Tuesday, April 1, 2014 A spectacular finish!

When you live so for apart you can only see each other by getting on a plane, dear friends can be a double-edged sword. A joy when they come, and a heart-wrench when they leave. Well, we have had a whirlwind 6 days with my Lisa and Dean! A Spectacular, Wonderful, Awesome time…and we are sooo sad today, as we pop them on the ferry and wave farewell. The only good thing is knowing we will see them again in Florida in less than 2 months! Well, that, and the fact that we just had a GREAT time!

They arrived a little late on Thursday, and sadly, the rum shop was closed…but we packed a little care package, and so they had a welcome beverage to enjoy upon arrival. Then, luggage in hand we jumped in the rental car and headed over to Mim’s Seaside Bistro for dinner, picking up Frank & Denise on the way. A great view, with wonderful food and a great, balmy first evening for us all. We stopped by OJ, on the way back, so they could see our ‘boat away from boat’ for the next little while as we embark on our trip next month…then headed back to CBM for their first view of Regenero. (I love it when people say, wow…look at how big she is.)

Friday, the 28th..up and off the docks early, early, and beating out the rain showers that drenched the island behind us. As we cleared the channel we find the Celebrity Summit approaching the main channel, and at 835 feet we decide she could certainly preceed us, so we dropped our speed to take her stern…and get some GREAT pictures in the meantime. The wind is up, and the seas are bumpy, bumpy….but we are all experienced boaters and love the ride! We slip into Sopers, check in, and then off immediately for Norman Island - The Bight awaits!
We arrived at our favorite place just off the wall, and after lunch the reef beckoned so we donned our gear and went to visit the fishes. Although Lisa was a little timid at first…soon she was out distancing all of us, and we had to slow her down so we could catch up. We saw the amazing giant school of 4 inch silver sides, and as we got closer to the dock, 8+ BIIIG tarpon just swimming by, hoping for a snack. As we got back to the boat we found three more tarpon hanging under us…but we scared them away when we took our sea baths….Then shortly, all clean and sweet smelling, it was Happy Hour for the good crew of Regenero! The winds are blowing hard today, so no deck star watching…only peeking out from under the bimini top…maybe tomorrow. Oddly enough, we saw Michael Bean’s boat cruising into The Bight. He has family on board so is enjoying cruising the BVI, like the rest of us!

Saturday, Mar 29th. Still windy…and that’s good as we have some sailing to do! Off the mooring early, and by 7:30am we are under full sail, heading up the channel, with Dean at the helm. Still a little bumpy out here, but a great tight windward sail all the way to Virgin Gorda – with pony tails and telltails streaming full out in the east breeze! We decided to go into the Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor, instead of to Leverick Bay, since it is the weekend, and there is no Michael Beans show anyway. (one of our regrets that we can’t go to the show together).
So, by 10:45am we have surfed our way into VGYH, which was a tight ride with breakers just outside the channel so big that surfers were riding them!…and are tied up courtesy of Mario, with time to check in and then get our car rental. Then, it’s off to Hog Heaven for lunch. Since it is Saturday, it is quiet here..but the food and view are truly exceptional! And we met a cute honeymooning couple, Brian and Nicole, who were here enjoying Virgin Gorda. We enjoyed our drive down the mountain, with multiple stops for pictures and oohing and ahhing over the views. It is a perfect Caribbean blue sky today with puffy white clouds, picture-perfect!
Then, down to the Baths…which were nearly empty and wholly amazing. We almost had the place to ourselves, and had the benefit of late afternoon sunshine to boot. The sea was so perfect it was nearly gleaming! With the north swell, it is a red flag day here and the surf was up! We had to make doubly sure the dry bag was sealed as the swells on the beach was bigger than we had ever seen it, and maybe we (ok – Dean!) needed to get out on that one big rock! He was nearly swept away!
After hiking thru, over and around we ended up at ‘Top of the Baths’ and enjoyed a swim in the freshwater pool and a foofy drink on the shaded terrace overlooking the SFD channel with a breeze. It really doesn’t get any better than this!
Then it was time to head back to the marina, and enjoy the freshwater showers…which were great except for Lisa’s…first there was no drain, then the shower stream was to light so she had to change stalls, then the lock to the changing room she chose was stuck, and finally the light above her went out. All in all, she really prefers a sea bath!

