We had a great Easter today. We had Easter baskets and plenty of good food, as well as DVD’s from the DVD rental store. We also had some new books, courtesy of Carol at 123 Hulls. She had an amazing collection of really good books in her lending library. Later in the afternoon, we went for a hike up and around the side of the mountain to see how the swells were. It looks like it is settling down, so tomorrow we are going to try and head back to the USVI. Only 2 more days to Tessa’s birthday as she keeps reminding us, and we have to pick up those presents!!!
Sophers Hole is one of our favorite spots. We bought ALegria from Voyage Yacht charters here. When we first saw her, she was sitting at the dock, right outside Pussers restaurant. It was love at first sight!!! We love her more everyday!! We are hoping to talk to Robin, who manages Voyage Yacht Charters to see if he can help us replace the cleat we broke in the Dominican Republic. If we can’t get it here, I guess we will have to wait until St Martin.
We have spent the last several days anchored in Sea Cow Bay, right around the corner from Nanny Cay. There is a extremely high Northern Swell hitting the island, generating swells of nearly 2o feet. We don’t want to be anywhere near that. Fortunately we are on the south side of Tortola and it is the north side that is taking the brunt of it. The last few days we have heard the Coast Guard on the radio looking for lost boats. Alot of people are coming over from Puerto Rico for the holidays and it is extremely dangerous. There were Coast Guard reports of overturned boats with people in the water at Meghans Bay on St Thomas. And they are surfing in 25 foot waves at Cane Garden Bay!! Unbelieveable!! The National Weather Service says these are the largest swells to hit the island since 1991! They cancelled the ferries that run from Puerto Rico to the BVI’s and the USVI to BVI ferries. We are very worried about the people coming over from Puerto Rico. We grew very fond of Puerto Rico and the people when we were there. We prayed that none got caught in the storm.
But we are safe here in Sea Cow Bay. We were supposed to head to the USVI to pick up our mail, but where we would go is too exposed to the swells, so we will have to wait until next week. We took the dinghy over to Nanny Cay to see Carol at 123 Hulls. Carol sold us our boat back in 2006, at Sophers Hole. We really like her and her husband Greg, and they have all our gratitude for helping us get the PERFECT boat for our trip! We can’t say enough good things about them!! After we bought ALegria from them, they went out on their own and started 123 Hulls based n Nanny Cay. It had been almost 2 years since we had seen Carol so we caught up over beers at the nearby pub. Tessa also caught up with Hannah, the friend she had met at Cane Garden Bay. It was nice to see Carol again, and we ended the evening agreeing that Dan would consider becoming a yacht broker for them. It’s something he has always wanted to do, and the timing seems perfect. We agreed we would talk about it when we met again after our friends came to visit.
Norman Island is said to have been the inspiration for the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. No one is sure, but the caves there would make excellent hiding for pirate treasure.
There are 3 different caves you can swim into, and the snorkeling in the area is fun, the coral is not spectacular, but there are usually plenty of fish. It can get crowded here though. We made sure we picked a time when the cruise ship wasn’t in the area. The walls inside the cave are beautiful; you can see lots of red and purples in the rocks. It can be a bit spooky snorkeling into the dark cave, but we have done this so many times that I have gotten used to it. The first time I was very intimidated!!!!
Dan, Tessa and I head into one cave, Tristan opts to stay outside. We are following a group of about 6 people. The cave goes about 40 to 50 feet back, and gets darker and darker as you head in.
The sides of the walls are red and purple, with crabs crawling across them, and sometimes if you look up, you can spot a bat or two, hanging from the rocks. Dan and Tessa are ahead of me, right behind the other snorklers, and I am trying to catch up. The current is pretty strong here; you really don’t have to swim, just go along for the ride as the current pushes you deeper and deeper into the cave. Dan sees me lagging behind and motions for me to catch up. I finally meet up with them, and start to relax and get the camera ready for some photographs inside the cave. No such luck. The pack in front of us have reached the end of the cave and have now turned around in mass and are trying to squeeze past me through the narrow opening. It’s like a stampede that I am helpless to get out of the way. It’s the Who concert all over again! Tessa is swept past me, and I try to grab her, but she is caught up in the migrating herd, and I am hit with passing flippers for my troubles. I yell for Dan to watch out for her and then they disappear in the group. I struggle after them. Then the last wave of snorklers gets me and soon I am hustled out of the cave with the masses. Dan and Tessa are with Tristan waiting for me. It seems Tristan was definitely the smart one here for staying out of the cave. So much for a relaxing snorkel!
Unfortunately, this is high season here in the Virgin Islands and this is what we will encounter everywhere! That night, the harbor at Norman Island is filled to capacity with all kinds of boats as now the Puerto Ricans have started to come over for the Easter holiday. We visited Pirate Bight Pub for lunch. Several years ago, when we were here, it was Billy Bones and was really a fun place. Now it is Pirates Bight, and the lunch we ate there was awful and the service slow. But the kids had fun playing “life size” Jenga and “Connect 4”.
