As our trip from North Sound to the Bight took several much of the day, we decided to stay in the Bight for another night. It was amazing to see how this very crowded bay cleared out in the morning and then filled up again in the afternoon! Whoosh, they're gone, whoosh, they're coming back in! For us, it was mostly a lazy day but we did have lunch ashore and Jonas and I also took the dinghy around Treasure point to do some snorkelling. I think this was the best snorkelling of the BVI's so far! The cliff continues its sharp vertical descent underwater, with some coral growing on it, and numerous fish. And then there are the sea caves, some of which you can swim right into, and admire the lovely colours of the rock, mineral deposits, and coral.

The following day, we dropped our mooring buoy and picked up another one, about 10 minutes away, at the Indians, a national park which comprises a couple of small rocks sticking up out of the water, and a relatively large reef with beautiful coral and large schools of colourful fish. It was rather rough and quite windy (blowing like stink, in fact!) and Stacie and I initially chickened out. Jonas went for a snorkel anyway, and just before he came back, Stacie and I screwed up our courage to go ourselves, so Jonas got to snorkel twice around the reef. Once we were in the water, the conditions didn't seem too bad, and the reef is spectacular (at least compared to anything we have seen in the Caribbean).

Once we were back aboard, we set off for Fat Hog's Bay, on the north east end of Tortola. In Fat Hog's Bay, as we were approaching our first mooring buoy, Jonas was alarmed to see the depth gauge reading "zero"! We hastily backed up, and were debating whether to stay or go elsewhere, when we noticed Adrian on s/v Flying Low waving to us, directing us to another mooring buoy, which did, it turned out, have sufficient depth for us. We tied up, had lunch, and then stopped by s/v Flying Low and arranged to have dinner together at Emile's, a Mexican restaurant recommended in our guidebook. It was a great meal, and we stopped by s/v Flying Low for a drink afterward. It wasn't a very late night, though, as Adrian and Claire had booked a dive for the next day and needed to leave early in order to meet the dive boat off Cooper Island.

This morning, we left Fat Hog's Bay just 15 minutes after s/v Flying Low, and set sail around Beef Island, past Marina Cay, to a spot called Lee Bay. Harvey and Sherry (remember them from earlier on this trip?) had highly recommended it as a snorkel stop. It was a pretty bay, but we had real problems getting our anchor to set (sometimes you just have to negotiate really nicely with our CQR anchor, and today was one of those times), and it took four tries before we were happy with it. Part of the problem is that the bottom of the bay is full of mostly dead coral, so we had to motor up close to the shore, drop the anchor in the sand there, and hope that it dug in, in the short space it had, before being dragged back to the dead coral. The dead coral was in pieces large enough to keep the anchor from being able to dig into the bottom, but not large enough to be able to hold Sea Otter in place! By the time we had set the anchor, I was rather ticked off and in a foul mood, and well reminded of why sailors swear like sailors: they deal with boats. After all of this, the snorkelling was pleasant, but the fish that Harvey and Sherry had reported were schooling elsewhere today.

After lunch, we upped anchor and moved back to Trellis Bay, just off Beef Island, where we picked up another mooring buoy. Stacie set about packing, as her flight home is tomorrow morning, bright and early. For dinner, we went ashore to The Last Resort, a restaurant/bar on a tiny little island (only room for the restaurant). Our guide book promised singing dogs and a donkey named "Bottom", but we didn't see them, and I vetoed asking about them. It was a lovely meal and we all had a great time. It will be sad to send Stacie home (although she is spending a few days in Phoenix on her way), but our own trip is coming to a close soon, and we will have to put Sea Otter to bed, so it is time.