Whenever someone tells me, “I know how to do this. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me, I’ve got this” there remains in my mind a feeling of unease no matter how much I trust that person’s judgment, experience, qualifications and ability. The problem is, I don’t know from first-hand experience just what “this” is. What could go wrong? What are the recovery and contingency plans?
In this case Jeff gave us his assurance that this nautical adventure is well within his grasp. And now that we’re halfway through our voyage, it’s all coming together.
Judy, Carter and I are getting our sea legs. We’ve experienced raising and lowering and trimming the sails. We’re becoming competent deck hands, handling the lines to moor and anchor our boat. We’ve learned how to enter and exit the dinghy safely, if not with the utmost of grace. We’ve experienced stormy weather. Today we made a long trip up to Anegada Island, navigating a tricky channel to the mooring field. We’ve snorkeled and proved we can do that too.
In short, we now know what “this” is and have seen Jeff handle all of it with a high level of competence. And we’re having a blast!
The run up to Anegada today was into a wind, what little there was (6-7 knots), right on our nose. We ran the sails up and tacked but the engines did the heavy lifting. Jeff found the channel entrance and we moored with no problem. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mid 80s. It was a relaxed and enjoyable trip. Three of us lazed around playing cards and chatting with poor Jeff who was chained to the helm for the entire run.
We arrived at 2 PM and had a burger lunch that I cooked up using the ship’s grill that is the same as the Margaret B’s at Onawa. Afterward was nap time. We then we made a shore run where we found a small collection of gift shops and two convenience stores. We gave a small nudge to the Anegada economy.
Next, the three guys set off in the dinghy up the shoreline perhaps a quarter mile to a sandy beach. We took a refreshing dip and floated in clear water. Only the sighting of some sort of ray just before we entered the water caused any concern.
At 6 we went ashore and we’re met by Mr. Brad who drove us from the south shore to Anegada’s north shore and the Anegada Beach Resort. On the way, he told us that the island’s population is about 300. The road was paved at first but soon turned to sand. We saw a cow wandering along the road, a member of a wild herd native to Anegada.
Anegada is the only island in the BVI that isn’t dominated by mountains. Its maximum elevation is 28 feet asl. It’s covered mostly by scrub bushes and sandy soil.
Dinner featured local conch fritters and equally local Anegada lobster. The lobsters are larger than a 2 pound Maine lobster but lack claws. The meat is softer than it’s northern cousin and somewhat different in taste. Drawn butter tends to equalize the experience.
We’re back on the Casbah III and the others are playing cribbage and Skyjo. I, of course, am typing on my iPhone while my iPad try’s to upload pictures. It’s slow going so pictures may have to wait until we get back to higher speed civilization tomorrow.