After happy hour and snacks for dinner, we fired up the computer and enjoyed looking at all our photos for the first two days!

Sunday, Mar 30th. After a yummy hot breakfast, we were off to sail back down the channel. We thru up the Jib, and had George drive while we 4 relaxed on the foredeck. A great, easy run down! Near 11, we arrived at the Indians and picked an open can and got ready for a snorkel thru the coral gardens. We saw lots of fish and the wonderful corals, although there was quite a bit of swell running thru so the snorkeling was work, but still an incredible, not-to-be-missed place. When we finished here, we slipped back into the Bight and took a can near the north wall instead. The water here is incredible and inviting, and the breeze is easing. After lunch Dean & Lisa took a kayak around the bay, and then when they got back we all jumped in to snorkel the wall. We had an amazing snorkel with yellow-headed jawfish sneaking into and out of their holes and a sneaky eel, hiding in the top of a coral head. Dean spotted several treasures and after determining they were unoccupied we nabbed a large conch shell, a small pink conch shell, and a tiny white urchin skin…
OJ arrived just behind us this afternoon, so after they dropped their guests off they came to visit us! Later in the day, their guests were practicing for the Conch blowing contest….so Dean gave them a bit of competition….we are pretty certain we have the winner aboard!
After dinner we enjoyed our wonderful star-watching and spotted 4 sattelites, just cruising by.

Monday, March 31st must see the caves…so, there we go again early, early, we move the boat over to the day moorings just past treasure point, and take one near the middle cave. The moorings here are VERY close, and so Jim stayed aboard to protect the boat while the rest of us snorkeled. The swing radius is also weird, so at times we found ourselves barely 6 feet over the coral…eeek! But we slipped into the 2 biggest caves, with the help of the underwater flashlight, and got to see the glassy sweepers, that we have only found here, as well as some very bold Sargent Majors, and yellow-tail snapper, and a lovely school of Blue Tang. On our way back to the boat we spotted a turtle, just munching away on the bottom, a treat to see, right outside of the caves!

Dean and I headed out to explore Treasure Point, and Dean became the Pied Fish Piper, as he turned around and noticed schools of sargent majors, snapper and a few jacks just following in his wake saying…’where you going, what’re you doing?’. As we approached the point the multitude of fish increased, as did the swells and we found ourselves working a little harder to stay stable, then, all of a sudden, there is Barry swimming by, just in front of us…yikes! Then a second Barry is there too, just hanging out, facing the current, mouth open….waiting for a snack. We watched the second one for a while, then as we were swimming back we saw Barry #1, hanging inside the wall. We passed him, giving him a wide berth, and then shortly after he came swimming by Dean, just beneath him, in that stealthy, ‘yeah, I DO hope I scare you’ kinda way. Fortunately Dean warned me and I got to watch him swim away, under the boat full of people next to us just entering the water. I thought about calling out to them, but they really didn’t look like the adventurous types, so I held back.
After a quick rinse, we were off for a slow motor back to Sopers Hole. After arriving there and having lunch Dean, Lisa & I headed to shore to do a little shopping while Jim relaxed on the boat. We managed to find a few treasures, then pickup up some ice, and the ever-necessary Ting at the harbor market. After Dean and Lisa dropped me back at the boat they took the dingy out for a spin around the harbor to see what’s to see…then when they returned we started happy hour just a little early so Lisa could read to us from the BVI book she bought and tell us the history of many of the places we had seen. After dinner we watched the stars for a while, then downloaded the rest of our pics, and relived our amazing few days! So many laughs, so many fun memories, and more laughs…the very best way to travel.

So that brings us to today, which is sad for all of us as we now have to say good bye to these friends of our heart. We put them on the ferry, and as much as we try not to the girls cry! The boys put a brave face on, but we know they are crying inside. And then we slip our mooring, and motor slowly out planning to wave again madly as they pass us in the channel, except they don’t, as the ferry cut south thru the other channel to avoid the mega-yacht and the cruise ship that are moored out here. And before you know it…they are gone. While we are very sad today, we are so happy that we had this time together to share this part of the world that we love so much with them. And get a stamp in those brand new passports!