Bar, home of the original Painkiller.

Checked out the bars and the stores, had a drink under the palm trees, and wandered back to our dinghy for the trip to the big boat. And everything was going well until that engine problem resurfaced. The gas line from the tank to the motor would not stay attached to the tank, and after it came off about ¼ of the way back, I couldn’t restart the engine. So we tried to rowing with oars not designed to be used. Into the wind, it was awful. So the kids decided to try pulling us. That wasn’t working too well either.

Lydia tried the old wave-both-hands at the guys to get help, but either they didn’t notice or pretended not to notice. I finally gave up and yelled at them, but they didn’t know what to do. I suppose swimming over and climbing in the dinghy and starting the motor didn’t occur to them. Anyway, I finally got the motor started and we finally made it back, but I wasn’t about to take that dinghy anywhere by myself again. I’m much more comfortable with oars than with a motor, but when I couldn’t get either one to work, I was not happy.

I eventually recovered, and we had lunch and set off to repeat Sopers Hole.

We picked up a mooring there, and dinghied to shore. Where it was very, very hot. The sun-obscuring Saharan dust was gone, and it was bright and windless and sweltering. Ice cream and drinks at the Pussers Bar, and we were headed off to our last night on the boat.

As we rounded the west end of Tortola, we were once again headed up wind into the easterly trades. We motored and motor sailed past Norman Island and the Indians to Peter Island.

It was here that Bob had his revelation about catamarans. On our Beneteau, we had lowered the dodger so we had better visibility and more wind. We would raise the dodger for dinner or lunch so the food wouldn’t fly off our forks, but otherwise, we left it down. It made the passages more pleasant, and the time at anchor was much cooler.

But the cats don’t have dodgers so they couldn’t lower them or even open the little windows. Combined with ‘not swinging around the anchor’, this would make the cockpit of the cat hothothot at anchor as well as underway. We had noticed the day before that the cat next to us in White Bay had all the crew on the tramp, trying to stay in the shade of the mast. Now we understood better why they didn’t just hang in the cockpit. Of course, by dusk they had turned on their generator and air conditioner, so we didn’t feel too sorry for them! They all disappeared inside and we never saw them again.

And we also noticed here, that the cats weren’t riding in the swells any better than we were, and some of them were clearly suffering—hobby horsing along over each swell. So for those of you who think a cat is the way to go (which had included us!)—think again.

We picked up a mooring at the completely deserted mooring field of the Oceans 7 Beach Club in Buttonhole Bay. It was quite windy, and it took us a couple tries to get the pick-up buoy aboard. Ed, Kevin and the girls went ashore to check out the ‘Club’ and pay for the mooring. Once again, the girls tried the water trampoline. It still wasn’t quite worth the $5.

Our last dinner aboard, and a fairly comfortable night, even if it was…still hot. Allison showed off both her pedicure and her flexibility (see picture)