We explored Trellis Bay and opted not to spend another $60 to stay two more nights on a mooring just to see the full moon party. There just wasn’t enough to do there while waiting. It was noisy from the airport and crowded, as the mooring balls are so close together to fit as many boats in as possible for the monthly party.
We left there and headed back to North Sound, where we spent a few days with an almost disaster one night. (P)I awoke abruptly hearing the sound of a halyard slapping on the mast – very loud very near (usually happens loudest when a boat is sideways to the wind). Since there was no one near us when we went to bed, I dashed madly up the stairs only to see the stern of a catamaran moving slowly past our port side about 2 feet from hitting us sideways to the wind of course. There was a person at the helm but the engines were off. I suspect he was disoriented and trying to grasp what was happening. What was happening was that he had anchored late the night before about 500 feet in front of us and at that moment was clipping along at about 2 knots with the anchor totally free. I heard him swear as he turned around and saw how close he was to me but then he ran below and turned on his spreader lights which of close blinded him to other boats around. He ran back up to the helm just as the anchor grabbed something and spun the boat rapidly causing him to lose his balance. The good news is it grabbed and held before he hit the next cat in line. The bad news is he did nothing else and went back to bed – didn’t add any scope or test the anchor set. But now that he was behind me it wouldn’t affect us. Watching him pull up his anchor the next morning, he had maybe 90-100 feet of chain out in 50 feet of water. He is lucky he stayed put for the night in the gusty high winds.
(G)We needed to get propane and really wanted to see some other islands so we left bright and early and got to Road Town before 11 am. We left Charlie on board to make it quicker to shop. I headed straight to the Rite Way grocery store while P got the propane tank refilled and returned it to the dinghy, then met me in the store to help collect the items from our list. We were back on board with provisions loaded within 75 minutes (record time). Lesson learned – it’s much less stressful on everyone if Charlie stays behind while provisioning.
After loading the groceries and propane back on Blue Sky, we hauled up the anchor and headed over to Peter Island and anchored in Benures Bay for some quiet time. It was fairly full of boats when we arrived so we stayed in the lesser popular part of the bay which normally has more swell, but the winds finally calmed and the ocean was nice and flat (waiting for this all season), so it was a pleasant anchorage which we had to ourselves after the first night. While here we did some snorkeling. The excitement for me (G) was seeing my first Stingray .. very cool. We also did the hike again over the island to ‘The Bight’ where there is a nice sandy beach for Charlie to run and swim. It was hot and Charlie needed lots of water and rests while en route. He was happy when he saw the beach.
A few days later we headed over to Little Harbor on Peter Island. We stern tied for the first time on Blue Sky. Here we had a sea turtle swimming between our boat and shore almost daily. This anchorage was also has great snorkeling which we did daily. (G)With the calm of the water, I enjoyed several paddles a day on the SUP with Charlie. I beach combed and found quite a lot of sea glass. I also found a lot of litter on the outer beaches, which bothered me so much that I went back with a plastic bag and collected it but even with flattening the many plastic bottles, my bag was completely filled on just one beach. I decided that I would bring an extra bag with me to collect the trash when I can, since I’m enjoying the place, the least I can do is participate in keeping it beautiful. Paul kayaked and explored an old fort (?) of some sort. It’s a bit of a mystery what it was built for (as you can see from the pictures).
April 30th we snorkeled early in the morning. Here they have dinghy moorings near the snorkeling area. I paddled over with Charlie and P followed in his kayak. P tied his kayak to the dinghy mooring while I dragged Charlie around on the paddleboard while we snorkeled. This has a few advantages: 1) Charlie doesn’t bark his head off while we snorkel, 2) we have the paddleboard to hop onto if we get tired while swimming, 3) boaters can see you so they don’t run you over. Here we had the pleasure of seeing a sea turtle swimming in among the fish. What a treat, this really made our trip worthwhile.
After the snorkel we pulled up anchor and sailed back to Virgin Gorda. We are now settled in for 10 days as we attend events with the Salty Dawg Spring Rally fleet and prepare the boat for our return passage to the US.