Continued

We picked up a mooring for a night in White Bay, Jost Van Dyke. Dirk and Nancy of Renegade made their way over from St Thomas so we all hit the beach and went to “The Soggy Dollar.”

http://www.soggydollar.com/

Departing Jost Van Dyke:

After lunch and a few too many Painkillers (drinks not pills) we ended up over at Foxy’s in Great Harbor, next anchorage over.

http://foxysbar.com/

We met up with Joaquin and Sophia of Tackful, hadn’t seen them since we arrived together in The Dominican Republic! We were able to have a drink and catch up a bit. Then Dirk, Nancy, Tanya and I went down to the beach to lay in the hammocks. Dirk and I went down and fed the huge tarpon swimming along the shore. Well, several drinks turned into…I don’t know how many. Hmmmm, it turned into one of those nights, the kind you don’t repeat often – well, not at our age! I’m pretty sure we had a great time. Not sure how we made it back, I know someone fell down the companionway, we went swimming off the boat in the middle of the night, my wallet was empty, and we all lived! No, no pictures, I hope!

The next morning we sailed down to Norman Island and took a mooring in the bight, just a few feet from the infamous Willy T’s.

http://willy-t.com/

Their reputation did not disappoint, if you’re interested you’ll have to do the research…(don’t). Being a tad under the weather (from the previous night), we did lunch, had a few beers, watched “the show” and headed back to the boat.

Heading to Norman Island:

Soper’s Hole west end Tortola: 

…and then Willy T’s

Dea Latis:

Conch fritters, burger, peas and rice!

The crowd, although sparse, did not disappoint:

Awesome bartender:

The shot-ski. Four shots for four people. Husband and wife celebrating their 27th anniversary, doing a shot-ski with their two daughters:

Then they jumped off the second deck.

Plenty of signs prohibiting such action but clearly ignored. Jumping off the second deck in varying states of dress and inebriation is the theme at Willy T’s. The place was fun even with the thin crowd. I can only imagine what it’s like during the high season!

Feeling a bit better after lunch, we took the dinghy around the corner and snorkeled “the caves,” pictures below. Totally exhausted and still a bit under the weather, we headed back to the boat for brie and crackers, carrots and ranch, and lots of water. I think we were in bed by 8:00pm!

The next morning, we dropped the mooring and actually sailed to Salt Island. I wanted to check out the wreck of the RMS Rhone where some of the diving scenes from the movie The Deep were filmed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Rhone

We anchored around the corner and took the dinghy to the dive site. We decided to snorkel first before digging out the dive gear and wasting a tank of air, and we’re glad we did. The wreck lies in 20 to 80 feet of water and we found only a small portion of the stern still intact. We had a great time snorkeling but it was not worth a dive as most of the hull is collapsed and shattered. Lots of fish though. Since we didn’t dive, we had all afternoon to move to another breathtaking spot here in the BVIs. After hauling up the dinghy and cleaning up the boat, we pulled up anchor and headed to The Baths at Virgin Gorda.

Click on the pictures for a full screen view.

I found some more pictures of Charlotte Amalie harbor and some dolphins that surrounded the boat as we approached:

The caves, Norman Island:

Wreck of the RMS Rhone, Salt Island:

We are currently anchored off of Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. So much fun to be back in the water (swimming)! We celebrated last night with a great meal aboard. Beautiful ribeye, our last lobster tail, roasted potatoes, and a Shipyard IPA:

We will be moving up over Virgin Gorda soon to stage for our crossing to Saba or St Martin. You can follow us by clicking on the position report tab at the top of the page. Until next time…