Abtnoski Adventure in the BVI: Day 11

Great Harbour, Peter Island to Moorings Base, Tortola to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Only Bob and I did the usual morning snorkel, and it was pretty. A lot like the other places, but still nice enough to get wet for.

We then started packing up and got mostly ready before we set off for our last sail. Allison sailed some, and Ed too, and we took a longer route back than we needed to but the wind was good and we couldn’t see much value in getting back early.

We called Footloose as we passed the cruise ship dock, and they directed us to the fuel dock, the ‘C’ dock, with the big Shell sign. As we approached we realized that again two of their employees intended to board and dock the boat. While this was great, I wish we had known this earlier, as it would have saved a lot of anxiety.

It took our two guys quite a while to actually get the 50’ boat in a slip just barely wide enough, and with LESS than 50’ of turning room, for the boat. A little issue with the wind (where WAS that wind when we were sleeping aboard?) pushing the bow off forced them to back in from the other direction (turning around in the narrow channel was an issue as well). And then the boat next to our spot wasn’t tied to stay OUT of our boats space and we had a little tussle with the anchor (no harm done to either boat). In about ½ hour we were unloaded and hotter than ever and headed for lunch over by the swimming pool (see picture of bob with junk).

On our way out, the taxi took Bob by the First Caribbean Bank to get back his ATM card while the rest of us luxuriated in the air conditioning.

Road Town is a British-inspired version of Charlotte Amalie. The downtown shopping area looks nicer, somehow, but there is, on the whole, less order to the development- which can be good or bad depending on your personal tastes.

When we left the Moorings Base, we took with us some food that I thought we could snack on during the ferry ride or at the hotel on St. Thomas. I had forgotten that we were going thru immigration, and they ALWAYS ask about food (funny, they never ask us about guns or bombs, I guess the machines can find these things). So I decided to dump the food in Road Town. And while I didn't mean literally 'dump' the food, I did manage to drop a jar of mayonaise (don't ask), spewing broken glass and mayo all over the tidy floor of the ferry terminal. The security agents were only too glad to take the rest of the food off our hands, telling me to just back away from the food and they would take care of it.

The ferry ride was uneventful, though a little sad as we all knew that our adventure was almost over.

After another customs line, we called Budget Rental Cars for a ride. Once there, however, we were told they had no cars for 7 people, but we could have two jeeps for the same price. But the idea of navigating two jeeps on the wrong side of the road was just too much, so they gave us a ride to the Green Iguana, and we resorted to 'calling norwood' for our last day in St. Thomas.

Dinner at Mafolie was wonderful, augmented by the fabulous view of the city lights, and the rooms were air conditioned.