Sunken Treasures

Thursday, May 18, Norman Island --> Manchineel Bay (Alan)

For all of you on the edge of your seats ... no we have not sunk (yet), nor have we been abducted by pirates (yet), nor have we been overcome with the magic of the islands and decided to unplug from civilization (yet, although that's probably the most likely to actually happen). It's actually Friday and we're at Virgin Gorda, but our internet access has been insufficient to allow any posting.

Thursday was a marvelous sailing day. We awoke at our anchorage at the Bight, had a leisurely breakfast, and set sail. We took pride in being the only ones in the anchorage to sail off our mooring, rather than motoring. We sailed out to the Indians, a formation of rocks in shallow water off Norman Island, which is a renowned snorkeling and dive spot, and spent an hour or so snorkeling on the reef. We saw lots of fish and coral, as well as a few other tourists. Ryan and Kyle were both careful to apply sunscreen... except they used the spray kind and neglected to rub it in. The result was a unique pattern of burned and unburned skin on their backs, which allows them to be live models for the Red Stripe beers we've been drinking.

Following our snorkeling excursion, we set sail for Salt Island. We elected to go south through the channel between Norman and Peter islands rather than the usual route through the Francis Drake Channel. It was a great call as we got strong steady winds, big Atlantic swells, and a bit of isolation. J-Dog was powering along, heeled over, crashing through the waves, with spray flying. It's exactly what we came for.

Soon we were at the west end of Salt Island, where lies the wreck of the RMS Rhone, another BVI snorkel/dive must-do. We tied up and spent 30 minutes or so exploring. The timbers and various other debris were visible from the surface, but not much else. We packed up and continued to our anchorage at Manchineel Bay on Cooper Island. After a bit of searching we found our mooring ball (#6, reserved via boatyball.com) and hooked up. Ashore we had an excellent dinner at the Cooper Island Beach Club, and a nice after-dinner treat at the Rum Bar, where they have literally hundreds of specialty rums from all over the world. The bartender was super knowledgeable. Need a sweetish rum with hints of chocolate? She's got you covered. Kyle decided to challenge her by asking for something from Martinique. "Here, try these two" she said.

The only dark cloud on an otherwise delightful evening was that Erika got the news that her beloved dog Sokka was not responding to the final try at chemo. So we'll plan to honor Sakka as we cruise on our boat J-Dog past a group of islands
known as The Dogs tomorrow.

Four Red Stripes

Kyle Grinding Away

Deb Takes the Helm

Hi Mom!

Chillin on the Foredeck

The Indians


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