British Virgin Islands - The Final Days

19th February 2011.

We woke earlier to set sail for Cooper Island. The wind was in our favour today so we made good progress. As we were on our way a Dolphin came close to the boat, but left before we had time to get a photograph. After 3-4 hours we arrived, and fixed the Yacht to a can. We had a quick lunch, and then took the dingy to the island. We browsed the local gift shop, and bought some small items as souvenirs. We then made our way to the bar to buy ice for the boat. While there we had a quick cocktail and Silvia made friends with the local barman. After a short while we headed back to the yacht before the ice melted.

Silvia Carrie and myself then got back into the dingy and motored to the nearby beech. There were lots of Pelicans diving into the sea to catch fish. When we beached we noticed we had a puncture in the dingy, but we thought it was not too bad, so Carrie and Silvia went into the sea with Silvia's best friend (The inflatable dolphin). I decide to explore the island a little, and took some pictures of the vegetation, a wild goat, and an island lizard.

The island was deserted, however in several places you could see where construction had started, but then had been abandoned. The ruins were covered with cacti and wild brush, so I assumed they had been left for many years.

I then went to the sea to do some snorkeling. In the meantime Carrie went to check the dingy, and decided we needed to make a repair. As we had no repair kit she swam back to the yacht, whilst Silvia and I carried on enjoying the warm sea and the fish. We saw several Green Turtles enjoying sunshine

When Carrie returned, she advised she could not find a repair kit, and no other yachts nearby had one either, so we made a temporary repair using Duct Tape. I then used a pump to blow up the dingy while Silvia swam back to the yacht. After about 30 minutes we managed to get the boat inflated, but in the meantime the tide had gone out and the dingy was high and dry on the beach. Carrie and I struggled to get it back into the water, and eventually manged. By this time the dingy had inflated somewhat so I had to add more air before we motored back to the yacht.

 Silvia and Carrie swam back to the bar to see if they had a repair kit, and I stayed on the yacht with David drinking a glass of wine while we listened to some music and talked about many things in life.
The sun was very hot but a light breeze on the yacht made it very enjoyable.

Silvia and Carrie returned to the yacht with news that we had no luck getting a repair kit. So we decided to spend the evening on the yacht enjoying the night sky and each others company.

We woke early the next morning. There was a stiff breeze of around 40 knots, and as we sailed back to Tortola the boat was inclined at 40 degrees. Again the wind was against us so we had to tack several times to make headway. David tried to make some drinks below deck, and we could hear him laughing loudly to himself as the boat bucked and swayed from side to side. How he managed to finish without spilling any I will never know.

After we went below deck, and it looked like an earthquake had hit the yacht. This was the first time I took the helm and steered the yacht. It is amazing how you can feel through the wheel when the yacht is happy with the actions you are taking. I will make a sailor yet!.

We arrived back in dock at the marina on Tortola, and spent the rest of the day removing rubbish, washing down the deck to remove the salt, and giving the cabin a clean. We then went to the marina to take our laundry, and spend the evening at the bar. I ordered us all a Jambalaya. It was absolutely delicious. We had a few drinks while Silvia and Carrie went into the pool. We stayed until around 10pm, then returned to the yacht, where Carrie had made a supper with the remaining provisions.

We stayed up for several more hours before going to bed.

The morning was our last day. We had to collect the laundry, buy some items to make minor repairs to the yacht, and spent a little time sight-seeing. we then returned to the marina to say thank-you and farewell to David as he was staying one more day, then took a taxi to the airport at beef island. The taxi ride took around 30 minutes, and was very strange as on the island they drive on the left side of the road with left-hand drive cars, so seeing around the mountain corners was very difficult.

At the airport we were surprised to see Chickens and their Chicks wandering all over the place even on the runway side of the airport. We were then on our way to Puerto Rico for our final afternoon/evening before returning to Illinois, but that will have to wait for my next blog.