Bob and Christina had received their prime directive the night before. Their orders, and they had no choice but to accept them, were to plan their last few ports of call, before their departure for the "cold, cold home" (as we have lovingly teased them) wa-ay up North.
They were poring over charts and pubs and the cruising guides as we enjoyed our morning coffee, and their first utterance was "let's clear in to the BVI's".
"Ok, done" says Dave, "where?" (He's such a slave driver !)
It was back to the charts and pubs and they had decided on Soper's Hole, a well protected harbour and a port of entry, not even 5 nm away. Easy, peasy.
"Ok, done" says Dave, "and then?"
"And then", they said, "perhaps the Caves, at The Bight, at Norman's Island?"
"Ok, done" says Dave.
And so it was a quick put the engine on dinghy and find the raft (somewhere in between the mooring field) to pay the $15 mooring bill (on the honour system) at Maho Bay.
Upon arrival in the well protected Soper's Hole, the Customs and Immigration building was clearly identifiable as such, most easily accessible with a dinghy dock beside it, and before we knew our passports were stamped, fees paid, and the U.K. flag hoisted to replace the yellow Q flag, and we were free and clear to move about the British Virgin Islands. Woo-hoo !!
Before we moved out of anywhere, we just HAD to stop at Pusser's Landing for some quite authentic and most decidededly refreshing "2 rum shot" Painkiller's for all of us.
Painkillers with three shots and "lethal" 4 shot ones were also available, but it was just barely lunchtime and we needed to be reasonable, after all (and besides we weren't in that much pain!) Bob and Christina agreed, "authentic" Pusser's Rum Painkillers were The Best, Bar None.
"Are you sure?" I said to Dave on his choice of lunch, and his eyes were gleaming "gotta have their speciality" he said. Oh my. Beer battered, deep fried, "hot dog". Ya.
Jamaican Jerk chicken was on the menu for me, and it was finger lickin' good, nice and spicy, and could that be real Baguette bread that was perfectly toasted and herb-buttered?
Tummies full (perhaps more so for Dave), but we couldn't leave until Bob checked out the desserts,
full visual, et al ! We are proud to say we all walked away without indulging !! But the memories shall stay with us forever and a day !
After picking up some spices (Jerk Seasonings, and no rum cake !) at the Pusser's Store, we sailed on over to Norman Island. This island is one of the larger ones, in the Southern end of the Sir Francis Drake Channel, and the locals often refer to this place as Treasure Island.
We picked up a mooring in Privateer Bay and Bob and Christina snorkelled The Caves for a while and when they got back, we released our mooring lines and headed on into The Bight.
Sailing past the well known Willy T (William Thornton), a steel schooner now "restaurant, dance floor, jump off the top into the water" place, the loud music blasting away and the noticeably empty moorings all around concrete proof that perhaps one might not want to get too close to this "gone wild" type of place if one wanted some R&R..
The Willie T is named after William Thornton, who was originally from Jost Van Dyke back in the mid 1700's. He studied in Scotland to be a doctor, but actually loved being an architect more, and was chosen to design the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. !!
We picked up another mooring ball just on the outer fringes of the mooring field, near shore, and pretty soon the attendant came by and collected the fee.
"$30 please"
"oh, I thought it was only $25" says Dave.
"Ya, it's gone up!".
Ok. Done.
I guess ? Apparently prices are going up everywhere. Or is it just the fact that with well over 100 mooring balls in here, and the very lucrative charter market on the move, someone somewhere is making a lot of money!
A great feed of nachos and we all went to bed, seriously "done".