Not gonna tell you much about the history of the BVI in today’s blog posting

Not gonna tell you much about the biology of the ocean we went snorkeling in today

And the science behind sailing? You’re on your own tonight

I will tell you that you have to go a long way to find anyone with a British accent in the BVI.

But I will tell you we all love sailing under the tough but benevolent Captain Jeff on the Good Ship Casbah III. What a wonderful world it is!

Tonight’s posting, after that silliness, will be mercifully brief. It’s all Cap’n Jeff’s fault. He gave all hands double rations of rum at the Indigo Beach House. To recap the day:

• We had a pancake breakfast on board this morning, using the flour, baking powder and syrup we purchased yesterday on Anegada
• We sailed – ok, motor sailed – to Monkey Point, just across the water from Tortola and not far from our Windham hotel from Friday night. The winds stayed in the 5 to 10 nmph range. Our boat really needs 10 to sail with any vigorish.
• We moored at Monkey Point and had sandwiches on board for lunch. We donned flippers and mask to snorkel in the bay for an hour or more. I got my camera act together and got a few shots of the underwater formations and plant growth but few fish – only a few shy little ones. But it was great fun nonetheless.
• We then motored on to our overnight mooring spot in Cane Garden Bay. We’re actually on Tortola proper, on the east coast almost directly across the island from Nanny Cay where our trip began.
• This evening we dinghy-ed in for dinner and are now playing our usual round of bedtime games – Bridge (Jeff and Carter barely escaped humiliation by eking out a 100-point victory) and now Swoop (see us at Onawa this summer for instructions)

Yesterday’s pictures are now on line. The cell network on Anegada only produced 1mbps, remenicent of the good old dial-up days. You can find them on the Day 5 blog. Here are today’s pictures:

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? 

Today was another day when things didn’t go according to plan but that turned out great after all. We pulled up stakes this morning and headed for The Baths, a cave structure that can be explored on foot and snorkeling. We arrived around 9 AM only to find that all mooring balls were occupied. This is a day mooring field, meaning that all dozen or so balls had been claimed early. Anchoring is not allowed. We and another five boats circled like SUVs at the mall on Black Friday hoping someone would pull out. After a while it became clear that no had the slightest inclination to leave so we executed Plan B.

The weather forecast called for winds of 5 to 10 MPH, not ideal for sailing in the Casbah III but in fact we found winds in the 10 to 12 MPH range, adequate for some fun so up went the sails and off we went Great Dog, and island an hour or so distant. The Dog Islands were so named when someone mistook the barking of seals for the barking of dogs. Go figure.There we found mooring balls available. We donned flippers and masks and went for a swim. It was maybe 50 yards to the rock-bound shore. There we found interesting marine growth on the bottom and a fair variety of fish. I tried firing up my underwater iPhone rig which proved to be, shall we say, a learning experience. No, I didn’t get the phone wet but we’ll wait for next time for pictures.

Next, a combo sail and motor run to Saba Rock resort. Saba rock is an acre-and-a-half island in the middle of a large bay that has a few hotel rooms and a very nice restaurant that served as our lunch stop. The resort was destroyed by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and reopened in 2021 completely rebuilt. It’s a fun destination.

Again the winds were favorable so we headed off for our evening stopping point at Scrubb Island, a small island within sight of the Tortola airport on Beef Island. The island sports a nice harbor with $40 per night mooring balls and a Marriott restaurant. We begged the Marriott folks to rustle up our dinner which, for modest fee, they did.

I’m not sure how were going to get a good nights sleep tonight. The waters in this harbor are calm and the boat is handling rocking at all.

In my first blog I said, “The weather in the BVI is said to be nothing but sunshine and temps in the 80s with reliable easterly trade winds.”

Wrong.

Today it was cloudy all day with rain off and on, heavy at times, winds gusting from the southwest and west up to 23 knots. Not at all what the BVI Chamber of Commerce promised. But, as they say, we made lots of really good lemonade out of the mess.

To start, the winds were very favorable for sailing. So instead of heading to Salt Island for snorkeling over an old ship wreck, we hoisted sails and set course on a beam reach (wind perpendicular to our course) and sailed just for the fun of it. We could see rain squalls in many quadrants so it soon became a game of dodging the rain. In all, we put in a good three hours with the sails full. Eventually Captain Jeff assumed command position next to Nana on the upper deck lounge chairs, directing Carter and me as we manned the helm and trimmed the sails. A great time was had by all.

Eventually the wind started gusting and the rain started catching up with us so we dropped sails and set off toward Salt Island. Conditions improved and once again we opted for sailing rather than motoring. Eventually we did get to Salt Island where Carter and I, now experienced hands at dropping anchor, learned the technique for picking up and attaching a mooring ball to the boat.

