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Published: February 2nd 2010
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chris an dhilary
sailing to jost van dyke Tortola
Sunday
We went to Road Harbour, Tortola to get some supplies and a fishing licence for Alan. It is the capital town of Tortola, and has a big marina, shops, a ferry port and a very big cruise ship dock. While it is not without some charm, it is not really a place for yachts to linger, except when recharging the supplies. We anchored in the entrance, there were several other boats there. Anchoring is always quite funny, first adjoining boats watch nervously to see where you are going to put your boat, worried that you may be too close. Of course they are right to be worried, when we were in the med, and even here , we too often have a charter boat anchor very close to us and as we listen for the chain all we here is a very short rattle. We sometimes wonder if it has even reached the bottom!! Of course we make mistakes too, but we do put out an awful lot of chain so it takes a lot for our anchor to drag. Normally it is because the wind changes and then you get too close to other boats, and
that makes everyone nervous. In this case we were aggressively watched by a very unfriendly English catamaran, Alan anchored in a very good position and we were amused to see several other boats later coming even closer into the English boat’s ‘territory’.
We went to Norman Island to visit the ‘willy T’.. First we decided to do a dive, but Alan broke his jacket so I had a little swim round the bottom on my own. It was beautiful. We went to the Willy T had a good night out and met a very nice couple who do charter.
Next morning we did the dive again, and it was very good. We even saw a big shoal of Tarpon swimming around, which made Alan’s day. Nice easy dive, but
I was tired when I got back to the boat. The cove we were moored up in was so pretty, like a cala in Ibiza.
Then on to Sopers hole, to try and get a new valve for his bcd. This marina village is up the end of a creek, boardwalk and very attractive, the only problem is no swimming! The man in the dive shop was very helpful and we arranged to call back later.
Next day we went over to St Johns. It was quite a process to travel the few miles, first waiting for hours for a boat that never came, then immigration, customs, a nice trip over there sitting on the top of the very fast ferry. Then more immigration, and customs. We went to cruz bay, did a bit of shopping, internetted and phoned all our friends and then had a very nice lunch. We came home tired but pleased with the day. As soon as we arrived back at the boat a very stressed looking man came over to tell us he had accidently hit the boat when trying to moor up. Luckily the damage can be reapaired by Alan, and actually matches the damage we ourselves inflicted on the boat in Tobago cays. So we went to their GIANT catamaran for a drink, and it all ended happily. Just have to spend some time repairing it now.
We went round to cane garden bay,. Went ashore for sunset drinks and met some very nice people, unfortunately those painkillers don’t kill the pain the next day.
This morning Chris and Hilary came. We have had a lovely day apart from Chris stubbing his toe, and went to Foxys on jost van Dyke for lunch. Thanks Chris and Hilary! It was really lovely and then came back to a swim round the boat. What a great day.
Cane garden bay is so pretty with a fantastic beach. Alan and I did a dive on the reef yesterday, we saw two turtlesand a couple of big rays. The visitibilty was not brilliant so I did spend some time looking behind me!
The sea is turquoise blue, and the hills deeply green and forested, then they plunge right down into the sea,. It is an attractive view from the boat. More later.
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