11_26 blog
Time to leave this cool place. Off to Monkey Point for some snorkeling, and then on to Cane Garden Bay. I went ashore to get fuel for the dinghy and some cubed ice. They don't call it party ice here, it is cubed ice. Back to the boat, tie the dinghy off to the stern cleat, and we are off to Monkey Point. It's only 7 or 8 miles, so we motorsail, with jib only, just to steady the boat motion a little. Makes the ride much more consistant. We got to Monkey Point and tied up to one of the day use only buoys, jumped into the dinghy and motored over to the dinghy line. Like most of the state parks and more popular snorkeling locations, there is a line strung between 2 buoys very close to shore that you tie the dinghy up to. Gets you right to the good spots and you know the dinghy will be there when you are done. Jumped into the water and realized that the higher winds of the last couple of days had left the water a little stirred up. After a short while, I was swimming in a cloud of tiny fish. Wherever I went this cloud of tiny fish just went with me. They left a gap, kind of a force field, of 8 or 10 inches all around me. I would slowly stick out my hand to touch them and like magic they would move away. It was really cool except it made looking at anything else rather difficult. The school of fish around me got bigger and bigger until it was 6 or 8 feet thick all around. What was really cool was when a parrot fish swam in about 3 feet below me. The little fish did the same thing. They surrounded him and then moved out of the way in front of him and then reformed behind him. The force field effect again. The Parrot fish was swimming in this cloud also. That is when I realized what was really going on around me. It was magical.
We swam with the fish for awhile then decided it was time to move on. On the way back to the boat, we noticed that there was a large school of fish skimming along the surface trying to evade a bigger fish. The little fish maybe 3 or 4 inches long, were jumping out of the water, not like you would expect though. They were jumping out of the water and then falling back in 10 or 15 feet away, never getting more than 5 or 6 inches above the water. Behind them you could see a much larger fish swirling about trying to catch them before they went airborne. We went over to get a closer look but as soon as we got close they all disappeared.
The sail from Monkey Point to Cane Garden Bay was terrific. Just like going to Hawaii. We were on the north side of Tortola with nothing but ocean to the N and NE of us for several thousand miles. Full main and Jib, 15 to 20 knots of wind over the starboard quarter, surfing in 8 to 10 foot swells with 3 to 4 foot wind chop. Patti drove almost the whole time, learning how to handle the boat as we surfed down the face of the wells. A couple of days ago on the trip from Spanish town to North sound we had seen what happens when you don't pay attention when sailing with a following sea. We were motorsailing to weather that day and a 40 foot monohull was sailing downwind. They were really moving and rounded up several times, first to starboard and then to port, rail in the water each time. It is pretty scary when that happens because the boat feels like a wild animal with a mind of her own. Obviously the helmsmen was not doing a very good job of feeling the boat as the helm pressure changes dramatically between flying down the face, falling in the trough and then sliding off the back side of the swells. Not really very hard, but you have to pay attention. The 40 footer was having a tough time. Probably no fault of theirs since these are conditions that you don't run into sailing on inland waters.
Patti did a great job, hit lots of 9's on the fun meter and a few 10's. She topped out with a 10.5. Pretty exhilarating for her. We even threw in a few jibes just for fun. Actually we had to jibe or we would have ended up either in Florida or on the rocks.
Cane Garden Bay came up on us so fast that I was not convinced that we were there yet. I thought that we were at Brewers Bay and needed to go to the next bay. Then I remembered Winstons words from the chart briefing. When you are between the towers on Tortola and Jost Van Dyke Island, you are at Cane Garden Bay. Still not convinced, Patti started looking at the buildings on shore and convinced me that we were indeed at Cane Garden Bay.
We headed into the wind, dropped the sails, and started looking for the buoys that mark the opening in the reef. They were pretty easy to see once we got close. It always seems like you are a lot closer to shore than you really are. Grabbed a "Rhymers" mooring ball and headed for shore.
I had broken my "Aruba 1989 flip flops", so since I hadn't brought any shoe goo with, I was "flip flop less in Tortola." First stop on shore was for flip flops and as it turned out, the same place we needed to go to pay for the mooring.
Patti finally found a beach that she could stay at for days. Beautiful white sand, some ocean swell rolling through, great water temperature. I think she spent 3 or 4 hours bobbing. This is where she met the couple from Atlanta that come here every year and stay at the hotel right on the beach on Cane Garden Bay. I can hear it now, “Let’s go to Tortola and stay at Rhymers at Cane Garden Bay. It's right on the beach.”
As Patti swam, I updated the blog, labeled pictures and tried to connect to the internet. I had also been watching the Pelicans and gulls fishing. They are so much fun to watch. The pelicans are the total picture of hap hazard flight and dive bombing for fish, making a huge uncoordinated "cannonball" style splash as they hit the water. They look totally out of place but man, are they fun to watch. When they do get a fish, they float on the water and wiggle their tail feathers. Pretty funny.
The gulls on the other hand are totally the opposite. Not surprisingly, they are different than any gulls I have ever seen before. Their wings are very long and slender. Very high aspect ratio and a flat planeform. They are the picture of grace and elegance. Swooping back and forth across the bay. When they do spot a fish, they make a very hard banked turn and then fold everything up into a nice compacted package and knife into the water. They completely disappear from view only to "POP" back up to the surface a couple of seconds later. What a blast! These gulls are very dark colored on the top and bright white on their undersides. I get the white undersides, camouflage from below so the fish can't see them. The dark topside coloration puzzles me to some extent. Time to do some homework.
Back to the boat for a nice peaceful dinner. I was reading with my headlamp in the cockpit as it got dark. It was totally dark when I finally looked up and gasped in total shock. There in the distance was St. Thomas, lit up like a gigantic sparkling jewel on the horizon. Totally different from the British Virgin Islands which were mostly dark with a few scattered lights along the roads. This was the first time we had been on this side of Tortola and able to see St. Thomas. I was truly amazed. In retrospect, I guess I really did not know what to expect. I suppose I had thought the US Virgin islands and their British counterparts would have something in common. Although we did not travel to the US Virgin Islands this time, it was clear from the lights, that the US and British islands are not only separated by a few miles of ocean, but are worlds apart culturally as well.
Patti says:
What can I say? Dave just about said it all. Monkey Point was very magical, but I was disappointed that we did not see any monkeys!! I did get rather close to one pelican, and got some great pictures of him. I would like to have spent more time there, but we did have a long way to go to get to our next destination. As it turned out, the sail to Cane Garden Bay was fabulous! I love surfing the waves!
Cane Garden Bay lived up to the info we had read in the island guide. Absolutely beautiful! Just like a picture postcard. We tied up as close to the beach as we could, and I couldn’t wait to get to the beach. It was lined from one end to the other with beach chairs, and each one was occupied by a lotion slathered body, roasting in the sun. As it turns out, this is the beach that the cruise ships send their people to on the island. There are many bars and restaurants, and tiny shops selling various wares. There were even some ice cream stands. Mmmm, Rum Raisin ice cream!!!
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