By then it was lunch time so I boiled up some hotdogs and we had a dog-and-chip meal in the boat’s cabin with the air conditioner running. 

Rain squalls continued to hit us now and then, becoming fairly steady by 3 PM. Jeff, Carter and I set out in the dinghy to snorkel the wreck of the RMS Rhone. She was wrecked off the coast of Salt Island in the British Virgin Islands on 29 October 1867 in a hurricane, killing 123 people. The Rhone was a two masted, iron-hulled steam-sailing vessel that served the Southampton-Brazil route. The wreck is submerged in 50 feet or so of water but much of it is visible from the surface. Today it is one of the most popular dive sites in the Caribbean.

Jeff and Carter made the swim; I elected to stay in the dinghy given the strong current and swells and also given the fact that I forgot to leave my glasses and hearing aides behind. Ah, the agony of old age.

Afterwards, the question was whether to take off in heavy winds and strong rain or to hunker down hoping for better weather. Our overnight goal: Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda island. The weather radar on my phone showed no break in the storms for some time so off we went, this time under motor power. An hour of cruising in heavy rain and seas later we arrived in only light rain and not-to-bad winds and dropped anchor along with others. The rain has let up, the sun broke through a while ago and so we’re going to set off for dinner ashore.

The trip to the restaurant was quite pleasant early evening sunlight. The climb up from the dinghy to the pier was a challenge but we made it. Dinner was great: Asian food with a steak for Carter. Nice sunset. Then back down into the dinghy, motoring through the dark to Casbah III right where we left her. 

Now for some games and sleep. We’re getting our sea legs; the rocking of the boat is quite relaxing and I swear, the restaurant was rocking back and forth even though it’s on solid ground.

So here we sit, dinner is over and all that’s left is to board our dingy and motor back to the next cove over where the Casbah III is anchored. Only problem: a big rainstorm has cropped up and so we’re waiting for it to die down before setting out. 

What a day it was leading up to this evening. Everything went pretty much as planned. All four of us ended up at Nanny Cay about 10:45. By the time Dom had given us the boat briefing, the provisions were on board and Jeff had passed his catamaran written test it was 2 PM and away we went. 

Dom then spent two hours testing Jeff’s ability to sail a catamaran. There were two main elements: docking and retrieving a man overboard while under sail. 

For me, the docking exercise was a real nail biter. We’re talking a 44 foot sailboat heading in and backing into docks with all sorts of other big boats maneuvering in the same cramped space. But Jeff did really well. Cats with motors on both hulls can literally turn on a dime. Jeff even managed to dock in a breeze that blew us away from the dock. I would have been nervous parking a Tesla in that watery equivalent of a Walmart parking lot on Black Friday. 

The man overboard proved to be more challenging. In real life if someone actually fell over the gunnel engines would be started and we’d motor back to pick up the MOB. What Jeff did was to do the whole thing without use of power. It took several attempts to time it perfectly so Carter could grab our simulated MOB with a boat hook. Again, in real life, we’d need only get close enough to throw the MOB a line or have him swim to the boat. It was an excellent exercise in the finer points of seamanship. 

Then back to the Nanny Cay dock area for one more docking exercise in heavy traffic and cross winds. Success, with Carter handling the dock lines. Dom signed off on Jeff’s test, jumped ship and wished us a happy week on the Casbah III. 

And there was Jeff at the helm of his first solo command. Out into the open water where we – Jeff and Carter – raised first the mainsail and then the jib. The operation utilizes motor driven winches, all done from the helm position but it does take careful attention to be sure nothing becomes snarled. Heading directly into the wind helps a lot.

Our destination: Cooper Island, an hour or more sailing time. One small catch: we’re supposed to be moored by 5:30and we were running late. So Jeff fired up engines, which added four knots or so. We dropped anchor at 5:45 only to find out that we were too close to another boat. We moved around the point to a different spot for our night’s resting spot. 

Jeff and Carter took a quick dip over the side and after showers we headed off for dinner in the dingy, a small zodiac style craft with a small outboard motor. It felt like run-a-dub dub three men in a tub, plus Nana. 

And since you’re reading this you’ve probably guessed that the storm abated and we bounced across the waves and made it home safe and sound. A round of four-handed cribbage and then everyone off to bed after a long day except, of course, for your long-suffering scribe.

The best part of all is that Carter took charge as the dingy captain, steering us through the field of anchored sailing craft. He’s a pro after all his Onawa boating experience. 

Only a few pictures tonight. Wifi is weak and I’m kinda tired.